Hot Music

Ah, is there anything compares to bloggin' on a hot summer's night. 'Course not, but excuse me if I get a little delirious and start to mumble. My brain can't really function when it gets this hot, and tonight has t0 be the hottest night of all since this heat wave started. The truth is it's been so hot that I haven't really done much of anything lately except swelter, and althought that doesn't leave me much of anything to talk about, well that's never stopped me before.

I guess the big news, as far as I'm concerned anyways, is the start of a new opera season out here in the Bay Area. The big event is up in S.F. with Renee Fleming performing an opening night gala for the SF Opera. Damn, wish I had tickets. I can't believe she's going to be in the Bay Area and I'm going to miss that booming, rich soprano of hers again, but that's the way it goes.

I've got a couple of her DVD's though and I highly recommend them.

The first is a Glyndebourne Festival production of Le Nozze di Figaro that dates from early in Fleming's career. Her interpretation of the Countess is not particularly memorable and has a "deer caught in the headlights" quality to it at times, but her singing is incredibly beautiful and leaves no doubt that this is a soprano destined for superstardom. My only complaint with the production as a whole is Marie-Ange Todorovitch's Cherubino which seems more mannered than comic to me, but there are those who would disagree. All in all, though, this is a DVD worthy of any opera collection, or Mozart collection for that matter.

The second is a Met production of Otello with Placido Domingo in the title role, James Morris as Iago, and Renee Fleming as Desdemona. This DVD, in a word, is outstanding. Opera critics (and there are many) all seem to have their favorite Otello's, but Placido Domingo almost seems born to play the role. Likewise, it's hard to imagine a more sinister or conniving Iago than James Morris and Renee Fleming more than holds her own with a really memorable Desdemona. I know the word "memorable" is overused, but this DVD shows that she has the dramatic chops to match the singing and you'll be hard-pressed to imagine anyone else in the role.

Which all just makes me wish I could make it to the gala. Oh well, I guess I can always rent a tux and find a scalper with an extra ticket, but probably not. Maybe the local radio station will broadcast it someday and I'll get to hear it that way. They do quite a few symphony broadcasts and they're going to do a rebroadcast of the Opera in the Park, so who knows. But then again, probably not.

Panning for Gold

Speaking of opera, nothing beats the heat so well as popping in a DVD and enjoying a little Puccini, does it? I guess not, but I got this new DVD of La Fanciulla del West with Placido Domingo as Dick Johnson and Mara Zampieri as Minnie, and that just so happens to be how I spent my sweltering afternoon. Given the circumstances I probably shouldn't give an opinion on it until I have a chance to clear my head and watch it in a more comfortable climate, but what the heck.

First of all let me say that I'm not familiar with this opera at all. Yes, I love opera, especially Italian opera, but I haven't seen or heard them all. I understand Puccini considered this one his favorite and everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I'm kind of a Tosca man myself. As far as La Fanciulla del West is concerned, however, I thought the score was outstanding, maybe his best, but the drama was a little flat with the second act the strongest, the first act the longest, and the third act the strangest. In other words, this opera takes its time getting started, peaks in the middle, and finally falls flat into a tub of mushy sentimentality at the end.

Mara Zampieri heads the cast and I can't say much about her performance other than it seemed okay to me. Nothing special, but certainly not terrible or distracting. Placido Domingo, on the other hand, seemed remarkably weak in the Dick Johnson role. Now there are a lot of Placido Domingo performances on DVD and I know this because I've got quite a few of them (in fact, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that if you've got an opera DVD somewhere at home Placido is somewhere on it), but this is the only one I can recall where he looks so ill-at-ease. It's strange because I remember him saying that this was one of his favorite roles, but he doesn't show it here. Maybe it was just an off night.

The opening is also a little off-putting with all these Italian singers strutting around trying to look like American cowboys, or something, but looking more like the guy in the Lennox Air Conditioning commercial instead. You know the guy in the bib and overalls who's supposed to be some kind of turn-of-the-century Dave Lennox type. Well the chorus are all supposed to be California gold miners but unfortunately whoever did the costumes must have been watching that commercial because these guys looked more like blacksmiths or housepainters. But you get used to it and I think what's more important is that credit should finally be given to Puccini, Civinini and Zangarini for writing what must certainly be considered the first spaghetti western.

Is the DVD worth buying? I don't know. If you've just got to have everything Puccini ever wrote then I suppose it's a moot question. Personally, I'd wait for a better production to come along. On the other hand, at under $20.00 you haven't really got much to lose. And besides, on a hot summer afternoon what else is there to do?