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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 20:32:46 GMT
I suppose if I could throw away all operas but just keep one composer it would be Mozart (although I'd cry over letting go Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Eugene Onegin.) Oh, what operas did Eugene Onegin write? Sorry tmesis,, but I just couldn't resist that cheap joke!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 15:12:47 GMT
No, no Tony, as I understand it, the presentation is based on Bruna's memoires. She is not in it. Ah, so that explains it then. Arianna Huffington says that Bruna was two years older than Callas so that would make her 95 or 96 if she were still alive. But I just Googled her and found that she has died just a few weeks ago in August at the age of 95. I don't follow social media but there seem to be references to Bruna Lupoli on instagram and twitter but that may be a different person. Thanks.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 13:39:22 GMT
While I am showing off about Callas, I would like to quote something I wrote recently that sums up my evaluation of Callas the artist, based on a lifetime of listening to her records as well as seeing her live on six separate occasions:
In my opinion, not only did Callas have the physical ability to fill a theatre with her charismatic persona when she was on stage, but her innate musical intelligence allowed her to perform the music of Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini and others better than almost any other singers. Her strict adherence to exactly what the composers had written enabled her to get to the heart of all the characters she portrayed, so her interpretations were essentially not pieces of physical acting but musical embodiments of the roles. The fact that she could alter the timbre of her voice added to the ability she had to differentiate between Amina, Norma, Rosina and Lucia in the bel canto operas, Aida, Amelia, Violetta, Lady Macbeth and Leonora in Verdi, and Turandot, Mìmì, Cio Cio San and Lauretta in Puccini. For me personally, she is at her very greatest in Verdi but that’s just a personal preference.
Viva la Divina!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 13:31:07 GMT
I've just found the book, it's from 'Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness' (2007) So one assumes he is speaking of up to the date the book was written: 'Adding up the top-selling artists...one arrives at total classical sales of somewhere between 1 and 1.3 billion...[he then discusses pop sales ending with the statement] the all-time leaders are the Beatles which EMI estimates is 1 to 1.3 billion.' Even though Norm can be a bit sensationalist that actually sounds pretty credible. He gives lists for total classical sales by artist and you were right, Herbie's tops with 200m. Here's the list: 1) Karajan 200m 2)Pavarotti 100m 3)Solti 50m 3)Fiedler/Boston Pops 50m 5)Bernstein, Callas, Galway, Domingo, Marriner (all equal 5th) 30m That's very gratifying, considering I was speaking right off the top of my head, that I managed to get those classical sales fairly much in the right magnitude. And if EMI estimated total Beatles sales as 1 to 1.3 billion then we can't really dispute that, even if they did add a little polishing to the figure! And Lebrecht's list also bears out what I said about classical sales figures being a lot less than people imagine, like where are Yehudi Menuhin (who recorded extensively for over 50 years), Otto Klemperer, André Previn, Eugene Ormandy, Renata Tebaldi, André Cluytens, Itzhak Perlman, etc, etc, all major international artists who made loads of successful recordings?
