So much for Gluck as an agent of change

[REG]

Today at 2...read all the way down.On RAI

Il Cartellone: TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA
In diretta dal Teatro Comunale di Bologna
ORPHÉE ET EURYDICE
Tragedie - Opera in tre atti su libretto di Ranieri de' Calzabigi
musica di Christoph Willibald Gluck
Orfeo, Roberto Alagna
Euridice, Serena Gamberoni
Amore (La Guida), Marc Barrard
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
direttore, Giampaolo Bisanti
maestro del Coro, Paolo Vero
regia, David Alagna
scene, David Alagna e Frédèrico Alagna
costumi, Carla Teti
luci, Aldo Solbiati (3 hrs.)

[sarah...@aol.com]

Honest, I tried. Alagna's dreadful, dry, strained tone is just too
unpleasant to listen to after about ten minutes.

Sarah

[REG]

I haven't listened yet, but he seemed such an unlikely candidate for this
role, I had difficulty imagining what he would going to bring to it.

<sarah...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:71db8587-b662-414f...@y5g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

[La Donna Mobile]

There was booing.

http://parsifal79.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-know-what-you-did-last-night.html

includes mp3s J'ai perdu mon Eurydice and booing (I've not listened,
this time of morning is strictly radio)

--
http://www.madmusingsof.me.uk/weblog/
http://www.geraldine-curtis.me.uk/photoblog/

[REG]

Thanks. It's an interesting blog I'd never seen. I listened to the
excerpts - I won't get to listen to the whole thing for a while - and it's
not nearly bad. His French is really wonderful to hear in this, and I don't
mind that the voice is a little dry. To me, what turns me off is that it's
not particularly disciplined, and listening to this excerpt, that's what's
missing. I think you've really got to have control to sing Gluck well,
particularly the reform Gluck, and this sounds full of slides and pitch
approximations that are the problem for me. So, not disgraceful, but kind of
amateurish.

"La Donna Mobile" <enidl...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:zuednXcPJ8p...@bt.com...

[The poster formally known as Mrs T xx]

On 9 Jan, 08:38, La Donna Mobile <enidlar...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> There was booing.
>
> http://parsifal79.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-know-what-you-did-last-night...

>
> includes mp3s J'ai perdu mon Eurydice and booing (I've not listened,
> this time of morning is strictly radio)
>

Thanks for posting this, La Donna! Ouch, ouch, ouch - it made
painful listening, especially the way he was sliding up to snatch that
first high note.

I used to be such an Alagna fan - for many years he was my favourite
tenor but I don't know what the hell has happened to him recently.
Not just the singing, but the off-stage behaviour too. I have a
ticket for his Barbican concert in May but I wouldn't be surprised if
he cancels it.

The below review (in Italian only) describes his singing of that aria
as "imbarazzante" (embarrassing) and I'm afraid I would have to agree
with that.

http://www.giornaledellamusica.it/rol/scheda.php?id=2292&l=0

It seems Roberto's brother David didn't do himself any favours either
by messing around with the score or making Eurydice die in a car
crash.

Mrs T xx