” A Pale Green Mermaid Blog” 

Lone Ranger

This pair of songs, have in common- one thing…after you get done listening to them you feel like you’ve ridden a horse! 

 One  a slow sunny trot, the other a do- or- die gallop, listen they capture the essence of riding and are 2 WOW! musical presentations.

GORILLAZ   Band       CLINT  EASTWOOD   Song

Ooo ooo ooo ooo
I aint happy, I’m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long the future is comin’ on

I aint happy, I’m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long the future is comin’ on,
It’s comin’ on, It’s comin’ on, It’s comin’ on, It’s comin’ on

Yeah, ha Ha HA!
Finally someone let me outa my cage
Now time for me is nothin’ cuz I’m countin’ no age
Nah, I couldn’t be theirs, now you shouldn’t be scared
I’m good at repairs (s’all simple), and I’m under each snare
Intangible (aww dawg), I bet you didn’t think so, I command you to
Panoramic view (you),
Look I’ll make it all manageable
Pick and choose (hmph),
Sit and loose,
All you different crews.
Chicks and dudes,
So who you think is really kickin’ tunes?
Picture you gettin down in tha picture tube,
Like you lit the fuse
You think it’s fictional?
Mystical? maybe
Spiritual?
Hearable
who appears in you ta clear your view (yeah) when your too crazy
Lifeless,
to those a definition for what life is
Priceless,
To you because I put you on the hype shit
You like it? Gun smokin’.
righteous with one token.
Psychic among those,
Possess you with one go.

I aint happy, I’ m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long the future is comin’ on

Iint happy, I’ m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long the future (that’s right) is comin’ on,
it’s comin’ on, it’s comin’ on, it’s comin’ on, it’s comin’ on

The essence, the basics,
Without it you make it
Allow me to make this
child-like-in-nature.
Rhythm, you have it or you don’t
That’s a fallacy.
I’m in ‘em
Every sprouting tree, every child apiece
Every cloud and sea
You see with your eyes,
I see destruction and demise
Corruption in the skies (that’s right)
From this fuckin’ enterprise,
Now I’m sucked into your lies
Through Russel not his muscles but percussion he provides
With me as their (say what) guide
Y’all can see me now cuz you don’t see with you eye
You perceive with your mind
That’s the inner (fuck em)
So I’ma stick around with Russ and be a mentor
Bust a few rhymes (mmm mmmm) so mother fuckers remember
What the thought is
I brought all this, so you can survive when law is lawless(right here)
Feelings, sensations that you thought was dead (yup)
No squealing, remember that it’s all in your head

I ain’t happy, I’m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long the future is comin’ on

I ain’t happy, I’ m feelin glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I’m useless, but not for long my future is comin’ on
it’s comin’ on it’s comin’ on it’s comin’ on it’s comin’ on
My future is comin’ on,
it’s comin’ on, it’s comin’ on,
My future is comin’ on
it’s comin’ on, it’s comin’ on,
My future
(chirp chirp chirp)

**************************************************************************

William Tell Overture  MUSIC         Rossini   SONGWRITER

Note:

The overture to the opera William Tell, especially its high-energy finale, is a very familiar work composed by Gioachino Rossini. There has been repeated use (and sometimes parody) of this overture in the popular media, most famously for being the theme music for the Lone Ranger radio and television shows, and it is quoted by Dmitri Shostakovich in his Symphony No. 15. William Tell was the last of Rossini’s 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music, and secular vocal music.

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Clint Eastwood, Last heard  on www.radio1045.com,  104.5 FM, Philly, PA ,On DJ Wendy’s Show

William Tell Overture, last heard on www.wrti.org  90.1 , Philly PA, FM Morning show, Classical, Jazz

BAND  Gorillaz      www.gorillaz.com  Virtual Band

ESTA ÓPERA COMPUESTA PORO GIOACHINO ROSSINI CON LIBRETO DE ANGELO ANELLI SE ESTRENÓ EN EL TEATRO SAN BENEDETTO DE VENECIA EN 1813 COSECHANDO UN ÉXITO APOTEÓSICO. EL TEXTO BEBE DE LA IMPROVISACIÓN Y LOS PERSONAJES BUFOS DE LA COMEDIA DEL ARTE, DE MOLIÈRE Y DEL ROMANTICISMO. SU GENIALIDAD RESIDE EN “ESE HUMOR LÚCIDO E INTELIGENTE QUE DA COMO RESULTADO UN CUENTO LLENO DE METÁFORAS”, AFIRMA JOAN FONT, DIRECTOR DE ESCENA. Por M. Sinibaldi.

Del 1 al 18 de Noviembre

TEATRO REAL

Gioachino Rossini, “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, Finale Act I “Freddo ed immobile come una statua”, “Mi par d’esser con la testa”, Rosina: Alto Teresa Berganza; il Conte d’Almaviva: Tenor Luigi Alva; Figaro: Baritone Hermann Prey; Don Bartolo: Bass Enzo Dara; Don Basilio: Bass Paolo Montarsolo; Berta: Soprano Stefania Malagù; Fiorello: Bass Renato Cesari; Conductor: Claudio Abbado; Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and Chorus; Director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.

Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero Almaviva, o sia l’inutile precauzione (first performance: Roma, Teatro Argentina, 20 february 1816), Dramma comico by Gioachino Rossini (Pesaro, 1792; Paris, 1868), Libretto by Cesare Sterbini (Roma, 1784; Roma, 1831).

