End of the calendar.

Hilary Summers, the type of voice which moves me deeply, and in this song particularly.
'If' all that is sung and said could become true one day...

Rituals and season's greetings.

Provence and its 'crèches': a kind of institution, whether you are a believer or not.
A famous open air one in the rocks of 'Les taillades' not far from here.
The very decorative 'Carbonel' creeb in Marseilles.
The Paris creeb in Notre-dame: The symbolic of the palm,peace , for me.
Before taking the santons out of their box I need to gather the plants to built the natural setting, thyme, rosemary and laurel branches will be around it, and I hope to find nice green moss to settle all the small clay figurines.That needs a stroll through the nearest hill, may be I will find also some little branches of 'fragon' with red berries? It is becoming rarer, perhaps because of the longest periods of
drought each summer.


Season's greetings, the most important really for all of us!
All we need is Love! The Beatles of course!

song for a dream and a laugh!

EDITA FOR EVER!

(Many thanks to my dear friend Arnold for the photos from the memorable Dec the 17th Edita Gruberova's concert at the TCE in Paris).
That is also the end of my road.
Perhaps spring will bring new energies.
Who knows?
Special thanks to my three faithful readers, who always signed their comments.
Special thanks to all the singers and musicians who gave me so much happiness whenever I managed to go and see them in operahouses.
Happy new peaceful year for all of us.
So long!

At first light. George Benjamin

Because light is getting dimmer and dimmer, came to my mind memories of a hot long summer day where I sat in a field at the foot of the Sainte Victoire waiting for the sunrays to die and the concert to begin.
While waiting for the philarmonikers to arrive with their brilliant ever young looking conductor Simon Rattle.There were projections concerning the diverse activities of this famous orchestra. They had a guest composer that year 2006, George Benjamin, who experimented his music in a German prison and in an infant school. That is how I was introduced to his music and I became fascinated by his themes.
Today,which is getting nearer to the twilight of a day, I need to feel the warmth I felt that day I sat five hours in this field in that prestigious landscape, listening in the night to Mahler the 5th.
Then, back home I went into G.Benjamin's world, and rediscovered 'At first light', based on an impression of sunshine from Turner's painting I had seen at the Tate,an atmosphere of hazy yellow light glowing inside.

re-scheduled!

That is grand!
The Handel recital is back in Paris!

Wiki spotlights on ombra mai fu, with Caruso's rendition.
Whether Rolando is in style or not this is great newss!
Pleyel May the 6th! A date to remember!

Song for waiting.

Cielo e Mar
Ponchielli
La gioconda
Rolando Villazon

Die Leiden des jungen Werthers.

