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| Opera HD [message #36493] |
Sat, 13 November 2010 21:06  |
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 Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA |
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Opera HD is here.
"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36495 is a reply to message #36493 ] |
Sat, 13 November 2010 22:04  |
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So tomorrow may be the story of ‘Nine-fingered Alicia and the Ring of Doom’.
groan...
(Hope her finger gets better soon.)
FairyTales - http://xkcd.com/872/
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36500 is a reply to message #36493 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 02:04 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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The Met's Live in HD IS slick and cool and classy, isn't it? I saw Rheingold last month in a comfortable movie theater and mostly loved it (I wasn't nutso about the closeups, but that's a small bone to pick), and will absolutely be in the theater for Walkure come May.
The theater wasn't full, but there was a pretty decent audience, and I'm happy to say that I wasn't at the youngest end of the age range either. And the seats were general admission, so the only people getting a crick in their neck from being too close to the screen were the ones who wanted to be there. No champagne, alas. (Aside from the fact that it was in a multiplex, it was 12:00 noon.) There were a few people with popcorn, but luckily they weren't sitting by me.
I don't plan on giving up my MN Opera subscription, but these performances are the next best thing.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36501 is a reply to message #36498 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 03:33 |
CathyR
Messages: 574
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England |
Senior Member |
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| Audrey Falconer wrote on Sun, 14 November 2010 05:13 |
Hey, I'm an opera-going bell ringer!
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And I'd *like* to be an opera-going bell ringer! Just checked the listing for my local multiplex, but no joy with Met HD performances - will have to search more widely ...
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36513 is a reply to message #36510 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 14:44 |
CathyR
Messages: 574
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England |
Senior Member |
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As an opera novice, I'd welcome some starter opera recommendations as well. Not necessarily only from the Met HD repertoire (which are being shown in Liverpool). I've heard of Bryn Terfel; do you think Die Walkure would be "too much" to start with?
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36515 is a reply to message #36511 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 16:25 |
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| blondviolinist wrote on Sun, 14 November 2010 14:14 |
| AJLR wrote on Sun, 14 November 2010 12:10 |
Hmm...you're sure this wasn't Jodi, in disguise?
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My thought exactly.
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I told you guys not to tell her. *scowl*
Smooshes!
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36520 is a reply to message #36513 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 19:07 |
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Robin
Messages: 6000
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
Senior Member
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YES. Give yourself a break. Do NOT start with Wagner!!!!!!!
. . . I'll have to give this a little thought. Off the top of my head, Carmen has one of the best *stories* in that if you took the music away it would still make sense. You do learn to go with the flow and accept (say I) that in *opera* it's about the *music*, but as a learner, Carmen is good, and the music is ravishing. The other one with a brilliant plot in an entirely different, admittedly often slapstick way, is The Marriage of Figaro. And Figaro is a fabulous ensemble piece--one of the slight problems with Carmen is that it stands or falls on its Carmen. It also has a happy ending. (Both of them, just by the way, have the sort of tunes you leave the theatre humming. Figaro is the one I personally try to take opera newbies to. It's also probably the most forgiving if there's a slightly weak cast member.) I adore Verdi, and, Shakespeare not-a-fan that I am, I think Verdi turned that ranting prolix play Othello into a gorgeous, breathtaking opera. And then there's Gluck's Orfeo and Eurydice if you might find early opera easier to engage with than the later, lusher stuff. . . .
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36522 is a reply to message #36520 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 19:33 |
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Robin
Messages: 6000
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
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. . . I'm just looking at this year's Met HD. Gah. It so depends on your own taste, susceptibility, experience of and exposure to music generally--and ability to suspend your disbelief. Don Carlo is *magnificent* . . . but LONG. The Girl of the Golden West is Puccini, who is a crowd pleaser, and she's a proper kick-ass heroine (she's who Minnie, our O&C director, is named after) in a medium where these are vanishingly rare, but the plot will give you a headache. Nixon in China . . . don't bother. (Yes, I've seen it.) Iphegenie is a possibility--it's *short*. It is earlier--it's going to sound more like, uh, Handel than Tchaikovsky: the lines are simpler although the ornamentations are twiddly, and the orchestra isn't nearly as huge. You do have some disbelief suspending to do, but it's all Greek gods, which makes it easier. Lucia is one of the oldest and hoariest of the operatic war horses and you SO have to get a grip on yourself to cope with Lucia herself who is possibly the wettest heroine ever to have crawled across the stage. But the mad scene is one of *the* dramatic set pieces of all theatre. And if you can stop wanting to slap her and tell her to get a grip, the music is superb. (Oh, and Dessay is terrific.) Le Compte Ory is VERY VERY SILLY. I don't think I recommend that one. Capriccio . . . I have kind of a love/hate thing with Strauss, and I personally feel this one exposes his chilly, manipulative side a little too graphically, although Fleming (who is a bit of the ice goddess herself) was made to sing Strauss and he does loooooove his sopranos. Il Trovatore . . . sigh. I adore Il Trovatore, but it's got one of the dumbest most you *what*? You're *who*? *Seriously*? plots of ALL opera, and that's going some. One of the ways to think about Italian opera, I've long thought, is to remember that mostly it's about *teenagers.* They're all rotten with hormones and volatile as firecrackers. I think the troubadour is even stated as being 16. So of course he's a hysterical nutter, and his girlfriend too. And I'm going to learn the mad gypsy's famous aria. Never mind that it's ridiculous; it's great theatre. And Die Walkure . . . well. Wagner. It's taken me a long time to get to Wagner myself, and I've loved Verdi almost all my life. Wagner *worships* himself so much and he has ZERO sense of humour. The music is amazing, but it's big and it's heavy. For a few people it's an instant love thing. For most of us you want to start somewhere else first and work up to it.
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36528 is a reply to message #36522 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 21:44 |
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So what's your take on Butterfly? It was one of my father's favorites, so I saw it at a fairly young age in Fort Worth. Scrumptious music, I think, and a more reasonable plot that most (Butterfly is also a teenager, isn't she?) NOT, of course, a happy ending. Since Carmen and Butterfly and La Boheme were my intro to opera, it was a while before I discovered that there was even such a thing as operatic happy endings!
I do love the ones that have six or eight people all singing at the same time in faboulous harmony, in three or four totally separate conversations. It does make it hard for these new-fangled projected subtitles, which I haven't decided if I approve of or not.
edited to add -- Have to disagree with you about Amahl. Not "grand opera," I guess, but I think it's pretty good opera.
[Updated on: Sun, 14 November 2010 21:49]
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36533 is a reply to message #36493 ] |
Sun, 14 November 2010 22:47 |
Caryn
Messages: 31
Registered: October 2008
Location: Vancouver, Canada |
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Isn't Mariusz marvelous? I fell madly in love with him in Lucia a couple years back. Then I was devastated to learn he'd done a concert HERE and I'd not known how fabulous (and sexy) he was and I DIDN'T GO. And then he was ill and couldn't sing Escamillo in Carmen when it was broadcast last season. Teddy may have been good and Mariusz didn't get good reviews when he did try, but I so missed him.
Very pleased you're as addicted as I am to the Met opera broadcasts. That's why I couldn't make it to the originally planned Pegasus meet here in Vancouver, and they kindly delayed it until I could get there. (Took pictures which Kim will be sending along.)
Most theatres also show encore performances of the operas, thank heavens, and you can often trade your ticket for an encore if something comes up. I missed Das Rheingold because I was in England, so I'm seeing it next Saturday. (The Europe trip which was supposed to last a month but lasted all of three days because I got a virus and nearly passed out so I came home and stayed in bed for two weeks.) (I had a ticket to Carmen at La Scala, damnit!) (So it goes.)
I haven't decided whether to go to Golden West yet -- Marcello is good, but he doesn't excite me like Mariusz does, and it's the one Puccini I haven't hummed. What do you think?
(A friend who attended the Gala at the Met where Mariusz sang claimed that (they had banners of former Met stars hanging) Maria Callas winked at him. I can believe it. He's just got that spark.)
If you saw "The Audition" of the 2007 Met Auditions, you may remember the scowling Sicilian tenor who complained bitterly that he probably wouldn't get anywhere because he didn't have reliable high Cs. Well, he's singing in our local Lucia next month, and I'm going to hear him (and the rest of the excellent cast) on my birthday, same day as I see Don Carlo Live from the Met. Long day of excellent opera. That's the way to celebrate a 56th birthday. Or any other, actually.
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36542 is a reply to message #36528 ] |
Mon, 15 November 2010 02:05 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| abigailmm wrote on Sun, 14 November 2010 20:44 |
So what's your take on Butterfly? It was one of my father's favorites, so I saw it at a fairly young age in Fort Worth. Scrumptious music, I think, and a more reasonable plot that most (Butterfly is also a teenager, isn't she?) NOT, of course, a happy ending.
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I think Butterfly is an opera to watch rather than listen to, unless you know it already; some of the music has much more impact as accompaniment to what's on stage--I'm thinking for example about the long orchestral passage when Butterfly is watching for Pinkerton's ship to dock and for him to come up to her house. And Butterfly can be devastating--I took someone to see it who didn't know opera especially and didn't know Butterfly at all, and she was absolutely blown away. It doesn't leave much doubt that opera is a powerful art form, that's for sure.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36546 is a reply to message #36493 ] |
Mon, 15 November 2010 02:59 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2729
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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I don't know Le Comte Ory, but Rossini's comedies are pretty good fun even when silly, and this one has a splendid cast. For an intro to Italian grand opera, Verdi's epic of testosterone poisoning Trovatore ranks right up there, in fact probably goes over the top. Lucia is all about coloratura; some people love it, some people don't, but it's an exemplar of the bel canto style.
I'd agree that this year's HD line-up isn't ideal for new operagoers. As starters, I'd second the suggestions already made--Carmen, Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro . . . I think I might add Tosca, because it's not too long, has a tight story, great arias, and a terrific villain. And maybe Rigoletto, for the same reasons.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Opera HD [message #36560 is a reply to message #36542 ] |
Mon, 15 November 2010 11:39 |
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Robin
Messages: 6000
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
Senior Member
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I had thought of mentioning the Barber which I love (but I could be here all day/night  ) but I would *so* never recommend Butterfly for a beginner, and it always interests me that so many other people do. I was actually a late comer to Puccini who seemed to me the too-flashy end of Italian opera, and I got there at last via La Boheme and then much later Il Trittico (especially Suor Angelica) . . . at which point I was finally ready to tackle Butterfly again. The problem with Butterfly that I'm amazed doesn't seem to be general is that even more than with Carmen, a production stands or falls on Butterfly herself and I think she's nearly impossible to get right. Mirella Freni, yes, almost everybody else, no. That first scene when she comes simpering on and says she's only 15 is frequently *toe curlingly* icky. Which blows the rest of the opera--for me. I would NEVER, EVER, EVER take a beginner to *see* Butterfly unless I'd already seen the production and ESPECIALLY the soprano in the title role first.
But I'm clearly in the minority because it's always one of the ones that comes up as beginner friendly. I *would* consider taking a beginner to La Boheme. It's a bit more of an ensemble, the plot makes reasonable sense, and the very end when everyone knows but Rodolfo, is heart breaking. That said, I do agree that a *good* Butterfly will turn you inside out. Un Bel Di comes alive all over again, however many MILLIONS of times you've heard it and yes, the flower song and the humming chorus . . . oh, gods, I'm crying into my keyboard here.
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