Rossini La Donna del Lago Met On Demand

[lennygoran]

A real soaker today-Sue and I revisited Rossini La Donna del Lago Met On Demand-what a delight-the Met got this production just right-loved the singing! Regards, Len

An all-star cast assembled for the Met’s first-ever performances of Rossini’s romantic retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. Joyce DiDonato is Elena, the title heroine, who is being pursued by not one, but two tenors—setting off sensational vocal fireworks. Juan Diego Flórez is King James V of Scotland, disguised as the humble Uberto, and John Osborn sings his political enemy, and rival in love, Rodrigo Di Dhu. Complicating matters is the fact that Elena herself loves Malcolm, a trouser role sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, and that she is the daughter of Duglas (Oren Gradus), another of the king’s political adversaries. Paul Curran’s atmospheric production is conducted by Michele Mariotti.

Performance Date Mar 14, 2015


Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Conductor Michele Mariotti
Elena Joyce DiDonato
Malcolm Daniela Barcellona
Giacomo V Juan Diego Flórez
Rodrigo John Osborn


We saw it both live on Feb 16-see cast below-- and also HD style.

[Met Performance] CID:355872
La Donna Del Lago {8} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/14/2015., Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network Broadcast
Metropolitan Opera Radio Sirius XM channel 74 Broadcast live
HD Transmission/Simulcast

[Met Performance] CID:355815
Metropolitan Opera Premiere
La Donna Del Lago {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/16/2015., Metropolitan Opera Radio Sirius XM channel 74
Streamed at metopera.org

(Debuts: Paul Curran, Kevin Knight, Driscoll Otto, Gregory Schmidt
Broadcast/Streamed)


Metropolitan Opera House
February 16, 2015 Broadcast/Streamed

Here's what the NYTimes said.


Review: A ‘La Donna del Lago’ With Melting Tenderness at the Met



By Anthony Tommasini

Feb. 17, 2015

For years, the superb mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has sung “Tanti affetti,” the final showpiece aria from Rossini’s “La Donna del Lago” (The Lady of the Lake), as a surefire encore in recitals. But on Monday night on the Metropolitan Opera stage, vocal display seemed the last thing on her mind.

Ms. DiDonato, playing the heroine Elena in the Met’s premiere production of this rich, tuneful Rossini melodrama, sang the opening of the aria with melting warmth and tenderness, supported by the sensitive playing of the Met orchestra under Michele Mariotti.

Elena explains that with her coming marriage, she is a bundle of emotions (“Tanti affetti”). On Monday, as the subdued first section of the aria began, the wondrous Ms. DiDonato and Mr. Mariotti, the fast-rising young Italian conductor, seemed almost in competition to see who could make music with more delicacy. Ms. DiDonato sang Rossini’s beguiling phrases with soft yet penetrating richness, subtly folding ornaments and runs into the long melodic arcs. And Mr. Mariotti drew hushed gentle and transparent playing from the inspired Met orchestra.

The aria eventually breaks into joyous bursts of dazzling coloratura passagework, with rousing exclamations from the chorus, and Ms. DiDonato delivered. There was plenty of fiery singing earlier in this performance, and the Met had a cast that could dispatch the bel canto challenges, especially the tenor Juan Diego Flórez, here singing the demanding role of Giacomo V (James V), who spends most of the opera in disguise.

To unravel the plot of this opera, based on a poem by Sir Walter Scott, Elena is the daughter of Duglas d’Angus, a nobleman in 16th-century Scotland and a former tutor to James V, who has turned against the king and found protection among the rebel highlanders. Duglas has promised Elena’s hand to their imposing chief, Rodrigo. But Elena loves the earnest, ardent Malcolm. By the end, everything works out beautifully and Elena’s marriage to Malcolm is blessed by the king, who, disguised as Uberto, had fallen in love with her.

This staging by the Scottish director Paul Curran, a co-production with the Santa Fe Opera, was introduced there in the summer of 2013, starring Ms. DiDonato. Opera fans with little patience for updated productions will probably enjoy the staid traditional approach that Mr. Curran, in his Met debut, working with the set and costume designer Kevin Knight, has taken here.

