background ramblings

It’s been an unsettling time.. One of those moods where one feels realizes (again) being able to go into hiding implies you do have the luxury to do so, while others are being actively oppressed/hurt. On a closer to heart front (i feel a rant coming..), have the patience to see Antonacci portraying this mad woman will you? (time-tag 7m58s). Do you think Antonacci is this woman? is Antonacci mad? Is it that difficult to see an artist’s “realistic” and effective portrayal is a reflection of their craft but not an announcement this is who they are? Isn’t it clear their moving “performance” is not an invitation to freely project and suddenly “identify” with them and think they’re the answer to your life? I find it troublesome some people cannot seem to distinguish between a performance/writing/painting and the artist’s private personal space/life. Actually it must be quite frightening for an artist who has to perform in public, if that is something they suddenly have to worry about, instead of just focussing on their well beings and effective methods to communicate their arts. I think both V.Kasarova and S.Mingardo had in separate interviews (yay, i found S.Mingardo’s insightful Polish interview!!) talking about the needs to “unplug” from the stage, to define the clear line between “online” versus offline. Whatever people “project” on them based on their portrayals… well, it’s fantasy, that is all. there. random rant is over….

Sorry, i’ve been in a mood, blame it on the upcoming (or past already?!) eclipse, and current sad news. The purpose of this post is, actually, to retreat into a little safe place to enjoy this wonderful interview with Nathalie Stutzmann. I think being a female conductor she has through the years, as with E.Haïm, being asked a lot about it… What I like about this one is that it’s much more about her back story. I was hoping it was longer! quite fun to hear about her “in cognito” audition for a conductor job 😀 😀 . And she discovered Mozart Mass in C from a cassette tape. Hey, i discovered Beethoven 9th Choral (and my entrance into classical music) from a cassette tape too! 🙂

That was also the time i accidentally found myself in Bergen!! and dragged a whole team to hear the concert :-). There is also this super short interview. What I liked from that was, according to my ears, she puts the “rock” into Bach. Quite fun. At first I wondered if I should check out this interview or not.. and 1 bar into the music, i was hooked! Think i have this whole concert (radio) saved somewhere as well… perhaps it’s time to dig it up while remain a little bit more in hiding away from the real world (as she said). Just a tiny bit more, to recharge.

interview (and music) for the night

on the occasion Anja Harteros getting a nice featured article in the New York Times (where P.Gelb essentially offers her any spot and would rearrange all schedule around to fit her in if she ever has a chance to come to NY in the future), it’s time to revisit and getting to know more about her latest plan (and nice discussion on her voice, her preference for traveling by car and not plane <– voice related, her Greek side, any potential future performance in Greece and elsewhere..)

(video is in German, with French subtitles (yay!) though she speaks so fast my French reading comprehension was flailing.. ; it’s wonderful to see how little make-up she cares/needs for an interview.)

She’s also slated to be live on stream 9/Jul in Wagner i think… I must admit after her Leonora (Munich Trovatore) I lost track of following.. because as much as I tried Wagner and Verdi aren’t really my thing (and the fact that every single thing i’ve seen of her had JK drapping all over and fans who are more attached to the “couple” idea than caring much about her voice/vocal expression i’m afraid…)

For music, i know i’m still looking backward… these 2 things are staple diet on my phone, (actually 3, the ENTIRE Wien’s Alcina is on phone, that’s a given.)

the countess, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, NY MET 2007 (thanks Stray!)

Leonora (her debut in Cologne, 2011)

(this one was from a fan who recorded.. he posted orginally on Parterre’s site.. which i downloaded. Later he also shared with me the rest of the performance, though the first 2 Acts were sadly from very var distance and audio is totally muffled.)

interview for the night

or day, depending on where you are on the globe, it’s still 15min before midnight here! Having been spending the extended weekend in limited internet space, I have dug up again my “Mingardo” folder and re-listening to some of her earlier works.. and stumbled on this really insightful interview.

Though i can digest the French, it’s most clear when piped through the English translator because there are some quite fine details I couldn’t catch otherwise. It’s the most “blunt” or “direct” (honest) interview I’ve ever heard from her, really reminded me of V.Kasarova’s interviews or some of Antonacci’s. Some of the highlights include:
– How she knew she was a contralto even as a kid 🙂
– JE.Gardiner being the first serious conductor who trusted her in a language other than Italian and gave her the first opportunity (something she often mentioned in subsequent inteview)
– How singing Bach is extremely difficult for her
– How the moment she discovered Monteverdi, everything Monteverdi was better than Azucena 😀
– How she made the jump to “professional” , and knowledge of old system which fostered artists such as ACA versus the lack of anything now.
– She had some very sharp words for the Italian art culture (lack thereof) and direction (during the 2006)
– How young singers saw her as a beacon of light in the search for early music possibility (“they call me directly at my home because they didn’t know where to turn!” — paraphrasing..) This provides insight into her recent project, sponsoring 7 young singers in early music:

Very insightful. I’d really love to read her biography if she ever decides to write one. There is still that other also very insightful interview in Polish, which if I find the link I’ll post here. But this was really a nice window into how her career started. Oh yes, she also sung Cesare and Rinaldo!! with C.Rousset.. am on a mission to find audio evidence..

