La Cieca's cher public are, as in so many aspects of their existence, well ahead of the curve on foreknowledge of casting at the Met in the bel canto and German wings. Perhaps this wintry Friday is a good time to move on to a more semi-substantiated gossip, now on the subject of the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. (Do keep in mind that none of this is set in stone. In fact, given the Gelb administration's penchant for last minute switcheroos, one should probably hold off on booking tickets for 2012 until, oh, 2011 at the earliest.) But, anyway, herewith a few possible highlights of the next five years:
Next season's hot ticket will surely be a rare revival of Ernani starring Marcello Giordani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Thomas Hampson and Ferruccio Furlanetto. That certainly sounds more fun than the new Macbeth "starring" Andrea Gruber, Leo Nucci. Carlos Alvarez, Marco Berti and Roberto Aronica. Will anyone be surprised at massive audience attrition following the second-act demise of Banco (John Relyea/Rene Pape)? Fans of Mr. Berti (if such there be) may expect to hear him as well in revivals of Ballo (shared with Salvatore Licitra, and featuring Dmitri Hvorostovsky's first local Renato) and Aida (alternating with debutant Nicola Rossi-Giordano in an otherwise dismal cast). Renee Fleming offers repeat engagements of La traviata and Otello, with Ruth Ann Swenson optimistically double-cast as Violetta and Johan Botha as the Moor.
Rumors of Ms. Radvanovsky's "buyout" should be dismissed once and for all since she is on the books for two high-profile assignments in 2008-2009, a new Trovatore (opposite Mr. Lictira) and her first in-house Traviata (alternating with Anja Harteros). Those two up-and-coming tenors Giuseppe Filianoti and Joseph Calleja share Duca duties in a Rigoletto otherwise notable only for Diana Damrau's Gilda. And speaking of tenors, Placido Domingo is supposed to cross over to the bass clef for the title role in Simon Boccanegra, but La Cieca will believe that when she hears it.
The big news of '09-'10 is the Met debut of Riccardo Muti leading the company premiere of Attila. There will be singers as well in this production, notably Violeta Urmana and less notably Ramon Vargas, C. Alvarez and Ildar Abdrazakov. Mme. Urmana will also join two other golden-age physiques, Dolora Zajick and Mr. Botha, for Aida. La Radvanovsky's career continues full-tilt in a revival of Stiffelio heavy on hunk-appeal (Jose Cura and Mr. Hvorostovsky), and the Gruber doesn't seem to be going away either: she's up for a repeat of Nabucco.
As we move into the twenty-teens, we can foresee new productions of La traviata (with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in the Willy Decker update) and Don Carlo (probably not with Angela Gheorghiu, though the rest of the cast seems firm enough: Mr. Villazon, plus Luciana D'Intino, Simon Keenlyside/Anthony Michaels-Moore, Rene Pape. Antonio Pappano and Nicholas Hytner will reprise their Covent Garden duties. Also: revivals of I Lombardi (Giordani) and Il trovatore (Fleming). That year may also see Mr. Hvorostovsky's Boccanegra.
The "jackpot" year of 2012 is still pretty much up for grabs, La Cieca hears, with only Falstaff (Bryn Terfel, James Levine) a definite maybe.
26 January 2007
The Verdi is always greener
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I was at this performance, which was (among other things) Nicole Herlea's debut.
I seem to remember that at the end of the friendship duet, Corelli did end on a high note..and my memory is that Herlea immediately took the note with him. (We'll see how my memory is on that one). In any event, that would have gotten Corelli pouting.
Indeed, in the auto-da-fe scene, Leonie sang "E Carlo, qui"..and Carlo was definitely not "qua" (I'm told that he was arguing with his wife about something in the wings). He did show up eventually.
This broadcast also features Dalis' Eboli (her Veil song is particularly good), Tozzi's grand Filippo and, as a bonus, Hermann Uhde's Grand Inquisitor - one of the two best I ever saw in the role (the other was Hotter)
I'm looking forward to this one, for sure.
Mrs F-W (Not to be confused with Mrs F-D, La Varady)
The Anna Russell Orgy
2-4pm Sunday 28 January 2007
Stream at
http://whrb.org
A tribute to an unusual musical comedienne who died this past year, heard in her classic routines, from Gilbert and Sullivan to Wagner’s Ring, on Columbia/Sony recordings.
Scroll down to Sunday, January 28 at
http://whrb.org/pg/JanFeb2007.html
Harvard WHRB Winter Orgy radio broadcasts features Anna Russell 2-4pm Sunday 28 January 2007
all this verdi sounds great but....why revive something like nabucco for example, if you have to have gruber singing abigaille? Same for Aida. Thankfully it seems that in at least one season we'll get urmana, zajick and botha, but recently, Aida at the MET has been notable usually soley for its amneris. I would much prefer less verdi, but verdi that is well cast throughout, not just with one or two "stars". Obviously this goes for any opera, but for me i can deal with a lucia or butterfly where where only the soprano is any good and the rest are passable. (we haven't even been getting that recently) But when i hear aida or trovatore or ballo cast with 3 duds and 1 great singer, it's ruined for me.