The period costumes mostly eschew bright colors to suggest Scottish clansman living in the chilly, damp region of Loch Katrine. The action is played atop a large floor that, depending upon lighting and props, suggests mossy lake banks or grayish fields. Mr. Curran lends some contemporary touches by using video projections (designed by Driscoll Otto) on a screen at the rear of the stage to suggest misty waters and cloudy skies. The sides of the stage are bare, black walls with portals.


The production is not ambitious but does the job, allowing for fluid scene changes. To indicate that the rebel highlanders could be ruthless and brutal, Mr. Curran has them rally in the climactic scene of Act I, holding flame crosses as they denounce a king they consider tyrannical.

The king they despise, however, as presented by Rossini and as sung by Mr. Flórez, seems a sympathetic, dashing figure. After we first meet Elena, who arrives from her daily crossing of the lake amid the beguiling songs of shepherds, the king bursts upon the scene and encounters the young woman he has only heard about, the lovely lady of the lake.

He announces himself as Uberto and says that he has been separated from his fellow hunters and needs some help. Elena brings Uberto home with her. During two long scenes together, the king falls hopelessly in love. And Ms. DiDonato, singing with glowing sound and affecting sweetness, makes clear that she is, for a moment, romantically aflutter.

It was hard not to root for Elena to choose Uberto. Mr. Flórez makes a youthful, charming and impassioned king. Vocally he was at his best. He has always brought impressive technical skill and boundless energy to his singing. He tossed off runs and roulades effortlessly and dispatched exciting high notes. For some (including me), his sound can sometimes seem pinched. But on this night his voice was open, relaxed and even throughout its range. And he affectingly conveyed the emotions of a monarch who finds himself discombobulated by his yearning for a winsome, modest young woman.

Malcolm, written for a contralto, is a pants role, though here those pants are kilts. The Italian mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona, with her tall figure and dignified bearing, acted the role convincingly. But it was her noble, mellow-toned and ardent singing that won your sympathy, especially her aching account of the Act II aria “Ah! si pera,” when Malcolm, in despair that Elena is about to marry Uberto, longs for death. Here was one of many moments during the performance when Mr. Mariotti, who excels in the bel canto repertory, demonstrated how to breathe with singers while maintaining the shape and impetus of the music.

As Rodrigo, the rebel leader, another challenging tenor role, John Osborn, though occasionally shaky and overwrought, sang fearlessly, with big, bright sound, and fully conveyed the feistiness of this character. The bass Oren Gradus brought an earthy, though somewhat constrained voice and dignity to the role of Duglas, Elena’s father. In smaller roles, Olga Makarina as Elena’s confidante, Eduardo Valdes as a servant to Duglas, and Gregory Schmidt as a servant to the king, completed an admirable cast.

In the final scene, the stage platform separates to reveal the red floor of the king’s throne room. A chorus of courtiers in gold-tinged white robes looks resplendent and sings gloriously. The stage is bathed in radiant light. Yet, this shift in production style seems to come out of nowhere.

Still, it provided a fitting background for the resolution of the opera: Elena discovers that Uberto is the king, and the king, seemingly transformed by the experience of falling in love, forgives his former tutor and blesses the marriage of Elena and Malcolm.

It was good to have the stage so bright for Ms. DiDonato’s triumphant performance of “Tanti affetti.” Besides adding an important Rossini opera to the Met’s repertory, this production gives those who have only heard her sing that aria as an encore a chance to get to know the long opera that precedes it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/arts ... e-met.html

[barney]

Len, I'm going to say something deeply heretical now - you may wish to avert your eyes.

First, a caveat. I simply love Rossini. It was the Callas/Gobbi Barber that made me fall in love with opera as an art form five decades ago. That's my favourite Rossini, and certainly in my top 20 favourite operas. I also really love Cenerentola, William Tell, Il Turco in Italia, L'Italiana in Algieri, and Signor Bruschino. I've seen and really enjoyed Il Viaggo a Reims, plus Comte Ory, Tancredi, and a couple of others.

