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Turandot
Topic Started: Sep 18 2013, 11:25 AM (1,899 Views)
Mobson
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The live "Verdi vs Wagner: The 200th Birthday Debate with Stephen Fry" held on Sunday (I posted info on here on 13th Sept) was very interesting and the full video will be available soon...

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/verdi-vs-wagner-200th-anniversary-stephen-fry/

Continuing in the classical vein, last night I went to see the new season of the Royal Opera House's staging of Andrei Serban's spectacular production of Puccini's Turandot...Puccini's exotic final opera.

In the final months of his life Puccini struggled to depict one of the main characters, Calaf - he died before finishing the final act. Turandot was completed by Franco Alfano two years later and given its premiere in 1926 at La Scala, Milan. During this initial performance the conductor Arturo Toscanini famously laid down his baton in Act III, declaring ‘at this point, the Maestro died’. Turandot has since gone on to have great worldwide success and last night celebrated it's 100th performance.

I haven't been to the opera for ages so it was good to redress the situation and what better choice than an opera by Puccini containing a few memorable songs, including the one that Luciano Pavarotti was born to to sing, Nessun Dorma. Last night the role of Calaf was sung by the italian tenor Marco Berti and my main criticism, apart from the fact that he was pretty wooden, perhaps because of being on the weighty side, is that placing him inside the pagoda to sing this important aria at the start of the third act, meant his voice did not carry and as soon as he finished singing, he turned his back on the stage and guards came roaring at him thus preventing any special appreciation from the audience for his rendition. The star American soprano Lise Lindstrom was Turandot and she really has some serious lungs on her which could easily blow you away! ...special mention to Eri Nakamura as Liu, a real star in the making. She was first class. Overall it was a very impressive production which the Royal Opera house excels at.


Details of the production with great pictures of the stage settings here... http://www.roh.org.uk/news/bringing-turandot-to-the-stage
Edited by Mobson, Sep 18 2013, 11:54 AM.
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Mobson
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.
Edited by Mobson, Sep 19 2013, 08:35 AM.
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dai Cottomy
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I remember as a schoolboy saving up my pocket money to go and see Turandot at Covent Garden.
The year was 1947, and tickets for the gods were available at three shillings and sixpence.

. The title role was sung by the great Eva Turner, with Walter Midgley as Calaf. The production was spectacular by the standards of post-war Britain, and I was overwhelmed by the orchestral score, which was for me, far superior to his earlier operas. It was not very well known in this country, and I remember wondering why Nessun Dorma was not as popular as, for example, "Che gelida manina" (your tiny hand is frozen).

Edited by dai Cottomy, Sep 20 2013, 02:31 PM.
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rumbaba
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Sounds great, Dai <ok>
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Mobson
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Well I've come to Puccini's last opera late but better late than never! It is a silly fable but beautifully told and this production is magnificently staged and prompted one of our party to comment that they were surprised it hasn't been performed more commercially like his more popular operas.

I've seen his Madame Butterfly in different venues including the RHO, the London Coliseum, in the round at the Royal Albert Hall and once in a huge marquee in Battersea...La Boheme a couple of times at the ROH and again in the round at the RAH, as well as La Tosca in a disappointing production at the ROH where the battlements moved before Tosca made the drop!

Turandot would be great staged at the O2...with real elephants and tigers....
Edited by Mobson, Sep 19 2013, 10:40 PM.
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