I’ve just read the news of the death of Galina Vishnevskaya. I’m taking it a bit hard because she was an important part of my education in classical music. She, of course, created the soprano solo role in Britten’s War Requiem and was also a notable performer in the premiere of Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony. Both of these works meant a great deal to me as a teenager and still do 40 years later. There’s a good obituary in the Guardian.
Earlier this week I fired up iTunes in search of the latest Melvin Bragg “In Our Time” episode and noticed that two podcasts were downloading. The other one turned out to be a new episode of Charles Reid’s “This Opera Life”. Now, Charles’ podcast had been on hiatus for months and I really missed it so I was delighted at this turn of events. I didn’t get a chance to listen to it until I was heading to the market at stupid o’clock this morning. Anyway, to cut to the chase, after an explanation of the hiatus, Charles goes on to say nice things about this blog and the Big COC Podcast. Which is awfully kind of him. Charles’ podcasts are mostly interviews with the ordinary working stiffs of the opera world. Occasionally he hooks a “big name” but mostly not and it’s all the more interesting because of it. I think his archive now has 59 episodes, curiously numbered two to sixty! The latest features director Jonathon Loy. I recommend it highly.
You can find Charles Reid’s podcasts at http://thisoperalife.charles-reid.com/ or on iTunes.
Coincidence and irony just ran into each other at high velocity. Last night my DVD of Boulevard Solitude arrived which, among other things, sent my mind back to the long, hot summer of 1976 when, between IRA bomb scares and hitch hiking around Germany I saw the Covent Garden premiere of We Come to the River; a work which deeply confused my teenage self and put something of a damper on my infatuation with European Modernism. So, I’m a bit ambivalent about Henze’s music but nonetheless much saddened by the news of his death for truly he was one of the giants of Modernism. By way of irony the news arrived while I was listening to Adrienne Pieczonka singing “Die Zeit; die ist ein sonderbar Ding”. So very, very true.
There’s a thoughtful obituary over at The Boulezian.
By request I’ve added a page to the site that covers strategies for saving money on tickets for the Canadian Opera Company. If anyone has similar content for other houses I’d really like to link to it so we have a more comprehensive index of cheap ticket advice. Please let me know.
Nixon in China at the COC
There are an awful lot of opera DVDs about. It sometimes seems like there’s a new Tosca or Traviata out every week, often for no apparent reason. It’s perhaps surprising then that some works don’t make it to DVD. One particularly egregious case would seem to be John Adams’ Nixon in China. It’s a good piece and has had plenty of productions both in North America and elsewhere. A couple of years ago I saw it twice in 24 hours; on a Friday evening at COC followed by the HD broadcast from the Met the following afternoon and I’ve been listening to an audio recording of the COC version on my walk to and from work. But there’s no DVD! I guess that the Met probably planned to release the HD recording but James Maddalena, the Nixon in the recording, was so obviously ill I was actually surprised that he continued after the interval and I guess that scuppered that. Continue reading
I know things have been a bit slow around here lately. Bear with me. I’m dealing with starting a new, very demanding job and with having had cataract surgery last week. That makes it quite hard for me to spend as much time looking at a computer screen as my job requires, let alone blogging in addition. Normal service will be resumed eventually.
Presto Classical has a great clearance sale of DVDs and Blu-rays on right now. I don’t know whether there’s something for everyone here but a Blu-ray of Birtwistle’s Minotaur for $11 is a hell of a deal and there are lots of other goodies similarly priced.
Heaven only knows why it has taken me so long to discover this resource. COC Radio is awesome. Besides educational materials there are streamable audio recordings of every production from the last two seasons.
Some stuff that’s caught my eye recently in the opera blogosphere
Image from the NY production of Émilie pinched from Lucy’s blog
Lucy reviews Kaija Saariaho’s new opera Émilie.
Rob has started a new blog focussed on Regie.
At nonpiudifori there’s a piece on how opera companies can attract teenagers written, shock horror, by a teenager.
The Earworm continues her daily series of posts, most of which are sometimes idiosyncratic but always interesting reviews of opera DVDs.
Von Heute auf Morgen continues to be a great source for news of musical shenanigans in Vienna and Salzburg.
Casting for the upcoming COC production of Die Fledermaus, to be directed by Christopher Alden, was announced back in February with one notable exception. There has been no word on who will take the speaking role of the drunken gaoler Frosch in Act 3. This part is usually played as a buffoon by a second rate comedian(1) so Toronto mayor Rob Ford would seem an obvious choice. Unfortunately it’s a speaking part so that rules him out. Now, apparently, we can expect a ‘crisis of capitalism’ Fledermaus but I’m not sure that leaves me any the wiser.
operaramblings 