tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post1230851025976845762..comments2023-09-12T11:16:57.372-04:00Comments on Likely Impossibilities: Die Walküre: Put a Ring on itMicaelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17424063023952527613noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-7981726323532226682011-04-12T16:07:21.867-04:002011-04-12T16:07:21.867-04:00To take your comment more seriously than you proba...To take your comment more seriously than you probably intended it, Marcillac, Meyer doesn't have to worry about business. Ticket sales could barely be better, I think for operas it is something like 99.8% capacity. But the Staatsoper audience and often administration is so reactionary and self-satisfied, in the sense that they are sure their way is the best and don't want to look beyond their own little comfort zone. It can be infuriating and very provincial.<br /><br />By the way, next season, Stemme is singing the Marschallin (!) and Tosca (!!!!!). That latter one strikes me as strange, but who knows.<br /><br />Phoenix, I think I agree with you about Haller. It's an interesting sound and she's a good performer but I'm not sure if it's all really working very well together vocally speaking.Micaelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424063023952527613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-5253064830319523322011-04-11T21:18:47.954-04:002011-04-11T21:18:47.954-04:00Zerb, next time you're going to have to get Di...Zerb, next time you're going to have to get Director Meyer coffee and pastries because you're loosing him business. <br /><br />I decided to bail from the Hollander in February, in part based on your review, and while I had been toying with the idea of going in June for the Walkure and the Mattei Onegin weekend* it looks like I'll be stayig in Munich. (I stayed away - with difficulty - from the Stemme Siglinede [probably her last] - last year so it was alway iffy in any case).<br /><br />I agree about Munich, of course, and while the singing both in terms of reputation and actual vocal quality is almost certainly at least as good and probably even a tad better in Vienna, Munich does have many advantages. Acoustics is one - even though the houses are roughly the same capacity and - notably - the quality of routine repertoire performances which are on average dramatically better in Bavaria. <br /><br />*BTW, why are there no weekend performances of the Katja Kabanova and thats something I probably would have made the trip for.marcillachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10890948953007381186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-48254744493430771992011-04-11T20:52:48.871-04:002011-04-11T20:52:48.871-04:00... and I'm hanging on to my dream of the Bay ...... and I'm hanging on to my dream of the Bay Staatsoper as the paradise of great singing, orchestra and thought-provoking Regie. <br /><br />Ivy, some of the qualities that make the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera a perennial candidate for the world’s best – warm yet shimmering strings, golden brass — were detectable even in the disappointing Rheingold.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-66492359151855271762011-04-09T14:47:21.946-04:002011-04-09T14:47:21.946-04:00Ivy, I'm listening to the Ory broadcast right ...Ivy, I'm listening to the Ory broadcast right now on ORF and it's making me think about your point. I'm not sure if I agree that all rep houses really are the same, though they certainly all have ups and downs (and I'm hanging on to my ideal of the Bay Staatsoper as the paradise of great singing, orchestra and thought-provoking Regie). At the top places, the people are drawn from the same pool. For example, this Walküre probably suffered in casting a bit from competing Walküres in New York and Berlin, but later we get Stephen Gould as Siegfried, as neither of those houses are doing full cycles. And I think some opera houses are better than others at convincing people to act in coherent groups. The Staatsoper often has issues in this department, and doesn't seem to even care.<br /><br />SS, the thing about the Valkyries is that I like them when they're kickass like their music is. So they're already robbed of that by their silly dresses, and then as soon as babies are mentioned they totally forget their mission and go aflutter because, women and babies! Kind of annoying from a woman's point of view.<br /><br />Fricka DID look kind of Norma Desmond, though it was a peacock-feather coat with some sequins, not a shawl. Getting those horses off would have been clumsy due to the door situation, but I agree.Micaelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424063023952527613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-2928949722281883892011-04-08T15:41:59.185-04:002011-04-08T15:41:59.185-04:00Valkyrie antics didn't bother me so much, give...Valkyrie antics didn't bother me so much, given what we've seen so far it could have been a lot more uninteresting. Probably not what Bechtolf intended, but the way Fricka is the odd one out costume-wise makes her look a lot like Norma Desmond (am I imagining sequins and a green satin shawl at one point?). And a small gripe, but in Act III they might have cleared away the horses before Wotan's farewell - couldn't stop thinking about family holidays in France and a culinary bête noire of mine, the barbecued-until-acrid cheval haché.SSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-45939679318205249012011-04-08T13:27:46.682-04:002011-04-08T13:27:46.682-04:00Great post Zerb! If anything your posts have done,...Great post Zerb! If anything your posts have done, is they've taken a bit of mystique out of the Vienna State Opera. The grass is always greener on the other side of the pond, and I have some fantasy image of the Vienna State Opera being this awesome opera house with great singers and beautiful, edgy productions. Your blog chronicles the ups and downs of this house so well and it's made me realize that all repertory opera houses are basically the same.Ivy Linhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03626556117524314236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8851616.post-58634190537121637942011-04-08T10:39:19.517-04:002011-04-08T10:39:19.517-04:00Congratulatons from phoenix! It was worth the tri...Congratulatons from phoenix! It was worth the trip over here to read this! You certainly got to the gist of the matter without verbose apologies or excuses for the participants. What can I say except that I am grateful I wasn't there, with the exception of Edith Haller, who is a favorite probably because she is still able to support her tone steadily (unlike her over the topbilled colleague). To my ears too Haller has that gloriously Golden Age 1960's authentically retro sounding fullsizewide middle register you speak about, something like a great imposing plaster drywall waiting to be painted, but I'm afraid the housepainter might have got lost on his way over to Villa Haller. -- Edith (along with the Staatsoper's "Meine Tochter hat recht getan!" Seal of Approval) might be indulging in the old carrot on stick routine (i.e., the policy of offering a reward for making progress towards benchmarks or goals but not necessarily ever actually delivering) .... and I'm not so sure Edith shouldn't be singing Berlioz' Troyens or Santuzza or Zaida (Dom Sébastien) or Carmen or Charlotte instead of Elsa & Sieglinde.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com