Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica.mod
Titolo: Va' pensiero da.... I Vespri Siciliani

From simple music making, this show has now become an opportunity to
show clips with ballet and Vienna tourist traps while the orchestra
plays on. And now the Viennese have some competition from the Venetians
who use the same tricks - some shots of the city and three nice and
very traditional ballet items mostly danced in the splendid building of
the restored La Fenice, while an Asian girl dances on her own with the
chorus humming along in the Butterfly "coro a bocca chiusa." The
sung pieces are somewhat rare: a rather provincial "Nessun dorma"
by Albanian tenor Gipali and a better Butterfly aria by soprano
Annalisa Raspagliosi. And then we go for a half-hour of popular
orchestral opera pieces before everything ends with the inevitable
"Libiamo" from Traviata. Then the 60 minutes of this concert are
over and the happy few who assisted (and are sometimes taking
photographs from their boxes) can run to the reception. Probably I'm
a little too severe as it is a nice souvenir of the theatre and the
orchestra and chorus and the picture quality is excellent.
Gala Concert in St. Petersburg.jpgBut it is understandable that in a
world of clichés the St. Petersburg concerto comes somewhat as a
relief. The people in the Philharmonic Hall don't wear gowns or
tuxedos and their dresses, faces and bodies show that most of them do
not belong to the jet set. The principal conductor behaves like a
normal being, concentrating on his music without pulling strange faces.
He lustily applauds with everybody else after a good solo and when he
only gets one kiss from Netrebko he almost bows double to get a second
one. All the time the sphere is very relaxed and conductor and soloists
laugh, make small jokes and amuse themselves and there is less
stiffness on the scene than in the clean but sceptic Western concerts.
Still there is a lot of good music-making and, though it is not exactly
unhackneyed repertoire, it is somewhat refreshing after the Italian
perennial favourites. Victor Tretyakov plays a fine Saint-Saëns piece
and Elisso Virsaladze proves that her left hand is not her weakest in
the Ravel concerto. But it is violoncellist Mischa Maisky who really
steals the show with some warm and inspired tone in Respighi and Bruch.
And of course there are some singers as well. Anna Netrebko looks far
more like a (beautiful) young Russian with less than perfect skin than
in the babe-like video registrations from the West. And she wears the
same outfit before and after the intermission. The voice is clear,
sweet and bell-like and resembles young Mirella Freni a lot, as it is a
brilliant lirico with coloratura facility. A pity for us she only sings
Italian arias, though maybe her Russian public appreciates this more
than we do. I like the small mistake at the end of the first strophe of
"quando rapito" as it proves there is no tampering with the
recording as some stars nowadays routinely demand in a commercial
registration. The voice of Hvorostovsky is becoming more dramatic and
voluminous as I noted myself a few years ago in Antwerp. The sound is
less youthful but completely homogeneous; and there is a new depth in
the lower register so that this fine Onegin has no problems with the
bass aria of Prince Gremin. The duet between Silvio and Nedda is
passionately sung and acted as well. All in all a nice concert to while
away two hours.
Jan Neckers

(1855).
Ma di ke DVD si tratta?
Cmq "errare humanum est" (specie quando sn molti i galli nel
pollaio..), o no?
LUX
P.S. Ricordo ke Bossi pensava ke il Va' pensiero fosse ne I Lombardi
alla prima crociata...	;-))

Sì, è vero, l'errore è dell'uomo. Ma c'è errore ed errore.... Non
stiamo parlando di qualcuno che si occupa esclusivamente di automobili,
tanto per fare un esempio. Ma di un teatro d'opera (e lasciamo perdere
per un momento la storia e tradizione che La Scala in particolare si
porta alle spalle). Bastava far leggere il pdf del dvd a un tizio
qualsiasi dell'ufficio stampa del teatro....
Dall'articolo risulta che il dvd in questione è il seguente:
La Scala 50th Anniversary Concert, Performances by Mirella Freni,
Samuel Ramey, Vincenzo La Scola, Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz and Luciana
D'Intino. Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Riccardo Muti (cond.)
Se vai all'url ci dovrebbe essere una foto della copertina. Non posso
dire nulla sul contenuto critico dell'articolo perché non ho nemmeno
uno dei tre dvd. Posso solo manifestare la mia costernazione al fatto
che La Fenice abbia voluto includere nel dvd il buon Georges Prêtre
che smiagola al pianoforte delle sue chansons composte quando era
giovane. Quello davvero potevano risparmiarcelo, dopo avercelo
propinato lo scorso primo gennaio. Chissà quest'anno cosa faranno fare
a Masur!!! (a proposito, stasera vado in Fenice per la "prima" del
concerto di Capodanno, che viene dato anche domani pomeriggio e poi,
naturalmente, il primo gennaio).
Baci e Buona Fine d'Anno a tutti Voi,
Lulu

naturalmente, il primo gennaio)
Com' è andata? Dicci specie della 1a parte (se nn erro R&G di
Prokof'ev: ma nn dovevano fare sempre e solo musica italiana al
Concerto di Capodanno di Venezia?...) ke in TV nn abbiamo visto!
LUX