Subject from Barbier de Seville (1755), Comedy by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (Paris, 1732; Paris, 1799).

Gioachino Rossini, “La Gazza Ladra”, Overture, Claudio Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker, Vienna, 1991, New Year’s Concert

La Gazza Ladra (first performance: Milano, Teatro alla Scala, 31 may 1817), Melodramma by Gioachino Rossini (Pesaro, 1792; Paris, 1868), Libretto by Giovanni Gherardini (Milano, 1778; Milano, 1861).

Subject from La Pie voleuse ou La Servante de Palaiseau (1815), Drama by Théodore Badouin d’Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.

]]> http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/pesaro-2009-petite-messe-solennelle/ Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:00:58 +0000 Joaquim http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/pesaro-2009-petite-messe-solennelle/ http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/pesaro-2009-zelmira/ Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:07:00 +0000 Joaquim http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/pesaro-2009-zelmira/ http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/pesaro-2009-la-scala-di-seta/ Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:15:30 +0000 Joaquim http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/pesaro-2009-la-scala-di-seta/ http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/la-fonofernemlandteca-den-colbran/ Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:00:13 +0000 Joaquim http://ximo.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/la-fonofernemlandteca-den-colbran/ http://recitative.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/what-a-topsy-turvy-end-to-the-opera-season/ Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:48:43 +0000 WappingMark http://recitative.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/what-a-topsy-turvy-end-to-the-opera-season/

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of late.  To summarise:

• Orpheus in the Underworld at Holland Park;
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia 13th July (Keenlyside long-since cancelled; JDF withdrew; DiDonato in a wheelchair);
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia live relay to Canary Wharf 15th July (JDF present; DiDonato still in wheelchair obviously; absolute downpour for duration of the overture…)
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia 18th July matinee (Colin Lee unwell, acted role, Toby Spence sang from wings; DiDonato still rolling around);
• Tosca 18th July evening (Voigt withdrew, replaced by Nelly Miriciou to questionable effect).

This account of our opera-going doesn’t of course take account of the fact that Marcello Giordani had a night off from Tosca on 16th, and Georghiu, having had a crack at ‘heroine riding to the rescue’ found it all rather trying and had a night off to be replaced by Amanda Echalaz (great envy at missing that performance!).  It’s all been rather trying of late for the Covent Garden casting managers, I don’t doubt.

But starting with Orpheus in the Underworld… where to begin?  I think that, if you play Offenbach like G&S you’ll get something that owes more to G&S than Offenbach.  It was all posh D’Oyly Carte voices or over-acted mockney accents.  The only characterisations which really stood out for me were Juno (Jill Pert) and Public Opinion (Nuala Willis) who were marvellous, even though they had relatively little to sing and weren’t tremendously audible when they did.  The sparring leads I couldn’t quite get on with, Orpheus especially (Benjamin Segal), who was the main culprit for over-posh public-school-parody G&S style mannerisms.  Jenni Bern’s Eurydice had a pleasantly incisive voice that cut through the difficult acoustic and was not unattractive at all, delivering the more ’sparkling’ moments effectively.  I couldn’t quite adjust, however, to the changes in accent between speaking (cockney) and singing (music college diction-and-vowels).  The stand-out singer-actor was Pluto/Aristaeus who was wonderfully sinuous as Pluto and Ben Fogle-ish posh-but-dim as Aristaeus, with strong voice to match.  There were some effective dance-sequences, and a realtively traditionally-staged can-can, all underskirts and whooping.

The production was reasonable, with a fairly interesting concept based around a Hollywood studio with a curious addition of a German director barking orders in ‘Allo ‘Allo style which failed really to catch light and overcome the discomfort that such displays are wont to induce.  The Paramount inspired tall set was effective, where a gold-suit clad Bacchus (which, alas, wasn’t quite as titillating as one might have hoped) emerged as the gong-striking centrepiece.  However, the question has to be asked: in a piece with as much going on as Orphée aux Enfers, do you really need a really strong overlaid narrative?  Frankly, I tend to think it rather speaks for itself in something simpler and has the potential to get just as much of a laugh – more so – and hang together more effectively.  Just see the Laurent Pelly DVD for that.

Orpheus was the first near-opera I ever saw:  in the Opera North production at the (then newly-restored) Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield.  It bowled me over and probably started me on my operatic career.  I’m not sure that this one would have had the same effect…

So then to the Barbieres…  Oh, such utter delights married to such frustrations.  You will recall my irritation at the withdrawal of Florez because of the proximity of the 13th to the live relay on the 15th.  Colin Lee, as a number of Florez-ticketholding commenters have mentioned on various blogs, was indeed good, and particularly in the more lyrical moments, but the difference was noticeable in the rapid-fire passages where there was a very significant difference in the success with which they were negotiated.  He also appeared, dare I say, a little lumpen alongside a very sharp and detailed performance by many of the other cast members.  On the 18th, when he couldn’t sing, Toby Spence provided some of what was missing in the florid passages, and a generally ’sharper’ delivery, but with him off to the side (out of sight for us in the left Upper Slips, and occasionally out of hearing as well), it added an alienation which was wearisome.  They omitted the last long passage for Almaviva, and I can’t say I missed it.

