The Passion of Opera

Over the past two weeks I had the wonderful opportunity to return to Vienna, where I studied in 2011 and posted many of the reviews on this blog. While I was there, I attended three more operas at the Wiener Staatsoper, bringing my standing room total there to 29 operas (and one Volksoper opera - for 30 standing room operas in Vienna): Puccini's La boheme , Massenet's Werther , and Strauss' Elektra . All three were excellent, particularly the latter two. Upon my return to the United States last week, I immediately was at a performance of the revised version of Philip Glass' Appomattox . This performance was also quite interesting for me, as it is the second Glass opera I have seen and very different from his Satyagraha  in London. As a bonus: a quick review of a concert by The Tenors (formerly The Canadian Tenors) performing one man down. Reviews will be shorter than a standard review, but the performances raised a few interesting points I want to record. Vienna ...

Seeing the entire Ring Cycle in two weeks, performed under Christian Thielemann with the Wiener Philharmoniker in the pit, was definitely a highlight of my time in Vienna. I am no Wagnerian, by which I mean that while I appreciate the music it is not an area with which I have a great deal of experience. Still, it was quite the experience. I commented then that there were ups and downs in the singing but that the conducting and orchestra were superb. The staging was non-traditional, which also had its high and low points. I had no idea  that it was being recorded while I was there, however. It's very gratifying to see the edition, read people's thoughts about it, and say, "oh yes, that substitution of one singer for another? I witnessed that!" I will not make any further comment on the comparative quality of this recording than to say it definitely has its merits even if many will find it lackluster in singing compared to earlier "golden ages," and may d...

At the end of my studying abroad in Vienna papers and exams overtook me, making it impossible to keep pace with reviewing operatic performances even as I continued to attend them. Since returning from Vienna, school, work, and other events have interfered in my completing reviews of 12 performances I had the opportunity to see as my time in Vienna came to a close. This lack of closure, however, has had a domino effect, leading me to feel like I couldn't review other performances, DVDs, write on various topics, etc. thereafter until I finished things up. At this point, now that I finally have the opportunity and have mustered the willpower, I've decided the best way to get this done is to seek middle ground. Writing a post each for the twelve performances in as much depth as my previous posts would require far too much time and effort. Additionally, it is impossible for anyone to see these performances with the same production and performers and I don't remember the details ...