Korngold's rarely performed 2nd opera Violanta will be presented in Turin (premiere Jan 21) which will be the Italian premiere of the work.
It will also be streamed on the internet for six months, starting February 28 on http://operavision.eu .
Furthermore, a DVD will also be made of the production for release later in 2020! Once I know further details, I will post in the 'Recordings' section.
Thanks very much. I really enjoy Violanta and rate it highly.
Details here:
https://www.teatroregio.torino.it/en/opera-e-balletto-2019-2020/violanta (https://www.teatroregio.torino.it/en/opera-e-balletto-2019-2020/violanta)
Norman Reinhardt's a pretty good tenor. I just hope Alfonso isn't too much of a stretch for him.
I shall be attending the premiere and will send a brief report. The director is a genius so I am anticipating a fine production. The conductor is also at the top of his game in this repertoire so the performance should be splendid.
I have now returned from TURIN and what was an outstanding production of this astonishing work, and in every respect.
The first important review is already online and although it is in German, the description is absolutely spot on, and I cannot really say it any better:
https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/korngold-renaissance-in-italien-woher-genies-ihr-wissen-nehmen-ld.1536002?mktcid=smsh&mktcval=OS%20Share%20Hub
The occasional catastrophe in the orchestra I ascribe to first nigght nerves and a need for more rehearsal, and I am sure wil be eliminated by the end of the run, esepcially for the DVD recording. It was a thrilling night in the theatre.
Here is a Youtube taster taken during rehearsals...
https://youtu.be/fXSblm0KtJ4
The DVD will be eagerly awaited!
The review is positive about the soprano and tenor, which is a relief. Let's hope the writer knows what good singing is - not always the case with critics, unfortunately.
Well I know what good singing is and he was right on the money with his review, which is why I did not repeat or add anything. It will live streams from Feb 28 on Operavision.eu so you can check it out then for yourself.
BTW, this critic is also the reviewer for OPERNWELT so he knows his stuff. He had also clearly done his research because none of the factual information he gave in his review was included in the programme.
While respecting your opinion and that of the reviewer, I'm sorry to say that I - and many others over the years - have found ourselves bitterly disappointed at the failure of so-called experts not to report poor singing when they encounter it. In this case, I'm sure you'll be proved correct, but I'd prefer to hear the recording for myself - particularly in an era when there is a desperate shortage of the types of voices needed for this repertoire.
Delighted to read about this performance and how well it was received.
I am going to hear Ring des Polykrates on Sunday (Freiburg/Germany) along with some orchestral and choral works (I.a. passover Psalm). The premiere review was somehow mixed but mainly for the mise-en-scene and the concept of mixing concert and staged opera performance. I'll report (probably in a thread on its own for keeping the order here)
Best wishes, ewk
Thankyou EWK - look forward to your report very much!!!
Available on demand (I believe for just a week after the live broadcast) is yesterday's broadcast from Torino. I have not yet listened to this but will find time in the next couple of days.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Violanta
Opera in un atto di Hans Müller.
Prima esecuzione in Italia. In diretta dal Teatro Regio di Torino, radio3.rai.it, 28 gennaio 2020.
Violanta, consorte di Simone Trovai, Annemarie Kremer
Simone Trovai, capitano della Repubblica di Venezia, Michael Kupfer-Radecky
Alfonso, figlio illegittimo del re di Napoli, Norman Reinhardt
Giovanni Bracca, pittore, Peter Sonn
Bice, Soula Parassidis
Barbara, nutrice di Violanta, Anna Maria Chiuri
Matteo, Joan Francesc Folqué
Primo soldato, Cristiano Olivieri
Secondo soldato, Gabriel Alexander Wernick
Prima ancella, Eugenia Braynova
Seconda ancella, Claudia De Pian
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino
maestro del Coro, Andrea Secchi
direttore, Pinchas Steinberg
regia, scene e costumi, Pier Luigi Pizzi
https://www.raiplayradio.it/programmi/radio3suite-ilcartellone/
DK
Well, I'm a fair way in and the singing so far has been uniformly terrible - not a steady or attractive voice within earshot. No, this won't do at all. As I've said before, many critics these days simply don't know what they're talking about when it comes to correct voice production - especially in repertoire which makes such huge demands on the singers. (This has led, for example, to the absurd situation where a leading dramatic soprano of today is compared favourably with a great singer such as Birgit Nilsson and yet is possessed of an uncontrolled wobble that anyone can hear.)
In this production Annemarie Kremer just about manages to sing the notes, but there's precious little to enjoy in her vocalism - no glamour, no beauty. Once heard, best forgotten, I'm afraid. What appears to have happened is that she has ruined her voice over the years by singing roles far too heavy for her, such as Turandot. Her once fine voice has now become much less even, especially when she pushes her tone in her higher register. It's a familiar story. Then there's the tenor, Norman Reinhardt, and frankly, he simply doesn't have the voice for the role.
Try this historic performance from 1949, terrible sonics and all, for singers who can actually sing this properly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaVPCoCIWU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaVPCoCIWU)
(posted by Brendan Carroll, no less)
Or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-0KucGc-4w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-0KucGc-4w) - for the tenor, not the soprano!
