Sunday, February 26, 2006

The great opera star Placido Flamingo!

After finding that clip of Robin Schlotz on YouTube, to which I was directed to by numerous Opera-L postings as well as by the amazed members of the Yahoo! Gheorghiu and Alagna club, I decided to see what other operatic offerings were available. I regret to say about 90% of what I found when I put "opera" in the site's search function was rank (really rank) amateurs attempting selections from Phantom of the Opera, and a lot of the rest is soap opera stuff! OK, there was Emmy Rossum's screen test for the Phantom film (which I haven't seen yet), and she's not half bad - she interpolated some interesting coloratura into "Think of Me", but it's mostly dire.

But quite to my delight I did find, after about 10 pages of mediocrity, I found two clips with an opera star every child, certainly, should know about: the greatest (and most dangerous), flamingo opera star, Placido Flamingo, a marvelous Muppet introduced on Sesame Street(1) I would guess about 10 years ago. Perhaps more - Richard Hunt, who provided Maestro Flamingo's marvelous tenor voice, has since passed away. Unfortunately, the only pictures I could find of Maestro Flamingo are way too small to be clearly seen here. And I can't find a picture of him with his namesake, although I clearly remember seeing one!

This clip shows a performance of the opera Peligro ("danger" in Spanish) live from the Nestropolitan Opera House ("Live from The Nest", ha ha ha), introduced by a Muppet named Phil Harmonic. The opera itself sounds a little like "That's Amore". Unfortunately, we only get to hear the first act of this masterpiece, for reasons that I will let Mr. Harmonic inform you of.




And this one is a performance (from Pretty Great Performances, live from Barnegie Hall) of the Italian Street Song from Naughty Marietta, where Maestro Flamingo is joined by the Sesame Street All-Animal Orchestra conducted by "world-renowned very good sport" Seiji Ozawa. Yes, that is Maestro Ozawa, not a Muppet version! (2)



(Note: While this may the fault of the computer I've been using, I've found that it takes an awfully long time to download these videos, and they're often interrupted. Once downloaded, however, you should have no trouble replaying them.

Unfortunately, this was all I could find of these delightful "operas" - no La Grouchiata with Wilhelmina Fernandez (and Oscar the Grouch), for example. I am also certain that there must have been a sketch with Maestro Flamingo and his namesake singing together. Not to mention I also would love to be able to find a clip of Meryl Streep taking acting lessons from Meryl Sheep!

I also wish find some of the operas that played on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, created by and starring the wonderful baritone John Reardon. When I was five or six years old I would regularly run home and say "Mama, Mama, there's going to be an opera on Mister Rogers!". Much later, when I was about ten or so, I remember a particular opera about a kitty that wanted to be a star (that is, in the sky), and Reardon was her father. I was absolutely shocked when, after growing up, I bought the incredible La Boheme recording with Jussi Björling, Victoria De Los Angeles, and Robert Merrill, and Reardon was Schaunard! I had no idea he was a "real" opera singer!

(I actually cried when he died, as I did with Fred Rogers)

By the way, speaking of Maestro Flamingo's namesake, I was watching a rerun of The Cosby Show from about 20 years ago where he guest starred. Cliff Huxtable, Bill Cosby's character, is a obstetrician, and Domingo played Alberto, a Spanish colleague who comes to his house for a visit. Domingo, who looks shockingly young (it's been a while since he's had black hair) sings "Besame Mucho", and Cosby's efforts to imitate him are hilarious. After Alberto leaves, Cliff's wife Clair (Phylicia Rahsad) comments on his "rich, strong voice", leading to another round of imitations from hubby!

Domingo (as well as Beverly Sills) also had several quite memorable visits to the Carol Burnett Show, but that's for another time.

(1)For non-American readers of this blog - Sesame Street is one of our oldest and most prestigious children's shows, having been around since I was a baby, maybe before. I'm pretty sure it helped me learn to read - at the age of 2. It is so famous that a great many famous people - actors, singers, musicians, writers, etc. have appeared on it, probably to impress their kids!There are also many different versions of the show in different countries, such as Rechov Sumsum in Israel and Yiftah-ha-Simsim in Arabic-speaking countries. I think the British equivalent (not a clone of the American show like the ones I just mentioned) is TISWAS.