But the other performers were wonderful, utterly wonderful.  DiDonato is stunning, a rich voice, flexible and expressive, secure and beautiful, allied to detailed acting and tremendous intensity.  Worth each visit just for that.  And the wheelchair detracted next to nothing – a real tribute to her artistry, and those of colleagues on the whole.  Corbelli as Dr Bartolo was equally detailed, characterful and genuinely funny.  Furlanetto was luzury casting as Don Basilio, surely: he was fabulously creepy and comedic.  Spagnoli was a vibrant Figaro, with a voice that was a joy to listen to throughout, and fully into the role.  Finally, I enjoyed Jennifer Rhys-Davies’ Berta every bit as much as Elizabeth Gale’s in the previous run (to the extent that I misattributed the performance to Gale in an earlier draft of this blog, oops, sorry!): fabulously incisive and characterful.  In addition, her trashing of the room in the storm scene to Rosina’s instructions was so effective, and they communicated between each other so effectively and movingly, that this should be left in if the production is revived.  And it should be:  I don’t hold with the scepticism about the basic sets and the comic book presentation, I think it is joyous throughout.  And the Act 1 close with the whole set on hydraulics, swaying about, is just a wonderful theatrical device.  I did keep having pangs of worry about how close Joyce DiDonato was to this massive tumbling contraption, but no further injuries were sustained, I’m pleased to announce!

JDF was indeed wonderful, even sitting in the rain on a plastic groundsheet filling with water (me, not him), watching him on a giant BP Big Screen with the orchestral crescendos reverberating off the glass towers around us at Canary Wharf and dying away into the night.  It stopped chucking it down with rain at the end of the overture and we survived from then on.  Quite magical, in a compromised typically London sort of way.

And then Tosca.  Oh blimey.  Well, this has to be the coarsest Tosca I have yet come across.  The production is perfectly serviceable, for all that it still looks to me like the old one has just been given a good dusting and a reshuffle.  The directing of the revival had added in a couple of touches here and there which brought some additional life to things.  But there was an issue with the principals and the conducting which made even the ’shabby little shocker’ look like the proverbial nut cowering under the descending sledge-hammer.

Terfel was wonderful – amazing in power, sinister, constantly alert to all that was happening, totally in command of the stage.  He was vocally on his best form, from the lithe beauty of the sinister passages to the out-and-out power of, for example, the Te Deum.  Worth the ticket price alone.

Which is good, because Marcello Giordani and Nelly Miriciou were not easy listening.  In one way, though, I suppose Giordani was relatively easy-listening because he was simply so loud.  Everything seemed to be loud, and E Lucevan le Stelle lacked any dramatic tension as a result, or the necessary inwardness.  It got cheered to the rafters, but there you go.

And then there’s Miriciou.  I was so looking forward to hearing her in this role (or indeed, just hearing her, since I don’t think I ever have).  I was a few years too late, though, I fear.  She was undoubtedly committed and again engaged in many details of the production, but the vocal sound was quite simply unpleasant.  It was unwieldy in rapid dramatic passages with some very questionable pitching (to my ears, anyway) in the upper-mid-range.  Vissi d’Arte was delivered with some style, and some beautiful moments, but it was not moving because of what surrounded it.  It was very disappointing, and I found it difficult to keep attention on the third act.  I read the very real esteem in which she is held and trust that this was either an off-day or this Tosca was taken on as a chance to stay in touch with a role which has been so significant.  I wasn’t initially disappointed by Deborah Voigt’s withdrawal, feeling that her portrayal would have been rather glossy and unengaged, if beautiful, and I wasn’t unhappy not to be seeing Angela’s Tosca again.  However, I have learned to be careful what I wish for…

Add onto that Jacques Lacombe’s unrelentingly loud and unsubtle conducting and you have a rather dispiriting end to the season, and an evening that left me with very slight ringing in my ears on the train on the way home, and not very much by way of satisfaction.  I left Tosca humming tunes from the afternoon’s Barbiere…

So what lies ahead in the summer…?  The Mariinski Ring; Glyndebourne for Rusalka and Tristan und Isolde; Forbidden Broadway at the Chocolate Factory; avoidance of the Royal Albert Hall.  Maybe not a season end after all, then…

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of late.  To summarise:

• Orpheus in the Underworld at Holland Park;
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia 13th July (Keenlyside long-since cancelled; JDF withdrew; DiDonato in a wheelchair);
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia live relay to Canary Wharf 15th July (JDF present; DiDonato still in wheelchair obviously; absolute downpour for duration of the overture…)
• Il Barbiere di Siviglia 18th July matinee (Colin Lee unwell, acted role, Toby Spence sang from wings; DiDonato still rolling around);
• Tosca 18th July evening (Voigt withdrew, replaced by Nelly Miriciou to questionable effect).

This account of our opera-going doesn’t of course take account of the fact that Marcello Giordani had a night off from Tosca on 16th, and Georghiu, having had a crack at ‘heroine riding to the rescue’ found it all rather trying and had a night off to be replaced by Amanda Echalaz (great envy at missing that performance!).  It’s all been rather trying of late for the Covent Garden casting managers, I don’t doubt.

