tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post7742591863524713109..comments2023-12-27T09:38:56.562+01:00Comments on Opera Cake: Il Trovatore premiered in Brussels: Tcherniakov hits a big show again, Scott Hendricks tooOpera Cakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-55256075762373979192012-07-09T21:25:52.470+02:002012-07-09T21:25:52.470+02:00http://www.lamonnaie.be/fr/mymm/media/1419/Il%20Tr...http://www.lamonnaie.be/fr/mymm/media/1419/Il%20Trovatore%20-%20Giuseppe%20Verdi/ here you can watch this production.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-17031396378501919492012-07-08T17:26:14.082+02:002012-07-08T17:26:14.082+02:00Thanks for your review, but I am disappointed by T...Thanks for your review, but I am disappointed by Tcherniakov's Il Trovatore. I really enjoyed his previous works, but here the concept isn't working for me at all - as it worked in DG and Onegin. The main question is: who are all these people before they taking Azucena's game? What are their motivations? The explanation that they try to uncode the key of their destiny isn't compelling. But I don't think this production is totally unsucessful. I appreciate good singing, marvellous acting and surprisingly great conductong (as you mentioned, I've never considered Minkowski as a Verdi specialist). It just left me with a feeling that something was missed or underdeveloped.Olanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-76632610513718371932012-06-27T02:34:42.829+02:002012-06-27T02:34:42.829+02:00Thanks to your explanations I could enjoy it much ...Thanks to your explanations I could enjoy it much more last Friday.enecabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581664404285389538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-2496617412616992032012-06-16T05:39:03.074+02:002012-06-16T05:39:03.074+02:00I´ve seen this evening´s broadcast on Mezzo and wa...I´ve seen this evening´s broadcast on Mezzo and was deeply disappointed. I was expecting something new, modern, fresh but I found a boring and dull production instead. There was no pathos at all but on the whole it was pathetic, regarding the setting and the acting. An absolute lack of creativity. I find this production does not in any way enrich the original intention of the composer.<br /><br />What is the point of conveying another psychological insight of the characters when this only applies to the form? The characters might as well have acted Waiting for Godot with Verdi´s music and<br />there wouldn´t have been any difference. IL Trovatore was found nowhere and the same applies to the spirit of Verdi.<br /><br />I don´t understand the "racist" point. Azucena is a victim as much as a villain, whether a noble or a Gypsy, only that technically, being a Gypsy fits the singing perfectly. Should we also replace the evil Shylock, a Jew, in Shakespeare´s Merchant of Venice? <br /><br />Finally, I respect but do not share your classification of Verdi´s good and bad operas. R. Muti is also a great conductor who knows and feels Verdi´s music.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-21288692285400169872012-06-13T19:38:47.981+02:002012-06-13T19:38:47.981+02:00I won't be able to see this production and jud...I won't be able to see this production and judge for myself so I appreciate your detailed description, but it's difficult to understand how the turgid and unlikely scenario (as described by you) that Tcherniakov layed over the opera is any more admirable than the outdated melodrama you claim to deplore. Seems like the need for suspension of disbelief is about equal in both.<br />Plus, you'll need to describe what you mean by "racist crap". I don't get it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-66214462795195719782012-06-13T18:51:07.455+02:002012-06-13T18:51:07.455+02:00Thanks for the detail of both description and anal...Thanks for the detail of both description and analysis! This sounds like a fascinating production indeed. The changing of the usual power relations strikes me as really interesting... I take it you didn't feel that there was a conflict with or adverse effect on the musical characterizations of the opera's "two worlds"? Although there are of course racist elements in the plot, I've always thought of the division between court and mountains as being at least as much about class (and borne out in the melodic characterizations of the principals.) <br /><br />As a side note, re: your tendentious categorization of Verdi operas into good and bad ones, I would like to speak up in defense of <i>Forza</i>. I love the music, but also think the plot--with all its complications and ambiguities--offers some of the most interesting opportunities to a director.Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02549302523503271428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-21905852970395106262012-06-13T13:59:09.569+02:002012-06-13T13:59:09.569+02:00Dear Opera Cake, I enjoyed your review immensely. ...Dear Opera Cake, I enjoyed your review immensely. Maybe I'm the only one, but I understand what you mean by kicking the racism in the arse, so to speak. I believe you are saying that the libretto was racist to begin with using a gypsy and the idea that they are murderers (aka baby killers) and thieves. I can see how the entire thing can be construed as racist as the librettist certainly exploits these ideas. I can't comment on the quality of the original libretto, however. <br /><br />I would love to see this production. I have seen his Don Giovanni, which on the first go-round didn't set well; however on closer inspection with a second viewing, I absolutely adored it, especially Ketelsen's performance and that of Bo Skovhus. Now there was some biting satire to be sure. I have also