January 21, 2012: Turandot in Zurich

2012-01-21 Turandot (Puccini), Opernhaus Zurich

Turandot = Martina Serafin
Liu = Isabel Rey
Calaf = Johan Botha
Timur = Pavel Daniluk
Ping = Kresimir Strazanac
Pang = Andreas Winkler
Pong = Boguslaw Bidzinski
Althoum = Miroslav Christoff
Mandarin = Valeriy Murga

Massimo Zanetti, conductor

Producer/production - Giancarlo del Monaco
Set design - Peter Sykora
Costumes - Peter Sykora
Lighting - Hans-Rudolf Kunz

I had come to Zurich to see Jose Cura as Calaf. But he got a serious head cold so he couldn't sing. Johan Botha was to sing instead. It was like Lohengrin singing Calaf, I thought. But his large girth did not prevent him much to be an effective Calaf. He has a big and beautiful, clear voice. He stood and delivered the goods, but his acting consisted mainly of smiling. Those smiles seemed to me to come sometimes at inapprobiate times, but maybe it was another way of telling that Calaf is more of a cad than a romantic hero.

Martina Serafin was Turandot. She was very different from Paoletta Marrocu as Turandot in this production. Unfortunately she had some difficulties in the aria "In questa reggia" where the demands of the role seemed to somewhat beyond her so Botha's voice could easily overwhelm her in the "enigmi sono tre, la morte una". Martina Serafin was an otherwise great Turandot who I am sure will be able to takle all the demands of Turandot in a few years.

I also came to Zurich to see Isabel Rey as Liu. She was great. From a somewhat weak Signore, ascolta in the first act to the most wonderful and greatest rendition of Tu che in gel sei cinta. Wow, that was amazing!!!

Pavel Daniluk was simply an amazing Timur. His voice was grand and demanding.

What can one say abou the production? Partly it is super traditional, and partly modern. The action does happen in China, in legendary times. BUT the unknown prince (Calaf), Timur and Liu is dressed modernly. AND Calaf uses a computer to answer the riddles. The audience laughed when Johan Botha took the computer. In April 2006 (last time I saw this production) they did not laugh when Cura took the computer. But naturally it was silly then and now. But I guess then it was not so strange to see the chorus dressed in modern cloths when Turandot tells that she know the name of the stranger: His name is Love. Then we are in modern Shanghai and Turandot disrobes her traditional dress to the modern one, and Calaf and Turandot can enjoy a champagne, romantic meal served by modern times Ping, Pang and Pong.

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Original blog post

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com

December 3, 2005: Lohengrin in Vienna

2005-12-03 Lohengrin (Wagner), Wiener Staatsoper

Heinrich der Vogler = Kwangchul Youn
Lohengrin = Johan Botha
Elsa von Brabant = Soile Isokoski
Friedrich von Telramund =
Falk Struckmann
Ortrud = Janina Baechle
Heerrufer = Adrian Eröd

Semyon Bychkov, conductor

LOHENGRIN

Dirigent: Semyon Bychkov
Inszenierung: Barrie Kosky
Bühnenbild: Klaus Grünberg
Kostüme: Alfred Mayerhofer
Choreinstudierung: Ernst Dunshirn



I did not realize it until the day after that this was the uncut version of Lohengrin. That notion explained things up for me. I thought I had forgot parts, and the love duet did not quite play up the romanticism that I heard in Plácido Domingo and Jessye Norman in the Decca recording of Lohengrin. And the end, something was amiss in the end, I thought the reason was that it was some time ago that I listened to my recording, maybe years even. The conductor was brilliant and orchestra played wonderfully, but still... it was boring. The complete Lohengrin I am sorry to say is not such a great opera. I wonder if that would have been my notion if I had just heard it on the radio. Webcast Radio.Orf.at. ?

I had hoped to see Agnes Baltsa as Ortrud, that was my primary and indeed only reason to go to Vienna. But she walked out for health reason and Janina Baechle sang instead. But for me it was obviously that the replacement mezzo was singing an Ortrud that was really created for Agnes Baltsa. The voice of Janina Baechle do not have a personality as Baltsa, it was a blank voice, and her acting was too extreme, she over-acted. Agnes Baltsa as Ortrud would have been really the center of the opera, eye-catching, and her voice willing to be ugly for the drama, and Ortrud needs to have an actress willing to the extremes. The undoing of Janina Baechle was to try to not be Ortrud but to be Baltsa's Ortrud.

It was a rather colorless Lohengrin, beautiful sung but lacking in personality. Falck Struckmann as Graf von Telramund, Johan Botha as Lohengrin, Soile Isokoski as Elsa von Brabant; was good singers but still their voices was colorless. Kwangchul Youn was a good Könich Heinrich, Adrian Eröd as Heerrufer was very good.

This production made Elsa von Brabant into a Blind Woman which made nonsense of the libretto. The director maintains that he plays the score on the piano before defining the opera, so why didn't he read the libretto, too. Soile Isokoski is totally believable as a Elsa even as a blind woman. And this is not a performance making Elsa into a sorry handicapped person, no, Elsa is blind but that is not hindering her a bit. This is a great performance of Soile Isokoski, but to my ears she still does not have the vocal resources for this Wagner role. But still, BRAVA!!

Johan Botha is singing Lohengrin, Parsifal, Radames, Calaf, etc in Wiener Staatsoper, why ? His voice is not really heavy enough for Lohengrin. He is just a fat tenor.... He doesn't sing like a Lohengrin, he doesn't look like Lohengrin. Why not give him a suit that makes him look more like Grail Knight. Long white hair apart, thumb down. I have really no idea if this man can act, I put most of the blame at the feet of the director and team.

The production was really, really.... I don't know, irrelevant... Stupid.

Lacking in personality was this Lohengrin production. With Agnes Baltsa there would have been at least one personality....

OD Travel + Photos

For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com
If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com