Watching the Radio – Opera on Concerthuis 4

From Radio 4 in the Netherlands: More reasons to spend time in front of your computer!

Handel: Orlando* 

Bejun Mehta

Sunhae Im

Lenneke Ruiten

Rene Jacobs conducting (2014)

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte

Miah Persson

Topi Lehtipuu

Daniel Schumutzhard

Rene Jacobs conducting (2012)

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Anders Dahlen

Lenneke Ruiten

Cynthia Seiden

Frans Brüggen conducting (2011)

Tchaikovsky: Mazeppa

Lado Ataneli

Gelena Gaskarova

Yuri Kissin

Alexander Vedernikov conducting (2014)

Happy listening!

*This one is great fun! I just finished listening to it, and I'm ready to do it again!

Bejun Mehta – Burger Queen?

Opera singers have to put up with some pretty fluffy interview questions:  

Barbara Streisand or Pierre Boulez? 

Maria Callas or Cecilia Bartoli?

Gym Queen or Burger King? 

Who thinks up these questions? 

Messiah – Theater an der Wien, 2009 (Part 3: Not Your Mother’s Messiah, Either)

Claus Guth's staging of Handel's Messiah is strange and wonderful; weird and exquisite; disturbing and comforting. 

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion

Wonderful, exquisite, and comforting all describe the musical performance; and all six adjectives describe the staging. His alienating gray and institutional set is on a turntable, making scene changes swift. This plus the stark contrasts of light and shadow give the production a cinematic feeling. 

Messiah – Theater an der Wien, 2009 (Part 2: Strange and Wonderful)

I noted in the previous post that Claus Guth has chosen to add a new layer of narrative to Messiah. He builds on the emotions and images from Handel's text, but doesn't stage the oratorio in a literal way.

The action begins at a funeral. People are sad, some are angry. In Every valley the minister (tenor Richard Croft) preaches comfort, but is uneasy, and seems to know more than he is telling. An angry man, perhaps the deceased’s brother (bass Florian Boesch) opens the casket to reveal that the deceased slashed his wrists. Another brother (?) (countertenor Bejun Mehta) freaks out, exhibiting remorse, fear, grief, and anger. Meanwhile, the chorus seem to be the people that are walking in darkness. Asking, questioning, reassuring, usually clustering together or moving close to walls, and almost always moving as a unit.

Handel: Theodora – Salzburg 2009: I Respectfully Dis-regie

I have nothing but praise for the musical quality of this performance of Handel’s oratorio. Each soloist is top notch (both singing and acting), the Salzburger Bachchor is outstanding, and I don’t think the Freiburger Barockorchester can do anything wrong.  However, I feel neutral-to-negative about the overall package.

Director Christof Loy thinks the oratorio has no narrative, so he doesn’t bother to deal with it. I happen to disagree with him, but he somehow forgot to consult with me.  The Groβes Festspielhaus is hardly an ideal venue for this intimate work. However, Loy notes that the massive stage helps him create an “installation” in which intimacy appears to be “threatened in the most extreme ways.” I admire him for attempting to turn a liability into an advantage, but I don’t buy this half-and-half, kind-of-staged approach. I say have more action; have less action; take a stand.  He keeps teasing me into thinking something is going to happen, but then it doesn’t.  If one is going to treat the piece as if there is no narrative, do a concert performance, or at least give us some nice tableaux to look at.

Mozart: Mitridate, Re di Ponto – M22 (Part 2: I Can See Clearly Now)

At 14, Mozart had neither the clout nor the maturity yet to write the character-specific music of his later music dramas.  He was required to write pretty, flashy music so the singers could show off. However, many of the arias in Mitridate are quite expressive.  “So," you ask, “Speaking of the arias, how is the singing?”

One might expect the smooth light voice of Bejun Mehta to be overshadowed by all the soprano/tenor brightness, but it's not. His acting skills and agile voice characterize Farnace’s journey from snottiness to maturity. His final aria, much of it sung almost sotto voce, is heartbreaking.

Blindfolded, Farnace finally sees the light.

Mozart: Mitridate, Re di Ponto – M22 (Part 1: Make Room for Daddy)

Here is the setup: Aspasia is supposed to marry King Mitridate (whom they think died in battle); but she falls mutually in love with his son Sifare; Farnace is also in love with Aspasia, but he is supposed to marry Ismene. They all express themselves in beautiful but lengthy arias. It sounds challenging but I think it’s worth it. Stick with the weird Mozarts and the odd initial behavior of the principals; patience is rewarded. Let the games begin!