Here's the heresy. So many lesser Rossini operas are so formulaic, they all sound the same. Maybe once you get to know them well they become disambiguated, but I couldn't tell La Scala di Seta from La Pietra del Paragone, and don't really care. After all, he wrote about 40 operas, and they can't all be equally rewarding. There! I've said it. (Barney, waddling away as fast as he can.)

[lennygoran]

Len, I'm going to say something deeply heretical now - you may wish to avert your eyes.

First, a caveat. I simply love Rossini. It was the Callas/Gobbi Barber that made me fall in love with opera as an art form five decades ago. That's my favourite Rossini, and certainly in my top 20 favourite operas. I also really love Cenerentola, William Tell, Il Turco in Italia, L'Italiana in Algieri, and Signor Bruschino. I've seen and really enjoyed Il Viaggo a Reims, plus Comte Ory, Tancredi, and a couple of others.

Barney I too enjoy all the operas you mention here-maybe you should give La donna del Lago a try-while the plot is a little shaky the music is wonderful and this production was a joy-the cast, the singing, the finale-thank you Met On Demand-now they should add even more operas to this format! Regards, Len [not averting my eyes-never when it comes to your messages!]

[maestrob]

Len, I'm going to say something deeply heretical now - you may wish to avert your eyes.

First, a caveat. I simply love Rossini. It was the Callas/Gobbi Barber that made me fall in love with opera as an art form five decades ago. That's my favourite Rossini, and certainly in my top 20 favourite operas. I also really love Cenerentola, William Tell, Il Turco in Italia, L'Italiana in Algieri, and Signor Bruschino. I've seen and really enjoyed Il Viaggo a Reims, plus Comte Ory, Tancredi, and a couple of others.

Here's the heresy. So many lesser Rossini operas are so formulaic, they all sound the same. Maybe once you get to know them well they become disambiguated, but I couldn't tell La Scala di Seta from La Pietra del Paragone, and don't really care. After all, he wrote about 40 operas, and they can't all be equally rewarding. There! I've said it. (Barney, waddling away as fast as he can.)

A brave POV, my friend. However, over the years I've discovered that the joy that comes from great singers having their best evening is actually the reason that Rossini wrote many of his operas, not the plots or any emotional or dramatic content. Donizetti noticed that (also in Meyerbeer's operas) and improved on the formula, which is why Donizetti is more admired in my house than Rossini.

Nevertheless, as a student of vocalism, I do get a real charge when singers like this take on a "lesser" Rossini work. Joyce DiDonato, Florez et al are simply great voices, and I bow to their astounding abilities with great happiness. The emotional content then, for me, is in the music itself, not necessarily the plot or any character resolution coupled with the music, as it is in Donizetti.

[lennygoran]

which is why Donizetti is more admired in my house than Rossini.

Brian I feel the same way-love the guy! Regards, Len

[barney]

Len, I'm going to say something deeply heretical now - you may wish to avert your eyes.

First, a caveat. I simply love Rossini. It was the Callas/Gobbi Barber that made me fall in love with opera as an art form five decades ago. That's my favourite Rossini, and certainly in my top 20 favourite operas. I also really love Cenerentola, William Tell, Il Turco in Italia, L'Italiana in Algieri, and Signor Bruschino. I've seen and really enjoyed Il Viaggo a Reims, plus Comte Ory, Tancredi, and a couple of others.

Here's the heresy. So many lesser Rossini operas are so formulaic, they all sound the same. Maybe once you get to know them well they become disambiguated, but I couldn't tell La Scala di Seta from La Pietra del Paragone, and don't really care. After all, he wrote about 40 operas, and they can't all be equally rewarding. There! I've said it. (Barney, waddling away as fast as he can.)

A brave POV, my friend. However, over the years I've discovered that the joy that comes from great singers having their best evening is actually the reason that Rossini wrote many of his operas, not the plots or any emotional or dramatic content. Donizetti noticed that (also in Meyerbeer's operas) and improved on the formula, which is why Donizetti is more admired in my house than Rossini.

