Fun times in LA.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 14 May 2010 18:23 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-05/53743831.jpg
― my baby's got the bans (ksh), Friday, 14 May 2010 18:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Pink Floyd's The Ring
gotta say, this director seems like a cock
― Have a slice of wine! (HI DERE), Friday, 14 May 2010 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
somehow i feel like ass-backwards into loving opera
(not tons of it, but like, the magic flute, marriage of figaro, and some other stuff)
the whole genre just kinda come out of nowhere to knock me on my ass over the last year or so.
i mean i knew i would eventually get into it (and more into classical) as i got old and stuff
but it has been a revelation. wonderful.
― NUDE. MAYNE. (s1ocki), Saturday, 22 May 2010 05:49 (thirteen years ago) link
yall can recommend me some good non-n00b stuff if you like.
right so
― delanie griffith (s1ocki), Sunday, 20 June 2010 12:51 (thirteen years ago) link
anyone
― al-goreda (s1ocki), Monday, 19 July 2010 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle! Scary and moody and overwhelming
Beethoven's Fidelio! Beautiful and touching and it makes you cry. And it's wonderfully corny.
Don't know how you feel about baroque opera, it can take a while to get into, but almost any opera by Handel is worth taking time to enjoy. I love Ariodante, Guilio Cesare, Rinaldo, Orlando, Acis and Galatea and Partenope.
Continuing with baroque: Rameau's Les Boreades and Les Indes Galantes have great earthy music.Purcells' Dido and Aeneas is refreshing and punchy.
Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea is to my mind ont of the top 10 operas, it's incredibly dark, and sexy and mischeivous, and all at a time when the villains were not supposed to get away with it.
You cannot pass by Boris Godunov by mussorgsy, this is the great Russian opera. The music is absolutely fabulous.
The only Verdi I've seen are Aida, Falstaff and Macbeth, and they were all wonderful (Macbeth could stand to be longer).
Real operaheads will tell you that Richard Strauss's Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier are fatastic, and I've only heard snipppets of each, but I'm sure that's right. There's a lot more Strauss to explore if you like them.
I enjoy listening to King Roger by Szymanowski, Berg's Lulu, Dvorak's Rusalka, and Jenufa by Janacek.
Any Rossini is fun. I just saw Die Meistersinger by Wagner, and it was good but, um , could have done with less philosophising imo.
― henri grenouille (Frogman Henry), Monday, 19 July 2010 21:13 (thirteen years ago) link
thanks so much
― al-goreda (s1ocki), Monday, 19 July 2010 21:15 (thirteen years ago) link
Suggestions I will second because I've seen them:
FidelioDido and AeneasOrlandoFalstaff <----- A++++++ suggestion
I also recommend Carmen and Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute).
If you want to dip your toes into more modern stuff, Porgy and Bess, Nixon in China and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny cover a lot of musical territory and are all excellent.
― HI DERE, Monday, 19 July 2010 22:07 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm pretty obsessed with the magic flute these days... just watched the ingmar bergman version which is great. even used some music from it for this lil vid http://vimeo.com/13425089
― al-goreda (s1ocki), Monday, 19 July 2010 22:27 (thirteen years ago) link
last amazing opera i saw = salome
overwhelming
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 19 July 2010 22:39 (thirteen years ago) link
i liked dr. atomic a lot?and the nose was interesting but I had a headcold and i thought i was gonna die.
― i'm gonna need a +1 so me & a friend can kick you in the balls (forksclovetofu), Monday, 19 July 2010 22:57 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm going to the opera twice over the next few days (Magic Flute and Madame Butterfly). Never been before, I have no idea what to expect besides rich men in tuxedos and hecklers. And non-stop disco dancing.
― seandalai, Friday, 5 November 2010 22:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Will report back.
dunno where you're located but hipsters opera too these days
― a pun based on a popular ilx meme (forksclovetofu), Friday, 5 November 2010 22:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Both of those are awesome! The Magic Flute, depending on the production, can be really funny, and the music is just WOW.
The music in Madama Butterfly is just as WOW but... not funny. Not even a little bit.