(2) I really hope that a DVD version is released of a marvelous video from Deutsche Grammophon called A Prokofiev Fantasy with Peter and the Wolf. Basically, this is a dramatization, narrated by Sting, with the Spitting Image puppets (probably best known in the US for their contribution to Genesis' "Land of Confusion" video) conducted by Claudio Abbado. It shows what a sense of humor Maestro Abbado has, although that should be evident from his handling of Rossini. Before Peter and the Wolf, the orchestra plays the March in D, during which we see several Spitting Image puppets of conductors - I think Ozawa, von Karajan and Mehta- fighting in the pit until Abbado sweeps in and starts conducting, and then with a morph shot, he turns into a Spitting Image puppet! And this is only the beginning of the fun! The musical program also includes the Classical Symphony and Overture on Hebrew Themes.

Hey, Tony! Have I got a Shepherd Boy for YOU!

Just listen to this 13 year old boy sing a fabulous Queen of the Night aria!



What fabulous Fs! What energy and intensity! What anger in the voice (if not the face), which so many Queens lack! Only very minor intonation problems! What a beautiful swell on the final "Hör"!

He could give some Queens who have sung in major houses a run for their money!

His name is Robin Schlotz and as of last July when this was recorded, he was a member of the Tölzer Knabenchor. He is now 14 and has probably left. I suspect he'll probably grow into a splendid baritone or bass rather than a tenor or countertenor. What a shame it would be to lose all those high Fs! Maybe if we're lucky he'll wind up like "male soprano" Michael Maniaci*.

To explain the title of this post - one of the members of the Yahoo! Gheorghiu and Alagna club, not seeing the credit on this video from You Tube, thought that he was James Savage-Hanford, who played the Shepherd Boy in the Pappano/Gheorghiu/Alagna Tosca (and was also seen being conducted by Tony in the studio scenes in the film, showing off lots of braces) . What a coup Covent Garden would have if they could cast Robin, and have luxury casting even in this role! The aforementioned, and excellent, Master Savage-Hanford is now definitely too old.

Unfortunately, I'm sure the role of the Shepherd Boy in the Covent Garden Tosca in June has already been cast - the management is very good at announcing smaller parts as soon as the season is announced, unlike the Met who waits until the last minute. And it is unknown as to whether Robin can sing in Italian. Also, especially at this delicate stage in his vocal development, one doesn't want to force him to do too much too fast. Although after that aria, the Shepherd Boy's solo would be a walk in the park!

* Who, by the way, is making his Met debut next April as Nireno in Giulio Cesare.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Celeste Amneris?


Aida

Music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni
Performance of Monday night, February 13, 2005, the 1,092nd Metropolitan Opera performance of this work.

Conductor: James Conlon

Aida: Andrea Gruber
Radames: Johan Botha
Amneris: Olga Borodina
Amonasro: Juan Pons
Ramfis: Kwangchoul Youn
The King of Egypt: Hao Jian Tiang
Messenger: Ronald Naldi
Priestess: Jennifer Check

Actually, the title of this post comes from an article or in one of the major opera magazines (probably Opera News, but I'm not so sure) to find a way to make a really long opera really short. The winner went something like: "Rhinemaidens: 'Give us back our gold!' Alberich: 'OK!'" The number two winner was "Radames comes out and sings 'Celeste Amneris'"!

Humor aside, Amneris should be "celeste": an antagonist, yes, but not the outright villain even many of the greatest mezzos (e.g. Fedora Barbieri and Giulietta Simionato) make her; someone who you can feel a twinge of pity for that she can't have Radames and who is as worthy of being loved as much as Aida is. After all, as many opera fans know, Verdi was considering calling this opera Amneris instead of Aida. Thanks to Olga Borodina, a serious candidate for the greatest dramatic mezzo of our age, that was definitely the opera's title in last night's performance. I suspect this would have been true even with a superior singer in the title role. In fact, Olga (1) was the primary reason I made a return visit to this opera this season after seeing it in October.

