operaramblings

John's opera ramblings

Hunchback Hoffmann

Posted on August 18, 2015 by operaramblings

Giancarlo del Monaco’s production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann recorded in Bilbao in 2006 isn’t nearly as weird as the interviews on the first disk might lead one to expect. It has its moments but in many ways is more “by the book” than the Laurent Pelly production I looked at last week. The interviews talk of a “Sartrian” Hoffmann and a Freudian approach to Antonia. Ok so Hoffmann is portrayed as a hunchback and he’s fairly damaged but he’s basically your standard drunk poet fixated on a woman or women he can’t have. I can’t actually see this dude nailing his hand to a nightclub table with a knife or drowning his cat to prove a point.

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Born to the anvil, not the hammer

Posted on August 11, 2013 by operaramblings

Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve is often credited with being the first true Spanish opera. It’s certainly one of very few works in that language one might encounter in an opera house. It’s hard to see why it’s not performed more often. It’s a dramatic story about the tragic love affair of a gtpsy girl and a wealthy young man and the music is a blend of verismo and flamenco. The orchestration is quite exciting and the Spanish influenced vocal lines are very easy on the ear. It really ought to have a rather wide appeal.

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