― DJP, Friday, 5 November 2010 22:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Will keep an eye out for hipsters - it's in Vienna btw
― seandalai, Friday, 5 November 2010 22:18 (thirteen years ago) link
All you need:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QnhlVqjEL._SS500_.jpg
― VanityVEVO (corey), Friday, 5 November 2010 22:24 (thirteen years ago) link
really want to get into opera...the time is right i know it...
― LocalGarda, Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:31 (thirteen years ago) link
Are you interested in classics, new works, or rarely performed pieces?
― ancient, but very sexy (DJP), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:33 (thirteen years ago) link
i think classics, in my mind i'm imagining sort of dark intense italian stuff, tho this is based on childhood memories of it being on tv.
― LocalGarda, Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:34 (thirteen years ago) link
So like Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti?
FYI Verdi operas tend to be like DAMN
― ancient, but very sexy (DJP), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:39 (thirteen years ago) link
There are some great modern stagings of The Magic Flute on DVD. Apart from the music being fantastic the opera lends itself to wacky expressionist stage sets and costumes.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Zauberflote-Magic-Flute-Royal/dp/B0000BV1JB/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1300973831&sr=1-2
That's my fave.
If you've got Sky Arts or access to it they broadcast modern performances of classics weekly. I know Mozart isn't the dark intense Italian stuff but I feel like Magic Flute or Don Giovanni are better intros to opera in many ways because they are so playful but still intense. If you wanna go straight to the 19th Century masters then my personal fave is Rigoletto which fulfils the dark intensity stuff v. well.
― a SB-in' artist that been in the game for a minute (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Mozart operas are fantastic, yes.
― ancient, but very sexy (DJP), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Actually "The Magic Flute" is a good starter; it's not wall-to-wall singing but when the songs start, every other one is like OMG WAU.
― ancient, but very sexy (DJP), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
i do have sky arts actually...must sky plus some of these.
― LocalGarda, Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, they show very good productions, spoiled me a bit for when I first went to see one live.
― a SB-in' artist that been in the game for a minute (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 24 March 2011 13:46 (thirteen years ago) link
DVDs were made for operaI like the BBC National Orchestra of Wales' version of "Turn Of The Screw"
― Odult Ariented Rock (Ówen P.), Thursday, 24 March 2011 14:32 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t20fvLO_RXo
― I HAVE NO HOOS and i must steen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 April 2011 02:38 (thirteen years ago) link
any recs for opera on dvd? i feel an obsession coming on
― badtz-maruizm (donna rouge), Thursday, 16 June 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
Bergman's version of the Magic Flute is the best opera movie I have seen. It's done in that style like The Boyfriend or Olivier's Henry V where it is set in a theatre with an audience etc and the action apparently takes place onstage. Lots of cool and traditional theatrical effects are employed and some of the songs are performed as close-ups on the singers faces which works really well. The Magic Flute is one of the most enjoyable operas and this is a stylish and fun movie.
― everything, Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know if it's going to be released on DVD but PBS recently broadcast the Met production of "Nixon In China" from this past February and it is fucking great.
I need to go back and see which Mahagonny DVD is the one I picked up; I know it's a German production and in the whore scene they wheel out a table with naked women on it.
― chupacabra - a delicious burrito (DJP), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
Another one that I like, though it is stictly speaking an operetta, is a version of Ruddigore from the 80s with Vincent Price as Sir Despard. This is not a stylish movie and the whole thing is laughably cheap. Kinda feels like one of those productions that was made just so there is a filmed version of the opera to put in libraries around the world. However the performances are wicked, especially the woman playing Mad Margaret who is a riot. This whole thing is on youtube.
― everything, Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
does the met typically release all of its productions on dvd or just some of them? i missed the new production of 'rheingold'
― badtz-maruizm (donna rouge), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
Ruddigore appeared in crossword the other day, did not know of its existence until them. Don't know Nixon In China but did enjoy Dr. Atomic so would check it out.
― James & Bobby Quantify (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
I have a strong bias towards NiC because it was my first professional opera chorus gig but it really is a great, great piece of work, plus the dude who was the original Nixon was in it.
― chupacabra - a delicious burrito (DJP), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:48 (twelve years ago) link
wow, you'd think after 15+ years the corpse would be a little smelly
― badtz-maruizm (donna rouge), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:52 (twelve years ago) link
(sorry)
― badtz-maruizm (donna rouge), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:53 (twelve years ago) link
You got to sing with Rich Little? That's your most impressive collabo yet!
