New on video: Netrebko’s Liebestod

New on video: Netrebko’s Liebestod

Daily Comfort Zone

norman lebrecht

December 13, 2021

You decide.

Comments

  • Titurel says:

    It’s nice to see Simon Rattle comforting the girl at 1:58

  • Bloom says:

    Not bad , music and video. Not bad at all.

  • Anonymous Bosch says:

    Schmutzig. Peinlich.

    Ich muss duschen gehen…

  • Bloom says:

    I mean it s clearly not her thing, but it s a nice try. Or it could have been worse. The first frame of the video , the one above, is very beautiful.

    • OperaLover says:

      I’m not a Netrebko fan by any means, but I have certainly heard this performed worse than this! Her middle and lower voice are well matched and most of the time the upper voice too, but just every now and then it becomes hard and wobbly, but not overly so. I was surprised!

  • Gary Freer says:

    Margaret Price on Carlos Kleiber’s recording.

    Now that’s a Liebestod.

  • Cate says:

    I’m deciding emphatic no. Terribly, wobbly singing. Wtf is that costume? a mermaid? no. Just no.

  • Cynical Bystander says:

    It’s a bit like an orgasm without the foreplay or the angst. Still, at my age I’ll take even a few minutes of simulated ecstasy.

  • La plus belle voix says:

    At 00:56 in the video. Painful screeching from note to note. The demise of a once great singer. Did not bother to hear the rest. Sorry.

  • Nicholas Ennos says:

    With modern recording technology companies can make a squeaking mouse sound like Kirsten Flagstad

  • Valérie says:

    Absolutely awful… so false… terrible. It is like a joke.

  • Me says:

    Oh God, what is this?

  • Tamino says:

    Was hat das mit (dieser) Musik zu tun?

  • gimel says:

    Where is she, is she waiting for a UFO to land?

    Covid clearly had an effect on her voice.

  • Tamino says:

    Horrible balance. Where is the big orchestra that lets the waves
    “wogenden Schwall” collapse over her? In another opera house?

  • operacentric says:

    Last note is the best on the album and that track probably the best too. Something not quite right when it’s a beauty of the accompaniment you notice most. I like the trees swaying gently almost in time with the music. Was the white truck driving along the road between them carrying Tristan’s body away? I presume the other shots were people in covid isolation. The limage of Isolde floating up was a direct lift (!) from Bill Viola’s Tristan und Isolde where it was done a whole lot better.

  • Naf says:

    This is how it should be done: https://youtu.be/WFUYrJEoMQU

  • Tamino says:

    Can someone enlighten me about the meaning of showing a concrete mixer truck illustrating the culmination of Liebestod, in the words “höchste Lust”?

  • Zelda Macnamara says:

    Out of context, this is meaningless. The video totally ignores the fascist death wish which permeates the whole of this opera. Would be interested to know if Ms Netrebko is aware of that aspect.

  • Nijinsky says:

    Please: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg_EHUGRgos

    Not even, would Netrebko take Helium on stage with her to enhance the high notes, would it be suited for her voice…..

  • TR says:

    The girl in the yellow shirt falling asleep at 2:48says it all…

  • David G says:

    I didn’t watch the video, which looked ridiculous, but listened only to the music. It’s good. Not the best Liebestod I’ve heard, but not the worst either. Netrebko sings it better than some ladies who made a career out of it.

  • Michael P McGrath says:

    Poor diction. OMG!! And: Is she out of synch? Are her entries late? She doesn’t SOUND and FEEL like an anguished Isolde. She is all artifice, no soul; and by omitting consonants she loses a lot of the Wagnerian power that SHOULD be in this music.
    I have never like her singing, I must admit. And I resent her circus-like, vulgar publicity antics. To me, this adventure in “approximate Wagner” is just another stunt of hers. And enduring 5 hours of her Isolde would indeed be a test of willpower on my part.
    Yes, there have been better Isoldes and certainly better Tristan conductors… but today, well, what options do we really have?
    YES – don’t schedule it until you HAVE found an Isolde.

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