Opera Review: The Song Contest Remains the Same

The Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Die Meistersinger. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Generation gap: Amanda Majeski and James Morris in Lyric Opera of Chicago's
new Die Meistersinger. Photo by Dan Rest © 2013 Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Wagner's  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is one that might be familiar to Superconductor readers. It's by David McVicar, and it's the same one that premiered at Glyndebourne in 2012 and was recently released on DVD. The Chicago version is pretty much the same show--with a few changes and tweaks from director Marie Lambert. (Most notable: the elimination of the stilt-walking fire-breathers following a rehearsal accident earlier this month. They now juggle tenpins.) Sir Andrew Davis conducted a brisk, muscular performance.

DVD Review: Come for the Opera, (Stay for the Pizza!)

Don Carlos from the Vienna State Opera

Don Carlos (Ramon Vargas) and Princess Eboli (Nadja Michael)
celebrate the imminent arrival of pizza in Peter Konwitschny's Don Carlos.
Photo © 2004 Vienna State Opera/Arthaus Musik

This two-DVD set, filmed in 2005 at the Vienna State Opera, is the first visual record of a performance of the complete original version of Verdi's Don Carlos. Sung in French by a mostly idiomatic cast and led by the talented French conductor Bertrand de Billy, this is fascinating to watch if you're an aficionado of the frequently performed 1883 revision of the opera, or a lover of Verdi in general. But the clever production is sometimes undercut by a middling cast.

Don Carlos is Verdi's third and final attempt to write a French grand opera. It premiered in 1867, in the wake of works by Halévy and Meyerbeer. But the excessive length of the original version (these discs run just over four hours) led the composer to trim the opening chorus with the woodcutters in the forest of Fontainebleau. Further cuts over the years included the beginning of Act III, the lengthy ballet, and a chorus of inquisitors in the last act. Verdi revised the opera heavily in 1884, cutting the first act entirely and using Italian translation of the original book. Today, many companies restore the first act, an idea Verdi approved in 1886.

This is a good (not great) cast. Ramón Vargas holds his own, singing lyrically through the title role. He sings "Je le vieux" when lying prone, (very Homer Simpson) but hits the notes. As Elisabeth, Iano Tamar lacks bloom at the very top of her range, but improves for her touching Act V showpiece. Bo Skovhus is yet another skilled lieder singer tackling Rodrigue. He overacts, but sounds good in his three duets with Mr. Vargas.