Massenet's Le Mage

[BerlinExpat]

It's marked in big, thick red letters in my diary!

If anyone is interested in the complete Chabrier Le roi malgre lui (including dialogue) from Wexford this year I now have it - 3 CDs 55, 58 and 38 minutes without splitting the second act!

[Alan Howe]

I'm very grateful!

[Wheesht]

It would appear that the broadcast will be on 1 December - and I'll try my best to record it:

http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/em/soirees_lyriques/emission.php?e_id=26&d_id=515002897

1er décembre 2012 19:08
MASSENET : Le mage.
Enregistré le 09 novembre 2012 au Grand Théâtre Massenet à Saint-Etienne.
 
Opéra en 5 actes. Livret de Jean Richepin. Création le 16 mars 1891

Nouvelle Production, donnée en version concert.

Distribution :

Catherine Hunold, Anahita
Kate Aldrich, Varedha
Luca Lombardo, Zatastra
Jean-François Lapointe, Amrou
Marcel Vanaud, Le Roi d'Iran
Julien Dran, Prisonnier Touranien
Florian Sempey, Chef Touranien
Florian Sempey, Hérault


Chœur Lyrique et Orchestre Symphonique Saint-Étienne Loire
direction : Laurent Campellone
chef de chœur : Laurent Touche

Partenaire associé Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique Romantique française

Ces représentations font l'objet d'un enregistrement discographique, avec le soutien du Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique Romantique française.

[Alan Howe]

Ces représentations font l'objet d'un enregistrement discographique, avec le soutien du Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique Romantique française.

I note that the performance is to be issued on CD...

[Gareth Vaughan]

It's almost bound to be better than what some clever-clever director comes up with.

Oh, how I do so agree, Alan.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Ah, but do please be careful, gentlemen!

True, I have witnessed some productions that were so dumb or silly that one wondered how anyone could possibly dream them up. Two examples: first, a Don Giovanni where the whole of the back of the stage was some gigantic female torso, complete with all the stuff one expects to find on such a delectable thing. Poor Leporello at one point was required to somehow climb up the outer thigh and then to sing having perched himself in a huge thicket of pubic hair several metres across with his head just barely sticking out. And next a Rigoletto, where the Duke of Mantua had to sing the Act 3 canzone 'La donna e mobile' furiously pedalling on an exercise bicycle in a coal cellar with lumps of coal (hopefully black polystyrene rather than the real stuff) cascading down a coal chute onto his head.

Heaven knows what such things were supposed to be about.

But against such awful things I have seen many superbly intelligent, imaginative, and quite spellbinding productions that have stayed in my mind for many many years afterwards. Quite a few came from either English National or Welsh National opera companies in the good old days.

I suppose the truth of the matter is that within the opera house things can be amazingly good... or amazingly b*****y awful. I'm convinced that when it all works coherently then, in terms of production, great opera can be streets ahead of theatre at its very best.

Likewise when things go wrong in the opera house then, invariably, they go amazingly and hilariously wrong. Example, I once saw a Tosca where a rather sheepish looking platoon of soldiers was suddenly shoved onto the stage at the end of Act 3. The dumbfounded looks and quickly muttered inaudible conferences between them suggested they were following the instruction to line up, take aim, and shoot. But clearly no-one had bothered to tell them who to shoot. Between them they came up with the idea that it was a tragic opera....so clearly we shoot Tosca. Whereupon loud bang and Cavaradossi suddenly drops to his knees, red stuff spurts from his chest, and he then expires falling backwards. The audience hoots with sheer merriment for Cavaradossi is positioned well behind the line of soldiers (who, sensing they've done something not quite right, scramble off the stage as fast as they can).

Thus, gentleman, no somewhat sneering puritanical scorning of opera directors please. Sometimes they are pretentious fools or sheer clots. But sometimes wonderfully gifted people who can bring an opera to life in quite magical ways.

[Alan Howe]

The problem, Peter, is that the good is often very good and the bad is invariably awful - and ruinous of a good production musically speaking (Wagner suffers particularly badly in this regard). I've been pretty lucky, I suppose, and hardly ever seen anything silly. As with conductors and their craft, it's when a director shines the light upon himself and his clever ideas rather than illuminating the work of the composer that things go badly wrong. A bit like Norrington and his silly Mahler 9...

[BerlinExpat]

More Massenet for lovers of the same.

Next year's turning out to be a good year for Massenet fans. Cléopâtre in Marseille, Esclarmonde in Dessau, Thaïs in Lübeck as well as Hamburg (Opernloft) and the double bill of Thérèse and La navaraise in Wexford.

Here's another one to add to the list. From March 6th to 9th 2013 Den Fynske Opera in Odense, Denmark are hosting a visiting opera company's double bill of Massenet's La Grand' Tante and Donizetti's Il campanello.

All tickets are one price and there's no seat allocation - go early for the best seats!

Den Fynske Opera's home page is http://www.denfynskeopera.dk

Ticketing is via an online agency with postal delivery. I have mine  .

[Richergar]

I was there for the performance a few weeks ago and loved it. The tenor was ill but was serviceable and I thought the first three acts were amazing....he tended to repeat himself a bit at the end. It will be bcast and also issued as a recording under the Palazzetto Bru Zane sponsorship, and their site is worth checking out for a lot of romantic pieces. Have to run but look forward to participating more on the group shortly.

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome Richergar!

A shame that the tenor was ill, but otherwise hugely encouraging. The broadcast is next weekend, on 1 December, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will record it as I can't. The Palazzetto Bru Zane website is very interesting, as you say. For example, there is what appears to be the complete third movement of Rabaud's Second Symphony from the recent Timpani CD available to listen to here.

[jerfilm]

Welcome, Richargar and thanks for pointing the way to that website.  I discovered the chamber works of Tombele which I promptly ordered from Amazon.fr.   Another pleasant surprise- Amazon accounts in one country apparently are good for any Amazon order worldwide.   So thanks for that, too.

Jerry

[BerlinExpat]

Through an acquaintance I have discovered that the previously mentioned double bill of Massenet's La Grand' Tante and Donizetti's Il campanello in Odense is only with piano accompaniament  . Apparently it's quite normal with this particular visiting opera company. It's a real disappoinment and we can only hope that some other opera company will take it up and give us a proper rendering.

[BerlinExpat]

Le mage lived up to my expectations yesterday evening and I managed to record it, but for some inexplicable reason there's some very slight interference throughout and a five second drop out at one point.

Acts 1 and 2 amount to just under 1 hour and acts 3, 4 and 5 to almost 80 minutes.

I'll post it if no one has a better copy.

Berlin Expat

[Alan Howe]

Do post it - we can always compare recordings if someone else managed to capture it...

[Alan Howe]

Many thanks to BerlinExpat for uploading the opera!