NICE JAN.19th2006

BASTILLE MARCH 3rd2009

"The sorrows of young Werther "when published in 1787 (written by Goethe in 1784) had a devastating effect on the readers . These letters written by this young poet to his friend Whilhem composed the first romantic novel.
I had the feeling that this 'mal de vivre' could be outdated, when I set off to Nice opera house on that 19th of Jan 2006.
Massenet 's Werther was a success in 1894 and still is, with a fair display of fine arias for tenor and mezzo which is a nice choice. Charlotte has musical jewels to sing and some duets with Werther are heartbreaking provided you believe Werther can be dying while singing for nearly the length of an act.
I had never seen Rolando Villazon , except for a few glances on television, but had listened to his French arias album which I loved straight away. The juvenile tops glowing with sunshine , the extraordinary breath , the passion, the musicality of it all had conquered me definitely!
I have been familiar with Massenet's Werther since childhood. (with the music and arias if not with the meaning of them by obligation!)
In my students'days I chose my Charlotte (I already had a crush on mezzo) and that was Rita Gorr I saw perform in my teens. The tenor did not interest me much ! I found Albert Lance suitable for the role and listened to my record while working.
So I rediscovered the whole thing that night in Nice, three years ago.
Rolando's voice matched Marie -Ange Todorovich beautiful strong velvety one. They both had an aura through music and elegant attitudes. The setting was also in harmony with the plot, soft shades of lights and colours with bluish and greyish depressing tones. As for the acting,the stage being rather small, it was easy to establish eye-contact and follow all the moods and passions of the characters through their singing, and when I think of it I have the illusion he was just singing for me!
He was so convincing !
I still think it was an amazing night at the opera and certainly my best Werther.
Three years later why did I want to see Rolando in the same role?
To have the magic back?
I should have known it was not possible.
Last night I tried watching the opera on television and I had a strange feeling of
tension which I felt at Bastille that night because Rolando was overacting to compensate his voice problem (Which could be heard ) and also because Bastille is such a huge stage, a 'killer' for operas like Werther (Garnier seems more suitable).
Charlotte had nothing elegant in her, costumes were ridiculous, the setting pretentious and adding no meaning to the story.
At the ouverture the close-ups on the pitt and the musicians were fine .
After all Kent Nagano and the orchestra did a good job that night in March 09.
I stopped watching when Rolando banged at his image in the mirror, very distressing and neurotic to me, not what I really want to see according to the music I love.
Massenet's music has a real seduction. But when acting and singing go off the track it is painful.
That was what I felt, pain, extreme pain, and it is what goes with sorrows and suicide after all.
After the show that night Rolando welcomed us , the first Villazonista party and it was possible to feel how exhausted he was, having given much too much. I would have liked to have the courage to tell him he should try not to get involved so much as his voice was suffering the tension. In fact he was trully suffering .
Perhaps that is another reason why I had to stop watching.
Here he is, worn out, I noticed his palms were still red with 'blood'. Just a poor photo as I have the knack to take, I am short-sighted and that does not bother me.That is how I saw him, between people, always caring and listening. An amazing person really.

Santa Lucia's eye.

I keep to traditions and rituals, as I seriously lack religious belief.
Rituals and traditions are strong on the sea-front where I grew up.
I came aware of the saint day by reading my favourite blogs, first Willym then Teresa.
They both mentionned Santa Lucia today.
For Marseilles folks it is a small shell that is lucky to have in the purse, or a bag,
because simply it keeps light for us. The symbolic aspect is marvellous . I took that photo one day because this stool might disappear,and I often give this shell as a small token of frienship , so it means something to me.
Having met Mrs Villazon twice and having seen her lately in Marseilles, I deeply wish her a happy Santa -Lucia day and send her the story of this tiny shell which keeps lux for us !
Not without this song and Luciano!

song for a dream.

Somehow it is reassuring to listen to Martha and Gidon play together. A mature couple for a change.
I was watching them on ZDF earlier today and felt deeply moved. They ended the recital with this famous Fritz Kreisler's piece. It is a real conversation through their instruments. So sweet and touching.
Nice to be able to listen to them whenever I feel like it. Amazing youtube where people share their favourite tunes!
The news today is another British musical classification on the Times, it seems such a habit in Britain to classify and label, now it is the best classical musical events of the decade. I quite agree with the choice of Lorraine Hunt's Dido. I loved her voice so much. Rolando's Hoffmann 2002 is an important discovery for operafans in Britain and this is no surprise. The fans would like a dvd, is it the real proof of his gifts as a beginner or the radio broadcast would be better as a musical witness?
What is the meaning of such a game, as it is not every music lover's choice and could be different in another part of the world?
My choice tonight refers to what I want to think about, Krisler's Liebeslied so intimate and passionate, a breath of youth! That is why I found Martha and Gidon super nice together!
There will be Werther from Bastille on TV2 tomorrow night .(Villazon, Graham, Tézier) I attended one performance and was not so pleased with some of Rolando's singing, so tense and imprecise partly because his voice was suffering, we know why now. So I am already reluctant to watch it, I suffered with him so much! He was also a very neurotic Werther. It would have been better to broadcast the 2006 Nice Werther where Rolando's singing was so good, and Charlotte was also much better as a character and voice (Marie-Ange Todorovich). He was much more like the romantic hero,the setting was also more artistic in a way, with no extravaganza !
I liked it better than the Bastille one. So for me it can be counted as my best classical event of the decade!
Back to my favourite tune of tonight and I will try to forget Werther and his tormented soul, and the Bastille one, not perfect... perfection?
Can a performance be perfect?
This Liebeslied sounds perfect to me tonight...

just a thought.