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 13:10:41 GMT
Wow, can you recall which years? There seems to be a small problem with the 'Quick Quote' button, but if you Mr Snow are asking about which years I saw Callas, the answer is as follows: Festival Hall Concert with Orchestra: 27 February 1962 Tosca at Covent Garden: 21 January 1964 Tosca, Act II (for TV) at Covent Garden: 9 February 1964 Norma in Paris: 31 May 1964 Norma in Paris (last act cancelled): 29 May 1965 Recital with di Stefano at Festival Hall: 26 November 1973
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 12:59:55 GMT
Blimey, hulmeman! I am totally astonished that Bruna should suddenly be surfacing in Wales and giving two public presentations about Callas. She and Ferruccio were Callas's personal servants who were with her when she died in Paris. It has always surprised me that after Callas's death both Bruna and Ferruccio disappeared off the radar and this is the first time I am aware that either of them has appeared in public to talk about Callas. I always suspected that somebody, most likely Vasso Devetzi, paid both of them to disappear and not talk to the media about their life looking after Maria. So why is she suddenly appearing in Wales do do just that? I always had the impression that she was older than Callas, so I wonder how old she is now? In Zeffirelli's film 'Callas Forever' she is represented as a rather mature lady but that was just the impression I got. Anyway, thanks hulmeman for bringing this to our attention.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 10, 2017 12:32:59 GMT
Sorry Mr Snow that we're straying off-topic but one more point re classical recording sales; in one of Norman Lebrecht's doom laden books about the parlous state of the classical recording industry (Norman can be a bit dramatic, but all of his predictions have come true with knobs on) he gives out a neat statistic that has stayed with me,namely: The total world-wide sales of all classical recordings is no more than the total world-wide sales of the whole of The Beatles catalogue. Tony, with your greater knowledge than me of the industry, do you think that's about right? Funnily enough, I was going to mention Norman Lebrecht in one of my replies about sales but thought better of it. I think Norman's comparison is rather far-fetched but there may be some truth in it in a very generalised way in that, as I said before, sales of most individual classical recordings are much lower than people imagine and it's only the occasional high profile item, like the Three Tenors, the Vivaldi Four Seasons and the Canto Gregoriano by the Monks of Silos that suddenly take off, but also aided by intensive international marketing including TV advertising. Movie soundtracks also occasionally hit the jackpot as indeed 'Titanic' did. As far as Callas is concerned, her big sales have been achieved only by those compilations like 'The Romantic Callas' and 'Popular Arias from TV, Films and Opera' aimed at the widest popular market that have achieved really big numbers. Coming back now to Lebrecht's statement, does he mean that in any one year, the total world-wide sales of all classical recordings is no more than the sales of the whole of the Beatles catalogue in that same year? And, if so, is he talking about some particular year around the time he made that statement? I very much doubt whether he has actually got any factual basis for saying this and I think we should take the statement in a metaphorical way. Also, the international record business has changed out of all recognition in recent years with the decline of CD sales and the rise of digital downloading and streaming. The alleged rebirth of the vinyl market is also greatly exaggerated. So while I would discount Lebrecht's Beatles comparison on a factual basis, he has nevertheless drawn attention to the fact that the international classical record business in total. is very much smaller than even one very specific segment of the pop business, namely The Beatles. By the way, I am speaking here from a position of authority because I did actually meet The Beatles once and I also met Callas once – so what I say must be true!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 23:10:39 GMT
Tony - regarding sales, don't Sir Nev and The Academy come pretty damn high too? I've never really thought about that, but it's a good point. I believe at one stage the Academy held the record of being the world's most recorded orchestra but I'm not sure any of their albums were ever subject to intensive TV advertising as were the albums of Callas and the three tenors. Oops, I might be wrong. The Academy features on the soundtrack album of the film 'Amadeus' so that would have notched up an impressive total. But to be perfectly frank, all record companies are notoriously shy about revealing sales figures of classical recordings because they are much smaller than people imagine and when they do go public they usually multiply the true figure by a factor of two or three at least! And some of the biggest sellers are sometimes surprising. I think that according to official figures both the Vivaldi Four Seasons of Mutter with Karajan and also Nigel Kennedy with the ECO achieved sales of more than one million. And the Monks of Silos with their Gregorian Chant did actually sell squillions all over the world – the record buying public can sometimes be very surprising. Who would have thought Charlotte Church would be such a big seller?!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 22:42:14 GMT
What, another religious group? It's last owner was also a religious group but they apparently got fewer punters than ENO at the Coliseum which is why it had to be sold just now. It was a wonderful theatre and I saw several shows there including a variety bill with Bud Flanagan (great personality) and a production of Maid of the Mountains with Douglas Byng as the Governor. I also went to several BBC recordings of 'Friday Night is Music Night'. So sad it can't join Wimbledon, Richmond and Bromley as one of London's peripheral theatres.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 21:54:09 GMT
Closely related to the "that was a sh#te song, wasn't it? I hope no one applauds, I now want the early train home". It's often uncomfortable for those on stage as they are having the same thought. If the show is that bad then I probably went home in the interval anyway!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 21:38:39 GMT
She's arguably the biggest selling classical musician of all time and she changed the perception of what an Opera singer might do in terms of interpretation. She lives on. I applaud your sentiments, Mr Snow, but Maria Callas died on 16 September, not 9 September. You are right in your assessment of her legacy but you are also wrong in assuming that her sales are so large. I am fairly sure that the recordings of Herbert von Karajan have sold a lot more than those of Callas, mainly because his catalogue is very much larger then hers, and even in the field of opera singers I believe the total sales of the recordings of Pavarotti and Domingo also exceed those of Callas. The main reason for this is that Callas remained true to her art and never ventured into the field of crossover. In fact, just the total sales of the three 'Three Tenors' concerts have probably exceeded Callas's total sales before you look at the huge operatic catalogues of those two tenors and then start counting their crossover albums. Believe me, I know the figures! But Callas was certainly one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century (Caruso, Chaliapin and Gobbi possibly also qualify) and, to judge from her recordings, to me she was at her finest in Verdi, pace the bel canto composers. I saw her in Norma twice in Paris and Tosca once at Covent Garden, plus one concert with orchestra at the Festival Hall, and she did not disappoint. I will draw a veil over the terrible recital with Giuseppe di Stefano in 1973 but we still all cheered because she was La Divina. Tito Gobbi in his 1979 autobiography 'My Life' said of Callas: "I always thought she was immortal – and she is."
