netrebko

Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener Staatsoper
$24.98
Arrived very promptly. An excellent version. All the characters well very played, as well as good singing voices the acting was superb

Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazon: Duets
$16.98
The singers voices are superb individually and blend together wonderfully. The selections include some often heard favorites as well as some duets from operas not so frequently performed and these were a gift. A wonderful album.

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor / Netrebko, Beczala, Kwiecien, Metropolitan Opera
$34.98
Before I mention the singing and music itself I actually want to mention the Zimmerman production first. Some may find it confusing, but in my opinion it actually makes more sense than a 1600s stage - Scott's original novel is a very Victorian book despite its setting. It frequently mentions the supernatural. This opera was also written in a time when Europe was fascinated by ghost stories and frightening themes. Scotland was also seen as a mysterious place to Italy on the surface - a misty and ghostly island with cloudy cold mornings in the autumn (the set seems to show late autumn when trees are bare and the land is dry). The opera itself is very appealing to its time period with such themes, so I see nothing detrimental about staging it in a Victorian era. To me, it almost makes things fall into place even more.

Some people have complained about the photographer. My main issue with him is that the scene continues to move forward, but the sextet is meant to be a moment frozen in time; the characters wouldn't be continuing the action and THEN suddenly turn to Edgardo. Other than that, the setting seemed alright. The sets and costumes were spectacular. I loved the sky, clouds, and moon in the setting. It gives a frightening atmosphere throughout. The addition of the ghost was a little cheesy for my tastes, but that's just me.

Netrebko was not the best Lucia, but most certainly not the worst I've seen/heard. Her coloratura was not the best unfortunately especially if one has heard other great performances of Lucia. Her acting was definitely convincing. Unfortunately, she fell flat in the high notes, and also sharp on others. It did not ruin it for me; I still enjoyed her performance, but it was a shame to hear some moments not as good as they could have been.

All the singers were spot-on actors. Even the minor roles were great to listen to.

Piotr Beczala's performance of a heartbroken Edgardo is amazing. His tone never faltered. Mariusz Kwiecien's Enrico was frightening in his sinister nature. It's strange, I don't know what others will think but I enjoyed Beczala and Kwiecien throughout but in their duet in act three it seemed their voices didn't blend too well. Perhaps that's just me. Netrebko and Beczala's voices though sounded great together.

In act one, one of the horns was sharp in the garden scene, but it didn't ruin anything. Except for that moment the orchestra was great, and I think Armiliato did a fine job conducting it.

I mean no offense to any fans; I do not think this should have been the performance put on DVD considering their other performances, but this is by no means a bad recording to own. I would recommend it. It's still enjoyable; I ended up watching it twice the day I got it.

Verdi - La Traviata
$29.98
SOURCE:
This is reported to be an assemblage of the several performances of the opera at the Salzburg Festival's Grosser Festspielhaus in August 2005. I rather suspect that there are also some cuts from a dress rehearsal, for there are some points where applause would certainly be expected but only dead silence ensues.

SOUND:
This DVD has the full-bodied resonance of a studio recording, at least for the principal singers. The orchestra in the pit is usually rather distant-sounding, although from time to time, it leaps forward into the listener's lap. The on-stage orchestra--which, of course, never appears on-stage--is always distant and muffled. The chorus and occasionally the comprimarios sound a bit mushy throughout.

I frankly do not believe for one moment that Netrebko and Villazon sounded in the Grosses Festspielhaus as they do on this disk. The resonance and fullness of their voices simply make no sense in the context of that particular theater and that particular stage set. I think that both have been given a bit of body and "sweetened" by the engineers to make them sound more "real."

CAST:
VIOLETTA VALERY, a successful courtesan in her last days, unaccountably attracted to Alfredo - Anna Netrebko (soprano)
ALFREDO GERMONT, a shallow, callow young man with no discernible self-control - Rolando Villazon (tenor)
GIORGIO GERMONT, father of the half-witted Alfredo who falls under Violetta's spell - Thomas Hampson (baritone)
FLORA BERVOIX - Violetta's friend, another successful courtesan - Helene Schneiderman (mezzo-soprano)
ANNINA - Violetta's maid and friend through thick and thin - Diane Pilcher (soprano)
IL BARONE DUPHOL, Violetta's "protector" during her high-flying days, a sensible man who has no use at all for Alfredo - Paul Gay (baritone)
IL MARCHESE D'OBIGNY, a guest at parties thrown by both Violetta and Flora - Herman Wallen (bass-baritone)
IL DOTTORE GRENVIL, Violetta's GP and generally a society doctor (in Acts I and II) - William Schwinghammer (bass-baritone)
IL DOTTORE GRENVIL, a stalking figure throughout the opera who may represent death or fate or the tax collector or the stage director's indigestion, and who may or may not be singing in Act III--it's hard to tell - Luigi Roni (maybe a bass-baritone)
GIUSEPPE, a servant - Dritan Luca
FLORA'S SERVANT - Wolfram Igor Derntl
A MESSENGER - Friedrich Springer
A GUEST - Athol Farmer (who sings, I suppose, like a choreographer)

CONDUCTOR:
Carlo Ricci, with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Konzert Vereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor.

