Classical Notes: December 27, 2006 Archive

Anna

Posted at 3:19 PM on December 27, 2006 by Valerie Kahler

After reading about persons of iffy talent like Britney and Lindsay wreaking pop-diva havoc on a daily basis, it's sure nice to stumble across a story like this.

They're calling her "the Russian Maria Callas" and describing her voice as "dark gold on red velvet. She's been showing up in glamour mags and her latest CD is No. 8 on the German charts. The POP charts.

And yet, soprano Anna Netrebko is charming and down-to-eart...completely candid about her own flaws as a performer and quick to praise other performers, saying this about Joan Sutherland:

"[She has] a completely different way of singing, and different technique,” she said. “I don’t know how she’s singing. It’s just like flute playing. Perfect sound, beautiful, everything is free. I think this is a voice, one in a century like that.”

Well. It's the next century now, isn't it? Will Anna Netrebko be the voice of the 21st?

Popcorn and Papageno

Posted at 3:34 PM on December 27, 2006 by Rex Levang

The Metropolitan Opera's new "Magic Flute" (the Julie Taymor production) was mentioned here a few days ago. . . . Between this page and this review, you can get some idea of the costumes and sets, and here's more information from the Met on their Dec. 29 broadcast of the "Flute" into selected movie theaters, including one in Minnesota.

This production came along in 2004, to generally rapturous response, but this year the Met is putting a new spin on it by translating and abridging it. The very first outing of the abridgment is on Saturday, Dec. 29 -- so that performance is a premiere, of a sort.