Opera Lovers

[camerata]

I realise this is a (very) long shot in the sea of postings about hookers, bar girls and fornication, but is there anyone out there who likes opera and saw the recent Thai production of Turandot?

Reading between the lines of the Bangkok Post's review, it didn't sound very good at all. I did see this month's recital by soprano Jessye Norman, which was pretty good, but I prefer seeing a full-length opera.

[Nat]

I didn’t get a chance to see it, but do like my opera, however am a bit picky and out of all of Puccini’s operas I love Madama Butterfly the most. However the story of Turandot does move me – one can’t help believing in the “power of love”.

[camerata]

I didn’t get a chance to see it, but do like my opera, however am a bit picky and out of all of Puccini’s operas I love Madama Butterfly the most. However the story of Turandot does move me – one can’t help believing in the “power of love”.

Madama Butterfly was the opera that got me started. My flatmate at the time was an amateur opera singer, and he introduced me to the Pavarotti/Freni recording, followed by the Pavarotti/Freni version of La Boheme. Then I made the mistake of buying the Pavarotti/Sutherland recording of Turandot and hated it. As a result, I only listened to two operas for around 20 years!

Fortunately, dvd and the live opera in Bangkok changed all that. These days, I prefer Tosca and La Boheme to M. Butterfly. But I also love Mozart and Verdi.

As for Turandot, I recently watched it for the first time on dvd (Domingo and Eva Marton) home theater and found it riveting, mainly because of Domingo's fantastic acting/singing and the amazing sets and costumes. Musically, I don't think it's all that good. At times it sounds like the background music for some old 1940s movie set in the exotic Orient - Shanghai Express type of thing.

Heh heh. The power of love? One kiss is all it takes to change her from a sadistic psycho into a loving spouse. If only it were that easy...

If you are ever looking for opera dvds in Bangkok, there is a new shop called Deco Home, right next to CD Warehouse at the Emporium, which has an interesting selection.

[OldAsiaHand]

We have seen all of the productions brought into Bangkok in the cultural festival for the last several years and we have enjoyed most of them.

All of the companies have been Russian or Eastern European. Not the best known ones perhaps, but on the whole the standard has been very high. We have been particularly impressed with the depth of most of the companies that have performed here. They may have lacked real stars, but even the smaller roles were generally sung very competently and the orchestras were very solid.

'Turandot' in particular is one of my favorite operas. The prodution this past year in Bangkok was pleasant if not earthshaking. If the soprano singing the role of Turandot had not been so weak, the overall production would have been very good indeed; but she was not only too old and way, way too ugly, she just really wasn't good enough to carry off the role.

I'm delighted you brought all this up. It makes a nice change from the endless adolescent prattle of people who apparently only just discovered that have a penis.

[Snark]

I'd pay solid gold for Chiang Mai to host an opera house.

Turandot, the version I saw many years ago, performed by a stellar cast, is utterly amazing.

But then, I thought G & S 'Pirates' with (HUH??) Linda Ronstadt was quite refreshing.

And let us not forget the entire Ring of Nibelung done in 7 minutes by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

[camerata]

All of the companies have been Russian or Eastern European. Not the best known ones perhaps, but on the whole the standard has been very high. We have been particularly impressed with the depth of most of the companies that have performed here. They may have lacked real stars, but even the smaller roles were generally sung very competently and the orchestras were very solid.

Absolutely. Last year I saw Tosca performed by the Hungarian Opera and St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. They were excellent, as was the Ukranian baritone playing a superbly villainous Scarpia. He had one of the most distinctive baritone voices I've ever heard.

[camerata]

I'd pay solid gold for Chiang Mai to host an opera house.

According to the Nation, the Bangkok Opera company is having an opera house built in "downtown Bangkok" - wherever that is. It's difficult to see why they would need one, since the Thailand Cultural Center is a good venue and the opera performances are never a full-house.

But you might have to wait awhile for one in Chiang Mai. Reminds me of that old movie, Fitzcarraldo, where Klaus Kinski carted a ship over a mountain so he could build an opera house in the Peruvian jungle.

[Nat]

Heh heh. The power of love? One kiss is all it takes to change her from a sadistic psycho into a loving spouse. If only it were that easy...

If you are ever looking for opera dvds in Bangkok, there is a new shop called Deco Home, right next to CD Warehouse at the Emporium, which has an interesting selection.

