Quiet.

Why We Love Our Diva!

Riveting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idZhLHu1SIk

Email the Met and ask why Jennie is not on their upcoming schedule:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/utility/contact/

The Splendours of Würzburg

The Würzburg Mozartfest was founded in 1921, which makes it one of the oldest music festivals in Germany; in fact it is only one year younger than the Salzburg Festival. Whereas Salzburg can boast of being the birthplace of “Wolferl” and the “Mozartkugel”, the composer only touched down once at Würzburg for a coffee break on the way to Frankfurt. As he informed his wife by letter he found the town “beautiful and magnificent”(“eine schöne, prächtige Stadt”). This verdict still holds true after more than two centuries. There is the pleasant site on the banks of the river Main meandering through vineyards; the mighty Marienburg castle dominating the townscape; the old Main bridge leading up to the towering Romanesque St. Kilian’s cathedral ; St. Mary’s Chapel on market square with the statues of Adam and Eve by Riemenschneider – and, of course, the famous Residenz Palace, arguably Germany’s most sumptuous Baroque palace, built by Balthasar Neumann, and a Unesco World Heritage site.



When you enter the palace you ascend the magnificent flight of stairs, Neumann’s most ingenious construction, where formerly royalty and prince bishops made their grand entrance, and your eyes go up to the vaulted ceiling decorated with Tiepolo’s brilliant “Technicolor” frescoes showing the four continents as they were known in the 18th century. America greets you as a shapely "Red Indian" woman sporting a colourful feather headdress and straddling an alligator! Asia and Africa float into view with turbaned figures riding camels and elephants and hunting the tiger. Such was the genius of the artist that you get the impression the whole painting is moving like a Cinemascope film, altering its shape with every step you take! The whole programme culminates in the triumph of Europe, leading in arts and culture (No, this is definitely no politically correct world vision!) We see Balthasar Neumann lolling on a cannon as if resting after the completion of his work and looking rather smug. Up in the left hand corner Tiepolo casts a rather detached glance at the world. The Weisser Saal gives your eyes and senses a rest in that it is only decorated with white stucco, and then you enter the Kaisersaal to be overwhelmed again by an explosion of colour and exuberant ornamentation. It is in this hall that most of the concerts of the Mozartfest take place and you involuntarily ask yourself how you will be able to concentrate on sound rather than sight in this room.



The aptly named Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble has been appointed “orchestra –in-residence” to the festival as from this year. The programme on July 3rd and 4th consisted of bel canto arias and Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony. After a stirring rendition of Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell” overture by the ensemble under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock, Jennie swept into the hall and sang a rousing drinking song (“Il segreto per esser felici”) from Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia”, Romeo’s fiery and at the same time pleading “Lieto del dolce incarco” from Bellini’s “I Capuleti ed i Montecchi” and “Nacqui all’affanno” from “La Cenerentola”, touching in the beginning and triumphant in the “Non più mesta” section. The vocal fireworks earned our diva a mighty cheer which led to an encore, a totally unexpected aria from Mascagni’s little-known opera “Sì”, apparently Thomas Hengelbrock’s choice and which he announced as dealing with a woman who couldn’t say NO! This piece was a very simple and moving aria of regret and farewell, which Jennie sang with sincerity of feeling and beauty of tone. After the break the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble gave a riveting performance of Schubert’s C Major symphony which had me on the edge of my seat. I said to our diva - next to whom I had the honour of sitting on the second evening – that it was a long time since a rendering of this my favourite symphony had swept me so completely away from the opening bars to the last note! The strings were luscious, the brass brilliant, the woodwinds hauntingly beautiful and the basses virtuosic (especially the leader). I don’t think there is a recording of this symphony in “HIP”, so I hope this masterly interpretation will be made available on cd later. To sum up, two exhilarating concerts which kept me humming snatches of Schubert intermingled with Donizetti and Rossini for days to come. And in the end I was not distracted by the gaudy splendours surrounding me. Gorgeous as this hall is, I have to say that it is not an ideal setting for big orchestral concerts. The acoustics are problematic (to say the least), the orchestra was crammed on a way too small platform (some musicians were standing up all the time) and the heat was oppressive (there being no air conditioning), and the windows had to be kept shut because of the noise made by rioting soccer fans in the town!

Fit for a Queen (or How Jennie Kicked Hamlet's Butt)

I rarely attend opera these days, but when the opportunity arose to be in NYC while Jennie was engaged to perform in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, I scrambled to make reservations, order tickets and turn in my coins in order to get my sorry ass to my old stomping grounds. Since arriving in Los Angeles 7 years ago, I’ve found my opera experiences to be simply ok; nothing great, an occasional good performance here or there. As the night approached, I had a feeling this was going to be a good experience. Natalie Dessay came to her senses and thankfully cancelled the entire run as Ophelia, so good luck was on my side. I didn’t care who sang Ophelia because I was there to see our mezzo as Gertrude. For me, this would be the first time I’d seen her in a staged role in almost 8 years. I was overdue.

view from our seats

Since I suffer from pre-movie and opera jitters, we arrived at the Met extra early to use the facilities and wander around our old home-away-from-home. The buzz was good. We got to our seats, saw the same old, wrinkly faces I saw 7 years ago and was comforted by the Met’s garish gold leaf ceilings, chandeliers and tightly fit seats.

The overture begins and Gertrude is the first character we see walk across the foot of the stage. Jennie not just walks, but manages to capture everything her character will endure, all in a few regal steps and one quick, heartbreaking stare. This alone should win her an opera Oscar. Her receding hairline wig that was plastered over the papers a week before was gone and she was beauty personified, along with some major cleavage.

Gertrude and cleavage

I have no problem saying Jennifer kicked-ass, old school, as Gertrude. She was completely in character and on some other plane every moment she was onstage. Every stare, every movement had meaning. Her singing came from a deep place, easily audible from our modest seats and she seemed to be the only singer whose French diction and French style was near perfect. She sank her teeth into every word and we hung on every one. The confrontation scene was reminiscent of The Miracle Worker dinner fight where Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke fling themselves across the room. It was riveting and I was frozen on the edge of my seat.

Jennifer Larmore as Gertrude encompassed all that has been missing in opera these days. This was grand opera and her performance was a tour-de-force; completely over-the-top, exaggerated and deeply moving. My partner turned to me during the curtain-call and asked, “Do you know how good she was?” Um, yes…I was happy to see others in the audience and in the press agreed. I hope the Met understands what they had in her Gertrude. The few naysayers who still refuse to see what the fuss is all about can simply go fuck themselves. I’ll be watching the broadcast and hopefully buy the DVD and in years to come will be thankful this artist will have endured the test of time. I am one happy camper.

curtain call