Author Archives: operaramblings

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About operaramblings

Toronto based lover of opera, art song, related music and all forms of theatre.

Faust as you have never seen it before

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The 2016 Salzburg recording of Gounod’s Faust is challenging.  Perhaps the nine pages of the booklet given over to a concept discussion with the directors should have given me sufficient warning that this was not going to be Faust à la Met.  It’s not.  It’s extremely complex and I’m not sure I fully understand it or whether all the ideas work but I did find it fascinating visually and dramatically, and musically it’s top notch.  That said, traditionalists can save themselves a trip to the ER by walking away now.

1.rien

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Need some opera for Canada Day?

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Well maybe not quite opera but opera related anyway.  Bicycle Opera have a fundraiser karaoke session at the Burdock brewpub (Bloor and Dufferin) from 5pm to 7pm which leaves lots of time for whatever else you have planned that night.  Here’s what’s on offer:

  • Catch a teaser of Sweat – get a sneak peak of this a cappella opera that’s touring Ontario in July and August
  • Enjoy a beer
  • Pedal a bicycle power generator hooked up to a karaoke machine!
  • Try a tune or two while pedalling to power your mic.
  • Enjoy opera singer friends of Bicycle Opera as they serenade you with their favourite guilty pleasures!
  • Make Geoff Sirett bike and sing at the same time!

Tickets are $25 in advance ($23 plus $2 online fee) and $30 at the door.
Tickets include a delicious Burdock craft beer!

Tickets available at: http://burdockto.com/musichall

sirettbeer

Spectacular Die Liebe der Danae

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Richard Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae is one of his least performed operas so it’s not very familiar to most opera goers.  I wrote about its performance history and provided a plot summary in my review of a 2011 recording at the Deutsche Oper, which is the only video recording besides the 2016 Salzburg one which forms the subject of this post.

1.turbans

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Aesthetic Faust marred by dodgy video editing

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I’m ambiguous about Italian regional houses in general but what I’ve seen of the Teatro Regio Torino has impressed.  They have a fine orchestra and a chorus that can sing and act and they are not afraid to take risks.  All of that is very much in evidence on their recording of Gounod’s Faust made in 2015.  The production is designed, directed and choreographed by Stefano Poda and, like rather a lot of his work, it’s long on big architectural statements and large scale stage pictures.

1.books

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Suffragette

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Opera 5’s double bill of Ethel Smyth one acters, Suffragette, opened last night at Theatre Passe Muraille in productions by Jessica Derventzis. The second piece, The Boatswain’s Mate, was in every way the more successful of the two. It’s a straightforward enough story.  Mrs. Waters is a widow and landlord of The Outlaw (renamed in deference to the production’s beer sponsor).  She is being very unsuccessfully courted by retired boatswain Harry Benn.  Mrs. Waters doesn’t want or need a husband but Benn decides that by enlisting a casual acquaintance, the former soldier Ned Travers, as a fake burglar from whom he can “rescue” the hapless landlady, he can impress her sufficiently.  Much mayhem ensues but the upshot is that Mrs. Waters takes a shine to the hunky soldier and they, at least, live happily ever after.

O5-The Boatswain's Mate #3

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Carmina Burana

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Last night the TSO gave the last concert of the Decades Project.  Starting, inevitably, with a sesqui, the first half continued with a fine performance of Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Nicola Benedetti as soloist.  In some ways it’s an odd piece to use to characterise the 1930s (but then so is Carmina Burana!).  It’s high romantic in tone and style.  Lush even.  It’s also extremely well crafted with a rather luscious part for the soloist played quite beautifully by Ms. Benedetti.

Nicola Benedetti, Peter Oundjian @Jag Gundu

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Monochrome Nabucco

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Daniele Abbado’s production of Verdi’s Nabucco, recorded at Covent Garden in 2013 was the vehicle for Placido Domingo taking on yet another Verdi baritone role.  It’s set in the 1940’s because, Jews.  At least it’s costumed that way because nothing else about the production has any kind of sense of time or place.  It’s virtually monochrome and quite abstract.  The Temple is represented by a set of upright rectangular blocks which are toppled at the appropriate moment.  The idol of Baal is a sort of wire frame that comes apart rather undramatically and so on.  There’s also nothing in the direction to suggest any kind of concept.  It’s quite straightforward with rather a lot of “park and bark”.  There’s some use of video projections behind and above the action but it’s rather hard to figure them out on video as they tend to appear in shot rather fleetingly.

1.pillars

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Bicycle Opera in Hamilton

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bear_on_bikeThe full schedule of events around Bicycle Opera Project’s weekend in Hamilton in conjunction with the Hamilton Workers’ Arts and Heritage Centre have now been announced.  We are looking at the weekend of July 15th/16th and the details are as follows:

Saturday, July 15th
2:00 pm  |  Hamilton Labour History Bike Tours (registration link)
6-8 pm  |  Handmade Marketplace at WAHC
8 pm  |  Sweat (link to tickets)

Sunday, July 16th
10:30 am  |  Hamilton Labour History Bike Tours (registration link)
12-2 pm  |  Handmade Marketplace at WAHC
2 pm  |  Sweat (link to tickets)

It’s all pay what you can.  Registration in advance is required for the bike tours. Full details on the tour and Sweat are here.

Seven Sins at the Symphony

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Last night’s Decades series concert featured three works from the 1930s plus a sesqui.  The sesqui, Andrew Balfour’s Kiwetin-acahkos; Fanfare for the Peoples of the North was definitely one of the more interesting of these short pieces.  There were elements of minimalism combined with a nod to Cree/Métis fiddle music.  Quite complex and enjoyable.  It was followed by Barber’s rather bleak Adagio for Strings and the Bartók Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.  It’s familiar enough fare and was well played by the orchestra under Peter Oundjian.  I particularly enjoyed some of the weird percussion/celesta effects in the third movement of the Bartók.  But really I was there for the second half of the program.

sds3

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