Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress
I went to McGill's Opera today.
I wasn't expecting much, just because there is a world of difference between students and professionals, but I gotta admit I was pleasantly surprised.
The Orchestra was great, well balanced, on tune (of course they should be). The singers were okay too. The tenor wasn't standing out all that much but the barytone was amazing. What a voice! With efforts and perseverance I can imagine that guy become very big later. The soprano's voice was a little bit shaky at times, but she gave all the notes quite nicely and it didn't seem like an easy role. The choirs were very good too. I was impressed. The acting was okay, set designs were okay, set transitions were okay. The only thing that bothered me was the sexual implications of certain scenes, which, in my opinion, don't have their place in opera. Vulgarity just does NOT belong to opera... No matter what the modernists say. It ruins the musical effect by making the viewers focus so much on the crude images... Meh. Anyways... overall, the stage direction was fine and they rendered a very nice version of a not so famous modern opera.
To be honest, I didn't know that opera. Not that I have no interest in modern classical music (it was composed in 1947), but not many versions of The Rake's Progress have been filmed... and on top of that, being an amateur, I focused on watching a lot of operas by very famous composers such as Verdi and Puccini.. I'll also admit I am very drawn to the Italian language so it might have been a factor in what I've chosen to watch, too. The Rake's Progress is in English and though it is very familiar to the ear, it lacks the finesse of Italian. It's just my opinion... Overall, it was a nice performance and I am very satisfied. I am also very glad to see that McGill has some very talented students, who might have great careers on the international level.
The two friends I went with seemed to be satisfied too. It is very rare for me to find friends who enjoy this kind of cultural activity, so it's nice to talk openly about this without fearing to bother others with my "strange" hobbies. ^^;
Tomorrow is NYC gogossing!
Return on Sunday!
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