Watching the Radio – More Vocal Treasures on Ö1

On Radio Ö1 this week, Chris Tina Tengel hosts two programs of vocal interest.

Apropos Musik from Sunday afternoon is an appreciation of French baritone Gabriel Bacquier, who would have been 90 this year. (He sounds gooooood!)

Stimmen hören provides an overview of recent Lieder recordings featuring clips from Jonas Kaufmann, Paul Armin Edelmann, Maximilian Schmitt, Norbert Ernst, Christian Gerhaher, and several others. Lieder are by the usual suspects, plus Fanny Mendelssohn, Paul Hindemith, and Joseph Marx, to name a few.  Listen to this one first, since it’s only available on 7 Tage Ö1 for a few more days. 

Monday Mozart – Ach Belmonte! Ach mein Leben!

This is Christof Loy’s interpretation of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Loy’s visions don’t always work for me (sometimes they just look low budget), but this performance does work on several levels. I also like the HIP feeling from the Ivor Bolton and the orchestra.

This quartet is the finale of Act 2  (and one of my favorite parts of the opera—it’s almost a little opera by itself), when the lovers are reunited for the first time. We know Konstanze has mixed feelings about seeing Belmonte again (as usual). She starts to go to him, then goes past him; he has to catch her. It seems Belmonte may not be too far off the mark when he asks if she’s in love with Selim. Pedrillo and Blonde seem to be on better terms, and they make up quickly (Pedrillo seems a lot more contrite than Belmonte). Meanwhile, Konstanze is not happy with Belmonte, even as they sing "Viva Love!"

Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander – Bayerische Staatsoper (Review of the Live Webcast)

The Bayrische Staatsoper is live webcasting selected performances this season. This afternoon I saw Peter Konwitschny’s version Der Fliegende Hollander, thanks to reading Intermezzo blog's reminder in time for me to actually watch it.