But starting with Orpheus in the Underworld… where to begin?  I think that, if you play Offenbach like G&S you’ll get something that owes more to G&S than Offenbach.  It was all posh D’Oyly Carte voices or over-acted mockney accents.  The only characterisations which really stood out for me were Juno (Jill Pert) and Public Opinion (Nuala Willis) who were marvellous, even though they had relatively little to sing and weren’t tremendously audible when they did.  The sparring leads I couldn’t quite get on with, Orpheus especially (Benjamin Segal), who was the main culprit for over-posh public-school-parody G&S style mannerisms.  Jenni Bern’s Eurydice had a pleasantly incisive voice that cut through the difficult acoustic and was not unattractive at all, delivering the more ’sparkling’ moments effectively.  I couldn’t quite adjust, however, to the changes in accent between speaking (cockney) and singing (music college diction-and-vowels).  The stand-out singer-actor was Pluto/Aristaeus who was wonderfully sinuous as Pluto and Ben Fogle-ish posh-but-dim as Aristaeus, with strong voice to match.  There were some effective dance-sequences, and a realtively traditionally-staged can-can, all underskirts and whooping.

The production was reasonable, with a fairly interesting concept based around a Hollywood studio with a curious addition of a German director barking orders in ‘Allo ‘Allo style which failed really to catch light and overcome the discomfort that such displays are wont to induce.  The Paramount inspired tall set was effective, where a gold-suit clad Bacchus (which, alas, wasn’t quite as titillating as one might have hoped) emerged as the gong-striking centrepiece.  However, the question has to be asked: in a piece with as much going on as Orphée aux Enfers, do you really need a really strong overlaid narrative?  Frankly, I tend to think it rather speaks for itself in something simpler and has the potential to get just as much of a laugh – more so – and hang together more effectively.  Just see the Laurent Pelly DVD for that.

Orpheus was the first near-opera I ever saw:  in the Opera North production at the (then newly-restored) Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield.  It bowled me over and probably started me on my operatic career.  I’m not sure that this one would have had the same effect…

So then to the Barbieres…  Oh, such utter delights married to such frustrations.  You will recall my irritation at the withdrawal of Florez because of the proximity of the 13th to the live relay on the 15th.  Colin Lee, as a number of Florez-ticketholding commenters have mentioned on various blogs, was indeed good, and particularly in the more lyrical moments, but the difference was noticeable in the rapid-fire passages where there was a very significant difference in the success with which they were negotiated.  He also appeared, dare I say, a little lumpen alongside a very sharp and detailed performance by many of the other cast members.  On the 18th, when he couldn’t sing, Toby Spence provided some of what was missing in the florid passages, and a generally ’sharper’ delivery, but with him off to the side (out of sight for us in the left Upper Slips, and occasionally out of hearing as well), it added an alienation which was wearisome.  They omitted the last long passage for Almaviva, and I can’t say I missed it.

But the other performers were wonderful, utterly wonderful.  DiDonato is stunning, a rich voice, flexible and expressive, secure and beautiful, allied to detailed acting and tremendous intensity.  Worth each visit just for that.  And the wheelchair detracted next to nothing – a real tribute to her artistry, and those of colleagues on the whole.  Corbelli as Dr Bartolo was equally detailed, characterful and genuinely funny.  Furlanetto was luzury casting as Don Basilio, surely: he was fabulously creepy and comedic.  Spagnoli was a vibrant Figaro, with a voice that was a joy to listen to throughout, and fully into the role.  Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed (again) Elizabeth Gale’s Berta - and her trashing of the room in the storm scene to Rosina’s instructions was so effective, and they communicated between each other so effectively and movingly, that this should be left in if the production is revived.  And it should be:  I don’t hold with the scepticism about the basic sets and the comic book presentation, I think it is joyous throughout.  And the Act 1 close with the whole set on hydraulics, swaying about, is just a wonderful theatrical device.  I did keep having pangs of worry about how close Joyce DiDonato was to this massive tumbling contraption, but no further injuries were sustained, I’m pleased to announce!

JDF was indeed wonderful, even sitting in the rain on a plastic groundsheet filling with water (me, not him), watching him on a giant BP Big Screen with the orchestral crescendos reverberating off the glass towers around us at Canary Wharf and dying away into the night.  It stopped chucking it down with rain at the end of the overture and we survived from then on.  Quite magical, in a compromised typically London sort of way.

And then Tosca.  Oh blimey.  Well, this has to be the coarsest Tosca I have yet come across.  The production is perfectly serviceable, for all that it still looks to me like the old one has just been given a good dusting and a reshuffle.  The directing of the revival had added in a couple of touches here and there which brought some additional life to things.  But there was an issue with the principals and the conducting which made even the ’shabby little shocker’ look like the proverbial nut cowering under the descending sledge-hammer.

Terfel was wonderful – amazing in power, sinister, constantly alert to all that was happening, totally in command of the stage.  He was vocally on his best form, from the lithe beauty of the sinister passages to the out-and-out power of, for example, the Te Deum.  Worth the ticket price alone.

Which is good, because Marcello Giordani and Nelly Miriciou were not easy listening.  In one way, though, I suppose Giordani was relatively easy-listening because he was simply so loud.  Everything seemed to be loud, and E Lucevan le Stelle lacked any dramatic tension as a result, or the necessary inwardness.  It got cheered to the rafters, but there you go.

