Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Renee Fleming - Strepitoso successo nel "Desire"

Ho letto che la Fleming ha trionfato nella nuova opera di Andre'
Previn, rappresentata sabato in prima mondiale a San Francisco, tratta
dal dramma di Tennessee Williams "Streetcar Named Desire".
Con la Fleming, che ha dato vita al personaggio di Blanche, ha cantato
il baritono Rodney Gilfry, nel ruolo del rude Kowalsy che nel film di
Elia Kazan fu di Marlon Brando.
Riporta la critica di Francesco Colombo che non si puo' immaginare un
successo maggiore,  e racconta che sugli interpreti si sono riversati
montagne di fiori e applausi a non finire.
Questa prima era attesissima e l'esito ha superato le piu' belle
speranze. Soprattutto la Fleming, radiosa a sipario chiuso, e'
sembrata invece drammatica e spettrale durante lo spettacolo.
Grandi consensi per Sir Andre' Previn che ha diretto la propria
partitura. Momenti di grande commozione quando il Maestro ha risposto
alle ovazioni quasi intimidito, con gesti misurati e un tratto da gran
signore, oggi sempre piu' raro.
Andre' Previn, che ha composto balletti per Gene Kelly e drammi
musicali con Tom Stoppard; che ha fatto jazz con Ella Fitzgerald e ha
diretto tutte le principali orchestre del mondo, ha ricevuto una
consacrazione alla gloria in una serata che e' stata di straordinaria
eccitazione.
Per noi italiani e' sbalorditivo riconoscere come tutto cio' avvenga
nell'atmosfera felicemente "relaxed" che fu la prima cosa a colpire
Georges Simenon quando arrivo' in America.
Il coprifuoco che regna da noi, il plotone d'esecuzione loggionistico
(di cui la Fleming ha ricordi recenti) e la ghigliottina dei
musicologi sembrano qui' cose lontane e ridicole.
Isotta, nella sua descrizione pubblicata sul Corriere del 21, aggiunge
che la musica di Previn ha lasciato esterrefatti per perfezione e
poesia i piu' accesi ammiratori del grande musicista. Mi piacerebbe
conoscere il parere di altri presenti a questa prima mondiale. C'e'
qualcuno che ha letto le critiche americane ? Qualcuno puo' descrivere
sul nostro gruppo le sue impressioni ?
Mi auguro che esca quanto prima almeno il CD e magari la video
cassetta.
Paolo Isotta termina il suo articolo cosi':
Grazie, Sir Andre'. Quella vecchia Europa che ti genero' e poi
discaccio', tu l'hai dipinta come pochi, morente e grande quale
Blanche DuBois.
saluti
Giampaolo

 C'e' qualcuno che ha letto le critiche americane ?
Io purtroppo vivendo sull'altra costa non ho potuto assistere a
questo evento. Sono sicuro che l'opera arrivera' a NYC molto
presto pero'.
Per quanto riguarda le critiche americane posso dire che Bernard Holland,
il famigerato critico del New York Times, non ha particolarmente
gradito ne' l'opera, ne' l'allestimento e neanche la performance della
Fleming. Il che vuol dire che probabilmente a me sarebbero piaciute
tutte e tre le cose ;)
---Rosario
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sul nostro gruppo le sue impressioni ?
Non ci sono molti commenti su A Streetcar Named Desire nell'
Opera-List, tuttavia anke i non iscritti possono consultarne gli
archivi alla URL:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/opera-l.html
Da quello ke ho capito sembra ke Previn abbia almeno scritto una vera
opera lirica alle soglie del XXI secolo, anke se con connotati
jazzistici. Sia critica che pubblico sono divisi nel giudizio.
Per i numerosi tra noi ke leggono l' inglese posso riportare qui di
seguito quanto mi ha scritto in una mail privata la mia ormai famosa
amica californiana ke non ha assistito alla premiere ma alla terza
rappresentazione:
===============================================
Hi LUX!  How are you?  I'm a bit tired today as last night was A
Streetcar Named Desire with Fleming.  It was more than 3 1/2 hours
long (but I guess this is actually about average--sometimes operas
which are new to me seem longer just because I'm unfamiliar with
them).  I went with Mahnoush and a friend's mother.  I thoroughly
enjoyed it--I thought the performances by Fleming and the other lead
singers were excellent and full of intensity and passion.  The music
itself had moments of capturing certain scenes excellently, such as
when Blanche and Mitch have a true heart-to-heart talk and when
Stanley finally attacks Blanche.  (Have you seen the movie with Marlon
Brando and Vivian Leigh?)  I liked the sets, too, which were very much
like the movie with the dingy, small apartment and the curving
staircase outside.  The lighting was done well, too, to evoke
different moods.  However, I have to admit that I'm not in a hurry to
rush out and buy the CD (I hear there are plans to record one).  The
reviews have noted how one can hear a bit of Strauss, Stravinsky,
Berg, Britten, etc. in the music, and I totally agree.  (In fact,
there were a couple moments that sounded just like the "water"
interludes from Britten's Peter Grimes.)  To me, none of these
composers are exactly "easy listening", ha!  Well, you asked about me
making a recording, but I don't have the equipment.  But, I have
better news.  Last night and for the next 2 performances they were
filming for a telecast which is supposed to be at the end of December.
I shall try to convince Paul to relinquish control of the television
for a night (ha!), or, failing that, ask a friend to record it for me.
You said you have a machine which can handle NTSC format for videos,
right?  For once I can make a video for you!