Nevertheless, as a student of vocalism, I do get a real charge when singers like this take on a "lesser" Rossini work. Joyce DiDonato, Florez et al are simply great voices, and I bow to their astounding abilities with great happiness. The emotional content then, for me, is in the music itself, not necessarily the plot or any character resolution coupled with the music, as it is in Donizetti.

Yes, I totally accept this. You can enjoy Rossini more than most composers without having a clue what is being sung or why. But a work like the Barber is pure genius, witty, brilliant, complex and utterly delightful. Not knowing what is going on here means missing half the genius.

[Rach3]

Marilyn Horne, “Mura felici”, Lincoln Center, 1981. I believe she stole the show from Sutherland and Pavarotti that evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ocg0zV-as

[lennygoran]

Marilyn Horne, “Mura felici”, Lincoln Center, 1981.

Steve thanks-bravo bravisimo! Regards, Len

[barney]

What a star. One of my funeral contenders (ie at my funeral) is Sutherland and Horne in mira, o Norma - the most perfect duet imaginable. And I loved her delight at the end - she knew she had really nailed it.

[barney]

A question, perhaps for Brian. Every age imagines it's the best (alongside another conceit, that the preceding generation with which people grew up utterly outshines the present). Obviously singers in Rossini's day were very competent (and much more) because he wrote that music for them. Is there any way we can compare generations without recordings, based on contemporary accounts for example? I know the answer, I suppose, but it is fun to speculate.

And are there any mezzos today you rank with Horne, Baker and the like?

[lennygoran]

A question, perhaps for Brian.

Barney great question-thanks for directing it to Brian and not toward me! There's no perhapsing about it! Regards, Len

[maestrob]

A question, perhaps for Brian. Every age imagines it's the best (alongside another conceit, that the preceding generation with which people grew up utterly outshines the present). Obviously singers in Rossini's day were very competent (and much more) because he wrote that music for them. Is there any way we can compare generations without recordings, based on contemporary accounts for example? I know the answer, I suppose, but it is fun to speculate.

And are there any mezzos today you rank with Horne, Baker and the like?

Yes. Certainly. Different, of course, but sometimes even better because the ones today stand on the shoulders of those who came before, and so have been able to refine and improve their art.

Not very well known here in the USA, but contralto Nathalie Stutzman recorded her first album of Brahms song about a decade or a bit more ago, and, having gained a fascination with the Baroque through her work with John Eloit Gardiner on his survey of the complete Bach Cantatas about 20 years ago, has morphed into a roaring coloratura contralto that puts Schumann-Heink to shame. She is also a stunningly effective lieder singer, but her latest electrifying release, entitled Contralto, blows your hair back with virtuosity and emotional expression in a variety of arias by various Baroque composers. She also prepared and conducts the ensemble that accompanies her:



Of course I'm quite enchanted with Cecelia Bartoli, so I don't need to post a picture of any of her outstanding CDs, but here's her "Viva Vivaldi" DVD, which has a soul-wrenching performance of that composer's dramatic arias and many uplifting and charming delights in-between:



Then, there's Joyce DiDonato, who hails from Kansas City, known for her Maria Staurda (now on DVD) and other Donizetti roles at the MET. Here are a few of my favorite CDs:










DiDonato also recently recorded Berlioz's "Les Troyens" on CD which I highly recommend (along with Benvenuto Cellini & La Damnation de Faust):




Last, but not least, I must mention the great countertenor Franco Fagioli, who sings much of Marilyn Horne's repertoire, a class of singer that simply didn't exist in her day. Fagioli will also blow your hair back with his virtuosity, but also bring a tear to your eye with the depth of beauty in his tone in "Ombra mai fu," All of his singing is marked by truly spectacular and intelligent ornamentation throughout. Here are two recent albums that can be streamed:





All of these artists are at the peak of their powers as we speak.

Enjoy!

[barney]

Excellent reply Brian, thanks. I have the Stutzman Vivaldi Prima Donna album, but don't really recall it. Bartoli, absolutely - astonishing voice and technique. I had her in mind when I asked the question, but wanted to leave your answer open.

