OperaNow! #152: THE ANGRY ONE?!

Which operas need new recordings?...German newspapers want that good review back!...Tewkesbury gets a rare cast for Gotterdamerung...Meryl Streep breathes with her back

Oliver's Corner finishes with Norma part 2 and recordings by Maria Callas, Elinor Ross, Leyla Gencer, and Edita Gruberova.

Plus Guess Who Died (or didn't...sheesh!)

This week features Michael, The OC, Doug Dodson, and Jenny Rivera.

Comments

[CruzSF]

Are people afraid to comment due to fear of angry panel reactions? I'll go first. I've always interpreted Jenny's anger as passion, and unfortunately, she's had much reason to vent that passion on the show recently because of the insanity surrounding NYCO.

I'm sorry to see "Norma" finish on Oliver's Corner. I was really enjoying learning more about this opera and this series of Corners helped me to enlarge my appreciation of the bel canto period. Sure, the genre ossified by the end of the period, like any trend in any genre, but I urge opera lovers that resist it to do a little digging into the form and the reasons it came into being. Opera history is very interesting and every development came about in reaction to a previous trend (this is true, of course, for every thing that ever happened in civilization's history, too). If after doing some background reading, bel canto still isn't your thing -- well, I guess it's just not your thing. But, I will say that, in my own experience, I used to find bel canto to lean toward the monotonous side until I read about its history and the composition of specific operas.

[Brandon M.]

Not so much a comment, just bravo. Best show in a good long while. I always measure this by how many loud guffaws I emit at the gym. Got a few quizzical looks this time. You guys were ON.

Oh, and O. Camaco (doesn't that sound like a Street Fighter 2 character?) was so right. That last excerpt was spectacular. Thanks for sharing!

[Gianmarco]

So great to hear Oliver say "affectations" again - it's been awhile and I miss it! OK, just a note on "spotify", "itunes" etc. as it relates to opera/classical recordings in general. I can see their value for downloading specific tracks - e.g. if you just want to hear X singer in Y aria etc. However, I'm not embracing it yet in general for larger form works - complete operas/symphonies...Most important, I don't find the recording quality good enough yet. I have no interest in listening to compressed files through earphones, especially for large scale pieces with bigger orchestrations - it doesn't do much for me. Plus, I'm geeky enough to want to know about the recording - where and when it happened and so on. And to read about the work in whatever extra essays which might be included in the old-fashioned booklet. I'm afraid this makes me sound very ancient. I started buying classical CDs in the early 90s...not sooo long ago. I know you can print your own CD booklets/libretti etc. but that's a bit unwieldy and impractical (what do you do then, staple all the pages together???) Maybe most people aren't interested in full recordings anymore and just want to buy "songs" (drives me nuts when I hear people talking about arias in that way). Great discussion though. Jenny...keep up the anger (so funny - I never think of you as the angry one, just full of great passion and care for the art form - Stephano is a great role by the way, love his little aria!) Oh, finally - had never heard Elinor Ross before - what a gutsy, fabulous voice!

[Kendall in Portland]

Really enjoying the podcast - trying to get used to having it available so frequently! LOL

Had a crappy week - can't tell you how many times I stopped myself and said, "THE ANGRY ONE? I mean, the angry one?"

[Ross]

Okay, to clarify....

Doug... comic relief

OIiver... the sensitive and melodramatic one

Michael... the talent

Jenny.... the voice of reason

Opera Now.. the #1 opera-ish newzy gay dating site!

[Michael Rice]

It's a fair cop...