I am back from a kind of nightmarish expedition, with wonderful intervals and very ugly depressing ones.
And soon it will be Christmas with more and more tramps in the streets, nights and days.
My favourite art spot was closed.
I could not find the feeling of rejoicing in Paris air.
Even when it is closed and deserted by artlovers there is always a street musician, here she was getting the sounds which calm anguish and anxiety.


Platée at Opera Garnier was a sunny interval, a very enjoyable one, but nothing more than a good old joke with witty dancers...and singers!

Vibrations and interiority of the music.

Tues Nov 11th Manon Lescaut Dress rehearsal.`
Intermezzo. Puccini. Cond. L. Accocella.
Marseilles Opera House.

That tuesday afternoon when the ("click") cello started its long modulation which inevitably makes my shoulders shake and even if the neighbours were heavily coughing (which I know now because of my poor recording, at 1.18), all I keep in mind is the vibration of the entire packed house on the verge of tears, because every one knows what is emplied in this intermezzo, the fate of Manon and the sufferings of Lescaut who will never be loved by this futile woman. So what comes from the pitt at that precise moment is unique. What I get from the music before the singing starts is physical pain, because the vibrations of the cords melt in the general emotional upheaval of the audience.
I can see the three horn players and the cellist, I know where they sit and what they look like but now it is the curves and vibrations of their sounds which feel the air I can breathe and this is interacting with what I think of the story and what I have also in mind. Deeply inside we all interiorate this musical language and get ready for the voices. Five minutes of deep emotions which last long in mind after the performance.
Then the clapping to release the tensions the entire house went through.
The power of live music within a drama, live music and your active part in it at the opera .
Not when you are confronted to pictures and synthetic music. This power has gone for ever because you are lost in the materiality of images.
Although opera stars have taken part in film operas for quite a while now, there is now an acceleration of this fashion with less and less performances in ordinary opera houses in Europe , 'crisis' being the scapegoat of all kind of shortages in cultutal fields. I really feel privileged to have been able to go to the opera early in my life, just because my parents happened to be singers and tried to make a living out of it. They never became famous. But they gave me a real love for music and singers, and the singing voice, in the opera house, nowhere else!

Nearly a year ago...

Thank you Annenert for sharing this 'curtain call' with the community of opera lovers.
Another nice picture of precious singers and musicians at Santa cecilia's after a stunning performance of Verdi's Requiem.
Luckily there is the cd and this is great!

song for a dream.

Verlaine: The words...

Marie-nicole Lemieux Contralto: The voice...

Renaldo Hahn: the music...

Major thought .

Be aware.
France:

1er décembre 2009:
journée mondiale de lutte contre le sida
consacrée au thème "Accès universel et droits de la personne"


http://www.lecrips.net/journee-mondiale-sida/

Song for waiting.

Dichterliebe 12 Am Leuchtenden sommermorgen.
Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen
Geh' ich im Garten herum.
Es flüstern und sprechen die Blumen,
[Ich aber, ich wandle stumm.]1

Es flüstern und sprechen die Blumen,
Und [schaun]2 mitleidig mich an:
Sei [unserer]3 Schwester nicht böse,
Du trauriger blasser Mann.

On a shining summer morning
I wander around my garden.
The flowers are whispering and speaking;
I, however, wander silently.

The flowers are whispering and speaking
And look at me sympathetically.
"Do not be angry with our sister
You sad, pale man."

To Mariù and all the old-fashioned ones like me...

Not a question of age at all...

