Right now: Ann Hallenberg in Moscow (mezzo arias)
In case you need a reminder: check it out. At the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
Il ritorno di Tobia Haydn
Overture and aria Sudo il guerierro
Haydn’s stuff is always fun until he gets too noodly. I thought the aria was a bit low for her but an always welcome start.
Paride aed Elena Gluck
Paride’s mournful aria (don’t know the title)
It fit her very well; really nice variations in the middle section.
La clemenza di Tito Mozart
Overture and Deh, per questo instante solo
Capuano’s take on the overture is of the jaunty kind. There is a reason is often played in concerts. Her take on Deh, per questo… is something I think I talked about before. very affecting and natural at the same time ❤
Orphee et Eurydice Gluck
Amour, viens rendre a mon ame
Just yes, with a lot of warm smiles. The public loved it, too. Somehow 40min went in a blink.
Interval
L’italiana in Algeri Rossini
Overture and Cruda sorte!
The overture got out the bombast but perhaps not so much the Italian silliness. AH got all that in Cruda sorte. Just wonderful and tossed off like nothing.
Otello Rossini
Song of the willow
I know nothing about any Ot(h)ello operas, honestly. It sounds beautiful enough and very suited to AH’s tone.
La favorite Donizetti
Overture
Favaritka? It sounded like that in Russian. The darkest thing so far. The Russians love to go very Romantic on things.
Semiramide Rossini
Arsace! not the obvious choice from him, either but In si barbara sciagura.
Encores:
Che faro senza Euridice Gluck (Orfeo)
Really heartfelt, but then again, it’s AH.
Il segreto per esser felice Donizetti (Lucrezia Borgia)
Great to hear Il segreto…! The drinking song with a dark undertow. One of the first mezzo arias I got into, in that random manner one does. I want to listen to it on repeat now. Is there something she can’t sing?
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Posted on February 3, 2019, in classical period, mezzos & contraltos and tagged ann hallenberg, christoph willibald gluck, gaetano donizetti, gianluca capuano, gioachino rossini, joseph haydn, mozart. Bookmark the permalink. 133 Comments.
opera, innit? 
i listening!! already an improvement with an italian conductor, not the rigid human who kept shoving VK into certain tempo from 2012!
hehe, that guy was very young, though.
compared to the super old guy VK got? i much prefer this! the orchestra also sounds more slender and flexible than what VK got…
I like the announcer, very poetic
ah here comes A.Hallenberg
love the aria 😀 I already listened to Lemieux version in prep 😉
oh, and here i thinking i want to hear her in this opera! (which ever it is), something Haydn?
Yes, Haydn – Il ritorno di Tobia. Remember my post Everything is better with contraltos?
(sounds mozart-ie!)
Haydn and Mozart are like twins separated at birth 😉
ps: I think it’s a bit low for her.
ah jeah!!!
(ps- all toothpaste made back without any issue! what triggered the search was instead the 1,5kg gummie bear i hauled from heathrow ;)) )
damn.. you know how i hear 1 aria from certain signer and it triggers the need to listen to the entire opera to see how it fits in?!
(and i was just discussing with Agathe last week the French rep (e.g., Gluck) is really different and you need to get introduced into it somehow… like for example with AH!!)
agreed. This is the Baroque Gluck, with the trills and whatnot. Quite suited for her.
it’s on youtube if you want to listen 😉
or here now. you mean the entire thing or aria? or her singing many Gluck’s arias? this is my first time ever hearing her singing lamento Gluck’s style…
yes, the entire Tobia is on YT. Remember my AH wonderful in Gluck and Mozart? She is really good in the rep.
jeah, i have that post opening just next here..
ps again: I predict she will sing Deh, per questo (Sesto’s aria is a bit misleading 😉 ). Let’s see how right I am.
i don’t mind hearing also Parto either 😉
of course not! 😀
oof, the beginning of the overture was not so exciting, but it picks right up in 3rd phrase with the rush
very (too) uniform.. interesting to hear this overture by a conductor not quite conducting a production.. it’s like an own thing
oh it ends, here comes A.Hallenberg again, yay..
