Did anyone else see the ballet/opera Acis and Galatia streamed from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden yesterday evening? You could get it on YouTube and Facebook. It’s free and the first of their Coronatime #Fromourhousetoyourhouse streaming’s. It’s still there on YouTube this morning. I cast it to my TV and had the sound via the sitting room Naim system. It was the premiere performance of Covent Garden’s production from 2009 and although Handel’s operatic music can be a bit repetitive, it was very enjoyable. Highly recommended by me anyway!
Just discovered that New York Met is streaming an opera a day during the lockdown. Free. (Donations invited). No idea of quality. This link includes the programme for the coming week:
This is not entirely stand alone, Sir Simon has already released a fine Rheingold with the same orchestra, hopefully this is the start of a complete Ring.
The only problem I have with the Rheingold is that most of the singers seem to be coming predominately from the left speaker. After a brief listen on Spotify last night this does not appear to be so much of an issue with the new Walkure.
Thanks Morton, I have not listened to Rattle’s Rheingold.
I did, yesterday, compare Walkure Act III from Levine, Haenchen, Karajan and Rattle on headphones (I could extend to Haitink, Solti and Keilberth but there aren’t enough hours in an evening). In such a comparison, the ‘live’ aspect shows, in that Irene Theorin’s Brünnhilde and James Rutherford’s Wotan are tired by the time they get to Scene III, with both sounding a bit more monochromatic and wobbly than earlier. With Haenchen, from his second run in Amsterdam, Albert Dohmen and Linda Waton both sound in fresher voice until the end, no doubt helped by their higher lying voices. Levine and Karajan both taped their versions in the studio so their casts have an easier time, and while less realistic, this helps with repeated listening. This comparison also showed off how brilliantly Karajan conceived the musical canvas and the balancing of voices and instruments, closely followed in this regard by Haenchen.
Yes, singers tiring towards the end of a Wagner opera can be a bit of a problem but on my, admittedly cursory listen last night, I did not think it was too much of a problem here.
I will get this Walkure as some compensation for the inevitably cancelled production I was due attend in June at the Longborough Opera Festival.
I mainly listened to the first act last night and was particularly impressed by Stuart Skelton, who I have seen live a few times, twice as Peter Grimes and once as Tristan, all at the ENO London. Unfortunately, the Tristan was possibly the worst Wagner production I have ever seen and I have been to quite a few over the last 45 years!
Skelton is however on a recent release of a fine Tristan und Isolde.
So last night was Aida - an opera I didn’t know, and other than a live performance this is definitely the best form of introduction. I didn’t feel terribly drawn in until three quarters of the way through Act 2, but from then onwards more and more. It didn’t grab me as much as some of Verdi’s other operas such as La Traviata, that I love dearly, but think I can now try the Callas version I got when there was that amazing collection offer a couple of years ago on Qobuz.
Karajan’s Boheme is a great recording, that received a superb transfer to CD in the 80s. A newer remastering completely destroyed the atmosphere, by highlighting voices and muffling orchestral detail. This download is I believe a 3rd remastering, I still need to listen in detail but hope they got it right. The performance deserves the best sound possible.
Last night I watched the NY Met’s free streaming of a live performance of Verdi’s La Traviata with Natalie Dessay, Matthew Polenzani, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi from April 14, 2012. I’ve seen La Traviata twice live, and have 3 recordings of it, and it is one of my favourite operas. But last night, watching on a big screen (projected image approx 11ft wide), with the music played only from a laptop’s standard headphone output fed through the hifi, I was not only moved to tears in places, my normal reaction, but at the end I was sobbing uncontrollably, and it was several minutes before I could talk. Absolutely the most emotionally involving of any opera, indeed of any artistic medium I have ever experienced!
I had never heard of Natalie Dessay (I’m not really much of an opera buff as things go), but her voice! The delicacy and power and sheer emotion in the sound was absolutely stunning to me (and my wife). Compared to the few others I’ve see so far of the Met’s. Free streaming this one had a very simple stage set, no changes of scenery other than some props brought in - the effort was all in the performance.
I will look out for other performances/recordings with that soprano, to see how much effect she has - though of course the opera itself in my view is sublime.
Thanks for your description; it must have been a great performance. I recall a similar emotional connection when I saw a video presentation of this one. I bought the album the following week.
No Frosch this year in Amsterdam, so making do with recordings. Sawallisch’ studio recording, given a very atmospheric recording, is a good reference edition with a sensational Cheryl Studer.