And then there’s Miriciou.  I was so looking forward to hearing her in this role (or indeed, just hearing her, since I don’t think I ever have).  I was a few years too late, though, I fear.  She was undoubtedly committed and again engaged in many details of the production, but the vocal sound was quite simply unpleasant.  It was unwieldy in rapid dramatic passages with some very questionable pitching (to my ears, anyway) in the upper-mid-range.  Vissi d’Arte was delivered with some style, and some beautiful moments, but it was not moving because of what surrounded it.  It was very disappointing, and I found it difficult to keep attention on the third act.  I read the very real esteem in which she is held and trust that this was either an off-day or this Tosca was taken on as a chance to stay in touch with a role which has been so significant.  I wasn’t initially disappointed by Deborah Voigt’s withdrawal, feeling that her portrayal would have been rather glossy and unengaged, if beautiful, and I wasn’t unhappy not to be seeing Angela’s Tosca again.  However, I have learned to be careful what I wish for…

Add onto that Jacques Lacombe’s unrelentingly loud and unsubtle conducting and you have a rather dispiriting end to the season, and an evening that left me with very slight ringing in my ears on the train on the way home, and not very much by way of satisfaction.  I left Tosca humming tunes from the afternoon’s Barbiere…

So what lies ahead in the summer…?  The Mariinski Ring; Glyndebourne for Rusalka and Tristan und Isolde; Forbidden Broadway at the Chocolate Factory; avoidance of the Royal Albert Hall.  Maybe not a season end after all, then…

While on our way to watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon at The Metreon (in San Francisco), my cousin, husband and I, chanced upon a most serendipitous performance that was about to take place at Yerba Buena Gardens. With time to spare before the movie started we walked over to the garden, found a sunny patch of green and basked in the heat for a good half hour. The stage was simple and casual. Empty mismatched chairs lined up into rows suggesting the spacial breadth of a symphony. There were no banners, no huge sponsor ads and as we were quite far, we had no idea who was perfroming. After a brief introduction, which I unfortunately didn’t pay attention to due to the pleasant sight of dragonflies buzzing alongside our little turf, I flipped through the booklet that was randomly being handed out and learned that the production was for the 2009 Summer Season of the Merola Opera Program. To my utmost joy and amazement, the symphony started playing the overture to Gioachino Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, (The Italian Woman in Algiers) an opera in 2 acts that premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on May 22, 1813.

The sun was a tad bit too happy that afternoon; the heat nearly unbearable (at least for us), so we picked ourselves up and sought after a cool shaded area. We were lucky enough to have finished listening to the overture when we realized that the movie was about to start (Okay, truth is, we still wanted to buy some popcorn. Don’t judge me!) Though we wanted to stay for the rest of the performance, we decided to heed the Autobot’s distress call. The performances we missed were Act 2 L’italiana in Algeri, Acts 2 and 3 of Orofeo Ed Euridice, and Act 4 of La Boheme.

Yerba Buena Gardens: Hiding in the shade gleefuly listening to the overture of Gioachino Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri (The Italian Woman in Algiers)
being performed. Bravo!!!

Apparently, this FREE performance is part of the annual Yerba Buena Gardens Festival which generally presents music, dance, theater, spoken word, and exhibits (to name a few) that celebrates the unique cultural diversity of San Francisco. More info regarding the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival can be found at: http://www.ybgf.org/ Have I mentioned that all these outdoor programs are FREE!?! All the way through the entire month of OCTOBER!!! The Merola Opera Program collaborated with Yerba Buena Gardens by joining hands in its two long standing summer festival traditions.

Named after San Francisco Opera’s first General Director, Gaetano Merola; the Merola Opera Program is a comprehensive 11 week training program for artists all over the country between the ages of 20-34 that features classes and even public performances. The Program zeroes into the following categories: Musical style and interpretation, ensemble work, accompaniment, acting, conducting, prompting, stage technique, movement, maekup, fencing, role coaching, languages and diction. The coveted 29 slots are given to approximtely 24 singers, 5 apprentice coaches and one stage director. All participants of the program are given the oppurtunity to showcase their artistic growth through performances; ultimately leading to prolific careers with the San Francisco Opera, should they be accepted.

Although the only free performance the Merola Opera Program had was at the Yerba Buena Gardens, ticket sales for the remaining three performances will help ease the finances of accepted and participating artists, as their transportation, housing, training and a weekly stipend is covered for the duration of the summer program. More information regarding the SF Opera and the Merola Opera Program 2009 can be found here: http://sfopera.com/

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival:

http://www.ybgf.org/
http://www.yerbabuenagardens.com/

San Francisco Opera/ Merola Opera Program

http://sfopera.com/

JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ

GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868):
- La Cenerentola:
          “Si ritrovarla io giuro”
- “La lontananza”
- “Le Sylvain”
- “L’orgia”

- Para piano solo:
            “Prelude di musique anodine”

- Zelmira: “Terra amica”

——————————————-

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818 – 1893):
- Romeo et Juliette: “Ah leve toi soleil”

JOSÉ SERRANO (1873 – 1941):
- La alegría del batallón: “El mismo rey del moro”

AGUSTÍN PÉREZ SORIANO (1846 – 1907):
- El guitarrico: “Serenata”

RAFAEL CALLEJA (1870 – 1938) – TOMÁS BARRERA SAAVEDRA (1870 – 1938):
- Los emigrantes: “Adiós Granada”

AMADEO VIVES (1871 – 1932):
- Doña Francisquita: “Por el humo”