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 15:46:43 GMT
Lend Me aTenor!!! The most fun I've ever had in a theatre! I entirely agree with that. My previous high point for hysteria at the theatre was 'A Flea in Her Ear' with Albert Finney and Geraldine McEwan but 'Lend Me a Tenor' was even better because not only was it a hilarious farce but it was also a brilliant musical and also managed to make wicked fun of Italian opera, right down to extremely accurate observations of several real-life opera singers and their dreadful spouses. And the set was amazing. But I guess the show was like that song in 'On Your Toes' – 'Too good for the average man'
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 13:38:32 GMT
RE: applause, I tend to think of musical theatre in similar terms to the ballet for when to applaud or not. So if there's some kind of pause for acknowledgment, applaud. If there isn't, keep quiet. Ah, ctas, apart from serious ballets, there is nothing more wonderful and exciting at the ballet than for an audience to enthusiastically applaud some spectacular feat of dancing during the performance! This livens up the performers as well as the audience and in no time at all the dancers are excelling themselves and leaping higher, spinning faster and doing double fouettées instead of singles! Yes, I know this can feel a bit like the circus but that's really why we go to Don Quixote or Le Corsair or La Bayadere anyway to see these feats of physical accomplishment so why not applaud them as they actually happen? The dancers love it!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 13:22:59 GMT
Although I have almost given up on ENO, I too cannot resist Aida. It's got to be his most musically sumptuous opera. This new production can't be worse than their last one; a truly p*ss-poor effort, with ludicrous costumes by Zandra Rhodes. I remember their production in the late 70s, which the critics hated but I rather liked. It was kitsch, camp with a MGM style act 2 processional and more fake gold than in Julie Goodyear's bathroom but at least it looked like a bit of dosh had been spent. Even ROH have largely cheapskated in their last two or three productions, the one in the 80s with Ricciarelli and Pavarotti was particularly lacklustre. Well ENO don't have the money to do sumptuous so let's hope it's musically decent. Good summing up, tmesis. I saw an Ellen Kent production a few years ago which looked quite amazing, with some additional changes of scenery that certainly out-gilded Julie Goodyear's bathroom but the musical standards were lower than Mike Baldwin's morals. I'm only going for the music so as long as it sounds good I will be happy but I do hope they haven't changed the setting from ancient Egypt to the Vietnam war.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 13:02:01 GMT
In addition, the music gives the audience a cue to applaud most of the time, with what is referred to as a 'button', a note or series of notes and the end of a song or piece of music that suggests finality. On the other hand a show like Girl From the North Country deliberately takes these away or obscures them, by fading into dialogue, so that applause doesn't happen. It doesn't always quite work, of course, and some audience members applaud while the cast are trying to plough on or there is a yawning silence when they don't! I had a strange experience recently at 'The Wedding Singer' at Bromley when two consecutive numbers in the first act received no applause from the rather elderly and semi-somnolent audience. I was in the front row and ready to applaud both songs but as I quickly realised I would have been applauding on my own I refrained from doing so. Both numbers were rather gentle and low key but it still felt very odd that they ended in silence. The characters on stage were left rather stranded as they picked up the dialogue and I certainly felt a bit uncomfortable as well. Things improved in the second act when both the show and the audience livened up and it all ended with an enthusiastic reception at the end, thank heavens.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 9, 2017 12:47:40 GMT
Good point BurlyBeaR. It seems to me that most musicals are structured so that applause is expected at the end of each song or number and I think 'Follies' is no exception, in fact most of the numbers in 'Follies' are surely written with grand-stand endings to collect applause, including the dramatic ones. Even shows with through-written musical scores generally make allowance for applause after the main numbers. But I hope that neilvh continues to experiment with musicals as there is much to enjoy in that genre and, who knows, he might even like '42nd Street' which is the ultimate example of a feast of singing and dancing with almost no story but hey, what fun!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 8, 2017 13:28:13 GMT
