Listen to the premiere of the Bavarian State Opera's new Il trovatore live tonight on BR-Klassik at 19:00 CET/6pm UK (hit the red button on the right marked Webradio und Webcams).
Cast:
Manrico - Jonas Kaufmann (his role debut)
Leonora - Anja Harteros
Graf Luna - Alexey Markov
Azucena - Elena Manistina
Ferrando - Kwangchul Youn
If you miss this one, there's also the livestream on 5 July to look forward to.
My what a colourful production! Loving the snazzy waistcoat though. Not sure about the naked Granny or blind Leonora but hey, what do I know? At least the singing will be first rate.
Posted by: Siggy | 27 June 2013 at 08:59 AM
Leonora has all the luck.
Posted by: manou | 27 June 2013 at 11:14 AM
Give me something like this any day over the interminable drip-feed of Pelly and McVicar...
Posted by: Justin Chapman | 27 June 2013 at 12:09 PM
Looks like Munich is in for an interesting night. What level of vociferous dissent can we expect? Last real festival fiasco was the first night of Lohengrin, again with Kaufmann and Harteros, although both were in tremendous voice on that occasion. Still, at least the audience won't be able to say they were bored.
Posted by: Jungen Werther | 27 June 2013 at 02:22 PM
Just tuned in to hear the end of Jonas Kaufmann's interview. I sure wish he'd speak slower when speaking German :) But I am excited to hear the opera. Now if my coworkers will leave me alone for a few hours! Thanks for alerting us to this broadcast!
Posted by: Regie, or Not Regie | 27 June 2013 at 06:01 PM
Yes, what's with the naked granny? The ghost of Azucena's mum perhaps? What is it with German opera houses and full frontal geriatric nudity?
Posted by: Faye | 27 June 2013 at 06:51 PM
Shocked by the old lady!!!IBut I guess Jonas was great!!!
Posted by: mordashka13@gmail.com | 27 June 2013 at 07:41 PM
Reports, thoughts...from any who were able to listen? It was a work/travel day for me and I was not too successful tuning in via smartphone hurtling down the interstate. (I have taken July 5 OFF work.)
Thanks!
Posted by: Rackon | 27 June 2013 at 10:15 PM
Did Anja show up?
Posted by: Graham Thomas | 28 June 2013 at 12:10 AM
Oh Anja showed up alright and practically stole the show. She sang incredibly. Perhaps not the most precise of Leonoras when it comes to the florid passages but she was the most involved and expressive i've ever heard her.
Jonas was great, took down Di quella pira down a semitone but who cares when he follows the score so precisely?? (except his 'trills') very expressive too. I'm not sure, though, whether it was a triumph for him... I got the impression that Manrico's music isn't as good as Leonora's, nor is the character as well flashed out by Verdi but is it Verdi's or Jonas' fault?? Leonora suits Anja very well, not sure Manrico suits Jonas but he sang it extremely well.
Throughout the orchestra played really well, though perhaps a little loud. Luna and Azucena superb too, sorry, don't have their names committed to memory ;-(
The music is great and since i only heard it and found the music and libretto utterly compelling, i am not sure this opera benefits from a shocking and busy production that seems to emerge from the photos and trailer but i wasn't there so...
Posted by: May | 28 June 2013 at 03:36 AM
It sounded absolutely fabulous. Director got booed at the end- but that was expected no?
Posted by: Siggy | 28 June 2013 at 06:38 AM
Yes, interesting but not surprising that JK took that top C down. Always wondered how he would have coped with the Troyens tessitura, had he decide to go ahead with that.
Posted by: inter mezzo | 28 June 2013 at 07:56 AM
I listened to the first half. Was a bit disappointed by Harteros' Tacea La Notte, which was imprecise and sounded forced at times. What I heard of Kaufmann was good, but I missed the two arias.
Posted by: Emil Archambault | 28 June 2013 at 09:04 AM
Unsurprised that he transposed but doesn't bother me no matter who sings Manrico. More surprised to hear both verses.
Thought he coped well with the trills and overall tessitura but he's not a natural Manrico and I was surprised when it was originally announced he would sing it - never seems very dramatically satisfying satisfying role and I'd be surprised if he returns to the role that often. I am looking forwArd to hearing him in Forza though.
Posted by: Siggy | 28 June 2013 at 09:08 AM
The tessitura was handled beautifully with beautiful tone spun out, but Jonas started the trills beautifully and musically but didn't really hold them as a proper trills oscillating between two notes throughout. But then neither did Harteros and Stride la vampa was dramatic but not that precise either... It must be very hard! The voices for this opera need to be strong and flexible...
@Siggy, agree with you I also couldn't imagine Jonas as Manrico since he flourishes on the more complex characters... Seems more like a dutiful preparation for Otello. Having said that, I like and appreciate the fact that he makes a point of singing tenor roles that are an important part of the repertoire. Also looking forward tremendously to his Alvaro.
@Intermezzo, however he would have coped with Enee's tessitura, it is a lamentable loss that he didn't sing this role.
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Intermezzo replies - If he would have struggled with the high notes - and I'm pretty certain he would - it's perhaps not so great a loss as you imagine.
Posted by: May | 28 June 2013 at 10:42 AM
I've never really considered JK to have a particular problem with high notes per se - he seemed to manage Bacchus alright. Enee of course a test of stamina given length of role.
Will be tuning into the broadcast on 5th July with a slight sense of apprehension re the production aspects but still looking forward to it as some of the ideas gleaned from the trailer and images are intriguing.
Posted by: Siggy | 28 June 2013 at 11:13 AM
given Siegmund, Lohengrin etc stamina hardly an issue :-) The Wagner comes in handy with the Verdi too, he ended up yesterday sounding fresher than he started off :-) also Verdi wrote 2x stretta (as he wrote 2x cabaletta for soprano, which we didn't get from Frau H and she came quite a bit undone in her duett with Luna as well) and then how high one sings what Verdi didn't actually write is a matter of taste. It's bloody hard to sing high Cs on vowels like "i" and "e" ;-) I actually think Verdi had it right, the double singing gets you to the trepidation point as no single C can, therefore much more effective to stress the feelings of the character and much more testing for the abilities of a singer of course too. For me the biggest challenge of Trovatore is that it requires meaty voices who can do soft and lyrical too but also flexible ie who can increase pace and passion from aria to cabaletta. Not an easy thing :-)But i found last night to be a lot of fun and overall pretty well done :-)
Posted by: Hariclea | 28 June 2013 at 03:22 PM
I think both Anja and Jonas sounded pretty well but they both have room to improve. Strangely enough, I found only listening to her a lot more compelling as I'm not a big fan of her scenic presence. Can't wait for the HD transmission even if I think they both would have won a lot from a classic mise-en-scene.
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Intermezzo replies - I suspect both would sound better if the conductor upped the pace a little.
Posted by: FloriaT. | 28 June 2013 at 04:11 PM
Does anyone has a download link for Il Trovatore yesterday evening?
PLease help me!
Kind regards
Werther
Posted by: Werther | 28 June 2013 at 07:49 PM
I agree about not finding AH particularly dramatically compelling in the past but I'm a big admirer of her vocal ability. However in the final act last night I was certainly won over - she seemed very much dramatically involved.
And yes, the pace was a little slow at times, even to an inexpert ear like my own.
Posted by: Siggy | 28 June 2013 at 08:31 PM