Don Giovanni in Paris: Peter Mattei, Bernard Richter, Philippe Jordan... and übertalented Michael Haneke

Don Giovanni, Opéra Bastille in Paris, March 15 2012

Bernard Richer, Véronique Gens, Peter Mattei, Philippe Jordan, Patricia Petibon, David Bizic

Michael Haneke ..... director
Philippe Jordan ..... conductor


Peter Mattei ..... Don Giovanni
Paata Burchuladze ..... Il Commendatore
Patricia Petibon ..... Donna Anna
Bernard Richter ..... Don Ottavio
Véronique Gens ..... Donna Elvira
David Bizic ..... Leporello
Nahuel Di Pierro ..... Masetto
Gaëlle Arquez ..... Zerlina

Orchestre et choeur de l'Opéra national de Paris

Malena Ernman, Peter Mattei, and Krassimira Stoyanova

I said I was not much interested in the CD business, but I do follow the new releases when I can. Before summer 2011 I recommended you a few superb recording, and I still believe all three of them are magnificent -- each in its own way. 

Some CD's are great for the way the program presented on them is interpreted and those are that I like the most. Christine Schäfer, René Pape and Anna Larsson (among others) are the true geniuses of interpretation. They manage to turn their 'imperfections' to their advantage that add to their already extraordinarily humanized way of singing the known songs or arias.

But then you have those who have an uncommon sense of musicality, who dare to sing the known stuff in their own, recognizable, way -- that actually gives a whole new flavor to the songs and arias they sing. Malena Ernman and especially Peter Mattei are good examples of that kind of singing. They both recently released new CD, and both contain several very interestingly performed tunes.
Krassimira Stoyanova, instead, is a quite different case: a singer who managed to avoid the stardom, and almost stealthily impose herself as one of the best living singers.

Denoke and Mattei sing Zemlinsky

Webern-Berg-Zemlinsky, Salle Pleyel - Paris, December 3 2010

Angela Denoke

Daniel Harding Peter Hirsch ..... conductor

Angela Denoke .... soprano

Peter Mattei ... baritone

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

-check out here-

Sunday: Fidelio from Lucerne with Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei... and Claudio Abbado

To cheer up your cloudy/rainy Sunday, you may wish to listen to the radio broadcast from the Lucerne Festival where the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by a living legend, Claudio Abbado, will perform Beethoven's Fidelio (I don't know which version!) tonight [Sunday, August 15th] at 21:00 (cet).

A knockout cast includes: Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei, Falk Struckmann, Christof Fischesser, Rachel Harnisch, and Christoph Strehl.

From the Lucerne Festival web-site: photo taken last Thursday during the first "Fidelio" concert

Even if you don't have bad weather today, I think this concert is worthy 2 hours of your time tonight. The press talks about the most unforgettable performance, so...

Here is the link to the Swiss radio DRS. Enjoy!

P.S. If you miss it tonight there will be a rerun on another radio station [link here] next September 4 at 20:05.