Jose Cura heavily booed at Madrid's Teatro Real
Enrique Eskenazi
>in Madrid. He had transposed it a half note downwards, and according to
>some parts of the audience, "that was no singing at all". When he stepped
>forward to receive his applause, more booing followed. He grabbed the
>opportunity to take a microphone, saying that he "was singing for everyone,
>and not only for that part that only want bad". The whole performance was
>broadcasted live on radio.
>(If I made a huge mistake in the translation, you should tell, 'cause
>Spanish is not my forte).
>
>The article in El Mundo:
>http://www.elmundo.es/diario/cultura/27N0145.html
>
>and El Pais:
>http://www.elpais.es/p/d/20001227/cultura/elreal.htm
>
After the Ballo scandal at Barcelona, and the little and distorted
information that has appeared in the media, stating that the protests were
just from a minory, while many denouncing letters (including several mine)
were rejected by the newspapers....I would be cautious regarding to the
'official' information regarding cultural events, at least in Spain.
While the news kept insisting that the audience rejection was minoritary, I
still have the tapes of the performance I've attended, where the shoutings,
booing, crys, stampings and angry protests were all over the theatre: not
only in the higher floors (loggione) but also in parterre, where I was sat.
It was a majoritary scandal, but little of it has trascended to the public
bc. of lack of (and distorted) information in the press.
Regarding Cura's Trovatore, tonight I listened to that live broadcast (and
also taped it). IMO the singing was miserable, not only by Cura but by all
the main singers: Christine Weidinger as Leonora -though at the beginning of
the third act she made announce that she was feeling ill, but would continue
the performance-, Nina Terentieva as Azucena, Carlo Guelfi as Di Luna and
even Stefano Palatchi as Ferrando, though undoubtedly the worst part was by
Cura and also by the conductor Garcia Navarro. The staging by Moshinsky, as
it could be guessed through the reporter's commentaries, was also wierd, to
say the less: the play was transposed to the Italy in times of Verdi, which
made absurd that peopel were accused of witchcraft and were burned in big
fires...
There was booing after at the end of Act three, which ends with La Pira, but
I don't think the booing was only because it was transposed: it was so badly
sung (no signs of semiquavers, wrong entries, rytmic incoherences) that it
deserved to be booed EVEN if it had not been transposed. IMO the whole role
was sung badly, as if Manrico were Turiddu and with such a throaty voice
that it sounded like a baritone. During the whole performance Cura showed a
complete lack of legato, the inability to sing piano (substituted by a
crooning), the usual slcoopint just to touch the high notes, and a veristic
approach to his role.
After the performance, the booing (mixed with the applause of great part of
the audience) started. Then Cura addressed to the audience (apparently to
the higher floors of the theatre), taking a microphone, and now I transcribe
literally what he said:
-Listen, please listen! I have a doubt
(The answers from above are almost unlistenable, but I got a voice shouting:
'The problem is that you don't know, you don't know!")
Cura: Wait! Wait! -and getting really excited: Let me talk! Wait!. Let's
see: given that I am in the spotlights and you are in the darkness, at least
give me tha chance to talk, O.K? At least we are not cowards, and I hope
that this is being broadcasted. As we know that you would come, since you
have come only to the press performance and now to the broadcasted
performance...it doesn't worry us, We only feel pity bc. of the audience
that pays the tickets.
This statement was followed by lots of 'Bravo!', mixed by a minority
shouting: 'Go home!". Another voice shouted: 'Keep on singing'
Cura: 'I Hope...(turmoil in the background) just wait, let me finish to
talk! Could we put the lights on in the theatre?
Let's see...more light!, more light so we can see them!!!'
And he kept saying: 'One last thing, please, one last thing and then I'll
say farewell...Two things, first: in spite someone who wrote overthere that
I could be offended and I wouldn't come back to this theatre, well...no,
pues no!, I come here bc. of the audience and not bc. of the people who
smell badly
This was followed by lots of booing and protestes, but Cura followed on: '
and second, and second...- and then shouted: 'and secondly' to be
interrupted by some whistles and crys- and secondly, please I ask you, for
the audience here present, to keep booing in my performances, because that
gives me more desire to sing, and then I have longer high notes"-
To this most of the audience shouted 'Bravo' while those protesting were
kept silent by the ovations.
Now, I consider pitiful that a singer should insult part of audience (naming
them as 'bad smelling people) who protested a bad performance. And I also
think that all this matter is designed in order to acuse the people
protesting -in Madrid, but the same happened in Barcelona with Ballo- of
being an organized minority. And that is plainly false.
Regards
---
Enrique
eske...@teleline.es
CharlesHandelman
imitation of a good tenor.CH
pin...@my-deja.com
I think Cura is quite right about his assumptions of the
general public. They can be deadly stupid to a man.
Bravo for standing up to those fetishists and for speaking the truth.
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