{"id":45112,"date":"2017-05-08T18:55:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T22:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=45112"},"modified":"2017-05-08T18:55:54","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T22:55:54","slug":"scrutiny-yannick-nezet-seguin-galvanizes-the-mets-dutchman-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/05\/08\/scrutiny-yannick-nezet-seguin-galvanizes-the-mets-dutchman-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin Galvanizes The Met’s Dutchman Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dolora
Dolora Zajick, Ben Bliss, Franz-Josef Selig, and Jay Hunter Morris in Richard Wagner’s “Der fliegende Holl\u00e4nder”; The Metropolitan Opera; (Photo: Richard Termine)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Wagner: Der fliegende Holl\u00e4nder. Michael Volle, Amber Wagner, Franz-Josef Selig, AJ Glueckert, Dolora Zajick, Ben Bliss. Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, conductor. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. May 4, 2017.<\/h3>\n

NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Opera fans are fond of stage lore, so here\u2019s one for the ages. When Canadian conductor Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin appeared on the Met stage for his solo curtain call on opening night of The Flying Dutchman<\/em>, members of the orchestra threw long stem roses at him<\/a> from the pit, an extraordinary gesture of admiration and respect.\u00a0Historically, the great conductors have a reputation of being disciplinarians and tough taskmasters. I am thinking of the likes of George Szell and Arturo Toscanini. Feared and respected \u2014 absolutely. Loved? Not so much.<\/p>\n

On May 4, I found out why. Rarely have I experienced such a performance as that evening, one that combined great singing with magnificent orchestral conducting\/playing. From the first bar of the overture on, for two and a half hours without an intermission, N\u00e9z\u00e9t-S\u00e9guin had the audience in his grip, with torrents of magnificent sounds coming from the pit, in a performance that was exciting, dramatic, yet refined and lyrical. It bodes well for the upcoming tenure of N\u00e9zet S\u00e9guin taking over as Music Director in 2020.<\/p>\n

Opera is also about singing, and we had great singing this evening from all the principals. Baritone Michael Volle is a singer I\u2019ve heard many times in my European travels over the years. Since his Met debut in 2014, I\u2019ve heard his Hans Sachs and Mandryka in that house, both etched in memory as extraordinary. His Dutchman this time around was every bit as impressive \u2014 mellifluous, almost bel canto singing combined with a real air of mystery in his characterization, so essential to this role. He dominated his scenes throughout, a tour-de-force of a performance.<\/p>\n

He was well partnered by soprano Amber Wagner, one of the winners of the Met Auditions in 2007. I had the good fortune of hearing her Ariadne in Toronto when she replaced an indisposed Adrianne Pieczonka on opening night. Her Senta on May 4 was outstanding, singing with a huge, opulent sound, the most generous-voiced Senta I\u2019ve heard. One could wish for more chiaroscuro in the form of a high pianissimo, so important in Senta\u2019s Ballad given the many repeats. Other than that, she has all the vocal attributes for a great career in the jugendlich-dramatischer sopran<\/em> fach.<\/p>\n

The performance was also blessed with two very fine tenors.\u00a0 AJ Glueckert, a voice new to me, replaced Jay Hunter Morris as Erik, and he sang with gorgeous tone. Erik is a rather thankless role with two difficult arias, particularly the second one with a high note coming out of nowhere. Gleuckert dispatched both pieces with ease. Ben Bliss was perfect as the Steuermann, offering bright, attractive tone and an endearing stage persona. As Daland, Franz-Josef Selig, familiar to Toronto audiences, was properly sonorous, if occasionally a little unsteady and dry of tone. Veteran mezzo Dolora Zajick took on the comprimario role of Mary, wheelchair-bound in this production. She did her best in the brief moments in the spotlight. The true star of the evening was the superlative chorus, so important in this work. The sound of the sailors\u2019 chorus took one\u2019s breath away.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that this August Everding production is now nearly thirty years old. It is very much a naturalistic (as compared to realistic) production, highly atmospheric, enhanced with expert lighting, clever use of scrims and projections. It remains one of the most haunting treatment \u2014 Halloween-spooky if you will \u2014 of this opera I\u2019ve seen. Too bad the overture was played with the curtain down. If this is a good indication of N\u00e9zet S\u00e9guin\u2019s way with Wagner, one is in for a treat, as he is slated to conduct a concert performance of Parsifal <\/em>at the Lanaudiere Festival this summer. Book your tickets!<\/p>\n

Remaining performances of Der fliegende Holl\u00e4nder<\/em> on May 8 & 12.\u00a0 www.metopera.org<\/a><\/p>\n

For more REVIEWS, click HERE<\/u><\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the first bar of the overture on, for two and a half hours without an intermission, N\u00e9z\u00e9t-S\u00e9guin had the audience in his grip, says Joseph So. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":45117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,43,52],"tags":[9550,5104,3627],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/05\/Fliegende2191A_copy-XL.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-bJC","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45122,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45112\/revisions\/45122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45112"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=45112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}