A temporary truce between unions may have let opening night at La Scala proceed as scheduled, but that doesn’t mean it went smoothly. A gale of boos and catcalls landed on Daniele Gatti, apparently for his decision to replace the lead tenor 24 hours before curtain. Several of the singers received very mixed reactions from the crowd as well. In keeping with longstanding tradition, this major occasion on the Italian artistic and social calendar featured myriad protests on the plaza in front of the opera house; inside, there was another shocker as society’s grande dames admitted to wearing gowns that weren’t new.
Category: music
Who Says Schumann Couldn’t Orchestrate?
“[P]ut Simon Rattle in front of a period instrument band like the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and it’s like having one’s ears syringed. There wasn’t a single moment in either Schumann’s 2nd or 4th symphonies where one felt it was down to the conductor’s sleight of hand to ensure the clarity of inner voices. The revelations weren’t just in textural but harmonic transparency. You listened differently, more attentively, you finally heard what Schumann was about.”
Phantom Recordings Of The Opera Restored (But Are They Really Any Good?)
Those century-old gramophone recordings of Caruso, Melba and their contemporaries that were retrieved from the vaults of the Paris Opéra last year have been extracted from their urns, dusted off and digitized – and they can now be heard. (One soloist and teacher at the Opéra avers that those old singers with their old vocal techniques just aren’t up to our modern standards: “Most of them would not get past the quarter-finals in a contest nowadays.”)
Leonard Slatkin, Detroit Symphony – Much Riding On One Another
“The Slatkin era, which begins with concerts Thursday through Sunday, opens a critical new DSO chapter. The orchestra’s place in the pecking order of American symphonies has slipped since the glory days under former music director Neeme Jarvi in the ’90s. Slatkin’s arrival represents a fresh start for a leading American conductor.”
A Bad Week For UK CD Biz
“With CD sales estimated as down 27 per cent this quarter compared with 2007, last week’s events have pulled into sharp focus the problems of those in the ‘physical’ – as opposed to digital – music retailing industry.”
Opera Losing Its Dance With Language
“Breaking the link between listener and language has caused a radical reshaping of our relationship to the art form. Without grounding in the language of opera, we tend to approach it more as a narrative experience than a poetic one. Contemporary operagoers expect from the lyric stage the same sort of immediate experience they have at the theater and cinema.”
Bellevue [WA) Philharmonic Mired In Disputes
The Seattle-area orchestra’s new executive director has been changing long-established procedures and incurred the wrath of musicians.
Las Vegas Philharmonic Musicians Lose Confidence In Management
“The orchestra, which has a $1.7 million annual budget, has a deficit of almost $200,000, sources say. The orchestra lost corporate sponsorships for its Fourth of July concert. The musicians contract expires when the season ends this spring, and negotiations are to begin shortly.”
Minnesota Orchestra Defies Recession, Posts Surplus
After several years of deficits, the organization remained in the black in fiscal 2008, posting a $15,000 operating surplus on a budget of $31 million.
La Scala Swaps Tenors For Opening Night, Draws Protests
La Scala unexpectedly removed Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti from opening night and put American tenor Stuart Neill in his place. The company said that “Neill was in better shape to tackle the challenging lead role. But Filianoti protests:”La Scala wanted me to say I was sick. But I, Giuseppe Filianoti, am in perfect condition, ready to engage myself in a role in which I feel secure.”