This is a whispery post because I don’t want to be too critical about the Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera, which I saw for the second time on Thursday night, because Stephen works with the singers and it wouldn’t be a good idea for obvious reasons. But what I can say is that if the performance in certain respects didn’t exactly match or exceed the furious displays of talent and vengeance represented by some of the great sopranos who in the past have owned the various roles (such as Hildegarde Behrens or Birgit Nilsson or Gwyneth Jones or Leonie Rysanek or Inge Borkh to name just a few you can visit on YouTube if you’re so inclined), it was still awesome to be immersed in such a monumental piece of music, and if it felt a little smaller than what has existed, isn’t that very much in keeping with so much the present, which like a shattered diamond appears to us in fleeting glints of broken light and inevitably pales in comparison to the mythological giants who haunt our past? The 1960s featured some of the greatest voices of the modern era; scrape beneath the surface of Mad Men and you can almost hear them singing. (I’m pretty sure Natasha has written about this a lil already?)

This is a whispery post because I don’t want to be too critical about the Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera, which I saw for the second time on Thursday night, because Stephen works with the singers and it wouldn’t be a good idea for obvious reasons. But what I can say is that if the performance in certain respects didn’t exactly match or exceed the furious displays of talent and vengeance represented by some of the great sopranos who in the past have owned the various roles (such as Hildegarde Behrens or Birgit Nilsson or Gwyneth Jones or Leonie Rysanek or Inge Borkh to name just a few you can visit on YouTube if you’re so inclined), it was still awesome to be immersed in such a monumental piece of music, and if it felt a little smaller than what has existed, isn’t that very much in keeping with so much the present, which like a shattered diamond appears to us in fleeting glints of broken light and inevitably pales in comparison to the mythological giants who haunt our past? The 1960s featured some of the greatest voices of the modern era; scrape beneath the surface of Mad Men and you can almost hear them singing. (I’m pretty sure Natasha has written about this a lil already?)

2 years ago 11 notes #Just don't want to be a 'bitchy opera queen' yall

11 Notes

  1. matthewgallaway posted this