How Alagna is turned into Otello

How Alagna is turned into Otello

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norman lebrecht

March 13, 2018

From the Vienna Opera:

Comments

  • Jo Green says:

    Moor sinned against than sinning.

  • Anonymouse says:

    Otello – in which Alagna murders the Moor. Sorry, I’m which the Moor murders Desdemona.

    • STAN says:

      to bad alagna has no voice for this role
      of otello

    • Cyranonymous says:

      Too bad for you, you turned into ridiculous persons … because Alagna has been a very great Otello on Monday.

      « Roberto Alagna als Otello: Verdis gefürchtete Heldenpartie könnte zur neuen Paraderolle für den Publikumsliebling werden, der wie gewohnt, ohne sich zu schonen, alles auf eine Karte setzte – und vom ersten Auftritt an triumphierte. » Diepresse.com

      « Tonight Roberto Alagna was an outstanding Otello! One of the two best in my life! » Dominique Meyer (on Facebook)

      Too bad you have no ear for being legitimate in commenting Alagna’s performance (all the more that you don’t even attend the performance you are commenting)

      • Anonymouse says:

        Well, if the Intendant says it was fantastic…

        Alagna is not a Verdi tenor. And Otello is the ultimate Verdi tenor role.

        • Cyranonymous says:

          Well… who says that? Just Anonymouse, behind his screen, without probably having even attended a live perf of Alagna for long, and surely not this Otello. Who decrees that « Alagna murders the Moor », just because he believes he knows, better than everyone, better than Alagna of course. It doesn’t matter if he gives everything on stage, doesn’t duck a single difficulty of the score and thrills the spectators. Doesn’t even worth listening. « It can’t be. Full stop. » And yet he can. Other reviews are coming. Maybe you don’t understand German, so in English:

          « In the title role, the French-Italian tenor proved the surprise of the evening – staying the testing course and never appearing to economize. On the contrary, he slightly over-sustained the occasional high note in full forte – as if to prove his mettle to all. If remaining essentially lyrical, Alagna’s clever technique, and ideal amalgam of grain and ring to his well-projected tone – combined with a natural stage instinct – absolutely won the day. »

          « A performer of high intelligence and persuasive power, who never declines and always captivates and grabs the attention. An intensity and despair that don’t fail to give goose bumps »

          For a tenor who supposedly has no voice for Otello … I believe that many many tenors would love to be able to « murder the Moor » as Alagna is doing currently. The audience seems not saying « too bad » but rather « thanks and well done ». But the operatic audience doesn’t understand anything to Opera, it’s well known. Only web commentators do.

          • Anonymouse says:

            I’ve seen Alagna on stage many times, including his Covent Garden debut. He is not a Verdi tenor.

        • Cyranonymous says:

          Well, you attended his debut in Covent Garden, it was not yesterday morning and he is still at his height, he sang over 60 roles from various composers and now Otello. And tomorrow Calaf then Samson then Lohengrin … Last year he sang Nemorino. Alagna is not a Verdi tenor okay, he is not a Puccini tenor neither, nor a Wagnerian tenor, not a Donizetti tenor, not even a Halevy, a Chausson, a Meyerbeer or a Saint-Saens Tenor. He is a Tenor. How do you qualify that, a universal tenor? He sings all these roles from composers who wrote for « Tenors ». By the way, I am not sure that Verdi knew what was a Verdi Tenor when he composed his masterpieces…. he wanted a tenor able to sing all the notes and the music he imagined, to manage all the vocal difficulties it implies, from start to end of his work. As Alagna does. Quite greatly. That’s it.

        • CYRANONYMOUS says:

          Esultate,from “not-a-Verdi-Tenor” (but “obviously-a-universal-tenor”)
          >>> https://www.instagram.com/p/BhT_IasHxwU/

  • Simon says:

    Great…blackface.

  • Jonathan Sutherland says:

    Moor’s the pity.

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