As if anybody who visits here needed reminding, the Met season cranks up with Netrebko's stab at Anna Bolena tomorrow at 6:30. Free streaming begins here at 6pm via RealPlayer.
post-game addendum: Someday somebody will explain to me why this casting was a good idea.
Do tell more! What didn't work?
ReplyDeleteIn the interests of full disclosure, I have never been able to understand the Netrebko thing. There's something about her (to my ears) indifference to pitch, combined with her lack of articulation of notes, that makes my teeth itch. And this kind of music only magnifies those deficits.
ReplyDeleteCostello, though he sounded good at times, wasn't up to the part. Maybe that will change if he figures out how to pace himself over the run. I'm not betting on it, but I hope so, because it's nights like this that make for more nights like this.
Oh phew, I thought I was the only person left around who doesn't like Netrebko. Her timbre always irritated me, and then somebody on Parterre put it exactly right for me: it's like she's singing with some gooey okra in her throat.
ReplyDeleteNight of the Snoods! Best title ever. I was, in the event, won over by Netrebko, but was surprised that, among the rest of the singers, Tamara Mumford sounded the most comfortable by such a substantial margin. I felt sorry for Costello.
ReplyDelete@DtO, I'll never look at okra the same way again.
ReplyDelete@Lucy (hi Lucy!) I can imagine this having been a very different performance in the house, and for the record, the Parterre chat crowd seemed about evenly divided on the Netrebko issue. We'll see what the HD yields, but I'm looking forward to hearing Meade, also, and seeing if the partisans divide up the same.
I'd love to hear Tamara Mumford in bigger roles at the Met - her G'glass Dido was pretty spiff, imho.