GIOACHINO ROSSINI:
- Guillaume Tell: “Asil ereditaire. Amis amis”

———————————————————-

Bises:

GIOACHINO ROSSINI:
- Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Cessa di più resistere

GAETANO DONIZZETTI:
- L’Elisir D’Amore: Una furtiva lacrima
- La fille du régiment: Ah, mes amis

FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI:
- L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra

GAETANO DONIZETTI:
- Lucrezia Borgia: T’amo qual s’ama un angelo

Juan Diego Flórez, tenor
Vincenzo Scalera, piano

El recital se abre con “Si, ritrovarla io giuro”, la apasionada aria amorosa que canta Don Ramiro en el segundo acto de La Cenerentola. Se trata de un aria de estructura tripartita, con notas agudas de alto reisgo, que transmite con extraordinaria brillantez el entusiasmo juvenil del príncipe en la búsqueda de su amada.
“La lontonanza”, una bella canción que Rossini dedicó al autor del texto, Giuseppe Torre, fue compuesta en la más plácida etapa de la vida del célebre compositor italiano, cuando, ya retirado de los escenarios, era capaz de dar rienda suelta a su vena melódica por puro placer, lejos de presiones teatrales y exigencias divistas. Son sus famosos Péches de vieillesse (Pecados de vejez), amplia y variada colección de piezas vocales e instrumentales ordenados en catorce volúmenes por la Fundación Rossini de Pésaro. Si “La lontananza” pertenece al volumen I, Álbum italiano, la canción para tenor “Le Sylvain”, con texto de E. Pacini, figura en el volumen II, Morceaux réservés (Fragmentos reservados). El “Preludio” abre el volumen XIII, Musique anodine, en el que figuran seis “modestas” melodias. En cuanto a L’orgia, pertenece a las bien conocidas Les soirées musicales (Veladas musicales), colección de ocho arias y cuatro dúos con acompañamiento pianístico compuestos entre 1830 y 1835, año en que fue publicada por Troupenas en París.

Zelmira es una ópera de madurez del genio de Pésaro. Drama musical en dos actos de Andrea Leone Tottola, basado en la tragedia de 1762 Zelmire de Dormont de Belloy, y estrenada el 16 de febrero de 1822 en el Teatro San Carlos de Nápoles, con la legendaria Isabella Colbrán en el papel titular y los tenores Giovanni David y Andrea Nozari en los respectivos papeles de Ilo y Antenore. Se trata de un ópera fascinante en la que Rossini, además de mostrar un gran refinamiento orquestal, derrocha un melodismo de contraste, escenas de increíble lirismo y momentos de gran fuerza dramática. La cavatina de Ilo “Terra amica” es uno de esos momentos excepcionales de canto por su grado de exigencia y virtuosismo belcantista.

El aria “Ah! lève-toi soleil!”, de la ópera Roméo et Juliette de Charles Gounod, es de un exquisito lirismo. Exige cálidos y delicados matices a media voz, elegancia en el fraseo, ductilidad y, naturalmente, brillantez en los agudos.
La selección de romanzas de zarzuela son páginas muy populares, con el encanto y la sencillez de la guajira de “La alegría del batallón”, de José Serrano; la famosa serenata o “Jota de Perico” de la zarzuela en un acto de “El Guitarrico”, de Agustín Pérez Soriano, favorita de tenores y ligada en la memoria melómana a las excelsas interpretaciones de Miguel Fleta y Alfredo Kraus; la granaína “Adiós, Granada”, de “Emigrantes”, de Rafael Calleja y Tomás Barrera, y “Por el humo se sabe”, de “Doña Francisquita”, de Amadeo Vives, verdadera joya que conjuga inspiración melódica, elegancia y exigencia técnica.

El aria de Arnold “Asile héréditaire” y la cabaletta “Amis, amis”, de Guillaume Tell, la última ópera de Rossini, estrenada en su versión original francesa en 1829 por Adolphe Nourrit, son piezas que exigen control de fiato para esculpir amplias frases líricas y sostener sin desmayo los agudos. Se tratan de piezas de bravura con espectaculares agudos, esencia belcantista que exige todo a la voz de tenor.

JUAN DIEGO FLÓREZ.
Oriundo de Lima, este tenor peruano, considerado hoy en día uno de los mejores del panorama lírico, estudió en su país y luego en el Instituto Curtis de Filadelfia. Debutó con “Matilde di Shabran” en el Festival Rossini de Pésaro en 1996 y de inmediato se le consideró una auténtica revelación; a partir de entonces el desarrollo de su carrera internacional ha sido imparable hasta convertirse en una estrella. Ha cosechado éxitos en todos los principales teatros del mundo como La Scala de Milán, el Metropolitan de Nueva York, el Covent Garden de Londres, la Staatsoper de Viena, la Opéra National de París, entre otros muchos, y en festivales como el de Salzburgo y, por supuesto, el Rossini, compositor por el que siente especial predilección. Asimismo, ha trabajado con los más reconocidos directores musicales como Muti, Levine, Chailly, Rousset, Pappano, Dudamel, Marriner y Gardiner, por citar algunos. Son numerosas sus grabaciones discográficas con Decca, compañía con la que tiene un contrato en exclusiva, muchas de las cuales han recibido varios galardones internacionales. También ha recibido numerosos premios: el Abbiati, el Rossini de Oro, el Aureliano Pertile, el Francesco Tamagno, el Opera Award y el ISO de Oro. El Gobierno de Perú lo ha condecorado con la más alta distinción, la Orden del Sol en el grado de Gran Cruz.

