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Ron Dough
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« Reply #15 on: 15:48:13, 30-10-2007 » |
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Just a couple of glimpses at the production photos are enough to convince me that this is likely to be a cracker. The height and solidity of those walls! Fingers crossed for a DVD sooner or later....
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opilec
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« Reply #16 on: 16:13:19, 30-10-2007 » |
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what with having to reorganise transport and find accommodation it would have cost at least €300 just to be there not counting the ticket price.  I managed Vienna for a bit less than that -- and was sat directly behind Boulez into the bargain! I could've turned pages for him!  I seriously contemplated travelling to Amsterdam too, but by then the early summer temperatures were a bit too hot for me. Vienna in May was already warm enough! Just a couple of glimpses at the production photos are enough to convince me that this is likely to be a cracker. The height and solidity of those walls! Fingers crossed for a DVD sooner or later....
Ron, visually it was as bleak yet powerful as the score itself. Even in the relatively small space of the Theater an der Wien the sets were hugely impressive. And the surtitles were projected -- discreetly yet legibly -- onto the sets, believe it or not, which worked very well indeed. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #17 on: 17:16:56, 30-10-2007 » |
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Actually, that does make sense, opi: I've only ever seen one opera with surtitles, which was an opera in English which I know like the back of my hand anyway, and I found it deeply distracting, trying to pull my line of vision away from the stage. Having it closer to the action would certainly stop that problem.
The Wells/ENO production had two huge wooden walls of very precise rough-finished planking that were not far off proscenium height joined together for Acts 1 and 3 at quite a steep angle, while for Act 2 they were split apart (rather as in Chéreau's production, it seems) to give a distant prospect of the landscape (and hope?) beyond.
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opilec
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« Reply #18 on: 17:58:22, 30-10-2007 » |
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The Wells/ENO production had two huge wooden walls of very precise rough-finished planking that were not far off proscenium height joined together for Acts 1 and 3 at quite a steep angle, while for Act 2 they were split apart (rather as in Chéreau's production, it seems) to give a distant prospect of the landscape (and hope?) beyond.
Ron, I never saw the Wells/ENO production  -- only the WNO one (with live eagle!  ) when it was on at Tottenham Court Road. The walls in the Chéreau production were variously angled, but they didn't just open up in Act 2: initially the back wall disappeared completely, so that you could see right to the back of the backstage area, from which the 'voice from the steppe' was heard, and then later the prisoners, having completed their work, ran off to the back in high spirits ... well, I won't spoil it any more for you!  A couple of very experienced friends (one from Brno, one from London) who also saw it in Vienna reckoned it was just about the best production of any opera they'd seen. A bold claim, but one I'd very tempted to agree with if I were given to that sort of statement! |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #19 on: 18:21:32, 30-10-2007 » |
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It is one of those rare operas which offers the possibility of producing something extraordinary: it really is in a genre all of its own, and the depth of feeling in the libretto (let alone the score) gives the opportunity for something really intense to happen. It ought, on the face of it, to be a most depressing piece, but that's not how it works at all: it's so life affirming, uplifting even. An absolute masterpiece.
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opilec
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« Reply #20 on: 17:42:29, 03-11-2007 » |
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It is one of those rare operas which offers the possibility of producing something extraordinary: it really is in a genre all of its own, and the depth of feeling in the libretto (let alone the score) gives the opportunity for something really intense to happen. It ought, on the face of it, to be a most depressing piece, but that's not how it works at all: it's so life affirming, uplifting even. An absolute masterpiece.
Ron, I think that's spot on, and sums it up very well. IMHO it stands at the peak of Janáček's considerable output, together with the second Quartet. And for me, it's one of a handful of works at the top of the operatic repertoire as a whole. There aren't many other works I'd travel half way across Europe just to see! Did anyone else tune in on Thursday? I'd heard the Aix broadcast before, and have to say it wasn't quite as together musically as the Amsterdam one. Would be interested to hear others' impressions of the broadcast. |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #22 on: 18:03:19, 03-11-2007 » |
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I'd entirely agree with that, Opi - HotD is the crowing achievement of Janacek's work. Almost every aspect of it is innovative and remarkable... a dramatis personae of "lifers", thieves and con-men... the absence of any linear plot.. the largest scene sung by someone who didn't appear at all in the first two acts, and then isn't seen again... quite apart from orchestration so revolutionary his pupils rewrote it, thinking it must have been a terrible aberration? There was, btw, a flurry of response to the work on an entirely unrelated thread, because of a bit of thread drift... can anyone remember where that all was? |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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opilec
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« Reply #23 on: 18:19:49, 03-11-2007 » |
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There was, btw, a flurry of response to the work on an entirely unrelated thread, because of a bit of thread drift... can anyone remember where that all was?
Found it, Reiner: thanks! http://r3ok.myforum365.com/index.php?topic=2108.0 |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #24 on: 18:21:49, 03-11-2007 » |
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I've now moved that thread to The Opera House (I hope).
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opilec
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« Reply #25 on: 18:24:35, 03-11-2007 » |
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Cheers for the link, Ron! I've now moved that thread to The Opera House (I hope).
That's what power does for you, folks! |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #26 on: 18:32:36, 03-11-2007 » |
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That's what power does for you, folks! He'll have your avatar sold-off too, if you misbehave |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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opilec
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« Reply #27 on: 18:36:10, 03-11-2007 » |
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He'll have your avatar sold-off too, if you misbehave Tell me about it! |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #28 on: 20:06:09, 03-11-2007 » |
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Gentlemen, gentlemen....
Just trying to make things easier and more logical for you. <resists smiley emoticon>
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #29 on: 08:22:02, 04-11-2007 » |
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Your diligence in your new appointment is exemplary, and ta muchly for it  (unable to resist smiley emoticon...) |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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