I was right, eh 😉
damn, already weeping 2 phrases in. she has not sung Sesto?
I don’t know but she can do it any time she wants! She would be wonderful.
jeah, and Gluck. in Amsterdam.
well, this was just great, really unforced.
jeah. i was thinking sometimes if you push too hard (the most emotional part) it becomes forced instead of letting the emotion flow
ahhhhhhh, here comes Orfeo!!
the AH fireworks!
Yes, really wonderful, all is right! (must admit I forwarded here 😉 Haydn can wait a bit)
Poor Haydn 😉
You said “until he gets too noodly” ‘:-) ?! No, no, he’s good, of course, but, Sesto…
though I wonder how idiomatic she is in the Rossini stuff. I’m so used to her and to things earlier than 1800 that it’s hard for me to comment if this isn’t Rossinian enough (as I have seen some comment on YT).
i thought Isabella was super fun, somehow she seems to be a singer who can make everything work in her own way.
yes, she really seems she likes Isabella (and who wouldn’t?!). That’s how I feel too, about her singing, she’s intelligent, super skilled and so likeable in personality that it’s really hard to be curmodgeonly about her. Nevertheless, old skool opera fans can!
Didn’t Prina once say if all her audience was pleased with a performance it probably hadn’t been a very exciting one?
Although you really must be very ill-tempered to not like Hallenberg. It is true her Arsace is comparably light-weight but variety is a good thing!
Didn’t Prina once say if all her audience was pleased with a performance it probably hadn’t been a very exciting one?
there is only one Mary Poppins 😉
Hehe, even she was only practically perfect, no?
I vote for AH as Mary Poppins! (The umbrella would suit her)
it would actually be funny to have her play Isabella as a sort of Mary Poppins (in the sense of always being positive and killing them with kindness 😉 ). And yes to the umbrella!
:D, the conductor’s arm movement to start suggested it was not Parto 😉
yep!
it’s definitely its own thing. I think a lot of times conductors vary it due to whichever way the production goes.
Orphée !! en français! melikes!
yes! That older lady in the first row is clearly a big fan 😀
oh, i have to check again, was all watching AH’s swagger
ps- we still need to file a petition for her Orfeo (and Orphée)
yes, for a few things 😉
I love her smiles! (AH’s I mean)
and grin too
hihi, and the breathing afterward, that took some effort 😀
(and no no, we don’t need intermission, please keep going 😀 )
that is a massive pest of an aria, eh, with all the exposed stuff – remember how tired VK was as well?
the flautist (and oboist? and clarinist?) practicing hard during intermission
for Rossini!
ah hihi, i can hear now, tune to l’Italiana in Algeri in practice!
there, our woodwinds players
Thanks for the reminder! Too bad, I only switched in during the break, but now there she is finally.
you’re still getting some good stuff! Arsace at the end 😀
Yees, it’s good right now, unfortunately i have to cook and can’t watch much. Awaiting Arsace 🙂
I think you can go back to the link and watch again at a later time. At least right now that is working for me.
Ahh, yes, it’s on replay!! Now I can enjoy it in peace (the kids were asking “what’s happening?” whenever the music got more dramatic and were disappointed there was no scenery)
we should have some cutout “typical Baroque/Romantic/Comic” scenery to put on for concert performances.
you missed some nice Gluck! but i have you covered..
now she’s on a different dress, and i forgot what Dehggi said about her Isabella in the past.. but i like her Rossini, Baroque’s style!
and I LOVED her low notes
Yes, we can forget about my Rossini comments 😉 Cruda sorte was a blast!
argh, i was hoping she would cover Isabella’s middle and last arias too 😀
don’t we all! That is such a fun role.
errr , this is Desdemona…
I don’t know this opera at all. Mournful stuff for sure.
i just watched this recently.. Harteros was in it… in this scene i think she was sitting alone in her room recalling what her mother used to sing to her… all before she got strangled by Otello…
i take it back, that was the willow song.. not sure what this is.. but all very sad.. because as you recall (or not, i do), she knew she’d get killed but she still went to bed and waited for the killer to arrive to strangle her… *(&($#%#
that’s 19th century heroines for you, women without agency.
