Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Just day dreaming...

Tchaikovsky's operatic version of Alexander Pushkin's Queen of Spade isn't one of my favorite operas... Though I can be persuaded to sit through the whole darkly creepy work just to catch the couple of minutes that this little Act II duettino between Lisa and Pauline charms the stage.


 
Especially when Lisa is sung by one Edita Gruberova and Pauline one Vesselina Kasarova! Gosh... I hope they get together for another run of joint recitals before Gruberova retires in 2012! One is a very high soprano (known for her high G's in the alt while singing things like Zerbinetta or Lucia di Lammermoor or Gilda in Rigoletto or Donizetti's 3 Tudor queens), and the other is a true mezzo-soprano with lustrously dark chest notes... and yet both their voices and personalities blend so well it's almost like hearing the same soul in a tuneful conversation with itself.

5 comments:

Geisslein said...

Unfortunately I have really no idea of operas (urgh...that´s nothing what I inherited from my mother),but I have a clue,when I hear good voices (better than nothing, hm?!)-and I always look forward to your new posts ;o) Weekend is almost here...have a great one!
sunny greetings, geisslein

Smorg said...

Hallo Geisslein. Oh, but then you live in a good place for discovering opera, I think. :o) I wish I could have visited last month to catch Christiane Karg as Susanna in Mozart's Figaros Hochzeit at Frankfurt Oper. That's a really good soprano voice!

Thanks very much for stopping by. Hope your weekend has arrived in style, too! :o)

Geisslein said...

My mother was a very very big opera fan. Once in a month she went to Frankfurt "Alte Oper" with her best friend to watch an act.I was a little girl at that time and always asked her for bringing me a little present from the opera and she always gave me the programme than.I can remember how much I loved it when she was dressing up herself - for me she was the most beautiful woman of the world...

Georg said...

Smorgy,

Truly wonderful, so romantic. Thanks for presenting this to someone whose operatic knowledge is limited.

The video shows the surrounding of S.D., the mountains included???

Georg

Smorg said...

Hiya Georgy,
Very glad that you enjoyed it, bro. It is such a wonderfully simplistic and beautiful duet... and with the pairing of these two voices I can really listen to this clip all day long. :o)

Oh, nah, the photos in this one are from elsewhere. I think most are from Bulgaria (it's been a while so I don't really remember). :o) I wish those mountains are close by. Ours aren't looking too inviting these days.