While Olga cannot compete with the equally marvelous Dolora Zajick for sheer blood and gut vocalism (although her voice is hardly small), she more than makes up for it in terms of nuance, tenderness, and humanity. In fact, vulnerability is one of her strongest suits. This Amneris is clearly a woman on the wrong end of a love triangle, flawed by jealousy but by no means a villain. Listening to her is like wallowing in... I don't know... molten butterscotch? Her timbre is incredibly rich, warm, and ductile, with an almost contraltoish bottom, easy high notes, beautiful phrasing and enormous dynamic and expressive variety. If she is not a "great actress" she still exudes nobility and dignity as much as haughtiness. The Judgement Scene is an utter triumph. My only problem is I would have liked to have seen even half as much expression in her face as I heard in her voice.

[By the way, I hope to have a post up in a few days called "Amneris as 'Pharoah's Daughter'". I mean the one in Shmot (Exodus).]

The first time I heard Johan Botha in Italian opera was about 10 years ago on a CD called The Puccini Experience, where he sang (not very well) many of the major Puccini heroes - in fact, my thought at the time was he was really an overparted comprimario. Far more impressive, I thought, were baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore and a then virtually unknown soprano ... named Angela Gheorghiu. I later heard bits of him in Elektra that was much more impressive, and I figured he was simply better in German opera than in Italian. His Met debut was as Canio in Pagliacci, and I remember by being shocked at how good he was on the broadcast. While I have been very impressed with his Met work in German opera, I hadn't had the chance to hear him in Italian live until now (I missed his Calaf last year, purported to be excellent). Like Ben Heppner, whose German repertory he often shares, his is an essentially lyric, clarion voice, and he took a welcome lyric approach to the role. I was delighted that he actually attempted (although, admittedly, did not quite succeed) to sing the final high B flat in "Celeste Aida" piano, pianissimo, morendo. If anything, his Radames was so sweet and loving that I couldn't imagine him hurting a fly, let alone ransacking Ethiopia! I also admit I prefer a fuller voice in this role. I'll be very happy to hear him sing the title role in Don Carlo next year. However, one of my sources sources sources spoke to Mr. Botha and says that he will be singing Otello at the Met in 2007-2008! That I'm not so sure is a good idea, despite Heppner's triumph.

By the way, Botha's reasonably new disc of Wagner arias on the Arte Nova label, conducted by Simone Young, is wonderful.

I tend to think of Juan Pons as a house baritone - he's at the Met less for the quality of his singing than the fact that he's extremely reliable and dependable and he does what he's told. I also suspect that the fact that he is managed by Herbert Breslin had a lot to do with his long Met career - if you wanted Luciano Pavarotti, you had to take the rest of Breslin's roster (2). I often find him very dull, although because he is often loud, he gets lots of applause. I will, however, give him credit for being a good actor, and his hulking presence is a plus as, say, Rigoletto. Here he gave a good, solid, decently acted but ultimately not very memorable performance - I would have particularly liked more tenderness and/or wheedling in the Nile Scene.

Kwangchoul Youn was certainly a great improvement over Paata Burchuladze earlier - with a firm, clear, focused, well-projected voice as well as an air of authority and supercilliousness. Admittedly, he doesn't have the kind of presence that someone like Rene Pape might, but ironically enough, I think Pape has only sung the King and not Ramfis. I certainly don't think Youn could do the kind of justice to King Marke (which he will apparently be singing in 2007-2008) that Pape could, but maybe a harder, colder Marke might work. However, I would love to hear Youn as Colline, because, as a French critic said about Ildebrando D'Arcangelo in the role for the Decca La Boheme recording with Alagna and Gheorghiu, he actually sounds like a student instead of a dean of the faculty (and if you look at his headshot in the Met Season Book, he looks like one too, especially with the glasses). Incidentally, I wouldn't mind hearing Olga's fab (maybe khorosho is a better word) husband Ildar Abdrazakov as Ramfis, although he also sounds like a young man.