&^)#&@#)(@
that’s why we skip over that part of the repertory 😉 also because mezzos are only given maids, old women or witches and there are too many tenors per square meter.
and i was just thinking how i’d introduce Juditha to friend who took me to see Otello: you see, in this (early) period, she led her people, and chopped the head of the bad guy’s off.
might sound too violent?
no way. not when compared to strangled to death! and yet if they find that “normal”, we have to tell them what should work the other way!
I think they would say “women acting violent is worse”. As if women should just take it lying down.
that’s ok, i won’t waste too much time explaining anyway.
For Holofernes, i do like that he’s got 9 lives like the cat in Asian’s culture.. chopped off, grow back, tonight is 5th performace 😉
hahaha! he’s evil like that 😀 and always coming back to sing some seductive arias, too!
Harteros was the Verdi version of the Willow Song and this is the Rossini version?
it seems to be. coz i don’t recall hearing this when i endured all 3hrs of Verdi’s Othello
endured, eh? I cpuld not get past the overture. I did not see where the action could get any angstier.
i got invited, free tix , i thought i branch out 😉
it was a trap! Hehe.
i also used the opportunity to introduce my inviter to WS and Händel 😉
(overture?)
is there no overture? Whatever the beginning is called. It seemed already too energetic to me.
might’ve been the Verdi version? It’s the same (stupid) story.
ahhhhh, i get it now, this is Rossini’s version, hahaha.
(phew, i was worried she started adding Verdi to her rep..)
that was pushing it even for VK… not for our fave ice mezzo, though 😉
(she even loved petting in specialized uniform)
the one thing I (we?) remember from that production with JK.
are you sure he was in that one?? all i remember was petting
I \think he was?! Isn’t he always in this things? hehe. But you did fall asleep after the petting 😀
ha! and here I was pointing out the difference so you wouldn’t have to waste the brain cells 😛
(what is this now?)
The overture to Donizetti’s La favorite
(ah, Donizetti’s La Favorita’s overture.. would be nice if she sings the aria too.. who is the character? Leonora too?)
Leonora, yes. I was wondering if she initially thought to sing it and then changed her mind. Because why have this overture and not Semiramide’s since the aria is coming up?!
it’s quite a serious aria, i esp. like it in French, VK of course sung the role a few times, in production too i believe.
I was thinking the conductor and orchestra not up to Semiramide’s overture? it’s 20 min! and you really need to feel it and have spontaneity!
on the other hand, it’s a well known overture and orchestras have probably encountered it in the past. The time limit might be an issue, you’re right.
I would have loved to see VK in La favorite.
i have cd. can share next time i see u
yes, please 🙂
ah! interesting choice of aria! yah!! too bad chorus missing!! WE NEED CHORUS for this aria!!
NEED CHORUS!
Just thought the same thing, but otherwise it’s great, soo skilled…
tapping feet (but i still miss chorus 🙂 )
…I’m tempted to sing the chorus myself now.
🙂 🙂 🙂
😀
(argh, i lost the connection! is she singing more?)
lots of applause right now
phew, just got back in time, she said something? and now encore!
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
❤ ❤ ❤
ahhhhhh, lost connection again, aaarrrgh
noooooooo, nooooooo, not over this aria, nooooooo
I have to say, I’m not even a big fan of this aria but she is just wonderful.
(i would have loved the French version)
she may be coming back again.
She just said “Gluck” hehe.
she’s back! Che faro
Hope the dinner is not overcooked now, but worth it!
overcooked dinner, just right Hallenberg 😉
&)(&@% lost internet over that entire aria except for beginning and end
https://thadieu.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/14.gif?w=34&zoom=2
and now the angry emoticon not working, whatever, i got back now, lots and lots of clapping..
Donizetti she said!
😀 the drinking song!
good, good!
oh, it’s Il segreto per esser felice! What a great choice for an ending 😀
i recognize the aria but don’t remember where from…
ah, Lucretza Borgia!