Tuesday
Mar262013
OperaNow! #182: Who's The One Who's Not Regine Crespin?
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 9:51AM 
Antonio Pappano bemoans the current generation singers and their frail health...Some singers respond...Vibrating sex toys are good for the throat...New Chief at Royal Opera...The Macaroni Grill best opera singer...More donkey news.
This week in the Holy Week version of Oliver's Corner: Dualing Grieving Momma's with a drop the needle on 11 singers.
Plus Guess Who Died?
This week features Michael, The OC and Devon Estes
Reader Comments (8)
Clues to Oliver's Corner
Pergolesi Stabat Mater I duet
Clip 1. Internationally acclaimed Soprano A and lesser known Italian Contralto
Clip 2. Soprano who is such a Mozart Specialist that she teaches there, paired with a renown Bean Burrito
Pergolesi Stabat Mater IV "Eia mater"
Clip 3. a double first name contralto or countertenor
Clip 4. "cool" tone quality, saith The OC very recently
Clip 5. recently made NYCO debut, just in time for Easter
Rossini Cujus Animam
Clip 6. evidence that The OC shouldn't be responding to Viewer Mail.
Clip 7. if you don't recognize this voice, Hang it up.
Clip 8. an "exciting" passaggio. or should we say **passaje**
Rossini Inflammatus
Clip 9. a favorite of the OC, and of Johnny Carson
Clip 10. a true Chest Nut
Clip 11. sometimes has conversations with old costumes
Clip 12. see Clip 1
This was a hard one folks. In culo alla balena!
OK, the first almost impossible Oliver's Corner. I think I *might* have recognized 3-4 at the most. I know the first Pergolesi clip was Netrebko/Pizzolato from their recent transversal of this much-recorded work. I actually was given a free copy and listened once - it's ok, but even I, not remotely a Baroque connoisseur could tell that stylistically it's a little off, but vocally still quite impressive in its own way. Then I have to skip to the Rossini tenor aria - 2nd clip was Pavarotti without a doubt. Then for the Rossini soprano aria (what an amazing piece!) I think the second one was Carol Vaness and the forth is Netrebko again - could recognize those dark, swallowed vowels anywhere.
Your third wheel this week and last have been great - but do miss our friend from Boston.
The Pappano statement was quite something coming from such a high-placed person. I've talked about it a lot with others here in Toronto and one blogger said he thinks that Pappano couldn't really say what he wanted to...that is, that there is a select group of very top echelon singers who really are taking advantage of their position and cancelling whenever they feel like it. The statement really doesn't apply to "young singers out there" who for obviousl reasons are probably thankful for any job they can get these days.
Happy Easter all!
OMG, I thought i would never guess one of the clips of Oliver's Corner. I am pretty sure clip 2 is Andreas Scholl and Barbara Bonney, I hope I am right.
Good job GabiL.
For those of you who can't handle the suspense:
Clip 1. Netrebko/Pizzolato
Clip 2. Bonney/Scholl
Pergolesi Stabat Mater IV "Eia mater"
Clip 3. David Daniels
Clip 4. Sara Mingardo
Clip 5. Ian Howell
Rossini Cujus Animam
Clip 6. Lawrence Brownlee
Clip 7. if you don't recognize this voice, Hang it up.
Clip 8. Francisco Araiza
Rossini Inflammatus
Clip 9. Martina Arroyo
Clip 10. Carol Vaness
Clip 11. Deborah Voigt
Clip 12. Netrebko
i didn't listen to all of the clips, but i did hear first and last so i heard my netrebko.
I was at the same matinee performance of La Bohème that Oliver attended. No surprise that I liked Calleja more than Oliver did. I DID get a thrill from his sound (as did a friend with whom I went to the opera). His voice was strong, he inhabited the character, and he worked well with the rest of the cast (even though he clearly didn't have the kind of chemistry with Rodolfo's friends and Musetta that the rest of the holdovers from the A cast had, but as Oliver said, the other singers -- except Netrebko -- had been working together for 2 months longer).
Netrebko, to my ears, didn't just "phone it in," she was seriously off her game. She seemed bored at times, she didn't interact that well with Calleja or the rest of the cast (she was much better with each successive act), and at least once, her voice simply gave out as she swooped up to a high note (by "gave out," I mean that there was a gap in sound as she ascended a scale). At the intermission, my friend asked if I noticed her voice disappearing, so I know I didn't imagine it. This was the first time I’d heard Netrebko live (she’d cancelled a performance of Traviata for which I had a ticket in San Francisco), I traveled to Chicago specifically to see this performance of Bohème with Netrebko & Calleja, and I was very disappointed in her side of the performance. I’m willing to accept that she was having a bad day or a bad week, but frankly, her actions on the stage reminded me of what I’ve seen from her in Met HDs of Don Pasquale and Anna Bolena – basically, she’s often in character but seems to periodically slip into “Netrebko” (the character who winks at the audience with a smile even when it isn’t appropriate for the role).
I'm surprised that Oliver didn't mention the interpolation of some Gangnam Style moves during the Act 1 horseplay among the roommates. Much of the audience seemed to enjoy it -- there was laughter -- but it was jarring to see.
Thanks for the inclusion of the altos in the Oliver's Corner segment. Hearing those voices made my day.
Oliver, i love your Oliver's corner. I have learned so much from your segments. I just have one request. Recently you have not mentioned the names of the opera singers and have had listeners guess the names every week. This is fun. But, I think it would also be good to mix in some episodes in which you say the names of the opera singers before playing the tape, perhaps with a little bio on the singer as well explaining why they are important. If you mix it up a bit you would hit both audiences, those who already know a lot about opera and those like myself that are still studying and learning. Thanks again for your awsome effort in preparing your segment.
How can we argue with Canada's favorite son?