STAGE MUSIC:
Mozarteum Orchester

STAGE DIRECTOR:
Willy Decker, a practitioner of Regietheater, alas.

SET DESIGN:
Wolfgang Grossmann. The set remains unchanged throughout all three acts: a greyish-white concave wall some twelve or fifteen feet high curving all the way from stage left to stage right. The top of the wall has a practical platform from which the chorus can look down on the stage, as though from the top of a battlement. At the base of the wall a curved bench extends across the width of the stage upon which members of the cast can perch like so many frozen haddock. The only entrance to the playing area of the stage is a tall set of greyish-white doors which open and close at stage right. Stage props consist of a large clock, perhaps eight or nine feet in diameter that represents ... er, time, I suppose. The clock lasts for the duration of two-and-a-half acts. Stage furniture consists of a couple of uncomfortable-looking, squared-off sofas which serve as sitting places, hiding places and stages for slightly raunchy exhibitionism.

COSTUMES:
Wolfgang Grossmann and Susana Mendoza. The costuming is simple: black men's contemporary suits with white shirts and black ties for all members of the cast--male and female alike--except for long frock coats (black, naturally) for Papa Germont and the stalking Grenvil-Death figure; Violetta in a red dress and sometimes a white slip, a mute Violetta-successor in a white slip to which is later added a red dress, and a guy in red drag who makes goo-goo eyes at Alfredo ... don't ask. In Act II, the black-suited ensemble don flat face masks ... again, don't ask.

I assume that Ms. Mendoza's function was to walk into a women's shop to buy the red dresses.

CHOREOGRAPHER:
Athol Farmer. His hand is not readily detectable. I suppose some of the milling about might be classed as dancing.

DRAMATURGIST:
Klaus Bestisch, a complete buffoon, if this is a fair sample of his work.

TEXT:
The singers and orchestra offer a fairly accurate and complete rendition of what was written by Verdi and his librettist Piave. The stage director has apparently been exposed to a three-paragraph summary of the plot of "La Traviata" at some time in his career. He has chosen to ignore most of it in order to substitute his own improved notion of what the story should have been and to insert the stalking Death (or whatever) figure that Verdi and Piave inexplicably omitted.

COMMENTARY:
This is a Regietheater (aka Eurotrash) version of Verdi's "La Traviata." As such things go, it's not nearly as obnoxious as it might be. Rather than obscenely disgusting, as the best of Regietheater must be, it is more accurately to be described as wrong-headed and mostly visually boring.

Both Netrebko and Villazon are among the top-ranked of contemporary singers and do very well here, although I found both their acting and their singing styles to be more appropriate for the sweaty, earthy "Carmen" than for the more elegant and formal world of Verdi. That is merely a matter of personal taste, however, and it is perfectly possible that theirs is the proper style for Verdi in the early 21st Century.

I found Netrebko to be just a bit short-breathed for some of Violetta's soaring passages and just a bit too hardy in parts of Act III. I also found Villazon too dramatic tenorish to be an ideal Alfredo, whom I would prefer to be of lighter and more elegant voice. Once again, these are matters of purely personal taste. I must give Villazon full marks, though, for singing his big aria, "De' miei bollenti spiriti," in character and with a straight face while wearing a pair of baggy, blue boxer shorts.

(To those who would damn Netrebko for ignoring certain very high notes, I ask, "Are you out of your minds? What about the other 99.99% of the notes she sang?)

Thomas Hampson is a very big operatic name. Despite that, I found his voice to be too light in weight and too lacking in warmth for the older Germont. To call his acting stick-like would be to overpraise it. (I must admit that it is possible the fault may lie with the director rather than the baritone.) In any case, the singers who did Baron Duphol and Doctor Grenvil of Acts I and II and maybe even the Grenvil of Act III would have been better choices for the part.

Among the performers, the most damaged by the stage director's limited vision are the comprimarios, Flora, the Barone, the (Acts I and II) Doctor, Gastone and the Marchese. All are very good vocally but visually, they are entirely subsumed into the black-suited unisex chorus.

All in all, I regard this as a pretty good performance from Netrebko and Villazon who offer strong, if not especially elegant takes on Violetta and Alfredo. Hampson, to give him the benefit of a doubt, is minimally adequate. The Regietheater production is disrespectful of the material provided by Verdi and Piave--naturally!--but not as awful as it might very well have been.

A weak four stars for the singing and two stars for the dismal staging. Call it three stars overall.

LEC/Am/11-09