I've just thought of another thing that really bugs me: "How are you?" "Good". I'm asking about your well-being, not your morals. Ah, dawnstar, that is also a very Australian thing, or it was in my day many years ago. Aussies say 'good' to mean lots of things, including a simple 'Yes' as well as 'I understand' and they sometimes turn it into 'good-oh' to indicate enthusiasm!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 8, 2017 13:03:03 GMT
Coming back to the basic question of saving the ENO, I have just got around to booking a seat for their new production of Aida. This is a major mainstream opera, of which I know and love every note. I didn't book earlier because I find going to the opera these days generally a major disappointment but I just couldn't resist Verdi's great feast of wonderful music. What do I find? Loads and loads of unsold seats for just about all the performances and even on the opening night, although the more expensive parts of the house are just about sold out, the Balcony, where one sees and hears extremely well at an affordable price, is still half empty. So I really wonder for whom is ENO at the Coliseum actually catering? Today I had an email from them about £20 tickets to 'Opera Undressed' for two performances of Aida but these tickets are only available to people who have never been to an opera at the ENO before in an attempt to find a new audience. I think this is confirming what I said in an earlier post that ENO should be in a smaller house and attracting an audience that wants to see the repertoire that they can do best and not trying to compete with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden. The clue is in the name: ENGLISH NATIONAL Opera.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 7, 2017 7:07:21 GMT
That sounds a hell of a lot ruder than it was meant to. I was just trying to illustrate the misuse of -self. If that comment was meant to refer to: 'Thank yourself' then I thought it was brilliant and I roared with laughter.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 6, 2017 22:52:01 GMT
I wasn't going to join this thread but I have to commend d'James and hulmeman for raising the incorrect use of "myself", "yourself", "ourselves" etc. But it is not overuse, it is just plain wrong, and the sad thing is that the people wrongly using these pronouns should really know better. I get the impression that people now think that using "me" or "us" sounds impolite and that it is more courteous to use "myself" and "ourselves", which it is not.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 6, 2017 16:32:12 GMT
Thanks folks for the reports on last night. So there was a rain interruption and that's why I am glad now I didn't go. Yes, I know it all adds to the special 'Park experience' to have a rain break and then see how well the theatre staff deal with it to get the show going again but I've been there and done that more than once and now prefer my Park experiences to remain dry!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 23:09:12 GMT
Ah no, monkey. It would be just my luck for the rain to be very light and the performance to continue under rather damp conditions, or for the performance to be interrupted by light rain for a short break and then to start up again, also in the damp. Performances would be cancelled only if the rain was heavy and persistent. At least that's what used to happen back in the old days when I attended frequently, usually First Nights. We thought it was fun when we were young and foolish but alas I am well past that now.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 16:50:28 GMT
Well, I have decided not to go. It is raining moderately here at Wembley and has been doing so for the past 30 minutes or so. If I wasn't 80 years of age and afflicted with various infirmities I would say damn the weather and set off regardless but I'm too old now for that. And I know that my decision means that it will remain fine in Regent's Park for the rest of the evening. But thanks guys for your response to my post.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 15:39:45 GMT
The latest Met Office/BBC forecast is that very light rain will end at 1900 and begin again at 2200. Thanks TallPaul. So that means the seats will be wet for the start of the show and then the finale will be rained on – lightly. The forecast from the Weather Channel on my iPhone has been changing all day and is currently saying 30% rain at 8pm and 9 pm. If I go, it will rain (lightly) and if I stay at home it won't rain. I still haven't decided!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 10:12:58 GMT
Yes, but will I be all the better for being outside?!