repost: Vesselina Kasarova in concert in Berlin review

click on photo to go to review

Many thanks to Smorgie who hosted her blog to guest review John Carnegie.
A wonderful read on Vesselina Kasarova’s artistry. ❤

radio broadcast alert

Edit2: Another Bach St Matthews Passion, this one from Budapest, with René Jacobs, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, K.Hammarström, Saturday 15/Apr at 1730GMT , 1830 London, 1930 CET, 1330 EST.
In addition, there’s this one (video) from München on 12/April/2017 with Concerto Köln and Karina Gauvin. I quite like the sound of this more than the one from Rotterdam, but I think it’s the difference between having a baroque (here) versus modern (Rotterdam) orchestra? Also, this is quite a tighter group than what N. Stutzmann has. I found the sound there a bit “diffused” and some of the musical phrasing by the soloists “blurry”. It could just be what i’m “used” to hear, but i quite like the version from Munich. The “evangelist” and “Jesus” were quite focused in sound.
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Edit: for an informed note, please refer to Anik’s live experience of Vivaldi’s work in the form of a live concert. That concert resulted in a cd, which is also available on yt (very easily searchable by the work’s title.)
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Today, Thursday, 13.Apr.2017

1800 GMT, 2000 CET, 1400 EST
From Torino, Vivaldi’s L’incoronazione di Dario, with Mingardo and Galou, on (expected to be) suspicious quality Rai radio. link.

1730 GMT, 1930 CET, 1330 EST,
From Rotterdam, N. Stutzmann conducting Bach Matthews Passion. link.

2300 GMT 0100+1 CET 1900 EST,
From the MET, Rosenkavalier, with Garanca and Flemming. link.

Friday, 14.Apr.2017
1830 GMT
From Rome, Bach’s St. Johns Passion, with A.Hallenberg. link.

Sunday, 16.Apr.2017
0000 GMT (This means it’s Saturday night for us in the US)
From Boston, Mitsuko Uchida plays Mozart piano concerto No.20. link.

1800 GMT
From Chicago, V. Genaux’s Vivaldi, Porpora and Broschi recital. link. (But I’m confused.  She’s at Opera du Rhin now singing in Cavalli’s La Calisto.. so either she’s jetting over or this is likely a rebroadcast? ahh, ok, no no, Calisto won’t start until 26/apr, so this should be a live concert, i think.)

music for calmness

my absolute fav section of the entire dvd! i’ll need this to stay very calm and collect for the next 8 hours, to write the (*&#@)^%#@ report… wasted 7 hours last night.. and i have to re-start again now.. but it will be done! YES IT WILL. with VK’s floating notes, ahhhh.

music and musings to cap 2016

Edit: did i hear it right, she will be singing Britten in Vienna! (starting minute 32mn20s, David McVicar stage director)
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Currently listening: Another interview with Anna Caterina Antonacci on francemusique, on 19/Dec/2016, including many fantastic samples of her singing (Barbara Strozzi, Berlioz, Hahn)

Ok, my French listening comprehension is improving, but her French is a bit more difficult to understand 🙂 . hehe, she’s discussing which roles she likes (Didon , not sure from Berlioz which she hasn’t sung, or Purcell). If my comprehension works ok, She enjoys singing Elletra, Vitelia, Cassandra and *detests* Dorabella 😀 . There’s also discussion on Sancta Susanna, which is also available on francemusique The piece starts at 1hr20min20sec. Before that is Cavalleria rusticana:

I think one can try to compare how the singing is delivered here versus the intimate recording linked 2 posts ago, to get an idea the difference between a huge orchestra in a gigantic hall versus a smaller setting.

This caps a year of super fun internet gathering over at Anik’s to discover new operas/singers/opera-buddies as well as the few live performances I managed to see and greatly enjoyed. Oh, and on the subject of French comprehension, I was highly impressed with myself 😀 , this past trip to Paris, i was able to *communicate* !! sure, the vocabulary is lacking as ever, but wow, suddenly it was simple to use the 1% available bit and pronunciation wasn’t an issue at all! all thanks to Mitridate and extensive listening to French radio and broadcasts this whole year. Onto some musings on the road.

March 2016, “Ariodante” in London

thadieu: (jetlagged, falling hopelessly asleep..)
Dehggi: “whore!”
thadieu: huh?
Dehggi: the translation is rather blunt
(on stage: Genievra whining nonstop and isolated on an island)
thadieu: (thinking in head: what’s wrong with her? why is she whining nonstop?! aohhhhhh, i got it! she’s being wrongly accused of being a slut!)
…
(while stopping to admire Ariodante’s jaw)

thadieu: my bubble is popped! i’ve always thought Ariodante a courageous handsome knight! but he’s a total dweeb! i so sad!

October 2016, “Alcina” in Wien, in standing-room waiting line

Anik: in “Verdi Prati” she (Ruggiero) was just standing there and she (Bradamante) didn’t act at all!
thadieu: did they roll around?
Anik: what rolling around?
thadieu: , what do you mean?! Kasarova and Hammarström were on top of each other! i was confused for some 6 years**!
Anik: (?)
thadieu: wait a minute, (googling on phone), here.
Anik: nooo, they didn’t do that! just standing.

December 2016, “Don Giovanni” in Paris,

1 min before curtain raised
thadieu: they put Donna Anna in a suit!! Anik showed me a curtain call video
Dehggi: (ignoring..)
…
post opera, while Dehggi taking touristic photos of the venue
thadieu: he’s so whiny. no wonder she delays the marriage for 10 years!
Dehggi: 10? i thought it’s only 1 year
thadieu: oh, it’s our liveblog! and every time the statue showed up, i heard your voice in my head “its mouth is moving!”

So, that wraps up 2016. Not as many live performances as I would have liked, but the rare fews were true fun, and the summer festival liveblog, as well as discovery of Mitridate (and a certain soprano) were true gems. Rolling on to 2017 🙂 .

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** though we settled that perhaps it’s like the green grapes.