- Nina Stemme continues to amaze and impress; everyone is raving about her.
- Christopher Ventris has been running out of steam by the end of Act I in all performances I've heard about. This kinda surprises me; he was fine in Parsifal way back when, and in Lady Macbeth.
- Mark Delavan. You knew I'd get here eventually. I'm hearing decidedly mixed reviews and doubts about both his power and stamina. I'm seriously concerned about how he'll do when he has to sing Wotan on consecutive nights in Rheingold and Walkuere.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Next Year's Ring in SF
Reports from the post-primo performances of Die Walkuere are both encouraging and discouraging.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Do you know how old Delavan is? How well he sings depends entirely on the character of the music. If it's talky, he's great. If it's soaring and lyrical, he's not so great.
Yes, that's a good characterization of his singing. I believe he is past 40, but I can't find a DOB on line. His age is probably in the big Opera News profile of him from a few years back.
The thing is though, who's better that much better than Ventris and Devlan? I guess Bryn Terfel is getting off his lazy ass and finally doing Wotan, but who else is there?
For Siegmund, 1) anyone currently able to get through Siegfried 2) Brandon Jovanovich (I hope, since he's singing it here next year) 3) Placido Domingo 4) Stephen Gould 5) Robert Dean Smith. Okay, Gould and Smith are guesses, but educated guesses.
For Wotan, Vitalij Kwwhatever who is now singing in LA. Albert Dohman. John Tomlinson, not that I WANT to hear him sing it. Richard Paul Fink is singing the reduced role in Berkeley Opera's miniature Ring in one evening. I'd give him a shot at the whole thing.
Who else is singing it around the world? Must be some random Europeans.
Well La Scala has Rene Pape singing Wotan along with our glorious Bruunhilde, Nina Stemme.
I believe Juha Uusitalo is singing it, (not to great reviews) in Vienna and Paris.
I am really enjoying Delavan's Wotan, but he does really run out of steam in an alarming way.
And regarding Ventris, yes he does run out of steam in the 1st Act but he is unbelievable in the 2nd Act scene with Brunnhilde.
We had Uusitalo here a couple of times and he was not too good in Fidelio, though he was okay in Dutchman with Stemme (who was fantastic).
I like Ventris a lot and I agree, he's great in Act II. Actually, he's damn good in Act I until the very end.
We had Uusitalo here a couple of times and he was not too good in Fidelio, though he was okay in Dutchman with Stemme (who was fantastic).
I like Ventris a lot and I agree, he's great in Act II. Actually, he's damn good in Act I until the very end.
Post a Comment