Thanks to all for your advice, although I rather expected what you would say!
OK. I'll go if it's not actually raining when the time comes for me to set off from home.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 8:26:12 GMT
Good point, Kathryn, but as I said in a previous post, I think it is a mistake for the NT to mount this huge production of 'Follies' in the Olivier when it is far more suited to a proscenium theatre, namely the Lyttelton. The main story concerns the two central couples and the show does not even have a chorus in the normal sense of the word so we have to have an added chorus of ghostly Follies girls and the focus on the main characters is diffused. In fact, over the years I have felt that the Olivier poses major problems for many of the productions that are mounted there, plays as well as musicals, and 'Follies' is no exception. I guess I am not the first person to air these views but I think they are still relevant.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 5, 2017 8:09:37 GMT
Advice please!
In my long theatre-going career I have never seen JCS and I have a seat booked for tonight. But all the weather forecasts I can find indicate the probability of showers both during the day and also in the evening. I have had my fill of performances at the Open Air Theatre interrupted and occasionally cancelled half-way through by rain (the opening night of 'Kiss Me, Kate' being a particularly horrendous occasion) and at my great age and size I really don't want to have to cope with a rainy night tonight.
Can you aficionados of JCS tell me whether this production is good enough and significant enough for me to brave the elements tonight to attend, come what may, or should I trust my gut feeling and give it a miss. It won't be the first time I have booked for a show then decided at the last minute not to go.
HELP!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 4, 2017 9:18:31 GMT
Well, saw this at the matinee today. Took a bunch of friends, 9 of us total. Was so looking forward to it but we all thought it was very much below par. I don't know if the cast weren't up for it, Sunday matinee etc, or the audience weren't up for it or both but Christ it was leaden. The jokes did not land at all and there was just something wrong with the pace of it. Gomez was good, he was the only one with any real energy, and I thought Samantha Womack was ok but the other eight read her deadpan as dead bored. One thing bugged the sh*t out of me. The ancestors/ghosts all being dressed in different costumes looked hideously messy in the ensemble numbers. Hugely distracting. Why not just dress them all as ghosts so that everyone knew what was going on? Also, members of the ensemble hanging about on stage for no reason throughout. Did somebody want to get their money's worth out of them? Terrible shame. Maybe we got it on a bad day. Sorry to read BurlyBeaR's report on The Addams Family. I enjoyed it a lot at Wimbledon where it went down well with the rather elderly audience, including me of course! Regarding the ancestors all being dressed differently, I took this to represent different historical periods and I found it funny in the same way as I loved the scene in Spamalot where we got all the typical French caricature characters arriving on stage, a scene that was sadly cut in the touring version, presumably because of the reduced size of the company. I also particularly liked the score of The Addams Family and the excellent orchestrations that made full use of the various tones and orchestral colours, often for comic effect.
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 3, 2017 23:17:37 GMT
It's nice to know that all the people who slate fans & repeat-show-viewers for being teenagers who will grow out of it are wrong, if you are still repeat-viewing at eighty! Of course, Dawnstar, I am quite selective in what I go back to see more than once. Had their runs been longer I would have seen 'On the Town' more than three times and 'Bat Out of Hell' more than twice but wild horses would not get me back again to 'The Book of Mormon' and I walked out of 'Wicked' at the interval at an early preview but went back for a second look at a later preview (I had actually booked two previews on all the advance hype) because the theatremonkey told me I would enjoy the second half more, which I did! I am however looking forward to growing out of my obsession with 42nd Street in a few years!
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Post by tonyloco on Sept 3, 2017 17:36:09 GMT
Aw. I was wrong. Would you mind awfully if I continue to picture you as that lovely waving man from The Railway Children? Picture me as you like, tibidabo. I've never seen The Railway Children but nothing you conjure up in your fertile imagination could be worse than the harsh reality of an over-weight octogenarian who is obsessed with 42nd Street and didn't like Half a Sixpence! In fact, 'a lovely waving man' sounds delightful.
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