― James & Bobby Quantify (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:53 (twelve years ago) link
haha
there is one stretch where dude (James Maddalena, btw) SERIOUSLY falls out of voice, which is understandable considering it happened after his 10-minute aria but aside from that it was great; I have the biggest artistic crush on the concept/performance of Mao's secretaries
― chupacabra - a delicious burrito (DJP), Thursday, 16 June 2011 19:55 (twelve years ago) link
also the writing for Madame Mao is vituperative coleratura soprano with something like 12 high Cs in the aria, it's fucking nuts
click here to hear Kathleen Kim tear this song UP in the Met production; didn't direct link in case anyone wanted to be all "NO SPOILERS" about it
― chupacabra - a delicious burrito (DJP), Thursday, 16 June 2011 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
Will click on that later, thanks. Saw Kathleen Kim play the doll in the Tales of Hoffmann and that was pretty great.
― James & Bobby Quantify (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 16 June 2011 20:11 (twelve years ago) link
Search: Les Arts Florissants for baroque opera, partic. Rameau's Les Indes Galantes
― corey, Friday, 17 June 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
omg, okay, i'm like ready to DIVE IN. i've been listening to Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflotte and a few other things, i know some Verdi and i'm pretty well-versed in most contemporary stuff. all i want to do is listen to opera and metalcore right now, it's really weird.
― bitch u ain't british (the table is the table), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 00:34 (twelve years ago) link
I've got Das Rheingold queued up for this weekend.
― corey, Wednesday, 22 June 2011 00:35 (twelve years ago) link
and seriously listen to Berg's Wozzeck. It plays out a lot like an Expressionist film from the 20s or 30s set in music.
― corey, Wednesday, 22 June 2011 00:38 (twelve years ago) link
oooh ok on the list. merci beaucoup, mon ami
― bitch u ain't british (the table is the table), Wednesday, 22 June 2011 00:41 (twelve years ago) link
Just listened to Das Rheingold (Levine, Met Opera) all the way through, reading along in the libretto — found it a lot easier going than I thought and not at all tedious. The instrumental segues give it a feeling of seamlessness and the story is fun — I imagined a sort of JRPG setting, probably influenced by playing the Golden Sun games over the past few weeks. Moar Wagner!
― corey, Saturday, 25 June 2011 02:26 (twelve years ago) link
Yes to both, and no audience chatter/clapping; it's on the Orfeo label. It's probably worth checking out! Sounds pretty different from the other versions I have, and I believe it's sung in French too.
― liam fennell, Thursday, 28 March 2019 18:14 (five years ago) link
I like the idea of a super dry unblended pelleas recording
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 28 March 2019 18:25 (five years ago) link
Right! It's pretty novel, you can like distinguish the cellos from the violins and hear the bowing texture, the timpani become prominent, and so on, ha! I listened to it again last night and had a lot of fun.
― liam fennell, Friday, 29 March 2019 12:01 (five years ago) link
That one part where a chorus appears (and vanishes a few bars later if I remember rightly!) is even stranger!
― liam fennell, Friday, 29 March 2019 12:06 (five years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/apr/07/white-porgy-and-bess-cast-forced-to-say-they-identify-as-african-american
The fact that the debate is framed in explicitly fascist terms is hardly surprising in the land of Viktor Orban, but this is actually a fair point in Eastern Europe:
The opera house’s contention is that in a country such as Hungary, the all-black cast rule essentially makes the work impossible to perform.
― pomenitul, Monday, 8 April 2019 10:54 (five years ago) link
Saw Davóne Tines _The Black Clown_ last night and it was absolute dynamite, one of the best things I've seen in a very good year. really hope it gets picked up for a longer run in a more appropriate theater.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/arts/music/langston-hughes-black-clown-mostly-mozart-lincoln-center.html
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 27 July 2019 18:27 (four years ago) link
The first act of Akhnaten at the ENO was one of the best things I have seen in a while. The remaining two thirds contains altogether too much juggling but is still pretty good.Good value tickets (£20) too.― ShariVari, Monday, February 11, 2019 6:33 PM (eight months ago)
Good value tickets (£20) too.
