A friend of mine convinced me - despite my crammed schedule - to attend an opera performance. Not that my previous posting caused it. I owed it to him. The night, where I was free, scheduled Madama Butterfly, and definitively a must for music lovers. So,... no excuses; yes, I went.
Interestingly enough, the opera was still rehearsed under the previous maestro Dohnanyi, but presently conducted by Pavol Selecký. A reason the more to attend this performance. Alarmingly, I was counting the number of empty seats in the auditorium. Oops... half full.
As a musician (conductor) myself, one has a slight - and bad(!)- tendency to compare things to one's own technical liking (performance), noticing those technical details of the orchestra and singers, and have a rather critical approach. Admittedly, as the overture was behind us, and the singers came on stage, I slowly let loose the critical scrutiny and decided to have a relaxed evening.
The quality of (young) singers surprised me, as I have frequently encountered vocalists here, who still could do with extra language classes, as their Italian or even English or German was incomprehensible, or using an over-extensive vibrato to "pretend" dramatization (or is it to camouflage their intonation flaws?). Whichever way, this was turning out a good performance after all. The roles of Cio-Cio San (as sung by Jana Doležílková) and Pinkerton (Peter Berger) were impressive. Nevertheless, when knowing the whole story, when feeling moved again by the combination of music and plot, it is a worthwhile show. And all viola-jokes aside: The viola solo by the young excellent violist Tamás Cseh during the "humming chorus" was a feast for the soul and ear. Only one big minus.... although I am not always a big fan of modernist approaches, like looking at Nozze di Figaro in a 20th century penthouse in New York setting, the modern, minimalist props were fairly acceptable.. Except when the Japanese characters arrived,.... their costumes were... typically Chinese! Ouch!
It became apparent that the Bratislava SND (State Theatre) is quality-wise a good orchestra - maybe I could say, in better shape than the Radio Symphony or the Filharmonic. During the break, when spotting the audience in the foyer, I noticed that a considerable portion was foreign; Danes, Austrians (coming all the way from Vienna?) and British. Hopefully, the comming years under Gabriela Beňačková will finally make this institution keep a grip on its developments (and I mean developments in the upward direction). Ms Beňačková's role is not easy, but Bratislava deserves an opera, and an opera like this deserves a future. And more people in the audience.
MS
Interestingly enough, the opera was still rehearsed under the previous maestro Dohnanyi, but presently conducted by Pavol Selecký. A reason the more to attend this performance. Alarmingly, I was counting the number of empty seats in the auditorium. Oops... half full.
As a musician (conductor) myself, one has a slight - and bad(!)- tendency to compare things to one's own technical liking (performance), noticing those technical details of the orchestra and singers, and have a rather critical approach. Admittedly, as the overture was behind us, and the singers came on stage, I slowly let loose the critical scrutiny and decided to have a relaxed evening.
The quality of (young) singers surprised me, as I have frequently encountered vocalists here, who still could do with extra language classes, as their Italian or even English or German was incomprehensible, or using an over-extensive vibrato to "pretend" dramatization (or is it to camouflage their intonation flaws?). Whichever way, this was turning out a good performance after all. The roles of Cio-Cio San (as sung by Jana Doležílková) and Pinkerton (Peter Berger) were impressive. Nevertheless, when knowing the whole story, when feeling moved again by the combination of music and plot, it is a worthwhile show. And all viola-jokes aside: The viola solo by the young excellent violist Tamás Cseh during the "humming chorus" was a feast for the soul and ear. Only one big minus.... although I am not always a big fan of modernist approaches, like looking at Nozze di Figaro in a 20th century penthouse in New York setting, the modern, minimalist props were fairly acceptable.. Except when the Japanese characters arrived,.... their costumes were... typically Chinese! Ouch!
It became apparent that the Bratislava SND (State Theatre) is quality-wise a good orchestra - maybe I could say, in better shape than the Radio Symphony or the Filharmonic. During the break, when spotting the audience in the foyer, I noticed that a considerable portion was foreign; Danes, Austrians (coming all the way from Vienna?) and British. Hopefully, the comming years under Gabriela Beňačková will finally make this institution keep a grip on its developments (and I mean developments in the upward direction). Ms Beňačková's role is not easy, but Bratislava deserves an opera, and an opera like this deserves a future. And more people in the audience.
MS
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