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| EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 12:57 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 12:56 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| A very successful evening. Tom Cairn's text sticks very closely to Bunuel's film. Elements of the production design quote the Metropolitan Opera House's architectural elements, the chandeliers, the mid-century modern wood veneer. We are looking through a glass darkly at ourselves. Ades conducts his own music which I found intermittently abrasive and beautiful but always theatrical and suited to the text. What's different about Ades' opera rather than Bunuel's vision of the cultural elite stuck in the agony of hell is that when music is added it tends to humanize the characters. When a mother sings about the child that she has been separated from it's heart wrenching. All in all, a rich and troubling night at the opera and an exciting one. There was the pro forma standing ovation at the end for Ades, the singers and the production designers which felt, at least to me, as genuinely appreciative. Highly recommended. | |
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| re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:59 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| In reply to: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night - singleticket 12:56 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| Sharing my post from Opera-L: I heard it on Sirius last night, and will be going to the HD encore. This was my 2nd time hearing the piece, along with the broadcast of the Salzburg production, and though I'm still very much in the stage of getting my ears around the score, I do think it's a very intriguing and compelling piece, the shifts in music very much playing out the odd and absurdist psychodrama of the story. And there are many moments of stunning beauty, and even something that we might call "tunes" lol, in the mix - along with moments of eerie, unsettling, and cacophonous sounds - but all of it serving the drama perfectly. Ades' use of the ondes martenot (and it plays a huge huge role in the orchestration) is particularly masterful and emotionally grabbing. I didn't hear one weak link in the large solo roster of the cast - early on I wondered if Sir John Tomlinson (the Doctor) was in good voice, but as the performance went on he got stronger and stronger, and was having fun with the extremes of range that Ades gives the entire cast to work with. And extremes they sure are - not only do many of the vocal lines require large spans of range in short vocal phrases, but the tessitura of some of the roles is freakish - most notably Leticia, sung with impossible assurity by Audrey Luna, who of course played a similarly vocally punishing role in Ades' Tempest. I do tend to wonder if Ades may have to provide alternate vocal lines in such roles for future performers - I don't know how many singers other than Luna can approach music like this with the same assurity. (And even Luna can sometimes sound very shrieky on top, though I tend to think that's exactly the expectation of the writing, lol.) My listening this time was enhanced by the discovery of an online-only copy of the vocal score (at http://scorelibrary.fabermusic.com/The-Exterminating-Angel-32254.aspx ) - anyone who is music-reader enough to follow along may find it's an enlightening help to do so. It also helped me appreciate the complexity of what the orchestra is playing. And a huge kudos to the Met orchestra as led by the composer. In this prima performance I only noticed one small glitch in the orchestral ensemble, right at the end of Act II (i.e. the one act break in the production), where a slow, gradual accelerando almost came off the rails. I'm sure that will go smoother on the next performance on Monday. Is this going to be everyone's cup of tea? No. There are going to be people who only hear the score as ugly, disjointed, cacophonous, overreaching, etc - well, so be it. Complain all you want. But for those of us that want to willingly go on an intriguing, surprising, ever- shifting, often beautiful, often humorous/ironic, often dramatically moving rollercoaster ride of a musical psychodrama - enjoy it!! I sure did! |
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| re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Posted by: FIG 02:08 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| In reply to: re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night - Chromolume 12:59 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| Thanks for a great write up. I was there last night and it was an amazing experience. The production is gorgeous, I found the music a bit "dry" for lack of a more technical word in my vocabulary. I kind of agree with Tommasini in that the opera lacks a bit of the surrealistic sense of humor of the movie source. But the singing and acting was superb. FIG |
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| re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 01:12 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 01:11 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| In reply to: re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night - Chromolume 12:59 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| Thanks Chromolume. When you talk about the glitch in the orchestral ensemble's playing are you talking about the musical interval in between Act I and II? I really loved that stretch of music and was wondering if it has a name and if a performance of it is available online somewhere. | |
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| re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 06:42 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
| In reply to: re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night - singleticket 01:11 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| Nope - the glitch I heard was in the very last music before the intermission (which was placed after Act II). Just not quite together. I agree that the interlude between the first two acts is gorgeous and was played very well. There may be a clip on Youtube that contains that music - I haven't looked myself. |
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| re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night | |
| Posted by: singleticket 05:05 pm EDT 10/29/17 | |
| In reply to: re: EXTERMINATING ANGEL last night - Chromolume 06:42 pm EDT 10/27/17 | |
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| The Met is using a bit of the piece in its trailer. You can hear the theramin like instrument in it. | |
| Link | The Exterminating Angel: Trailer |
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