Intermezzo

Wozzeck returns

Wozzeck - Royal Opera House, 31 October 2013

I didn't think it was possible to screw up Wozzeck until I saw Carrie Cracknell's 'post-Iraq' ENO production earlier this year, a misreading that replaced the general with the specific, paranoia with logic, angst with social conscience, playing up to the London audience's TV-nourished passion for simple storylines in ultra-realistic settings, no matter how the underlying work is betrayed.

Keith Warner's 2002 ROH production is not perfect, but at least we see that Wozzeck's crisis is an existential one, not a social problem that can be solved by a few quid and a bit of counselling.

Karita Mattila's Jenufa - live, free and on your TV

The Bavarian State Opera are live-streaming Saturday night's performance of Jenufa from their website, starting at 19:00 CET (6pm UK).

Barbara Frey's 2009 production features Karita Mattila in the title role, together with Stefan Margita and Gabriele Schnaut.

showbusiness as usual at Wigmore Hall

Karita Mattila / Martin Katz;   Sarah Connolly / Eugene Asti;   Angelika Kirchschlager / Ian Bostridge / Julius Drake;   Artemis Quartet - Wigmore Hall, 10 - 14 September 2010

Wigmore Hall's 110th anniversary season is made of awesome, with recitals coming up from just about everyone you could possibly want to hear, including rare visitors like Jonas Kaufmann, Martha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim.

But the season's opening weekend was almost derailed by illness, with both Karita Mattila and Angelika Kirchschlager suffering from colds. Kirchschlager's was so bad she cancelled her scheduled appearance on the Saturday, eventually appearing - only partially recovered - on Monday.

no more Tosca for Karita Mattila - ever

Intermezzo learns that Karita Mattila has abandoned the role of Tosca permanently for artistic reasons.

Recent performances in New York and Munich suggested the part wasn't a great match for her talents, so this sounds to me like a courageous and sensible decision, the sort that more singers should have the guts to make.

The news means that she's dropping out of the Royal Opera House's production next June, to be replaced by Martina Serafin (who was scheduled to sing two performances anyway).

Ms Mattila stated, “I very much regret cancelling performances with The Royal Opera and Maestro Pappano, and disappointing audiences at Covent Garden, but this is an artistic decision that is right for me. I look forward to performing with The Royal Opera in the future.” 

She will of course be back in London next month to sing Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Proms, followed by a rare Wigmore Hall recital.

Here she is singing Tosca in Munich last month:

Karita Mattila kicks some ass. But doesn't show any.

The introduction was almost the best bit of tonight's Met simulcast of Salome. Karita Mattila wouldn't open her dressing room door for a pre-show probing at the hostessly hands of Deborah Voight. (Did the producers seriously think they'd get a cosy chat?) When Mattila finally burst out, half Marilyn, half Arnie in her white satin gown, her only words as she strode off to battle were "let's kick ass".

This was only the second live opera screening I've been to (the first was last year's Met La Fille du Régiment). While (as prior reports suggested) the whole thing was gloriously sung, with Mattila especially at her radiant peak, the relentless loudness of the recording and the overweighting of the voices became wearing.

And the direction - so amateurish. We never got to see the full picture, to have any sense of what it felt like to watch Salome live in the house. Shot like a football game, a mash of unprepared close ups of the guy with the ball, it fractured the narrative and eliminated an essential element of live opera, the ability to watch both action and reaction at the same time.

It was merciless towards Mattila. In the flesh, her matchless acting skills make her a credible teenage temptress from even the front row, as was clear from the scant long shots. But blown up to fill a forty foot screen the illusion inevitably explodes.

In retrospect, it was a smart decision to pan away from the climax of Mattila's 'seven veils' dance. We saw her naked back; we saw Herod's ecstatic face; it was enough information.

But can't the Met trust us with a few more long shots? The fundamental sing-your-life premise of musical drama requires such a staggering suspension of disbelief from the audience that we don't need it to look exactly like the telly, thanks.

At the moment, big screen opera is pulling in the audiences. It's still a novelty, and people, me included, are satisfied simply to be able to see it up there. But as audiences become more sophisticated, higher quality will become expected. The Met's recorded product currently displays only a feeble shadow of the skill and professionalism applied to the live productions. Or indeed, applied to the average opera DVD. To spend months working on the musical and staging aspects, then simply stick cameras up the singers' noses is such a waste.

****UPDATE**** Viewers at the Gate Cinema in Notting Hill apparently got a bonus language lesson thrown in. The subtitles were in German. Oops. (Thanks to reader Joan for the info)

Baps under Wraps - Karita Mattila NOT to unveil all in Saturday's Met Salome

 

There may be a disappointment in store for anyone clutching a movie ticket for Saturday's live broadcast of Salome from the Met.

Although its star, Karita Mattila, will disrobe fully for the 'seven veils' scene in the big house, some tasteful pan'n'scan from the cameras will ensure those of us in the cinema seats see nothing more titillating than her face reports the LA Times.

According to a Met spokesman, the decision to cover up came from Met general manager Peter Gelb, who, he said, "decided early on that the 'Salome' broadcast would not feature nudity." Karita Mattila herself, on the other hand, is presumably less bothered, judging by shots like this (*warning - incredibly NSFW*) one.

In contrast, the Royal Opera House not only displayed the full bewb-flash from the stage production in their recent cinema screening of Don Giovanni, they've made it freely available to all online. More details here.