Utterly...

Been listening to Royal Mezzo and was hit up-side the head by one word: Utterly. She cries this on the first track, Barber’s Andromache’s Farewell. The line is “now the Gods have destroyed us utterly” (11:05). This one word totally blew me away. It’s meant to. It’s that good! So, this got me thinking of other words she sings and I end up obsessing about. Barber’s Sure on this Shining Night (from her My Native Land cd) has the line “all is healed, all is health”. I’m brought to tears when I hear this. A few years later she sings the same song on a cd tribute to Lotte Lehmann but this time changes the emphasis on the words “healed” and “health” and I’m blown away, yet again. I’m not sure which version I prefer, but lately the Lehmann cd seems to be winning. She and Barber seem to be a perfect fit and I’ve mentioned before how I’d love to hear her do Knoxville: Summer of 1915.

For now, I’m thrilled she had the keen intelligence to put Barber, Berlioz, Britten and Ravel on one kick-ass cd (Hello, second Grammy award?). I’ll get to the Britten piece at some point, because I think she has broken new Larmore ground here. Britten? Lamore? Who knew?

Oh, and come to think of it, listen to the line “come close, embrace me” (7:59) on Andromache’s Farewell. It’s utterly breathtaking.

All Hail Jennie

Katrin Schmidt-Berg said...
Great to have a blog to share thoughts about our favourite mezzo!I came to her through the fabulous recording of Handel's "Giulio Cesare" with René Jacobs which hit me like lightning! I had been an opera fan since my earliest childhood, but Baroque opera until then was just a boring string of repetitive da-capo arias for me(yawn, yawn!) This terrific recording changed all this! It made an epoch in my life and is my desert island disc! I was completely bowled over by Jennie's interpretation of the Roman hero: the majesty, the impetuosity, the ruthlessness, but also the playfulness, tenderness and vulnerability of this ambiguous character - and all traces of mathematical monotony of earlier Baroque music singing blown away in a vocal tornado! And the sheer beauty of the timbre is overwhelming: pure mousse chocolat, Nutella, crème caramel! She together with René Jacobs and the fabulous Concerto Koeln deliver a Handel on the rocks!I have been following her around now for about 14 years and seen her in all her major roles in Berlin, Paris, Edinburgh, New York, Brussels: her charming Rosina, her pert & perky Italiana, her touching Angelina, her forthright Hansel, her vulnerable and dignified Charlotte... - and hope she'll go on singing for a long time yet! and surprise us with more great portrayals! Her wonderful new cd "Royal Mezzo" hints at new possibilities opening up. I join the chorus: "All Hail Jennie, once and future Queen of Mezzos!
August 18, 2008 6:43 AM

How to Live Without a Diva...

New York City, circa March 1992, in the throws of a new and wonderful and wicked relationship, my then (and current) love thought it prudent to drag my sorry Long Island ass to the Met. If memory serves me correctly, that first opera was Verdi’s Rigoletto. I’ll say Ruth Ann Swenson was Gilda…I remember her in a sack toward the end…There were NO super-titles and remember thinking “just get through this”. I could have been watching anything. My second opera was Verdi’s Il Trovatore. The anvil chorus was great, but what happened before or after that was a mystery. Opera for me was a means to an end. I sit through 3 hours of hell, I get to have great sex when I get home. Thinking back, I’m mad at myself for having been a reverse opera snob. A few years went by and with the help of Mariella Devia and Luciana Serra, a good job to help pay for good seats, super-titles and a very patient boyfriend, I was well on my way to actually understanding what all the fuss was about. Around 1995 I was able to see my first Barbiere with Ms. Larmore in her Met debut. This sealed the deal for me. Opera was now sport and I had my MVP. But more on that later…

It’s now 2008. I had grown accustomed to hearing Ms. Larmore sing several times a year in NYC for nearly 10 years. We moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and in five years I’ve heard Jennie sing on only two occasions. So, when I know she is singing somewhere in the U.S. or abroad, I feel empty; left out of the ball game.

So, I rely on the internet and my great friends who are lucky enough to hear her. Sometimes a critic will actually describe in great detail a concert or opera or recital. Here’s one by Paul E. Robinson reviewing Jennie’s opening recital at the 2008 Festival Bel Canto in Canada:

http://www.scena.org/blog/2008/08/report-from-bel-canto-new-music.html

Paul - Los Angeles

Another Opera Blog...

I know...I feel the same way. But, since Jennifer Larmore turned me on to opera and I now have made many friends who also share my love for this mezzo, it seemed right to have a place for my humble thoughts and opinions. But also I hope everyone will share their feelings on an opera, concert, recording or anecdote relating to one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of our time. Let's have fun and share the good feelings, as Jennifer would most likely have it! Thanks! Paul - Los Angeles