Must See Medici TV – Stars in Concert and Staatsoper Lulu

...and speaking of Thomas Hampson, here he is in concert, along with some other singers you may have heard of...

I haven't seen it yet, but it's on my holiday weekend to-do list. 

Watch this at Medici.TV

And now for something completely different, there's this: 

Watch the opera here on medici.tv 

Thanks to MediciTV for sharing this for those of us who missed the live stream on StaatsoperTV. I watched Act 1 on Saturday, but had to give up at intermission. The storm was really messing with my internet connection. What I've seen and heard is impressive. DT's production seems to really suit the expressionist tone of the plot and music. (Lulu is my number-one top 20th century opera!) 

And the cast is doing an exceptional job so far, featuring singers well-known for their Mozart interpretations (including two former Belmontes as Alwa and the Painter!) Watch this blog for a full review sometime soon.

Gratuitous Friday – Rainer Trost is Ferrando

Continuing the Cosi theme this week, here is a German tenor we maybe don't think about very often, but we should. He's a busy tenor, having appeared at the Bregenz Festival this summer as Tamino. He is a dramatic Tito in the Mackerras audio recording of La Clemenza di Tito, a romantic Flammand in the Paris Capricco, and a dashing Ferrando in this Cosi fan tutte (also from Paris, 1996).

This Magic Moment – Mozart at the Bregenzer Festspielen 2013

© Bregenzer Festspiele/Karl Forster 

David Pountney’s fantastical, gigantical Zauberflöte is on display this summer (and next) on the stage in the lake at the Bregenzer Festpielen. There is a video on Arte Live Web, but apparently it’s only available to European viewers. It keeps telling me, very politely of course, “Sie haben keine Rechte...”

However, there’s always hope that someone will make it available to all via that video-sharing website or other pirate-y sources. But in the meantime, there are a handful of video clips to tease, titillate, or tick us off. Among the fine (double and triple) cast of singers is Rainer Trost as Tamino. The lovely and talented Ana Durlovski reprises her Queen of the Night, last seen in Baden Baden; she also appeared recently as our damaged sleepwalker im Stuttgart.

Richard Strauss: Capriccio – Paris, 2004 (Part 2: The Decision Not to Decide)

Strauss is great at setting conversation, which is good, since Capriccio is “A conversation piece with music.” When everyone is teasing La Roche about his mythical presentation, the poet and composer play with the model set and the costumes; the Italian singers squabble, the Countess, Count, and Clairon chat and laugh, and poor La Roche blusters indignantly. (Here the subtitle folks do finally give up on trying to represent every word of text.) A backdrop flies in from above and the stagehands wrestle with it. The dancer dances. And it all makes musical sense.  

Richard Strauss: Capriccio – Paris, 2004 (Part 1: Opera about Opera)

Somewhat like Ariadne auf Naxos, Capriccio is an opera about opera. During the prelude (seen in a previous post) we see the Countess entering the opera house and sitting down to hear Flammand’s music. Here, we are clearly in the theater.  Robert Carsen seems to love this kind of stuff—using a novel setting that allows us see and hear the piece from a different angle. 

The Eternal Enigma: Words or Music? – Richard Strauss: Capriccio (Introduction)

This is the opening of Robert Carsen's Paris production of Capriccio. Someday I am going to gather my thoughts together enough to finish writing my review of this wonderful performance.

Rainer Trost and Gerald Finley

Carsen does seem to like to remind us we are watching an opera, and this production is no exception. I like this segment because of the way it sets up our theatrical expectations during the wonderful string sextet. Plus, the opening comments from composer Flammand (Rainer Trost) and poet Olivier (Gerald Finley) state the argument of the opera: "Words or Music?"