More on Annemarie Kremer, here on her performance in Das Wunder der Heliane, recorded in 2017 (Naxos):
Quotesoprano Annemarie Kremer is fine in the role of Heliane, though in the higher ranges her sustained louder notes tend to exhibit a vibrato with a bit of wobble. Despite this pardonable flaw, she delivers a beautiful 'Ich ging zu ihm' and sings well throughout the opera
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Jan/Korngold_Heliane_8660410.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Jan/Korngold_Heliane_8660410.htm)
QuoteAnnemarie Kremer is occasionally shrill but excels in the lyric moments. She certainly has both the heft and tenderness for the role of Heliane, not only in "Ich ging zu ihm" but in other sections such as "Steh auf" in Scene 5 of Act II.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Apr/Korngold_Heliane_8660410.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Apr/Korngold_Heliane_8660410.htm)
QuoteAnnemarie Kremer, as Heliane, is at her most affecting in the quieter moments: the fragility that she brings to her great Act 2 aria 'Ich ging zu ihm' makes it, quite properly, the heart of the whole drama. She's shakier when she really has to soar, though again that's understandable, and there's a glow to her voice that's well suited to Heliane's chaste sensuality.
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/korngold-das-wunder-der-heliane-bollon (https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/korngold-das-wunder-der-heliane-bollon)
In 2017 her voice was clearly a bit of a mixed bag. Since this recording was made, however, Kremer has clearly been singing heavier roles and her voice has suffered further deterioration.
QuoteWhat appears to have happened is that she has ruined her voice over the years by singing roles far too heavy for her,
Unfortunately, this seems to happen a lot with many younger singers. They are allowed, or encouraged, take on these big roles before they are ready for them and ruin their voices as a result. It is really wicked.
You're absolutely right, Gareth.
The question, though, is why ostensibly expert critics and reviewers can't hear what is going on and frequently fail to comment on the problem. I'm sorry to say that we have examples of this failure in this very thread.
It is indeed very surprising, particularly as there are plenty of recordings of fine singers from the past showing exactly how these roles should be sung. So it is not as if we have no examples for comparison.
I draw two conclusions:
1. The reviewers have little knowledge of or interest in good singing.
2. Too much attention is paid to staging, production, etc. It is a scandal that these aspects of opera performances are prioritised over singing, playing and conducting in many reviews.
Where, oh where is there a soprano like Elisabeth Schwarzkopf today?>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoGQd1dsAlw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoGQd1dsAlw)
Yes, she was truly magnificent.
The point, I think, is this: Korngold's glamorous music requires glamorous voices. Second-raters just won't do. So, when it comes to putting on his operas, put less emphasis on clever-clever staging and production ideas and more on finding the singers who can actually sing the roles, especially when recordings are planned.
The US premiere of Violanta at the Met in New York in 1927 featured soprano Maria Jeritza (here singing in Die tote Stadt):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSYZFWNkj6I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSYZFWNkj6I) -
[mind you, she ducks the high notes for some reason! She can evidently sing them - try the end of Vissi d'arte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7usrJr6qkQ4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7usrJr6qkQ4)]
...and tenor Walter Kirchhoff, here singing in Die Walküre:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q9aWNiGpPQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q9aWNiGpPQ)
The singers we have today rarely if ever match the quality of these voices.
There's a pretty fine performance of the opera available on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZqixbEDV9g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZqixbEDV9g)
Quoteput less emphasis on clever-clever staging and production ideas and more on finding the singers who can actually sing the roles
Oh I do so very heartily agree, Alan.
I've often wondered if part of the problem with great singing, or the lack of it, is the absence of great voice teachers. Are they a thing of the past? Same thing happened in the violin schools - long gone are the Gingolds are DeLays. I'm not really knowledgeable about vocal training, and who the great teachers of the past were. Did voice teachers of yesterday know something that has been lost?
I'm sure that good vocal training - or indeed the lack of it - must be at the root of the problem. The fact that there aren't the numbers of great singers today that there have been in the past is surely all the proof we need.
And so back to Violanta - I mean, so far there's only been one complete recording...
How about Dame Joan Hammond in Die tote Stadt?>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_56dE_qaf0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_56dE_qaf0)
She'd sing the majority of today's sopranos off the stage...
The production from Turin (January 2020) will be released by DYNAMIC:
CD https://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/146941/Korngold-_Violanta.htm
BLU-RAY https://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/146940/Korngold-_Violanta_(Blu-ray).htm
DVD https://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/146939/Korngold-_Violanta_(DVD).htm
I'll be sticking with Janowski on Sony, for reasons given above. But it's good to have some competition, although I don't personally believe this release is really good enough.
Avoid this release! The reviewer at MusicWeb is right:
It must be observed however that the casting in this new Italian recording is well below the standards set by CBS forty years ago. None of the singers here surpass their audio equivalents, I am afraid to say.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Aug/Korngold-Violanta-57876.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Aug/Korngold-Violanta-57876.htm)