I’m still naive enough to believe an ice maiden can be thawed with a kiss

Will check out Deco Home as am after Bizet’s Carmen on DVD (as a child my father had it on video and made us watch it all the time). It’s my fav and can’t help finding it a passionate opera...or that’s may be how it makes me feel . Anyway have the cd and Domingo is brilliant – actually saw the 3 Tenors and preferred him the most, but Pavarotti stole the show .

Have checked out the Bangkok Opera, but to be honest haven’t seen an upcoming performance that tickles my fancy...however will keep my eyes peeled.

[camerata]

I’m still naive enough to believe an ice maiden can be thawed with a kiss

Yeah, but would you bet your life on it as Calaf does?

Will check out Deco Home as am after Bizet’s Carmen on DVD (as a child my father had it on video and made us watch it all the time). It’s my fav and can’t help finding it a passionate opera...or that’s may be how it makes me feel  . Anyway have the cd and Domingo is brilliant – actually saw the 3 Tenors and preferred him the most, but Pavarotti stole the show  .

If that's the famous film version which starts with a bullfight, I haven't seen it locally. I ended up buying the Jose Carreras version from Amazon because it has sung recitatives instead of the original spoken ones. I had previously found Carreras a bit colorless against the other two tenors, but he's fantastic in Carmen. Apparently, Carreras battled leukemia for several years and since he beat it he only sings in charity concerts.

Originally, I preferred Pavarotti's voice but after seeing Domingo in dvds I like him just as much.

[-jr-]

'Turandot' in particular is one of my favorite operas. The prodution this past year in Bangkok was pleasant if not earthshaking. If the soprano singing the role of Turandot had not been so weak, the overall production would have been very good indeed; but she was not only too old and way, way too ugly, she just really wasn't good enough to carry off the role.

I guess you meant the performance last september, totally agree about the soprano. It was the first time i see Turandot though. Somehow i appreciated neither Calaf's nor Turandot's love much... It was more a tragedy for me on what happened to poor Liu...

[OldAsiaHand]

According to the Nation, the Bangkok Opera company is having an opera house built in "downtown Bangkok" - wherever that is. It's difficult to see why they would need one, since the Thailand Cultural Center is a good venue and the opera performances are never a full-house.

Jeez, I think the Cultural Center is probably the worst venue in which I have ever seen an opera mounted. The acoustics are dreadful and I'm told there is so little space backstage that every performance that comes in has to be stripped down to its very basics. We won't even mention the tiny seats that are pitched forward for some obscure reason.

As for a 'new opera house,' I think that's just a lot of rubbish. When the Siam Paragon shopping center was first announced as a competitor to the Emporium, the developers tried to make much hay out of what civic-minded folks they were by claiming they would be building a hall on the third floor of the shopping center (!) 'to accommodate concerts, operas, and plays.' Well now. Can you say f-i-a-s-c-o?

[Snark]

The accoustics are indeed a significant aspect. If anyone has sat in the (I think) 20 somthingth row in the Hollywood bowl they known the true meaning of surround sound.

Alternately I helped put on a concert in an accoutically speaking, perfectly wrong auditorium. During one part of the concert the star of the concert came outside with us roadies, stared at the building with her hands on her hips and remarked, "It sounds better out here"

[Up2U]

The accoustics are indeed a significant aspect. If anyone has sat in the (I think) 20 somthingth row in the Hollywood bowl they known the true meaning of surround sound.

Alternately I helped put on a concert in an accoutically speaking, perfectly wrong auditorium. During one part of the concert the star of the concert came outside with us roadies, stared at the building with her hands on her hips and remarked, "It sounds better out here"

Snark - how come you're up so early. I thought I was the only one working at 07:00 every day.

[Snark]

I'm sysadmin at a university in the US. Have to get my work done before the major DB dump of the day - afternoon, there which is 04:30 here.

[camerata]

Jeez, I think the Cultural Center is probably the worst venue in which I have ever seen an opera mounted. The acoustics are dreadful and I'm told there is so little space backstage that every performance that comes in has to be stripped down to its very basics. We won't even mention the tiny seats that are pitched forward for some obscure reason.

I haven't noticed any problem with acoustics where I sit, but then I haven't seen an opera staged in a real opera house so I can't really compare. As for the seats - not enough legroom, but that's pretty standard in Thailand. In fact the only comfortable seats I recall anywhere in the world were the old Emporium cinema seats. The new "ergonomically designed" ones are terrible.