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| Bernstein did not want to hear Carreras sing Tony | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:53 pm EDT 07/29/20 | |
| In reply to: I'm confused. Does anyone actually WANT to see opera stars perform musicals? - GrumpyMorningBoy 01:00 pm EDT 07/29/20 | |
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| "Why the fuck did Bernstein want to hear a WEST SIDE STORY sung by Kiri TeKanawa and Jose Carreras?!?" Well, he didn't want to hear Carreras. This has been discussed here several times over the years. Bernstein ended up with Carreras, but he never wanted him for the role. Some of the entire mess was that DG very much wanted opera stars. The story as told in Jack Gottlieb’s book Working With Bernstein is that Bernstein wanted Neil Shicoff to sing Tony, but he declined because the sessions were to start one day after the sessions for his first opera recording, Rigoletto conducted by Sinopoli, were to end. Domingo was suggested but Bernstein reportedly vetoed him because of his Spanish accent. At a meeting at which Bernstein was not present, Bernstein's manager, Harry Kraut (depicted as an extremely unpleasant man in Charlie Harmon's memoir of his years working for Bernstein), said that he was sure that Bernstein would be happy with Carreras. Bernstein had heard him in London, according to Kraut, and would want him. Others were skeptical for exactly the reason you would think. But Carreras was available and happy to do it. It turned out that the tenor whom Bernstein had heard in London was the Liverpool-born tenor Alberto Remedios, who was best known for singing Wagner heldentenor roles in English at the English National Opera. Bernstein's annoyance with the entire situation is said to partly explain how unpleasant he was to Carreras but it wasn't Carreras's fault. It was Harry Kraut's fault, and I suppose his own fault for not being more involved. In the 1940s through the 1960s or so, there was actually much more ”crossover," as they now say, than there is now. It was mostly with less-famous names, but many opera people who sang at New York City Opera and major regional opera houses also regularly or at least sometimes sang in musicals and seem to have done well. We have some of those people on recordings of musicals, and I think most people don't realize that some of those people were opera singers. Not famous opera names but opera singers. In general, with a few exceptions, I think the current opera singers I've heard and seen in musicals have not successfully made the transition. |
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| What about Peter Hofmann? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 08:56 pm EDT 07/30/20 | |
| In reply to: Bernstein did not want to hear Carreras sing Tony - AlanScott 07:53 pm EDT 07/29/20 | |
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| Thanks for all of that info, Alan, but you didn't mention Peter Hofmann. I'm sure I've read that he was supposed to sing Tony in that DG recording of WSS, but then (obviously) it didn't work out, for some reason I don't recall. Have you never heard/read that? I've heard Hofmann sing from WSS on another recording conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, and at least he was able to sing the part without (much of) an accent. | |
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| re: What about Peter Hofmann? | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 06:51 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:50 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| In reply to: What about Peter Hofmann? - Michael_Portantiere 08:56 pm EDT 07/30/20 | |
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| I don't recall ever having read that Hofmann, who had recorded Tristan with Bernstein a couple of years earlier, was supposed to sing Tony, and a quickish search didn't bring up anything, which doesn't mean it wasn't considered. That Bernstein recording with Hofmann and his then-wife, Deborah Sasson, came out around the same time that the Bernstein-DG WSS recording was issued. At least one critic reviewed the two of them together. |
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| re: What about Peter Hofmann? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 10:08 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| In reply to: re: What about Peter Hofmann? - AlanScott 06:50 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| Thanks, Alan. I don't recall where I read that Hofmann was to have done the Bernstein-conducted WSS, so maybe my memory is just faulty -- of, if anyone did write that anywhere, maybe they were just confused by the other recording. On the other hand: If it IS true that Hofmann was almost signed, or at least considered, for the Bernstein-conducted WSS but wound up on that other recording instead, I suppose it's possible that was due to the fact that the recordings were on different labels? |
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| re: What about Peter Hofmann? | |
| Posted by: larry13 09:19 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| In reply to: re: What about Peter Hofmann? - AlanScott 06:50 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| I had to look up Deborah Sasson, whom I'd never heard of. Yes, she was once married to Hofmann but it is Hildegard Behrens who recorded Isolde with him and Bernstein. | |
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| re: What about Peter Hofmann? | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 09:53 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 09:52 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
| In reply to: re: What about Peter Hofmann? - larry13 09:19 pm EDT 07/31/20 | |
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| I know that Hildegard Behrens was Isolde on the Bernstein-conducted Tristan und Isolde. In the post to which I responded, Michael wrote this: "I've heard Hofmann sing from WSS on another recording conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, and at least he was able to sing the part without (much of) an accent." I replied partly with: “That Bernstein recording with Hofmann and his then-wife, Deborah Sasson, came out around the same time that the Bernstein-DG WSS recording was issued. At least one critic reviewed the two of them together.” The recording listed and described on the linked page is the one that I meant when I mentioned “That Bernstein recording.” That is the recording to which Michael was referring. The Bernstein Tristan und Isolde was released around September 1983. The Bernstein-conducted WSS and the Tilson Thomas-Hofmann-Sasson Bernstein on Broadway were both released around March-April 1985, which was why at least one critic reviewed them together. |
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| Link | Bernstein on Broadway |
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| appreciate this backstory! Thank you. (nm) | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 10:03 pm EDT 07/29/20 | |
| In reply to: Bernstein did not want to hear Carreras sing Tony - AlanScott 07:53 pm EDT 07/29/20 | |
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| nm means neoclassical muck | |
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