tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post1316452213647659516..comments2024-03-17T12:16:42.048-07:00Comments on Civic Center: Covered in Blood at the San Francisco SymphonyCivic Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-74325936694515136842012-11-23T16:58:11.371-08:002012-11-23T16:58:11.371-08:00I never blogged Bluebeard, but must mention that I...I never blogged <i>Bluebeard</i>, but must mention that I was so thrilled with Thursday that I got a ticket for Friday too. It's been a favorite work of mine for a very long time. There's just nothing like the sound the orchestra makes at the opening of the Fifth Door, jeez.<br /><br />Mike, don't know how far you followed up on this, but I believe Jessye is on Boulez II, though I don't remember who the bass is. Boulez I is Troyanos/Nimsgern, and they're really good (Boulez, of course, is fantastic in this music).<br /><br />Uh, I have at least six recordings and opinions about them all. Janos will confirm that the earliest available commercial release, Ferencsik/Szekely, Palankay, is indispensable, despite the mono sound and Palankay's lack of a high C. This is one opera where having native speakers makes a difference audible even to non-Magyar speakers like me.<br /><br />Anyway. It's a great opera. I've seen it four times but the previous three productions didn't have orchestras of the quality of SFS. SUCH A GREAT OPERA.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-197056009431935622012-06-27T16:19:29.023-07:002012-06-27T16:19:29.023-07:00Dear momo: Uncanny Others? I take it this was befo...Dear momo: Uncanny Others? I take it this was before the "Chuckie" movies came on the scene. Did he/she have you watch the British horror anthology film "Dead of Night" with Michael Redgrave as the mad ventriloquist? It's the best.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-67316294962707818382012-06-27T15:21:43.051-07:002012-06-27T15:21:43.051-07:00I had no point of reference for it, either musical...I had no point of reference for it, either musically or linguistically, but the class was all about uncanny others (Frankenstein, the golem, Tales of Hoffman, dolls and the line between the human and the unhuman--the creator and the creations come to uncanny life--gave me a strange set of reference points. I wish I could remember the name of the professor!momohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149328149132703479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-13939402235010921152012-06-27T00:41:50.149-07:002012-06-27T00:41:50.149-07:00Dear Momo: That's a great story. I think I did...Dear Momo: That's a great story. I think I did the same thing with "Bluebeard's Castle" in the 1970s, including going to a library and getting the monster headphones, but I wasn't quite ready for the piece because it sounded too dissonant and the voices were too screechy. Forty years down the road, it sounds almost conservative and pretty.<br /><br />Jessye Norman was a big proponent of the opera when she returned to the United States in the 1980s so I'm going to see if she ever did a recording. Jessye at her peak and in certain roles was pretty much god.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11380345.post-1716451992511298582012-06-26T17:59:51.053-07:002012-06-26T17:59:51.053-07:00In college, in the 70s, an English teacher had us ...In college, in the 70s, an English teacher had us listen to this opera in a class. One had to go to the music library, put on the records and listen with great big headphones. I found it entrancing, and can still remember the woman singing something that sounded like "keeksakalu"(however you write that in Hungarian) in that descending minor chord. Now, thanks to the magic that is YouTube, I can listen to it again. There is a Solti production with Silvia Sass that is quite wonderful.momohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149328149132703479noreply@blogger.com