A bit late… i knew about this broadcast already last month but was up North. Click on the image to go directly to cuturebox, (s)he clocks in at either 17.30 if you like to hear the recit, else jump directly to the aria (and some swagger) starting at 18.25 .
spamming my own box again for run-time commentary:
– ack, the same juditha i didn’t like before.. not sure why i dislike her singing, quite uneventful, u just can’t hear the underlying music, is this what you call “vibrato”, already now onto her 2nd aria.. and she’s got the most arias, with some low notes coming..
– meanwhile holofernes’ tone is niiiice, she could bend her neck upward a bit less for the white-shirt experience.
– the other 2 sopranos, looks like 1 servant of Holofernes, 1 of Juditha, both have really nice arias so far, one can’t go wrong with music
– wild vibration/wobble by the 3rd aria..
– 1hr03: lovely soprano to 2 harpsichords, then to all female chorus , tapping feet
– 1hr 26min: another contralto (deep mezzo?) arrives! why can’t she be Juditha?
– yay, 1hr 34min in, our contralto Holofernes is back with her 1-2-3 Valse, lovely. SUPER COLORFUL ladies in background!
– did i mention colorful?
– (s)he also tried a few moves, juditha wasn’t amused. accompanied by really a nice aria to some fancy instruments, starting exactly at 1hr48min37sec
I like the costumes, especially the one Holofernes’ servant is wearing; both the top and the Xwide trousers – it’s like 2000 again! Anyway, the costumes are clever, well cut and rather ambiguous gender-wise for the men. I also like that Holofernes has an aria where he just asks Juditha to sit down, eh heh. But I agree with you, Juditha’s singing/voice is very boring.
oh ja, that Xwide pair of trousers!! really cool!
btw, the 1h 3min soprano (?) sang Romeo in the Ravenna Capuleti. I remember a very nice take on Deh, tu bell’anima from her.
i rexognized her name as romeo during initial credit roll but didnt recognize face! think if she had a pair of trousers on…
you only recognise trousers, eh 😉 she’s quite pretty.
is she the one w the xwide pants? trousers helps a lot :p
yes, that’s her.
i checked her out again ;-), can’t recognized , think am now at the aria Holofernes asking Juditha to sit down, pretty nice music! i’d sit down if she sings this to me!!
Edit: aww, she ornamented it too, i in cloud
Edit2: and Juditha just booted me off the seat, absolutely mangling up this aria as it traverses up and down to her range (pardon the clip, everytime i heard her sing, i felt the urge to go re-listen again to what it can be..)
Juditha’s acting was better than her singing, though not by a lot more. Is she not supposed to be a seductress, too? She seems rather mardy, though she does say she can’t find enjoyment at parties. Poor Holofernes, “she’s so beautiful, I can’t take my eyes off her, I’ll give her all she wants” etc. and Juditha’s all “meh, I hate you.” Holofernes is rather nicely done, quite “knightly” and looks credibly smitten with Juditha.
after hearing that, i now have much appreciation for A.Hallenberg here. It’s nice to see a full performance though since i finally (sort of) figuring out who is what as well as getting used to hearing a mezzo singing the role…
oooh, a mezzo/contralto fest! now we’re talking 😀
i already talking on own since a long time ;-), contralto/mezzo/harpsichord fest, nevermind those super fancy instruments.. for comparison i like our xpants romeo’s singing a lot more. her acting also gave hints to vast experience wooing the ladies 😉
vast experience, I like that. Yes, she did a very good job. I wonder if she mostly sings in Italy or somehing.
i did search her name, she sings outside as well, but not *that* outside, and i think these baroque singers are not well known on main stream anyhow, except for a very few names (or CT !!!)
To be fair, aside from a few CTs (Jaroussky and David Daniels or perhaps Davies here) they aren’t that well known either. Maybe Cecilia Bartoli is the most famous singer associated with baroque.
i already worried soon this whole opera will b full of CTs, including CT-exclusive choir!! 😀 thought that post you had of CTs + raonbow feathers is quite tempting
gathering all CTs in one place will leave room for mezzo/contralto productions 😀
what you said about DG being very rhythmical is quite clear here too
She could’ve been more involved but I guess that’s not her style 😉
She is supposed to be a seductress, and does anybody else think this subject matter’s a little freaky for the school play down at the orphanage, Mr Vivaldi? I mean yay Girl Power and all, but yikes.
she s not at all seductive here. i finally made it to the end last nite, i dont understand her acting at all actually, making juditha looking like a wimp all afraid, and holofernes is a bit condescending. did i read it correct somewhere he composed for an all girl convent hence the all female chorus? orchestra plus conductor also please 😀
i need to chek again but perhaps vaugas, sung here by our romeo in split pants, might b a male character.. she was really great here. think this is the char amanda forsythe will sing, (s)he has that blistering paced aria cecilia bartoli made famous
You read it correct, he composed it for a girls’ school, so no CTs here, that would be unHIP.
If AF is going to be Vagaus, I wonder if she’ll wear the same battle armor (i.e. cream suit with spike heels) she wore as Teseo… 🙂
she might get special designed split xpants:-) i really like the entire outfit of this vaugas, super nice angles + cut, want a set for myself!
edit: oh u spell it as vagaus, i should read up on the cast again :-D, all i know is it wants THREE contraltos, 1 mezzo, and 1 soprano
I think it’s cool he wrote for a girl’s school, how regie 😉
though i a bit more suspicious what he was doing there in the first place 😉
Wasn’t he gay? I remember reading that somewhere.
him? no no, there was this interview w/ s.mingardo who kept mentioning one of his (several?) mistresses was a very good contralto, that’s why he wrote so great music for her 🙂 . both her and the interviewer had a good laugh saying what great role model he was being a priest and all..
ha, you learn something new every day!
edit: this interview
in Polish?! I guess I’ll have to google translate it when I return home.
what! you’re not fluent in Polish as well? 😉
I’ll be after I read this 😉
Libretto is here should you need one.
when i first heard juditha and thought s.mingardo sang ALL the roles, i did read through the libretto and followed track by track to figure out tracks were mislabeled 🙂 . only thing i didn’t know was whether vagaus as a “squire” was a female or male character.. and now after consulting with dictionaire, i *think* xpants are suuuuch great idea. *really* love that outfit! 😀
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