=================================================
Per completare il quadro aggiungo pure una presentazione dell' opera
tratta dal San Francisco Chronicle del 17 ke potrete pure rintracciare
alla URL sotto citata:
=====================================================
Fleming's `Desire' Is to Relax With Jazz
Classical soprano returns to roots as Blanche Bob Graham, Chronicle
Staff Writer
Thursday, September 17, 1998 ©1998 San Francisco Chronicle 
URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/09/17/DD74211.DTL
Andre Previn asserts that his ``A Streetcar Named Desire'' is not a
jazz opera, but Renee Fleming says it ain't necessarily so. He just
can't help himself. 
      ``There are definite jazz elements in the piece,'' says Fleming.
``It's who he is, it's part of him. He didn't set out to write them,
but it's there.'' 
      Fleming should know. The soprano, who will sing the role of
Blanche DuBois in the San Francisco Opera's world premiere Saturday,
comes from a jazz background herself. 
      Now acclaimed for her Mozart and Strauss, Fleming sang jazz and
pop music all through college and continued singing with a trio for
several years afterward. ``Jazz I adore,'' she says, ``and that's
still what I go to for relaxation.'' 
      She loves singers. Shirley Horn is one of her favorites (``I
heard her live once, and that was here in San Francisco'') and so is
Joni Mitchell. ``I'm not an exclusionist, I'm not an elitist. I like
music, period.'' 
      One thing Fleming definitely does not listen to for relaxation
is classical music, and at the top of that list are her own
recordings. 
      ``I tell you, I don't listen to them when they're done,'' she
says. ``I listen to the first edit, and after that I never listen to
them.'' 
      She is too self-critical, she says -- ``It's my job.'' When she
started recording, Fleming says she was ``under the mistaken
impression that you could get it perfect,'' but now she knows better. 
      Among new recordings she will not be listening to is ``I Want
Magic!,'' but that is her loss. The title song on her new London album
of American arias is from Previn's opera, and Fleming recorded it with
James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in May specifically
for release this week. 
      The complete opera will be recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon
during Fleming's four performances here (another cast takes over for
four more performances), and the production will be videotaped by PBS
for showing this winter, probably around Christmas. 
      ENSEMBLE OPERA FOR FOUR 
      Fleming regards ``Streetcar,'' adapted by librettist Philip
Littell from the Tennessee Williams play, as an ensemble opera ``with
four principal characters''; her co-stars are Rodney Gilfry as
Stanley, Elizabeth Futral as Stella and Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch.
      ``I Want Magic!'' is heard in the scene where Mitch wants to
take the paper lantern off the bulb and put Blanche up to the light.
What Blanche is saying in the aria, according to Fleming, is: ``Real?
Who wants real? We want magic. Magic is what I give to people.'' 
      Illusion is what Blanche is all about, Fleming says. ``She
doesn't want to be seen in the light.'' 
      Fleming is very aware that Blanche ``is probably the most famous
role in the American theater.'' It is ``the biggest dramatic challenge
I've ever had and probably ever will.'' 
      That is not a statement she makes lightly. She is just about to
make her debut as Violetta in Verdi's ``La Traviata,'' and, amazingly,
Fleming has appeared in the world premieres of two other major
American operas, John Corigliano's ``The Ghosts of Versailles'' at the
Metropolitan Opera and Conrad Susa's ``The Dangerous Liaisons'' at the
San Francisco Opera. 
      Fleming says there are lots of ways to play Blanche, including
as very eccentric, ``but that's not the route I'm going.'' 
      Fleming sees Blanche as a completely sympathetic and tragic
figure. ``She's a woman who truly has found herself in a desperate
situation. She's survived a cluster of deaths, the loss of her estate.
She's single; her husband killed himself. She's completely at the end
of her rope.'' 
      Given the work's origins, including a legendary film version
starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, and given Previn's background
as an Oscar-winning composer of film scores, Fleming says it's fair to
wonder whether the opera is going to be a kind of ``movie music'' or
background music for a sung play. ``Certain scenes,'' she says, ``have
a weight and a depth that could never happen if it was just that.'' 
      She thinks Previn, who will conduct Saturday's world premiere,
has drawn upon ``his two cultural heritages,'' German expressionism
(the 69-year-old composer was born in Berlin) and his American
background. '' 
      The music season looks to be extraordinarily fruitful for
Fleming, 38 -- in many ways, it is ``her'' year. Immediately upon
leaving ``Streetcar'' she will go to the Met to open its new
production of Mozart's ``Le Nozze di Figaro,'' with Bryn Terfel,
followed by her ``Traviata'' debut, both conducted by Levine. 
      Meanwhile, her complete recording of Dvorak's ``Rusalka'' will
be released on London, conducted by Charles Mackerras. 
      `BEST OF BOTH WORLDS' 
      Fleming, who is separated from her actor husband, is here with
her two daughters, 3 and 6 years old, who travel with her to all of
her opera engagements. They live in Connecticut, which means that when
Fleming is singing at the Met she has ``the best of both worlds''
because she can commute from their home. 
      She takes the train or asks someone to drive. ``I don't drive,''
she says. ``I don't trust myself. I'd start singing and warming up and
(she pants), `This tone doesn't feel right,' then I'm halfway off the
road. I wasn't meant to drive.'' 
      S.F. OPERA 
      A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE: The world premiere gala performance is
at 7 p.m. Saturday at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave.,
San Francisco. It will be presented seven more times through October
11. Call 
(415) 864-3330
. 
      ©1998 San Francisco Chronicle  Page E1
LUX