I'm glad to see that Anja Harteros is going to sing Violetta. She's sadly underused at the Met. They usually just cast her in Mozart but I've heard good things about her Violetta. And the voice itself is remarkable -- a large and gorgeous lyric voice. Her Donna Anna from a couple of seasons ago was very impressive. Also, she's a very attractive woman (kinda looks like Gherghiou) but I guess she doesn't have a big PR machine behind her.
Speaking of the Marilyn Horne "Prophete" (which is fabulous, BTW), maybe the Met would consider reviving it with Ewa Podles?
I heard Berti as Gabriele to Hvorostovsky's Boccanegra in Houston in October; he's loud and unsubtle but with a good, brash Verdi sound. I'd definitely rank him with or above Licitra or Cura, based on that performance. (Is Gabriele the single most obnoxious tenor in Verdi? Even with the Duke and Alfredo and Ernani as rivals for that honor -- at least they have memorable arias to sing.) (Hvorostovsky was splendid as SB, by the way.)
Why waste Giordani on a small, lyric role like Lombardi? Give him the Attilas, and Vargas the Lombardi, I'd have said. But the Ernani cast looks quite good, and it will be fun to have it back.
Botha is no Verdi singer. Keep him for Wagner and Strauss, where he is as good as the world presently possesses.
Rysanekfreak -- I'd like to hear them revive Prophete for Giordani and Blythe. But my fondest memory of the opera was Quivar's one Fides, quite luscious and as agile as Horne's.
WOW!
What a line up! Now, why couldn't Lyric persuade those name singers to perform here in the Windy City? When all reality, Lyric is a far more beautiful place to sing in.
??????????
First of all, the duet IS in C major. The final written note for the tenor is the C above middle C; the baritone sings the C an octave below that.
Corelli always interpolated at least one C, in Philly he did two. Tudor Mazaroff does the same thing in Vienna with Bruno Walter in the pit no less.
I was at that performance too. Herlea had a huge voice and was very competitive with Franco, his lower C was immense and he hung on to it. Franco was furious. He decided that Herlea was getting too much applause.
He canceled his performance after the Garden Scene (because Irene, who we called "The Toilet", whispered to Corelli, "they like him better than you".
The scene change happened. Then there was this pause. Leonie shrugged and sang, "Oh ciel, qui Carlo?" (It's not supposed to be a question). Suddenly from out of the wings Corelli came flying on. We thought Loretta had kicked him on; she was half his size but she was perfectly capable of doing it.
Mrsjohnclaggart@hotmail.com
Re: Radvanovsky
This is a rumor of course, but the gossip I heard is that: Gelb definitely does not like her as he feels she's not a "star" (like Netrebko, Gheorghiu or Fleming) and the only reason she's doing the Ernani is because whoever he wanted to do it (Renee? Anghela?) turned it down.
Re: Gruber
Years ago, she kicked ass as Abigaille. Sadly those days seem over and all reports seem to be that her voice is in tatters. Very sad.
I wish they'd do Gioconda again. I missed it last year. It's long but great fun.
the 3 Queens at the MET: hot update!
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OK, so Domingo is taking on Simon Boccanegra. Has nobody in the Management of the Houses where he is due to assail the role said anything, or at the very least, raised an eyebrow? It seems that whatever he wants, goes. I love the man. But pleeze.
In the last decade, we have had to suffer Cyrano, the dismal Zefferelli “Hey, there’s a corner of the stage with not much going on. Let’s have more people on stage. I said MORE” Pagliacci. Who can forget the Queen of Spades (I can). The list goes on and on.
Having said that, I hope that Gheorghiu reprises her Amelia. Her Covent Garden performances with Mark Elder a few years ago, were astonishing. Without doubt the best thing I’ve seen her in.
I know it's old news, but the new La Fille du Regiment is a total triumph. I loved this show so much.
nick-
Actually, Domingo will be dropping into Bass cleff sooner than that: In May, he'll be singing the Baritone role of Vidal in Luisa Fernanda here in Los Angeles
Ugh. I can't believe they want to bring that lousy Eurotrash Traviata to the Met. What are they thinking?!
Re: all of these Netrebko plans. This is assuming that she still HAS a voice by that time!
Why do people wonder if Netrebko will have a voice in a few years. I'll be the first person to agree that her Elvira was flawed and that she's not a natural bel canto singer. But, the voice seems healthy and I don't hear her pushing or ruining her voice when I listen to her sing. I do think that over the next several years, she'll probably start to move away from the high-lying bel canto roles.
Because she is taking on too much, too soon and doesn't exactly have the best technique in the world. Only time will tell if she lasts.
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