VINCENZO SCALERA
Nacido en New Jersey, se graduó en Manhattan School of Music y trabajó como director asistente en la New Jersey State Opera. Continuó sus estudios en Italia y en 1980 se unió al equipo del Teatro alla Scala de Milán como pianista y asistente de directores como Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Giannandrea Gavazzeni y Carlos Kleiber. Ha participado en los festivales de Edimburgo, Martina Franca, Jerusalén, Estambul, La Choregies d’Orange, Carinthischer Sommer Ossiach y Rossini de Pésaro. Ha acompañado a cantantes como Montserrat Caballé, Leyla Gencer, Sumi Jo, Raina Kabaivanska, Katia Ricciarelli, Renata Scotto, Cesare Siepi, Lucia Valentini Terrani y Leontina Vaduva entre otros. Ha participado en la grabación de recitales de Sumi Jo (La promessa), Renata Scotto (Complete Songs of Verdi), Carlo Bergonzi (Art of Bel Canto) o José Carreras (The Comeback Concerts). También ha colaborado en tres recitales de Carreras (In Vienna, In Concert, Comeback Concert in Spain), así como en el documental “Bergonzi celebrates Gigli” o en los montajes de “La Cenerentola” e “Il viaggio a Reims” de Rossini, ambas bajo la dirección de Claudio Abbado. Ha sido profesor de acompañamiento de piano y de repertorio lírico en la Renata Scotto Opera Academy de Savona y forma parte del profesorado de la Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri de la Scala de Milán.

1906 – G. RICORDI & C. – MILANO – 1906
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Melodramma buffo in due atti di Cesare Sterbini

NOTE

Il Barbiere di Siviglia è un’opera lirica di Gioachino Rossini su libretto di Cesare Sterbini tratto dalla commedia omonima di Beaumarchais.

Il titolo originale è “Almaviva, o sia l’inutile precauzione”. Il libretto era stato già musicato l’anno prima da Francesco Morlacchi. Prima di lui, Giovanni Paisiello aveva messo in scena il suo Barbiere di Siviglia nel 1782.

[Acquistalo QUI!!!]

IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA DI GIACOMO ROSSINI

La prima rappresentazione ebbe luogo il 20 febbraio 1816 al Teatro Argentina, a Roma, e terminò fra i fischi. A provocarli, secondo i pettegolezzi dell’epoca, sarebbero stati gli impresari di un teatro concorrente, il Teatro Valle; secondo altri, la colpa fu di alcuni seguaci di Paisiello e della sua versione dell’opera.

Il solo annuncio che Rossini stava preparando una nuova versione del Barbiere di Siviglia aveva suscitato non poche polemiche, anche in considerazione del fatto che all’epoca Paisiello era ancora vivo.

Il fiasco della prima fu però riscattato immediatamente dal successo delle repliche, e l’opera di Rossini finì presto per oscurare la precedente versione di Paisiello.

Il contralto Geltrude Righetti Giorgi fu la prima Rosina della storia mentre il ruolo di Almaviva fu affidato al grande tenore spagnolo Manuel García.

Libretto d’opera in Italiano & English

ATTO I

Libretto d'Opera del 1906

Il conte di Almaviva è innamorato della bella Rosina, che abita nella casa del suo anziano tutore, don Bartolo, a sua volta segretamente intenzionato a sposarla. Il conte chiede a Figaro, barbiere nonché “factotum della città“, di aiutarlo a conquistare il cuore della ragazza, alla quale si è presentato sotto il falso nome di Lindoro.

Figaro consiglia al conte di cambiare personalità e fingersi un giovane soldato, cui Rosina si dimostra presto interessata grazie anche ad una bella serenata cantata sotto le finestre della casa del dottore; il barbiere procura inoltre a Lindoro un foglio che ne attesta la temporanea residenza in casa di don Bartolo e tenta di allacciare i rapporti con Rosina.

Don Basilio, il maestro di musica della ragazza, sa della presenza del conte di Almaviva in Siviglia e suggerisce a don Bartolo di calunniarlo per sminuirne la figura, giunge in casa sorprendendo Figaro e Rosina. La ragazza aveva già scritto un biglietto per Lindoro, ma Don Bartolo si accorge che manca un foglio dal taccuino e striglia Rosina.

Secondo i piani, il conte di Almaviva irrompe nella casa di don Bartolo fingendosi un soldato ubriaco, ma crea una tale confusione che arrivano i gendarmi. Quando però il conte si fa riconoscere di nascosto dall’ufficiale, i soldati si ritirano in buon ordine, lasciando don Bartolo esterrefatto.

ATTO II

Dettaglio interno libretto dell'opera Barbiere di Siviglia

Don Bartolo comincia a sospettare riguardo alla vera identità del giovane soldato. Giunge il sedicente maestro di musica don Alonso (in realtà sempre il conte, celato in un nuovo travestimento), che afferma di essere stato inviato da don Basilio, rimasto a casa febbricitante, a sostituirlo nella lezione di canto per Rosina.

