Nürnbergs teurem Sachs

[sovay]

Well, as far as first experiences of Wagner go, that was pretty awesome. I even got the high-resolution stream to work after the first act. Gerard Finley: why have I not heard of? (Apparently I would have if I'd been able to get tickets to Doctor Atomic at the Met in 2008.) Johannes Martin Kränzle: would watch sing his way out of a paper bag. (Which is pretty much happens to Beckmesser in the third act, Malvolio-funny.) What a much more complicated opera than I was expecting. I may attempt to write it up, but first I have to start making Ethiopian collard greens from a recipe I got off the internet. I wish there would be a professionally available recording, but right now I'll settle for being glad—for once—that even if I was in the wrong country for a production, it didn't matter.

Comments

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

Two productions, both the Met's (Penny Woolcock) and Peter Sellars', both with Finley. (He was miked; Adams doesn't seem to trust operatic voices.) Sadly, I think that number is really the best part of the opera. It's a serious mess for a number of reasons, the worst offender being that Peter Sellars is not a good librettist. But John Adams seems loyal to him, now.

[sovay]

Sadly, I think that number is really the best part of the opera.

Well, John Donne.

All right, at least I can see that.

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

Well, it's one of the cases where it's an alignment of a good text and a good dramatic sentiment/placement, and Adams makes the most of it. I think (and I once got the chance to tell him as much, and did) that the choice of the Muriel Rukeyser poetry for Kitty--which is pretty much all she gets to sing--was way too dense for operatic setting. The Donne is short enough and also structured enough to make a formal aria out of it.

The less said about the Magical Native American Contralto is probably the better...