Hao Jiang Tian was an excellent King, if not quite as hugely sonorous as Morris Robinson. This is another singer for whom it is long past time for the Met to be offering major roles - the closest so far have been Timur and Colline. Ronald Naldi as the Messenger was his usual pleasant, reliable self.

And then there's Andrea Gruber.

Oy vey.

Unlike some opera bloggers, I really don't enjoy saying nasty things about singers. Per a number of people I talked to, this was by no means her only bad night. I'll be nice and say I just hope she's having a temporary bad stretch or has been adversely affected by the weather. I suspect, though, that singing Minnie - a known "voice killer"- at Covent Garden this past September probably wasn't the wisest thing to do. I will give her credit for intensity and passion, especially in the first act, as well as some interesting acting choices - for example when she said "Mio padre!" after the Egyptians sing "Amonasro!" "Il Re!", she was absolutely thrilled and proud of her father - for most sopranos, it's a moment of terror or at least secrecy. Or her whispered "Sventurata! Che dissi?"And the top of her voice - rather steely - isn't too bad (despite a high C in "O patria mia" that made me wince), and neither is the very bottom. But the middle of her voice is squally, edgy and curdled, and much of her pianissimo singing was very unpleasant. It was a performance where might wish for the High Priestess (in this case the marvelous and still very underrated Jennifer Check - when is the Met going to give her a major role?) to have sung the title role instead! I'm also by no means the only one who was rather desperately wishing for Angela Brown (whose Met debut in this I missed due to financial hardship, but everybody I know raved and I loved her spirituals album), who was unfortunately in Philadelphia wowing audiences as Cilla in Margaret Garner. At least she is supposedly coming back not only for Aida but also for Un Ballo in Maschera in 2007-2008.

It didn't help matters that the wig Gruber was wearing made her look like some comedienne - Chloris Leachman? A taller Rhea Pearlman? Possibly marvelous New Age composer Constance Demby? A pity as her publicity shots show her as a white-haired glamor lady.

I'll just say that if this is not something temporary that Gruber can fix (and I sincerely hope it is), the Met shouldn't rehire her - and if future performances are this bad, the Met should just buy out her contract. After all, if some far superior singers (Swenson, Hong, Radvanovsky) might have that happen (I hope not), why not her? Admittedly, the Turandot scheduled for next year might work - although I'm sure there are better casting choices - but I'm not looking forward to her Tosca.

I actually noticed James Conlon's conducting this time - notably detail and subtlety in the Prelude, and the fact that he took Ramfis' cries of "Radames! Radames! Radames!", and their echoes in the brass, much faster than usual. I also noted excellent support for Olga during the Judgement Scene - which she did not have under Carlo Rizzi in 1999. I still want to hear a lot more of Conlon before I can judge whether he's a fit replacement for James Levine whenever he leaves (2071, at this rate!). However, I have heard rumors that Peter Gelb is talking to Tony...


(1) Yes, she is one of the artists, like Roberto, Angela, Bryn and Tony, who I think of on a first name/nickname basis. Actually, I tend to think of her as "Olllllllllgaaaaaaa".
(2) This is standard with a lot of managements - you want the big star(s), you have to take the lesser names (and occasionally talents). Admittedly, this is how a lot of young unknowns get exposure.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Selig sind


Well, folks, it's official. After a 3 year absence due to lack of funds, I am finally going to be singing at the Berkshire Choral Festival! I'll be there from July 9th to July 16, and the concert, on July 15th, will be Brahms' magnificent Ein Deutsches Requiem, which I've wanted to sing for ages. Admittedly, this was my second choice, after the Verdi Requiem, but since this was the 25th anniversary of BCF, the people who attended last year got first dibs and signed up then. Two friends of mine from the St. George's Choral Society are going for the Verdi Requiem week, conducted by the legendary curmudgeon Robert Page, under whom I sang Elijah in 2001*. My conductor will be John Alexander, Music Director of the Pacific Chorale. The name and group are familiar, but what they have actually done escapes me - I'm going to have to investigate recordings. Per Amazon they've done a few contemporary pieces like Richard Danielpour's Requiem, but not Brahms'. Actually, my third choice was the Mozart Requiem with a conductor I'm dying to work with, Jane Glover, but my priority is always works I haven't sung over works I have.