Per guadagnare la fiducia del tutore, il finto don Alonso gli mostra il biglietto che Rosina gli aveva mandato. Nel frattempo giunge Figaro con il compito di radere la barba al padrone di casa. Nonostante Figaro faccia il possibile per coprire la conversazione dei due giovani, don Bartolo capta le loro parole e caccia tutti. Con lui resta solo Berta, la serva, a commiserare il vecchio padrone.

Don Bartolo fa credere a Rosina, mostrandole il biglietto consegnatogli da don Alonso, che Lindoro e Figaro si vogliano prendere gioco di lei, e quest’ultima amareggiata acconsente alle nozze con il suo tutore, che prontamente fa chiamare il notaio. In quel momento arriva anche don Basilio, mentre con una scala Figaro e il Conte entrano in casa dalla finestra e raggiungono Rosina. Finalmente il conte rivela la propria identità, per chiarire la situazione e convincere la fanciulla della sincerità del suo amore.

Don Bartolo ha però fatto togliere la scala e i tre complici si trovano senza via di fuga. In quel momento sopraggiunge il notaio chiamato a stendere il contratto delle nozze tra don Bartolo e Rosina. Approfittando dell’assenza temporanea del tutore, il conte convince lui e don Basilio (dietro congrua ricompensa) a inserire nel contratto il nome suo in luogo di quello di don Bartolo. Giunto troppo tardi, a quest’ultimo resta la magra consolazione di aver risparmiato la dote per Rosina, che il conte di Almaviva rifiuta. Gli amanti coronano dunque il loro sogno.

Maria Malibran as Desdemona.

One of the things that has kept me very busy over the past few months is freelance writing for various publications, one of them The Miami Herald.

For the Herald, I did a piece about Jose Carreras, the Catalan tenor most well-known as a member of The Three Tenors. I’m probably one of the only classical music journalists left in the world who hasn’t talked to him, but he was wonderfully gracious and quite easy to talk to, and I’m grateful to him for making things work so well.

In the course of our discussion, I asked him about obscure operas. He’s done quite a few of the early Verdi operas (Un Giorno di Regno, for instance), and ended his stage career singing, of all things, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Sly. (Part of one of those performances can be seen on YouTube.)

I wanted to ask him about this because in the course of my research for the piece I did some looking into his discography and came away very impressed by the sheer volume of work he’s done, and in particular, the offbeat work such as the Verdi rarities. So I asked him which opera of all the unusual ones he’s done should appear more regularly on the world’s opera stages.

His answer: Rossini’s Otello. Here’s the section of the story (this part didn’t run) in which we discussed it:

“I always liked to do, besides the basic repertoire, what you call rarities,” he said. “Besides [Un] Giorno di Regno, many other early Verdi operas …  Il Corsaro, [La] Battaglia de Legnano, [I] Due Foscari, Stiffelio; or Rossini’s Otello, Rossini’s Elisabetta d’Inghilterra.  I always like to escape routine. I think this is also very important for an artist.”

It’s also good for the general public to know the music better, Carreras said, and that means all of the Verdi operas, “from  A to Zed.” But the opera that sticks out for him as a real treasure is the Rossini Otello, which he recorded with the American mezzo Frederica von Stade in the early 1980s.

“I know that one of the problems is to find the right cast, because, can you imagine, we’re talking about an opera with six tenors. Which opera director wants to face that?” he said, laughing. “But I think it’s a great opera.”

So I’ve been wandering around the Net looking for performances of it, and there are plenty on YouTube alone, including one of von Stade singing the Willow Song (Assisa al pie d’un salice) from Act III. I was not familiar with this 1816 opera (except through the Liszt transcription of one of the arias), and while it has an early 19th-century beauty that is not quite as compelling to me as the Verdi treatment 70 years later, it’s still wonderful music, and I can see why it was so popular for most of that century before Verdi’s displaced it. 

Oddly enough, tonight as I was reading a Mendelssohn biography (R. Larry Todd’s), I came to the section in which Mendelssohn first visited England in 1829. The first concert he went to? The opera, where he saw Otello, with Maria Malibran.

Philip Gossett once wrote that Rossini deserves the credit for establishing the norms of operatic drama as we still know it in large part today, and I for one would love to hear something other than Il Barbiere or Cenerentola if I’m going to hear Rossini. I remember once many years ago getting my hands on a complete recording of William Tell, and found it astounding, and when it comes to length and expense, we’ll do that for Wagner, apparently, but not Rossini.

It’s too bad, and I’ve got more to say about operatic repertory, but will post a followup later. In the meantime, I’m glad to have had the opportunity to talk to Jose Carreras and get inspired to look a little harder at the lesser-known parts of the operatic canon.

Here’s a performance from Spain, in Carreras’ hometown of Barcelona, in which the Italian mezzo Cecilia Bartoli, as part of her Malibran tribute, sings the Willow Song. I like the way she does this, and I love the period instruments the orchestra uses (this is Part 1, but the uploader has a link to Part 2 in the notes):

This week’s featured advert, from 1979, is a masterful example of the clever combination of music and visuals.

Fiat were so proud of their, at the time, revolutionary automated production line used to create their new Strada car, they decided to show it off in style.

The two-minute advert shows images of the robots assembling the Strada (slogan: “Handbuilt by robots”), synchronised to Largo al factotum, an aria from the opera The Barber Of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, followed by some mild stunt driving:

It a great advert in its own right – but the main reason for including it here, if I am honest, is to include these two Not The Nine O’Clock News parodies: