I much as I don’t like agreeing with you, I do in large part. I saw just Wed night.
I was very disappointed Sat. I agreee the acting was really bad. But I did like Zojic’s acting in her last big scene and I did like her singing in the role. She was however,really hard to look at. I, as you, thought the last act was the only time I felt anything. You asked about the pageantry adding or subtracting from the intimacy. What intimacy? There was total lack of connection between Aida and Radames as was true Wed nights DVD. Is there a reason the singers don’t look at each other when proclaiming their love? I enjoyed the singing of better in the Wed night production. Aida’s father had a fantastic voice in the Wed production.
Great pageantry does not really do it for me. French Grand Opera may be wasted on me.
I have no idea what Verdi thought about theocracy other than Amneris ranting about the unjust punishment of Radames. Why wasn’t he guilty of treason?? I never got it.
I very much enjoy Naomis lectures but I don’t think it increased my enjoyment of the opera this time
2 additional comments. The dancing was certainly better than the DVD but given the new choriographer I thought it would be even better. I thought some of the photography of the Sat. production was sometimes bad and distracting. I did not need a aerial view of the stage.
I agree with Mimi and with Richard on most of what they wrote.
I was very bothered by the lack of intimacy on Saturday, in contrast to Wed. night (I didn’t see Tuesday night’s DVD).
I thought Zajic’s voice was lovely but her acting was awful, if as Renee Fleming said, “she owns the part” she should turn her ownership over to someone else. I don’t think she was good even in her last big scene.
I did discuss the idea of treason with my lawyer husband and he said treason needs to be intentional– Radames told Aida but didn’t realize that her father was nearby, or who her father was. Therefore, he was not guilty of treason.
The pageantry was spectacular on Saturday but afterwards I realized that I hadn’t paid attention to the singing—and therefore i thought it was too much.
The dance on Saturday was among the highlights of the afternoon.
I thought Dolora Zajic was much better in the Sat. performance than she was 20 years earlier in the 1988 performance, in which I thought she was very weak. After 22 performances over the years, she is much stronger and meaner. I thought both Johan Botha and Violeta Urmana were wonderful in their roles. Maybe no one in our lifetimes will ever be comparable to Luciano Pavarotti or Placido Domingo – but the current singers seemed very good to me. I think the new group of opera stars like Fleming have changed expectations. We were used to seeing very large, stolid middle-aged people singing love songs to each other, sometimes several feet away from one another. When viewed from the lens of the HD camera the lack of emotion, beauty, and sense of intimacy may become a problem since the scenes appear unbelievable. To me, Placido Domingo excels in emotional acting in his roles.
Also, the music in Aida is so wonderful – the call to war, the magnificent victory scene, the pomp and circumstance of the royal court, contrast beautifully with the delicate singing in the songs to love and to the beauty of the native land of Aida. So I enjoyed the contrast – each enhanced the other for me.
I saw all 3 productions this week and rather than feeling like I had overdosed on Opera I was thrilled by seeing each one. Verdi’s music was never boring and it was interesting to experience the differences each singer brought to their roles. I have not seen many operas and am thorough enjoying this course.
I only saw the Saturday afternoon HD broadcast. I loved Ms. Urmana’s and Johan Botha’s singing, but “young and in love” implies youthful figures, which these two did not have. Likewise with Ms. Zajic, althought she did portray the conniving, power-hungry queen well. I loved the scenery and the pomp. I think having close-ups of the singers in such a production overcomes the tendency of the pageantry to overwhelm the singing. I agree with everyone else that the dancing was superb. Verdi’s music is so beautiful that bad acting was not much of a distraction.
As to Naomi’s lecture, it enhanced the understanding of how the opera was conceived and written, and she is so knowledgeable and dynamic that I look forward to hearing more of her lectures.
I agree with what seems to be the popular opinion that the Wednesday night performance (I did not see Tuesday) was musically and dramatically superior to the performance on Saturday. I thought the king of Ethiopia in the Wednesday night performance was dramatically the best performance I have seen in my limited opera exposure. I did think that the set and the ballet were fantastic on Saturday. I really appreciated the comment of “What intimacy” in regards to Saturday’s performance, but on principal I do not feel that the pageantry takes away from intimacy, rather I feel that it enhances it. Being able to go back and forth from such elaborate scenes to moments that are at least written (if not performed) to be highly emotional makes the opera all the better.
I loved Wednesday night’s performance of Aida. I thought that this was the best soprano-tenor match-up of all the opera performances we’ve seen thus far. I loved how the richness of Pavarotti’s voice sounded when pared with the lightness of Price’s voice. Specifically, their last duet together was probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
Personally, I look at the pageantry and the intimacy of Aida as independent of one another. In my opinion, the spectacle of Aida is as much a part of the opera as the music itself, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, I feel that the pageantry only has the capacity to affect the opera’s entertainment level, whereas the musicality of the production has the ability to affect the emotional levels of the performance.
I personally don’t feel as though Verdi composed Aida with any sort of political statement in mind. I merely think that he went for the most dramatic plot line, and it happened to address the issue of theocracy. I like to think that sometimes, opera is just opera…
10:23 am
I much as I don’t like agreeing with you, I do in large part. I saw just Wed night.