Das Grass ist Verdorret - The grounds of the Berkshire School, where the Choral Festival rehearses and performs. Here the choristers are all lined up for a concert.

I just love Brahms' vocal works. Brahms is for the alto voice what Puccini is for the soprano voice. His alto lines are often considerably more beautiful and interesting than the ones he wrote for soprano. When I first "sang" the Requiem - a runthrough at one of the many choral summer sings given in New York City - it felt so unbelievably right. I don't read music all that well and I certainly can't sight-sing (the reason I'm not in more "prestigious" choruses), but I knew exactly what was coming next - it wasn't predictable as much as totally natural and organic. I love the four Opus 17 songs for women's voices, horn, and harp , as well as the Nänie, almost as much. And one of these days I dream of being the soloist in the Alto Rhapsody. Maybe even the two songs for alto and viola...

And Berkshire, even without the singing, is an absolutely wonderful experience. The scenery is just drop-dead gorgeous (the above picture doesn't even remotely do it justice), although sometimes I wish we could be there in the fall when the foliage turns, but then the Berkshire School is in session. You can see stars - and even whole constellations! - at night, which you can't in New York City. There are field trips every day to places like the Norman Rockwell Museum and the Hancock Shaker Village, and we even go to Tanglewood on Friday nights (and this time it's a really great concert - James Levine conducting Guerrelieder!). They also have two voluntary classes a day on everything from the composer of the week to rounds to South African songs. The food is pretty good, too, although someone has to tell the kitchen that ice cream and singing usually don't mix.

The only drawback is that it's dorm living (although I've had single rooms in the years I've been there), and if you're not in the air conditioned dorm (which costs extra and apparently has very thin walls so you can hear everything you don't want to hear) you need to bring or rent a fan. I didn't find this a problem. Oh, and the last time I went, I had tons of mosquito bites on my feet, and no Lanacane. Witch hazel controlled the worst of it until I got to the bus station in Sheffield to go home and found some calamine lotion.

Because I'm under 40 and they desperately want "young people", I get a nice discount - a whole week will be only $500 (as opposed to about $800) plus cost of music (about $10) and transportation (probably about $40). Oh, yes, I'll have to buy a new white shirt and black skirt. I hope I can handle this and London at the same time.

They also have weeks at Canterbury Cathedral (if I'm lucky, maybe next year it will dovetail with something irresistable at Covent Garden - this year it was the Bach Saint John Passion which I will not touch with a 10-foot pole, even if they remove the anti-Semitic elements as some choruses do), and in Salzburg (which almost always coincide with the Jewish High Holy Days). Unfortunately, they no longer have weeks in Santa Fe, where I could have gone to the Santa Fe Opera and seen a spectacular sky, although I would have probably needed to get there early to acclimate to the altitude.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this - and I wonder if the soloists will be anyone I'm familiar with?

* Then again, at least for the altos, Elijah is a very easy work - nothing musically difficult like, say, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (which I've also sung at Berkshire). All you have to do is learn the notes and do what the conductor tells you to. As a matter of fact, Maestro Page said he was very impressed by how prepared the altos were! I imagine, though, for the Verdi Requiem, and for Honneger's Jeanne D'Arc de Bucher, which is where he got his reputation, the situation would be much different.


Sunday, February 05, 2006

Tentative "Traviata" twitterings



Angela Gheorghiu as Violetta in Act III (or as the Met plays it, Act II, Scene II) of La Traviata.


Since I intend to see virtually all the performances of La Traviata starring Angela Gheorghiu (and possibly the February 23 performance with Mary Dunleavy as well), I have decided to wait until the end of the run to do a full and comprehensive review. This probably means after February 27, since her last performance, on March 3, is a Friday night - and I don't think I'm interested enough in seeing José Luis Duval, the second-cast tenor, to violate Shabbat (1).

