tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post160848268069124529..comments2024-03-27T21:41:50.122-07:00Comments on Iron Tongue of Midnight: Ring Recordings, Part I: OverviewLisa Hirschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-59421289274885475852011-06-12T11:51:57.335-07:002011-06-12T11:51:57.335-07:00Interesting thoughts. I'm going to have to hau...Interesting thoughts. I'm going to have to haul out the librettos for <i>Butterfly</i> and <i>Rigoletto</i> to adequately respond, which I will likely do in a separate posting and not for a bit - I have <i>other</i> librettos to read this week.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-64112351392205649732011-06-12T10:52:57.631-07:002011-06-12T10:52:57.631-07:00@calimac: Sure, but you (well, obviously not *you*...@calimac: Sure, but you (well, obviously not *you*) could argue that "trickster god" is implicit in being a certain type of 17-year-old -- subversive, playful, overturning and mocking convention.<br /><br />About Gilda: Like Miranda in The Tempest, she's been raised mostly in isolation and protected from "the world" but she is remarkably clear-sighted about what has happened to her and how she'll react. She is not a victim but knowingly sacrifices herself for her lover (and I'd need to refresh myself on the libretto for this, but I think she also recognizes by then that he does not love as profoundly as she does, and so is in a way unworthy of her): in other words, she (like Butterfly) deliberately chooses the shape of her life. Not only that, but she is unconventional enough to claim as she dies, blasphemously, and despite her suicide and sex outside of sacramental marriage, that she's going straight to Heaven (I think that had more of a charge in 19th-century Catholic Italy than it does today). I think she shows considerable free-thinking originality (no doubt partly due to her isolation growing up) and courage in taking the path she takes. That she does so for a philanderer might make her seem ridiculous to some, but to me it makes her situation tragic and ironic -- and, in its grandeur and its refusal to live a life unworthy of her love, it shows an excess of sublime emotion that seems ultimately operatic.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-11830514208776615902011-06-12T10:26:27.408-07:002011-06-12T10:26:27.408-07:00"the right way to play Siegfried is as a yout..."the right way to play Siegfried is as a youthful trickster god"<br /><br />Lose the "trickster god," keep the "youthful." I've seen it well argued that the simple explanation for Siegfried is that he's 17. It makes sense to me. This is unfortunately disguised by the fact that he's usually played by men who are 37 or 47.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-75618519719640779272011-06-12T09:45:33.682-07:002011-06-12T09:45:33.682-07:00I'd like to hear more about that. i have her p...I'd like to hear more about that. i have her pegged as the dumbest character in opera.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-39559108432711589682011-06-12T09:38:55.792-07:002011-06-12T09:38:55.792-07:00I would also disagree that Gilda is dumb.I would also disagree that Gilda is dumb.Patrick J. Vazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09279528648512493917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-53932071792673965492011-06-12T08:46:50.290-07:002011-06-12T08:46:50.290-07:00Patrick will be along any second to tell you that ...Patrick will be along any second to tell you that the right way to play Siegfried is as a youthful trickster god, although I suppose we already have one of those in the Ring, with Loge.<br /><br />As to Goodall, well, he's eccentric and controversial. I happen to love that set. Yeah, it takes a lot of patience to listen to, but the last time I heard it, I found it immensely powerful. He does <i>not</i> lose the sense of overall structure and forward momentum, even at those crazy speeds.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-41322890983372115532011-06-12T08:38:14.498-07:002011-06-12T08:38:14.498-07:00In 1973 Reginald Goodall made a Siegfried recordin...<i>In 1973 Reginald Goodall made a Siegfried recording that lasts over 4 and a half hours...</i><br /><br />Well, speaking of abominations....<br /><br />What horrible conducting on those Goodall sets, he was a rank incompetent of the kind only England abides (see La Cieca's "fucking Brits" tag). It's like the Bernstein <i>Tristan</i> prelude on the complete set, the music is so slow in parts that it almost disintegrates. <br /><br />Plus, considering that Siegfried might be the dumbest character in all of opera next to the Rigoletto Gilda, anything that gets a knife in the back of that blockhead Siegfried sooner is fine by me. Go Hagen!Henry Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871451112170286316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-850419864807211022011-06-12T07:56:23.672-07:002011-06-12T07:56:23.672-07:00Too bad you feel that way about opera in English. ...Too bad you feel that way about opera in English. I'd say the biggest problem with the ENO is the scrawny orchestra.<br /><br />As for Bodanzky, shrug. Most Wagner performances were cut in 1930s. And Bodanzky's been dead for 70 years.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-46586794519691012102011-06-12T03:42:36.362-07:002011-06-12T03:42:36.362-07:00"Bodanzky was a fiery Wagnerian and worth hea...<i>"Bodanzky was a fiery Wagnerian and worth hearing, despite crazy cuts that, for example, shorten Goetterdaemmerung to three CDs"</i><br /><br />****<br /><br />That is an abomination. <br /><br />How can any person even contemplate making cuts to <i>Gotterdammerung</i>, one of the most continuously riveting of all operas.<br /><br />Anyway, I like all of my Wagner to be on the very slow side; the quality of the singers and orchestra are secondary. In 1973 Reginald Goodall made a <i>Siegfried</i> recording that lasts over <b>4 and a half hours</b>... What ruins the whole thing of course is that it was sung in freakin English!The Wistful Pelleastrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391989065502028363noreply@blogger.com