tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post4632108744654930832..comments2024-03-16T06:23:29.917-07:00Comments on The Reverberate Hills; or The Apotheosis of the Narwhal: Teseo, take twoPatrick J. Vazhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-7287589416745087102013-04-16T22:44:44.051-07:002013-04-16T22:44:44.051-07:00JM, yeah, I really did write that. Otello has a lo...JM, yeah, I really did write that. <i>Otello</i> has a lot of great music but dramatically it just does not hang together very well. The libretto compresses the action too much and doesn't provide time for the situations to unfold. I have a really hard time believing what I see on the stage.<br /><br />Yeah, Norma. I find it more dramatically effective than Otello. It has some great music!Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-18476753299782472632013-04-16T18:59:28.709-07:002013-04-16T18:59:28.709-07:00JM: Glad I was persuasive, but if I'm remember...JM: Glad I was persuasive, but if I'm remembering correctly you are not a big fan of baroque opera, and so any Teseo would be at a disadvantage with you. Also, you didn't ask, but no, Otello is not in my list of top Verdi (meaning my favorites). In no particular order:<br /><br />Trovatore<br />Rigoletto<br />Falstaff<br />Un Ballo in Maschera<br />La Forza del Destino<br />Simon Boccanegra<br />Don Carlo/s<br /><br />That's 7. I could easily come up with lesser favorites or ones I don't know as well to fill out a top 10. Otello just doesn't make my list, though of course such lists are always subject to revision.<br /><br />I'll let Lisa defend Norma, if she is so inclined. I love it, but if you don't, you don't.<br /><br />Mike: I saw that second SFO performance, with Voigt, and Ariadne immediately became my favorite Strauss opera. Sadly for me, since it was her voice that made me love the art form, I never saw the great Leontyne Price in an opera, though I heard her in recital fairly often when I lived in Boston, and she often did opera arias.<br /><br />I've read Abbe Prevost's novel of Manon Lescaut, and though it's quite entertaining it honestly struck me as almost a self-parody -- it sounded very much like the parodies of romantic fiction that Jane Austen wrote in her young days.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-91439847278675978942013-04-16T17:20:38.228-07:002013-04-16T17:20:38.228-07:00Well, I saw Domingo in Otello with Katia Ricciarel...Well, I saw Domingo in Otello with Katia Ricciarelli I believe, and it was thoroughly satisfying and exciting. As for Ariadne auf Naxos, seen it at least twice in perfect productions (once with Leontyne Price and once with Voigt here at SFO). "Manon Lescaut" you can have.. Seen it twice with the great L. Price again and also the recent Mattila version, and laughed derisively through both productions. Sola perduta e abbandonata it can remain.<br /><br />Glad you enjoyed the Handel. I'm doing an early music sabbatical for a while.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-87693848407317086312013-04-16T16:16:27.592-07:002013-04-16T16:16:27.592-07:00Lisa, I cannot believe you just wrote "I cons...Lisa, I cannot believe you just wrote "I consider Otello the most overrated opera in the Italian repertory." Seriously? Just because it's hard to catch a decent live performance of it doesn't make it over-rated. It's certailt brilliant, an easy lock for anyone's Verdi top 10, many would have it in the top 5, and many would argue it's his best and be convicing in the process. <br /><br />Now, as for over-rated Italian, I would have to put Norma at the top of that list. <br /><br />Regarding Teseo, I was offered a ticket by a friend to the Thursday performance and turned it down- much to my dismay after reading this.John Marcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17616296400880495672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-80520030752719900612013-04-16T08:42:12.853-07:002013-04-16T08:42:12.853-07:00Maybe it is time for me to do a Ones That Got Away...Maybe it is time for me to do a Ones That Got Away posting.<br /><br />I missed Rossini's <i>Otello</i> when it was done at SFO, which I now regret, of course, though I have a recording of it. And yeah, with you all the way on <i>Falstaff</i>.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-21597617100783853212013-04-16T08:13:04.519-07:002013-04-16T08:13:04.519-07:00I have also seen Rossini's Otello, which in so...I have also seen Rossini's Otello, which in some ways I prefer because it's just so different from Shakespeare's that I don't end up comparing them.<br /><br />I'd rather see Falstaff any day.<br /><br />It is very odd to me that sometimes the performances that haunt my memory the most are the ones I ended up not seeing.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-31724480433227765032013-04-16T08:06:14.782-07:002013-04-16T08:06:14.782-07:00Yeah, I consider Otello the most overrated opera i...Yeah, I consider <i>Otello</i> the most overrated opera in the Italian repertory. I would like to see a really great live performance of it but Domingo dropped the role long ago and Martinelli is long gone.<br /><br />You can't see everything, but we all have performances we're kicking ourselves over missing.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-84784617896595923262013-04-16T07:38:49.235-07:002013-04-16T07:38:49.235-07:00I keep thinking that if I heard a really great liv...I keep thinking that if I heard a really great live Otello I would be converted, but as I have said before I just do not warm up to that opera -- I can't help comparing it to Shakespeare's richer and stranger play. So maybe I'd be better off hoping for Teseo #3.<br /><br />I am still kicking myself though over not going to the Ariadne auf Naxos at Boston Lyric Opera -- that was the performance that put Deborah Voigt on the map. People still talk about it. I think I was just, you know, overbooked and tired and broke that week.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22361479.post-35178229080810475232013-04-16T07:20:05.821-07:002013-04-16T07:20:05.821-07:00I've seen Otello three times, none of them rea...I've seen <i>Otello</i> three times, none of them really satisfactory. Two good <i>Teseo</i> performances beats that any day.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.com