― ShariVari, Monday, February 11, 2019 6:33 PM (eight months ago)
This is in NYC at the Met now, contemplating checking it out
― Josefa, Saturday, 9 November 2019 19:25 (four years ago) link
saw it last night and enjoyed it but not as much as Satygraha at the Met a few years ago. main problem i think was my seats were too far away so the orchestra never got loud/ immersive enough. can confirm there is a lot of juggling, which i liked.
― mizzell, Saturday, 9 November 2019 19:30 (four years ago) link
3 hrs of juggling though, I dunno... You were on one of the upper levels?
― Josefa, Saturday, 9 November 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
yeah pretty near the very top
― mizzell, Saturday, 9 November 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
it’s called the family circle for some reason.
― mizzell, Saturday, 9 November 2019 19:47 (four years ago) link
Suggestions please, for a project: symphonic opera bangers with choir, rather than solo voices. Pieces that would be sample-friendly, in the manner of say these?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_a2pfwKjIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AasJhhjpK4(famously sampled by Big Boi of course)
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 18:17 (two years ago) link
I don't mean to dodge the question, I just came here to say Leontyne Price (^^^) is 95 years old today. Happy Birthday!!
― Josefa, Thursday, 10 February 2022 22:41 (two years ago) link
Happy Birthday!Question is so broad, hard to pick one.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 10 February 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
Random thing that pops in my head is something from Eugene Onegin. Maybe this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jhnNk3U9Uperhaps starting from the 2:40 mark? Maybe not banging enough for you.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 10 February 2022 23:03 (two years ago) link
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances from Prince IgorThe banger starts at about 3:50https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqKclPhsK0o
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Friday, 11 February 2022 08:03 (two years ago) link
Wagner - Sailors' Chorus from Der Fliegende HollanderChorus enters at about the minute markhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Ae1aUXANY
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Friday, 11 February 2022 08:05 (two years ago) link
Verdi - Anvil Chorus from Il TrovatoreLiteral banging at 1:15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZN01_pAxro
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Friday, 11 February 2022 08:08 (two years ago) link
Ha! This last was the most obvious choice
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 11 February 2022 11:36 (two years ago) link
can somebody help me with a curious opera-related discrepancy? lately i've been listening to this rossini recording:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2836006-Rossini-Erich-LeinsdorfMetropolitan-Opera-And-Chorus-The-Barber-Of-Seville
and i was hoping to read the (italian) libretto along with what i was hearing. unfortunately i've misplaced the libretto that originally came with this box set. so i turned to the internet. the specific portion i wanted to track down is the last side of the last disc in the box: it's labeled "Act III (concl.)" so that's what i look for. well, it turns out that everywhere else on the internet specifies that "the barber of seville" is an opera in TWO acts!
does anybody know what's going on here?
― budo jeru, Friday, 25 March 2022 00:03 (two years ago) link
There's another opera with the same title by Giovanni Paisiello, apparently?
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 25 March 2022 00:11 (two years ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barber_of_Seville_(Paisiello)
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 25 March 2022 00:15 (two years ago) link
In popular cultureThe Count's serenade "Saper bramate" is used in Stanley Kubrick's period film Barry Lyndon.[citation needed]
― Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 25 March 2022 00:16 (two years ago) link
Just got out of much ballyhooed production of AKHNATEN at The Met. Philip Glass came out and took a bow.
― The Crazy World of Encyclopedia Brown (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 June 2022 03:15 (one year ago) link
Not a repetitive series of bows lasting 58 minutes?
― Creature Catcher (Live) (morrisp), Saturday, 11 June 2022 03:36 (one year ago) link
Ha, no. Just one or two.
― The Crazy World of Encyclopedia Brown (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 June 2022 04:10 (one year ago) link
https://playbill.com/article/countertenor-anthony-roth-costanzo-on-the-transformative-nature-of-philip-glass-akhnaten
― The Crazy World of Encyclopedia Brown (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 June 2022 12:59 (one year ago) link
Interview with Nerfertiti, Rihab Chaieb:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsFc4PTLY7s
― The Crazy World of Encyclopedia Brown (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 June 2022 13:12 (one year ago) link
Dima highlight reel:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgetLghpOCc
― Jean Arthur Rank (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 11 September 2022 18:04 (one year ago) link
A Renée/Dmitri duet just showed up in my Friday algorithm. Still missing that guy.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 February 2023 14:24 (one year ago) link