But right now, I have to say that at last, at last, we have the real thing as Violetta. Angela was just glorious. I can't quite say seeing her portrayal last night was worth the 8 year wait - since I firmly believe that her previous absence from this production was due to backstage skullduggery at the Met and not her (or Roberto's) "whims" or "difficulty" - but it was easily her greatest triumph here (2). Never have I seen a more beautifully sung, physically expressive, deeply felt, emotionally moving Violetta. If anything, her portrayal reminded me of Ferruccio Furlanetto's equally stunning King Phillip last season - so full of subtlety and nuance that someone who wasn't sitting very close or didn't have a good pair of binoculars might not even notice the details (3). My criticisms are mostly picky and can wait until later - although I did miss some of the manic energy she showed on the Solti video (with an inferior supporting cast)

This supporting cast was not inferior. Indeed, this was a wonderful ensemble. Jonas Kaufmann made a quite an auspicious Met debut. His voice is a little darker and more baritonal than I would like for Alfredo, but is rich and warm. He flubbed the high C at the end of "O mio rimorso" (slightly flat), but I suspect that may have been due to the weather, and the overall performance was so fine I was more than willing to forgive him. Frankly, I got more pleasure from him than I did from Rolando Villazon in Rigoletto on Wednesday. He's an excellent actor, vocal and physical who had good chemistry with Angela - and (not that it matters all that much?) he looks like a romance novel cover. Or a fairy-tale prince, which should be very appropriate considering next year's Tamino. Pictures will be provided in the full review.

Anthony Michaels-Moore's voice is much bigger than I would think from his Met Silvios and Marcellos, rich, dark, powerful and warm. He brought out Germont's rectitude, authority, sympathy, and eventual self-recrimination. He may yield to Dwayne Croft for subtlety and a clearer arc of the evolution of feeling towards Violetta, but, but is still a fine actor and also had good chemistry with Angela. Based on this, I wouldn't mind hearing him in some of the really big Verdi roles - maybe even Rigoletto.

Due to the talent and charisma of the singers, and the restaging (especially of Act I, "demanded" by Angela) makes a heck of a lot more sense (4). Thanks to this, the characters of the comprimarii - particularly Dr. Grenvil (LeRoy Lehr) and Baron Douphol (John Hancock) - are a lot clearer. Best of the small roles is the vastly underrated Earle Patriarco as the Marquis.

Oh, yes, Angela's new costumes are gorgeous (but lose the fur, please). Now why was she so "difficult" for asking for them when Divine Renee could bring her own with no problem?

This is easily the best Traviata I've ever seen, and can hold its own with some famous recordings. What a shame this wasn't telecast. And since Angela's future plans at the Met, while mostly mouthwatering, do not include Violetta to the best of my knowledge, go and savor this while you have the chance.

(1) Although per the MP3 files on this website, Duval sounds wonderful, if a little too loud in places. There are a few opera arias and Mexican songs, but it's mostly musical theater songs (Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Oklahoma, South Pacific, etc.) sung in Spanish.

(2)Then again, I say that every time Angela unveils a new role at the Met!

(3) And rumor has it that Furlanetto will be singing Jacopo Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra opposite Angela's Amelia next season. Oh, frabjous day!

(4) Unfortunately, that stupid stage elevator in the final act going from Violetta's boudoir to her living room to immense applause, destroying "Addio del passato", is still there!

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Minor correction to "Idiot" post

Antonio Pappano is not conducting the June performances of Le Nozze di Figaro - Sir Colin Davis is. Of course, he's not exactly chopped liver, and I've never heard him conduct an opera (unless you want to count the Verdi Requiem as one - I heard him conduct that twice). Tony is conducting the January and February performances, and according to the reviews I've been reading, he's playing the harpsichord continuo as well (I wonder if Sir Colin will do the same?). David McVicar's production, updated to the 1830s (which is when Les Miserables takes place) does look interesting. Pity I won't get to see it, at least this year, without a miracle. The later Tosca performances are now almost sold out.