Diary of a Culture Hedonist

The Glyndebourne Festival Opera production was my benchmark of The Makropulos Case (that upside down piano marking time). This production at San Francisco Opera was certainly very well produced. The messy library and the real time clock made the production timeless. Nadja Michael as Emilia Marty was very good - her deep / mark mezzo done suggested her age (of 337) while the ring at the top added flamboyance. The rest of the male cast was adequate - considering Leoš Janáček was never kind to tenors. The string section of the orchestra was struggling with both rhythm and pitch - all sounded a little scratchy for my liking. Mikhail Tatarnikov held it all together in the pit.

Semyon Bychkov did an amazing job to giving the score flow, nuance and direction. The cast was mostly able to keep up - though not always: the ensemble fell apart once or twice. The set design (Ben Baur) was a little trying - is the drama really an act, stage within a stage? I wasn't convinced. None of the cast was outstanding in anyway.

It has been a long long time since Norma was staged at Covent Garden. So I went with much anticipation. It didn't disappoint. The title role was sung by Sonya Yoncheva (who replaced Anna Nebtreko) and she was fabulous - would be interesting to see how she does at Les Conte later in the season. Pollione was sung by Joseph Calleja - I don't like his high frequency vibrato. But the couple otherwise did well. Alfons Flores's set design was dramatic and intriguing, sufficiently religious without getting in the way. Though I wonder how soon th set will look dated. Needless to say, Pappano was superb at delivering the drama and music.

Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Il barbiere di Siviglia has become a classic. In this revival, Ferrucio Furlanetto remained a fabulous Doctor Bartolo. Daniela Mack was a pretty good Rosina. Otherwise it's much the same as before.

It still took me a while to get used to the set by Michael Levine - with that weird mock Royal Opera stage, and that bombed out derelict landscape. And no, I didn't like gun-holding singers. Jasmin Vardimon's choreography of the opening bacchanal scene was dynamic and creative. Peter Seiffert (like Johan Botha before him in the previous production) looked out of place among the svelte and dynamic dancers. His voice was uneven - it had a good tenorial ring most of the time, but from time to time it was a little strained. Emma Bell's Elizabeth was earthy and noble. Sophie Koch's Venus was definitely alluring. The real star of the show was Christian Gerhaher's Wolfram von Eschinbach - delivering a robust and noble voice for the character, yet sang the songs like lieder ( O du mein holder Abendstern ). He outshone the rest of the cast, and the applause at the end confirmed it. Hartmut Haenchen's choice of tempi were good - had momentum and not sentimental. Th...

The version of Il dolce suono that sticks to my mind was sung by Plavalaguna in The Fifth Element. I thought Diana Damrau was an amazing Lucia - her acting was fantastic and her voice was wonderful. Charles Castronovo's Edgardo was also pretty good. Their interplay Act One was top notch. Kwangchul Youn was outstanding as Raimondo with a true basso profundo voice. Diana Damrau sang Il dolce suono beautifully in the final act. Top marks musically. As for the "split screen" stage design. Katie Mitchell's direction worked in the first two acts. The 'background' activities added visual interest and the tight stage gave that claustrophobic / intimate feel to the production. The last act didn't work: the 'killing' and 'miscarriage' scenes were really distracting to the singing that was taking place on the other side of the stage: one required intense concentration to hear the music. Was it necessary to 'fill in the gaps' (of the k...

Bryn Terfel gave an impressive performance of the title role - punchy delivery of the Russian text and quite animated acting. John Tomlison's drunken Varlaam was fun. David Butt Philip's Grigory Otrepiev was also excellent. The chorus raised to the challenge and tackled the numerous choruses with gusto - they almost sounded Russian. Pappano did a fantastic job at usual.