That is Opera live!
And hockey in town.
But playing a CD or DVD is never far so that's what I did.
An old relatively unknown-to-most favorite:
THAIS by Jules Massenet
born May 12, 1842 – died August 13, 1912,(he actually composed 31 operas, only a few are performed nowadays among them Thais, Werther, El Cid) but the Met did it not too long ago.
This production is from the La Fenice in Venice, conducted by Marcello Viotti,
with Eva Mei as Thais, Michele Pertussi as Athanael, William Joyner as Nicias,
Christopher Fel as Palemon, Christine Buffle as Crobyle...
solo violin : Roberto Baraldi.
So other than Mei, Pertussi and Joyner, not a stellar cast.
Here is an excerpt from this production:
I think Mei sounds rather ethereal for a former courtesan (;-) while Pertussi's voice echos with suppressed longing, don't you?
But the ever intriguing theme of sinner's salvation is still an interesting subject.
And the eternal lure of sex only a 'saint' can overcome as did Athanael resisting,
with difficulties I may say, in this opera.
Anyway it was a refreshing afternoon at the Opera-at-home!
Highly recommended if one has nothing else on the menu!
Massenet was also prolific in composing orchestral pieces,piano solos, Lieder and oratorios..a veritable smorgasbord of music..for sure:
No comments:
Post a Comment