Lakmé. Léo Delibes

Baritone, childhood memory, revival last week-end with dear young singers in Paris.
Lakmé: a problem during WWII at Marseilles opera house.
On Nov 11th 1942 Marseilles became occupied by Italo-German forces like the rest of France and this changed the cultural life which so far was very rich as the French radio had settled in the opera house and was broadcasting concerts and operas from this site.
A large number of singers and musicians had gathered in this last free zone, but that was the end: Besieged, the city had to live with restricted rules, first of all, the curfew then the choice of repertoire which had to be in agreement with the occupying forces.
Precisely, Lakmé became a taboo subject because of English characters wearing English military uniforms, therefore this opera was no longer on the billboard.
Nilakantha: Roger Soyer.
Lakmé: Mady Mesplé.
Gerald: Charles Burles.
Conductor: Alain Lombard.(1971).One of my favourite rendition.
Emi classics

song for a dream.

Bing for ever! Strolling through Virgin Store, noticed that Crooners seem to be the latest crazy fashion for Christmas, in Paris!
I have to check in Marseilles.
stardust Bing Crosby
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart

You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by


Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

Beside a garden wall
When stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
of paradise where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

Cecilia!! Nov 22nd 09 'Encores'

Fireworks!
everybody stood up to cheer her arriving in her attire!
Her red-fearther collar !

"La critique est aisée mais l'Art est difficile"
http://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/2009/11/23/03006-20091123ARTFIG00500-ceciliabartoli-irresistible-.php

Santa Cecilia!

At the Theatre des Champs Elysées, Nov the 22nd,5pm, vocal fireworks and something like 'Mon truc en plumes' amazing encores from Cecilia who gave a stunning recital.
La Bartoli totally immersed in her castrato impersonification,vocally and equally transformed in elaborate costumes which made me dream about those strange singers belonging to a world not totally divided in antagonistic sexes yet,gave for more than two hours and a half her heart and musical soul to her beloved audience. And indeed she reinvented their costumes !

The audience felt the love and respect this wonderful singer always gives her audience, the cheers were the response!
Encores:
George Frideric Handel: Lascia la spina (Il Trionfo del Tempo, Rome, 1707)
Riccardo Broschi : Son qual nave (Artaserse, Londres 1734)
AT the last seconds of Son qual nave", off flew the red feathers !!!
She completely let go on her own saint's Day...I really loved what she gave us !
Dear Cecilia, in two years' time for your next creation!

Gosh! Just like a kid on a merry-go-round, when the red feathers flew in the air I would have liked to snatch one of them and win another free ride on her magic carrousel to weep and laugh once more to her singing ! No curls this time but a mask impossible to date except for her shiny deep brown eyes so witty and alert warning you: Cecilia is watching you and taking you away on her magical tour!

Cinema opera : a swirl of passion with La Boheme ! (II)

The film almost on youtube!
Popularity of Puccini:1OO% sure!
This rather pessimistic musician would have enjoyed this big thing in the XXIst centuty!


But what I like most now in this 'best-seller' is this: That makes me cry each time either live, on cds, or dvds...and the charm of Ezio Pinza's voice.

For a change!

To the ones who love B.B. King and Eric and his band!
A young singer will appreciate that as he is performing this tune now!
And he saw B.B. King in concert in London !

I love the mouth-organ solo!

Bridges to heaven or 'somewhere '?

What is there in Music which immediatly links to feelings and memory?
I never know during the course of an opera the very moment when all of the sudden I will be on the verge of tears and next,crying.Requiems are made for crying,but not only. Sometimes it happens just like that, you are witnessing some unusual event, which takes you by surprise !
Two years ago,on a November sunday on my way to the operahouse for'Madame butterfly I discovered a strange street happening on the square in front of the operahouse and along the sea-front.


When I came out after the performance, it was twilight and it suited even more the
purpose of this celebration: The Mexican celebration of death rituals for the Day of
the Dead.
.



