thadieu's opera rambling outlet

radio alert: agrippina!

Edit: the capturing machine is on. it’s now starting.
In case you don’t know the opera well (like me), here’s libretto. THat must be Nerone currently singing… thought i heard also a CT in there at beginning…
So, Purity and I apparently have a nice patch going on on fb, but we agreed the mic sounds like someone’s phone recording… could have been better…
– wow, the sound is horrible.. quite unacceptable. let me see if i can find a better link w/ higher quality. horrible…
– ack. i quite annoyed. bad sound quality giving this hooting/ringing effect… must be the poor quality streaming… this reminded me of the occasion we all listened to Der R broadcasted also from Spain w/ DiDonato and sound was this quality and everyone sounded like screeching…
– oof, i promptly lost connection.. must be a sign. time to call it a day and go for walk enjoying the sun. in summary, the sound recording resulted in me not recognizing Sarah Connolly’s voice, as well as orchestra sounding like coming out of a blending machine next door… the only voice seems to come out fine is David Daniel’s. while i at it, not a huge fan of De Niese’s singing…

——-
oooawaaewh, good thing i saw this now, better to sort out schedule to be awake tomorrow:

Monday, 18-Nov-2013, 18.55GMT, 13.55 east-whatever-coast time
live radio broadcast
Händel’s Agrippina
Performers: Sarah Connolly, Malena Ernman, Danielle De Niese, Franz-Josef Selig, David Daniels, Ian Henry Waddington, Dominique Visse, Enric Martínez-Castignani.
Gran Teatre del Liceu Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Harry Bicket.

link from worldconcerthall

from Catalunya-Música <— just went there, looks like i'm missing silverlight + flash + quicktime + flipsomething… better sort out technical details. In case you manage to get the play link, please please send me here, i'll be navigating confusing spanish looking for button…
ok, it seems this is the play button.

.VERY MUCH looking forward.

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Posted by:

thả diều

writing-challenged opera-addict

10 responses to “radio alert: agrippina!”

  1. Eyesometric Avatar
    Eyesometric

    🙂 🙂

    Reply
    1. Eyesometric Avatar
      Eyesometric

      Oh dear … no smiley conversion!

      Reply
      1. thả diều Avatar
        thả diều

        think u miss the nose, let me try 🙂
        Edit: hmm, didn’t seem to work, let’s try 😀
        anywho, altogether, i got your smiles though, can’t wait ’til tomorrow! am working hard to make sure i fully awake at that time! coz as of current schedule, that’d exactly be bed time…

        Reply
        1. Eyesometric Avatar
          Eyesometric

          There may be a box to tick in Settings? It works on my site!

          Reply
          1. thả diều Avatar
            thả diều

            probably. you know me (or may be you don’t 🙂 ), i disable everything. that’s why it’s always an adventure for me sorting out radio links 😀 . for example, i’ve never managed to see Dr.Dog’s symbol/signature(?), it’s always a square box on my screen

  2. Regie, or Not Regie? Avatar
    Regie, or Not Regie?

    Thanks for this tip! Catalunya Musica has a lot of other cool broadcasts, including an archive of (most of) Dorothea Roschmann’s recent Edinburg recital and another with Angela Meade. Now all I have to do is learn to read Catalan!

    Reply
    1. thả diều Avatar
      thả diều

      good “morning” Rob, ah ha! i knew it! that “spanish” site looked particularly confusing 😀
      your comment was sitting in the “need approval” box coz it was the first time..
      where did you see the archived stuff? that might mean agrippina will also be archived hopefully…

      Reply
  3. Tove S Avatar
    Tove S

    I was there in a very rainy Barcelona, I saw it! Too bad the sound quality of the broadcast is bad because it was really nice. Only, I don’t know Agrippina either and didn’t think to look up the libretto in advance, and it turned out it was only texted in Catalan… Now, I know a tiny bit of Spanish but Catalan? Better to just listen for the Italian words I recognise! Anyway, I got most of the plot from the acting so it didn’t matter much. Connolly was wonderful of course, she has this butch way of singing whether she wears a skirt or trousers, butch but very nuanced with lovely pianissimo. Ernman is a real vocal athlete and fun to watch as a hyper teen and petty criminal. I felt pity for Daniels’ ridiculous Ottone at the mercy of all the bad guys but I’m not a fan of his typical countertenor timbre. Not a fan of de Niese’s voice either, she lacks that typical bright, clear soprano ring and sounds almost like a Broadway belter doing opera. She did her Poppea over-the-top as usual, exactly the same as her Cleopatra. It worked, but more nuances would have been nice (I’m sure Miah Persson was much better in the role, both vocally and dramatically). Visse was a fun Narciso, his voice is not beautiful but very well suited for comical roles. My favourite scene was perhaps one where people in a bar started dancing madly to the cembalo, I always feel like doing that when I hear baroque music!

    Reply
    1. thả diều Avatar
      thả diều

      wow, i quite jealous! you mean you were there for this particular run? there’s a taping of same staging w/ Persson + Antonacci + Ernman on YT.. I was lucky to see it here in Boston, helps quite a bit w/ english translation for this particular opera, though they gave me THREE countertenors!

      Reply
      1. Tove S Avatar
        Tove S

        Yes I mean I was in Barcelona this last Saturday to see this particular run, mainly to hear Connolly live for the first time.
        Three countertenors, ouff! Why do they keep doing that? Do some people actually, seriously prefer the countertenor timbre to a mezzo/contralto or is it just the principle of having a male-bodied singer in a male role? I strongly suspect the latter… Anyway, it’s not historically correct at all, Ottone and lots of other Händel guys (usually the 2nd guy while the 1st guy/hero was sung by a castrato) were original trouser roles sung by women at the premiere. I do appreciate some countertenors like Scholl, Jaroussky, Dumaux but even the best are hardly fit to play heroes – rather put them in supporting or comical roles. (To be fair, not all mezzos are hero material either, especially the very young ones who hasn’t yet the stage presence or confidence for it.)

        Reply

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scientist by day, opera fan by nights and weekends.

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