Listening to Die Zauberflöte on radio, knowing it's the Julie Taymor production and hearing the riotous laughter in the audience - as you might imagine, it's a little frustrating. From articles I've read, and from Margaret Juntwait's introductions, I did sometimes have a vague idea of what was happening on stage to cause such hilarity, but obviously it's nothing like being there. Oh well. Never mind. At least it sounded fantastic.
Kurt Moll! I love Kurt Moll. He's the Sarastro on the Deutsche Grammophon video of Zauberflöte too, and I adore him. Low notes you can feel. And absolute security. No irritating wobbles for Herr Moll - you feel safe in his company. Perfect for Sarastro, of course. I'd trust him, no question. And all the rest were in fine form also. Matthew Polenzani made an excellent, attractive Tamino and Matthias Goerne an irresistible Papageno (though that's not hard) - and Rene Pape made me wish the Speaker was a much bigger role. Lucia Popp has naturally spoiled me for every single other Königin derNacht - but Erika Miklosa was respectable enough, negotiating the coloratura nicely if not spectacularly - although I did feel she sounded a little too cute and friendly. Lisa Milne, on the other hand, was a perfect Pamina, sweet and silvery. Just when I thought I'd heard 'Ach ich fühl's' too many times for it to get to me...along came Lisa to prove me wrong.
Maybe not seeing it doesn't matter so much after all; just hearing it made me very happy.
Meanwhile my efforts to get Don Giovanni under my skin are going very well indeed. I listened again the Solti this afternoon, in the three hours before Zauberflöte started. My opinion of it hasn't improved much, sadly. Actually I was even less impressed with Renée this time round. I did, on the other hand, feel slightly happier with Bryn: I'd still prefer a suaver Don, but it is inescapably a terribly beautiful voice. Rodney Gilfry, on the other hand, is ideal in the part. Having obviously not had enough yet, I'm watching him on this excellent DVD and he's just dangerous.
(In other news, Il Caro Fanatico reads my mind and asks a vital question. Check out the Surfeit of Goddesses photo while you're there.)
Maybe you were listening to a different Flute than me. When us Americans heard Die Zauberflöte here about a month ago, most of us were quite frightened. The tempi throughout the production were terrible! The orchestra and singers were almost on different pages, it seemed. And the singing left a lot to be desired too.
Posted by: Sam | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 01:12 AM
Really? Oh well. Chacun à son goût. Maybe I love the music so much I'm blind to faults... although I'd tend to think that would make me extra-sensitive. Who knows. Anyway, I enjoyed myself.
Posted by: Sarah | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 06:39 AM
Pictures (with the original fall cast, mind you) here. For other broadcasts, too...
Hope that helps.
Posted by: JSU | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 06:41 AM
Incidentally, I think Sam's been talking to other of "us Americans" than I have.
Posted by: JSU | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 06:42 AM
Us(stands for - unsupervised snobs)Americans may not have liked it but we Americans did. I thought Lisa Milne was to die for. If you dig through AMAZON and HYPERION(second half of the John Ireland link) you can hear samples of her leaving one to ask the question, is this the prettiest voice since Barbara Bonney?
Posted by: Patrick | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 08:29 AM
Oh heavens, I caused an uproar. Allow me to explain-
I'm actually a young violinist here in Louisville (not that my youth precludes me from knowing anything about music, nor do I feel that my studies of music make my opinion infallible!). I spoke to several teachers in music who heard the broadcast, and they also said that there were some sections that were a little sketchy, while a local host on the classical music station here (from whose blog I found this blog, BTW) also was "displeased."
One section that was disjointed would be the overture, which I felt was a little too fast (I thought I heard a bit of a slip in the first violin section early on due to the fast tempo), which Monostato's second act aria, right before the Queen's, was way to fast, and, worst of all, had terrible diction. Personally, I own the Otto Klemperer recording from the 60's, with Gerhard Unger as Monostatos, and the German is much kinder; this last broadcast almost sounded to harsh, especially Monostato's.
Anyway, perhaps I was just in a bad mood back in April. Maybe Die Walkure was the terrible opera of the season (I loved it), but we'll have to wait for Sarah to get to hear it next week.
Posted by: Sam | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 09:52 AM
Well, uproar or not, this has been fascinating. Sam - if you've got the Klemperer, then I imagine Lucia's Königin is something we *do* agree on!
Patrick - so nice to hear from you again, and glad you agree with me on Lisa. I'm going to have to go exploring and hear some more of her.
I'm very much looking forward to Die Walküre. I'm too lazy to go and make myself listen to Wagner, it needs to be forced upon me - and then I love it. This will be my first complete Wagner opera since Tannhäuser (though I did manage one act of Parsifal via VivaLaVoce.com). Can't wait.
Posted by: Sarah | Monday, May 23, 2005 at 04:11 PM