Polish plumber on the job
mainWhy did Piotr Beczala ever agree to wear these wretched overalls at Bayreuth?
Lohengrin is meant to be a hero, not a construction site worker.
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((-: But at least he sang well and looked the part of the ideal Lohengrin hero. Bayreuth was fortunate to secure him after Lasagna chickened out. The gig should have gone to Beczala from the onset. The other standouts were Zeppenfeld and Thielemann. The hairdo given Harteros was unfortunate and so was her singing. She couldn’t float the voice precisely where/when one wanted her to. Meier was vinegary but ok for Ortrud, I guess, but had problems with her top, not surprisingly.
Agree with you Caravaggio!
Someone in need of discography in Dutch? 🙂
https://basiaconfuoco.com/2018/01/02/lohengrin-discografie/
Your discography is missing some important Lohengrins. E.g., Kampe (studio), Schneider/Bayreuth (video), Abbado/Vienna (video), Abbado/Vienna (studio), etc.
Make that Kempe
Indeed, the Rudolf Kempe recording is superb: musically and theatrically the best Lohengrin available.
The Kempe, the Sawallisch, the Karajan, the Kubeik, the Keilberth…
« Low-on-green hill, High-in-blue »
No problem.
Saying no to a ridiculous outfit would be a good start. Saying no to ridiculous productions would be rea progress.
Mr. Beczala’s distaste for Regie-style productions is well known. However, the sad truth is, that if he wants to work in Germany, and to a lesser extent Austria, he has to bite on the bullet and put up with it.
Good tenor. Musically, the rest of the cast had their ups and downs. Orchestra sounded wonderful. (And hats off to Thielemann for getting those trumpet cues coordinated in Act 3 – even if it was done by having them onstage.) Chorus was, at least on the 3sat tv transmission, often behind. Probably often because of being placed so far upstage.
However, my take on the production is
1. Silly sets – including a very disappointing take on Lohengrin’s arrival
2. silly / lousy stage directions (like burning Elsa on a pyre before the trial even starts; and a rather botched attempt at a “wire work” duel, & masses of folks standing around with no apparent idea about what to do or how to react, etc.)
3. Horrible costumes, many seemingly designed to be ill fitting
IOW, average(visually) for a production in Germany. Just a bit more expensive than a lot of others.(I shudder to think what they may have paid Rauch.)
But at least this time there were no rats.
Í´m somewhat surprised that you don ´t mention anything about the directoral work of co-American step-in, however late the job was given to him. Would you have to declare your interest?
At least he was fully clothed, which is fairly exceptional in opera these days.