I could not help thinking of the only Mexican person I 'sort of' knew, Rolando Villazon, and strange enough he was also crossing his first silent period.
During an interview on Radioclassique I heard him talk about his beloved Grandmother who insisted in having him enrolled in the highly esteemed German school.He also told us they never knew where she disappeared when she passed away. She warned them she was leaving,and she vanished... He was telling this family story so simply, I could feel a kind of magic thread,linking to the old Japanese tradition where old people feeling the end coming retire to the forest to die, to the tribal rites where death is exorcised with masks and dancing around the food and offerings which are provided to the dead . The display I could see around the sea front was a mixture of religious and tribal rites, the brass-band gave blasting tunes to match the pantomimes of giagantic ghosts , death figures of human imagination.It was shaking and flabbegasting.
If Rolando Villazon does stage managing I am quite convinced that all that richness
I coud only glimpse at on that evening in Marseilles, will be poured in his work.
A few picts but no music as I was not equipped for music, I regret it, as music is the bridge to ...I have not the answer yet!

Cinema opera: A swirl of passion with La Boheme !

I have nothing against that, as it is made for the screen and not for the stage.
I think it is going to be a world wide big 'hit' and I am really happy for that fantastic cast, including every body,as it is a team job even more than on the stage.
I watched the English version some months ago. It is great and that is going to be very popular, outside the opera world.
It is no surprise it will be on the BBC for Christmas and on ZDF for New year.
The conductor Bertrand de Blly points out the opera truth:'having fun when acting'!
Real treat to see Rolando bouncing next to the piano!
Boheme does not suffer from this amazing screen- setting.
I got more interested in Marcello and Musetta but it must be put on my aging process! I have the feeling this couple sounds more normal therefore not so much out dated as the very romantic Mimi and Rodolphe .
True that it is possible to hear the smile which is meant to be, in Rolando's singing.
That is the case with some singers I like, where the whole soul and body take part in the singing.
Thinking of Cecilia Bartoli too who has this charisma,you can feel she is taking you, wrapping you up with her agile vocal phrases and amazing eyes, piercing, shining like lightnings from the stage into the darkness of the house. I will be seeing her soon.
I will make a point in going to a proper cinema house to watch La Boheme full screen!
(I have not been to the cinema for ages). Or is it too late?

Tuesday the 10th XI Manon lescaut Dress rehearsal.

I was at Manon Lescaut dress rehearsal on tuesday Nov the tenth and enjoyed myself tremendously as Manon was the smashing Catherine Naglestad, certainly good-looking and so much the voice for the role ! The tenor (a replacing artist) was not matching her vocal abilities but I did not mind it so much as the conductor, L. Acocella made Puccini sound so sensous and moving, particularly during the intermezzo, when the cello sobs, all the sorrows of the world could be felt in that piece, the audience clapped, after a few seconds of silence which is rather unusual in Marseilles operahouse.
Some shots , distant as always of the soprano Catherine Naglestad, the tenor, Michailov-Renato ( replacing A. Richards) and L.Acocella Kneeling and thanking the orchestra.
The house was packed and coughing and enjoying the superb singing of Naglestad and music from the pit!

November is always a busy time for music and yet it is a hard period to get through.
Perhaps the declining light and the coming bad weather whatwith all the remembrance days make it a depressing moment by nature...
Just for fun though I am rather sad tonight: On internet nobody knows that you are really a dog...
I can't go to bed yet, somebody's WRONG ON INTERNET!!!

'parto, ti lascio, O cara, Nicola Porpora.

Sacrificium. Cecilia Bartoli Il Giardino Armonico.Giovanni Antonini.
Tremendous joy to be able to see her soon!
There is something totally special about her singing and quest in what is her musical 'giardino'. And I love the way her curls move with the rhythm of her passionate singing.

Parto,ti lascio,O cara,
Ma nel partire io sento
Troppo crudel tormento.
Non sarà tanto amara
La pena del morir.

Perfide, stelle ingrete,
Se non volete,oh Dio,
Aver di me pietade.
Non date all'idol mio
Si barbaro martir.

just a thought.

So long...Rolando!

9th of November 09.

An important date.
There had been crucial dates before that.
Not only in Germany.
But there are more walls, and that is real despair.