I was very disappointed Sat. I agreee the acting was really bad. But I did like Zojic’s acting in her last big scene and I did like her singing in the role. She was however,really hard to look at. I, as you, thought the last act was the only time I felt anything. You asked about the pageantry adding or subtracting from the intimacy. What intimacy? There was total lack of connection between Aida and Radames as was true Wed nights DVD. Is there a reason the singers don’t look at each other when proclaiming their love? I enjoyed the singing of better in the Wed night production. Aida’s father had a fantastic voice in the Wed production.
Great pageantry does not really do it for me. French Grand Opera may be wasted on me.
I have no idea what Verdi thought about theocracy other than Amneris ranting about the unjust punishment of Radames. Why wasn’t he guilty of treason?? I never got it.
I very much enjoy Naomis lectures but I don’t think it increased my enjoyment of the opera this time
3:48 pm
2 additional comments. The dancing was certainly better than the DVD but given the new choriographer I thought it would be even better. I thought some of the photography of the Sat. production was sometimes bad and distracting. I did not need a aerial view of the stage.
4:27 pm
I agree with Mimi and with Richard on most of what they wrote.
I was very bothered by the lack of intimacy on Saturday, in contrast to Wed. night (I didn’t see Tuesday night’s DVD).
I thought Zajic’s voice was lovely but her acting was awful, if as Renee Fleming said, “she owns the part” she should turn her ownership over to someone else. I don’t think she was good even in her last big scene.
I did discuss the idea of treason with my lawyer husband and he said treason needs to be intentional– Radames told Aida but didn’t realize that her father was nearby, or who her father was. Therefore, he was not guilty of treason.
The pageantry was spectacular on Saturday but afterwards I realized that I hadn’t paid attention to the singing—and therefore i thought it was too much.
The dance on Saturday was among the highlights of the afternoon.
I like Naomi’s lectures very much.
6:27 pm
I thought Dolora Zajic was much better in the Sat. performance than she was 20 years earlier in the 1988 performance, in which I thought she was very weak. After 22 performances over the years, she is much stronger and meaner. I thought both Johan Botha and Violeta Urmana were wonderful in their roles. Maybe no one in our lifetimes will ever be comparable to Luciano Pavarotti or Placido Domingo – but the current singers seemed very good to me. I think the new group of opera stars like Fleming have changed expectations. We were used to seeing very large, stolid middle-aged people singing love songs to each other, sometimes several feet away from one another. When viewed from the lens of the HD camera the lack of emotion, beauty, and sense of intimacy may become a problem since the scenes appear unbelievable. To me, Placido Domingo excels in emotional acting in his roles.
Also, the music in Aida is so wonderful – the call to war, the magnificent victory scene, the pomp and circumstance of the royal court, contrast beautifully with the delicate singing in the songs to love and to the beauty of the native land of Aida. So I enjoyed the contrast – each enhanced the other for me.
I saw all 3 productions this week and rather than feeling like I had overdosed on Opera I was thrilled by seeing each one. Verdi’s music was never boring and it was interesting to experience the differences each singer brought to their roles. I have not seen many operas and am thorough enjoying this course.
9:17 pm
I only saw the Saturday afternoon HD broadcast. I loved Ms. Urmana’s and Johan Botha’s singing, but “young and in love” implies youthful figures, which these two did not have. Likewise with Ms. Zajic, althought she did portray the conniving, power-hungry queen well. I loved the scenery and the pomp. I think having close-ups of the singers in such a production overcomes the tendency of the pageantry to overwhelm the singing. I agree with everyone else that the dancing was superb. Verdi’s music is so beautiful that bad acting was not much of a distraction.
As to Naomi’s lecture, it enhanced the understanding of how the opera was conceived and written, and she is so knowledgeable and dynamic that I look forward to hearing more of her lectures.
7:34 pm
I agree with what seems to be the popular opinion that the Wednesday night performance (I did not see Tuesday) was musically and dramatically superior to the performance on Saturday. I thought the king of Ethiopia in the Wednesday night performance was dramatically the best performance I have seen in my limited opera exposure. I did think that the set and the ballet were fantastic on Saturday. I really appreciated the comment of “What intimacy” in regards to Saturday’s performance, but on principal I do not feel that the pageantry takes away from intimacy, rather I feel that it enhances it. Being able to go back and forth from such elaborate scenes to moments that are at least written (if not performed) to be highly emotional makes the opera all the better.
Naomi has been amazingly helpful.
2:42 am
I loved Wednesday night’s performance of Aida. I thought that this was the best soprano-tenor match-up of all the opera performances we’ve seen thus far. I loved how the richness of Pavarotti’s voice sounded when pared with the lightness of Price’s voice. Specifically, their last duet together was probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
Personally, I look at the pageantry and the intimacy of Aida as independent of one another. In my opinion, the spectacle of Aida is as much a part of the opera as the music itself, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, I feel that the pageantry only has the capacity to affect the opera’s entertainment level, whereas the musicality of the production has the ability to affect the emotional levels of the performance.
I personally don’t feel as though Verdi composed Aida with any sort of political statement in mind. I merely think that he went for the most dramatic plot line, and it happened to address the issue of theocracy. I like to think that sometimes, opera is just opera…