I heard Bartoli in concert in Melbourne a few years ago and was surprised that the voice was not huge, a la Sutherland, because she has such stage presence, but clearly it is entirely big enough for what she does. The only thing that irritates me about Bartoli is her CD covers and liner notes, where she loves dressing up for a series of self-indulgent photos. That occupies less than a quarter of 1 per cent of the time I think about her. Only when I open the CD to put it in the player.
I have four operas with DiDonato, 2 Mozart, the Troyens and Alcina. But I've enjoyed a couple of Met operas in the cinema with her, from memory.

[maestrob]

Excellent reply Brian, thanks. I have the Stutzman Vivaldi Prima Donna album, but don't really recall it. Bartoli, absolutely - astonishing voice and technique. I had her in mind when I asked the question, but wanted to leave your answer open.

I heard Bartoli in concert in Melbourne a few years ago and was surprised that the voice was not huge, a la Sutherland, because she has such stage presence, but clearly it is entirely big enough for what she does. The only thing that irritates me about Bartoli is her CD covers and liner notes, where she loves dressing up for a series of self-indulgent photos. That occupies less than a quarter of 1 per cent of the time I think about her. Only when I open the CD to put it in the player.
I have four operas with DiDonato, 2 Mozart, the Troyens and Alcina. But I've enjoyed a couple of Met operas in the cinema with her, from memory.

Thanks, Barney!

Do give Stutzmann and Fagioli a try as well. I remember something about you not taking to countertenors, but I firmly believe that the Handel album I posted will certainly astonish you with his talent and may even change your mind!

[maestrob]

Good morning!

Len & Barney, just wanted to let you know that we ordered the DVD of Rossini's Donna del Lago and watched it for the first time last night. Don't know how I missed this one on PBS, and I'm not sure that it was broadcast here in NY, but what a winner! This was an exhilarating evening at the opera! In fact, this could easily be one of our top 10 experiences with the MET, and I include with that their 100th Anniversary Gala in 1983, which I was invited to attend.

La Donna del Lago is quite long, with 2:45 of scintillating music in total. Based on the Sir Walter Scott novel, The Lady of the Lake, the plot is neither outlandish nor overly complex, certainly no more so than Lucia or Trovatore. Rossini's vocal writing is incredibly demanding, involving four principal characters involved in a love quadrangle, two coloratura mezzos who need a high C, and two coloratura tenors, one of whom needs several Db's that I could spot, which may be why this was its first MET production ever.

Tuning was quite a bit "unregulated" in Rossini's day, so a modern Db could easily be 1/2 step higher than what Rossini was thinking of (He put several even in his late Stabat Mater for the tenor), and tenor John Osborn handled them with aplomb, as did Daniela Barcellona (who looked properly mannish in her pants, er, kilt role). Both Joyce DiDonato & Juan Diego Florez were stars, of course, but so were Barcellona & Osborn, discoveries for me. I MUST hear more from both of them! Conductor Michele Mariotti has a phenomenal ear for working with great voices, and all four principals were gifted with tough-as-nails ornamentation that revealed magical qualities in each voice, and his pacing of the orchestra was perfection itself. Joyce DiDonato's final scene truly left us both breathless and quite emotional, as did the compelling acting and singing of Daniela Barcellona in her massive solo scene near the beginning of Act II. It goes without saying that Oren Gradus sang well in the sturdy role of Elena's father, and the chorus was magnificent.


Naturally, the MET audience leapt loudly to their feet as the curtain fell on this thrilling night at the opera.
Needless to say, Len, that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for posting about this rarely done masterpiece and for your gift of a marvelous night at the opera that we plan on repeating again & again as the years unfold. Five glorious gold stars!

[lennygoran]

Len & Barney, just wanted to let you know that we ordered the DVD of Rossini's Donna del Lago and watched it for the first time last night. Don't know how I missed this one on PBS, and I'm not sure that it was broadcast here in NY, but what a winner! This was an exhilarating evening at the opera! In fact, this could easily be one of our top 10 experiences with the MET,

Brian so glad you and Teresa enjoyed this-your review with the info you provided is much appreciated! Regards, Len