seen Dialogues of the Carmelites on DVD (because I adore that man Bernard Richter and also admire Susan Gritton). Surely these nuns were the fanatics and Mere Marie a manic lunatic. <br /><br />Anyway, thank you again. I learn a lot by reading your reviews and understand the absolute necessity of Tcherniakov's work and that of other Regie directors. I especially loved Kušej's production of Rusalka probably more than anything I have seen lately. A COMPLETE synthesis of drama and Dvořák's music IMHO. Keep up the good work!schmup53https://www.blogger.com/profile/03995304894519528582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-91958306480537871662012-06-12T18:16:44.704+02:002012-06-12T18:16:44.704+02:00I've always found funny how tradicionalist and...I've always found funny how tradicionalist and modernist (?) "factions" accuse each other of killing creativity.<br /><br />Well, I must confess that, even if I'm not an enthusiast for Minkowski or Tcherniakov, I'm very curious about this Trovatore, so thank you for your review... and waiting for the broadcast. Didn't like his Don Giovanni for example, but we'll see... About placing the chorus in the pit... well, yes, I also like the Anonymous poster above find this decision old-fashioned. Almost like in a concert-performance. But as you said, it's a free world. <br /><br />Do you find the libretto pure nonsense? I don't know what you'll say about the original play by García Gutiérrez, which is more complicated and with more characters. So thanks Cammarano for getting rid of Leonora's brother for example. "El Trovador" is the epitome of the romantic drama. A contemporary of García Gutiérrez - Mesonero Romanos - mocked this kind of plays that "taked place all over Europe and lasted one hundred years". As for the racism, I've always seen Azucena's - and her mother's- fate more as a result of injustice and fanatism. From the play's characters of course. Or the opera if you want. Fanatism and injustice leads to her - probably innocent - mother's horrible death, and fanatism lead Azucena to revenge. Perhaps we should avoid cronocentrism and not judge a work of the 19th century - and about Middle Ages, or rather Gutiérrez's wiev of the Middle Ages - for our own moral standars. <br /> <br />Always interesting to read you, even if I don't partage many of your views about opera.Valinarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13372025207160080348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-68141926790731764372012-06-12T14:40:00.663+02:002012-06-12T14:40:00.663+02:00Old-fashioned?! Oh my... To qualify as a "Ban...Old-fashioned?! Oh my... To qualify as a "Banal folklore" (which I fail to understand, btw) the fact that the chorus was placed in the pit is... well... what did I say above?!<br /><br /><br />Bottom line is that today, practically 95% productions of this opera are given in a narrative/traditionalist way, exacerbating the shabbiness and exposing the racist thread of Il Trovatore. <br /><br />You enjoy your 95% productions that kill every ounce of whatever artistic still remains in opera. I, instead, will admire this (and similar) approach(es) to this (and other) opera(s). And so until the traditionalists and anti-artistic brigades kill the precious creative spark in opera producing. <br /><br />Enjoy!Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-45797869034332601982012-06-12T11:00:25.316+02:002012-06-12T11:00:25.316+02:00I have my own , very biased, reason to hate this p...I have my own , very biased, reason to hate this production with a vengeance. Having said that I suppose you could consider this as an interesting Strindberg approach to opera, which might work when you have a formidable singer/actor like Scott Hendricks in the main role. And you can avoid the BANAL folklore with placing the chorus in the pit instead of rising to the challenge and find a way to use them on stage. I would, however, still like to think that there has to be a show for everybody, not only for those who are seated in the front rows. The people I know who have seen this and were bored out of their minds are maybe not intelligent enough - or maybe just not seated well enough to really experience the intimate drama. I don't mind new approaches to opera at all. It is necessary and the only way to keep the genre alive. I think this production is rather old-fashioned and definitely the wrong format for the stage...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-43542341072126733352012-06-11T11:53:31.677+02:002012-06-11T11:53:31.677+02:00Not really. This is not an exclusive statement and...Not really. This is not an exclusive statement and you should not get offended that easily, unless...<br /><br />If you read carefully you would have noticed that I considered SOME operas by Verdi to be truly bad (with terrible librettos, <i>dazu</i>), and SOME I like a lot. I even mentioned the great ones: Falstaff, Otello, Macbeth, Don Carlo... <br /><br />If you go to opera to see what the librettist of Il Trovatore had to tell you, I let you enjoy your party. It's a free world.Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-1420123985935196662012-06-11T11:27:21.350+02:002012-06-11T11:27:21.350+02:00you say this is a production for intelligent peopl...you say this is a production for intelligent people. I find this quite offensive: do you mean that one who doesn't like this production is stupid?<br />One goes to the opera for a theatrical experience , but one also goes to see and hear what the composer and the librettist (very important) wanted to tell us.<br />Please don't go to see Verdi#s operas if you hate them so much, just as I avoid going to see Cunning Little Vixen or LuluAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com