Nijmegen oct 09

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, a deep flash-back into this colourful world full of violence and dreadful epidemics.
The well born could enjoy life and its pleasures within the limits of the religious duties like Catherine did, fascinating journey into her life through her so well-kept books.
The morning spent at Nijmegen museum, modern and well designed reminded me of hours spent at the British Museum in the late sixties. One click and here I am linking this recent Nijmegen discovery to my student days, but the British Museum has been transformed and modernised probably I would not find those small rooms displaying minute religious precious objects hardly lit up in those days.
Here,the display of costumes and the videos explained clearly this feudal period and everyday life where the rich and the poor could hardly be confused, if it is now sometimes difficult to tell which social background someone comes from, as there is a uniformisation of casual looks, in those days it was quite obvious. Catherine's table was so rich too.
In her very rich book of hours I found myself without clues to read some images, and as I did not take notes I kept the memory of the drawing, where a tree is being sawn, (to make a bridge ?) before Jesus' crucifixion. A spiritual bridge? The drawing is naïve, a long trunk with few green leaves at the top.

just a thought

Last Year, land of hope...
Reminds me of my youth when I was reading Langston Hughes, his prose 'laughing to keep from crying' and naturally I still think it is a tremendous change even if the "job"is utterly difficult.

Song for waiting

Wish you were here!
Wish you all you need to come back in smashing vocal shape!
Wish you all the happiness in singing you already gave me!
This is a fine lied you sang at the Liceù, and some other parts of the world.
Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Heine, Lyrical Intermezzo no 1). (In beautiful May, when the buds sprang, love sprang up in my heart: in beautiful May, when the birds all sang, I told you my suffering and longing.)
Let us dream about May in this dreadful beginning of November.

just a thought

At the very beginning of October I attended three operas, and I reacted only to one of them: Wozzeck, not that Die tote stadt did not capture me, it was even too much on the sickening side, I felt this nightmarish atmosphere with the ceiling slanting and the music too somptuous, kind of stuffing. Korngold's late romantic tunes with brilliant orchestra did not move me deeply. Marietta's tune is catching, so is Pierrot's aria, and Paul's lamento on his never- to - be forgotten Maria is an aesthetic exercise. Bastille huge scenery suited this opera. Simply I did not imagine Marietta like this mature singer, though very brave in her exhausting vocal role. Now trying to recall it I think I would have liked to see it twice. As for the third one, back from Bastille to my local regional operahouse the following day, it was a real trauma to my ears: Die Rosenkavalier on a sunday afternoon, still quite hot for the season, when the orchestra has forgotten to follow the conductor and plays fortissimo most of the time. Worse than that, the audience clapping before the end of the dainty Strauss arias. So, at the end of the first act I dashed out thinking I would quit..I was furious. Because Kate Aldrich was Qinquin and I simply love her voice and acting, I resumed my seat.

They had to struggle through their duets and I wonder what they thought of the orchestra. It is not always as bad as this. Or perhaps I was still tuned on Paris beautiful orchestra sound and failed to adapt.
Kate Aldrich was worth seeing in her first 'chevalier' she has the looks and the voice and musicality of the role.The last scene is what I like best in this opus. The three voices in this hazy musical dream about love,( Mozart is whispering to Strauss's ears ), is an exquisite moment, but again I missed the last notes because of the rude clapping.
Mise en scène, Dieter Kaegi
Assistant, Lutz Schwartz
Décors et costumes, Bruno Schwengl
Lumières, Davy Cunningham

La Maréchale : Gabriele Fontana
Octavian : Kate Aldrich
Sophie : Margareta Klobucar
Annina : Sophie Pondjiclis
Marianne : Anne-Marguerite Werster
Le Baron Ochs : Manfred Hemm
Faninal : Lionel Lhote
Valzacchi : Olivier Ringelhahn
L’aubergiste / Le majordome : Raphaël Brémard
Un commissaire de police : Eric Freulon
Un chanteur italien : Avi Klemberg
Un notaire : François Castel
L’intendant de Faninal : Ji Hyun Kim

Orchestre de l’Opéra de Marseille

Chœur de l’Opéra de Marseille
Chef du chœur, Pierre Iodice

Chœur d’enfants de la Maîtrise des Bouches du Rhône
Direction, Samuel Coquard

Direction musicale, Philippe Auguin