10 vidéos pour #ChanterWagnerDansLaRue

Sing Wagner in the Street (Chanter Wagner dans la rue)

Among many different celebrations this year, there are two - for the opera art - important figures whose bicentanary we are celebrating this year:
Richard Wagner and Guiseppe Verdi.

The 22nd of May, in only two days, we will be celebrating the 200th birthday of Wagner!
Unfortunately - or fortunately for him, considering his age - he is not among us but we have created an event on Facebook and twitter, called 'Sing Wagner in The Street' or in French: 'Chanter Wagner dans la rue'.

As the name indicates each and everyone participating in this event will contribute with a piece of music by Wagner BUT you are in fact not forced to sing. 
If you feel that you haven't yet developed your Wagner-voice to perfection (who has?) you can play an instrument, whistle or - why not - dance!

You film your contribution and publish it on Youtube and Facebook the day after tomorrow: The 22nd of May, Wagners birthday!

We hope you will contribute with something, if only a small piece and remember:

"Wagner's music is better than it sounds." the famous quote often attributed Edgar Wilson Nye, sometimes Mark Twain.

Falstaff - a disappointment

Svenska (English below):

Operan 'Falstaff' var en besvikelse tyckte både Aurore och jag.
Sången undermålig, dekoren daterad, texten lika daterad, skådespeleriet statiskt.
Det kändes som om man plockat fram gammal dekor - från en mycket gammal uppsättning - som ställts upp på sina ursprungliga platser kring vilken all handling skulle kretsa.
Det blev en känsla av 1940-50-tal vad gäller både dekor, skådespeleri och scenografi, om man kan göra den bildliga jämförelsen.
Skådespeleriet kändes daterat såtillvida att man fick en känsla av att vara förflyttad till just ovan nämnda decennier då skådespeleriet inte alltid var det viktiga i samband med operaföreställningar. Det har ju dock - eller borde ha - hänt en hel del sedan dess.
Det underliga var att vi här hade en sångare - Carl Johan Falkman - som de facto agerat i filmer och på scenen med den äran. Här var hans skådespeleri dock 'operatiskt'.
Skådespeleriet varierar självfallet från föreställning till föreställning, beroende på vilken opera det är som framförs, vem som regisserar samt vilka sångarna är.

Upplever att Operan i Stockholm vad gäller sångare befinner sig i ett generationsskifte.
Det finns unga duktiga, lovande sångare som dock ibland kanske kastas in i roller de inte har tillräcklig erfarenhet att exekvera och sedan har vi de äldre, som jag upplever det, trötta sångarna.
Dessa sistnämnda röster är ansträngda, slitna och man känner ingen entusiasm i viljan att sjunga.

Orkestern var dock bra - som vanligt, är jag benägen säga.
För ganska många år sedan hade orkestern en down-period men sedan länge tycker jag de håller en hög genomsnittlig nivå.
Även dansarna - som inte var med i denna föreställning - är mycket skickliga.

Återigen: Problemet är sångarna och det är inte ett litet problem.

English:

The opera 'Falstaff' was a disappointment we thought, both Aurore and I.
The singing was substandard, the decor dated. the text also very dated. the acting statical.
We felt it as if one had found some old decor - from the 1940-50's - that now were put up at it's original places around which the action should take place.
It created a feeling of the 40's and 50's when it comes to both decor, acting and scenography, if one can create that metaphore.
Why the acting felt so dated was that the singers acted as one did in those times when the acting in itself wasn't to important whe it came to opera performances. It has - or should have - happened a lot since then one is inclined to think.
The strange thing is that one of the singers - Carl Johan Falkman - also is an actor who has made films in which he sometimes been very skilfull. In this case his acting was very 'operatic'.
The acting and its qualities of course differs from performance to performance, depending on what opera is played, who's directing and who the singers are.

I feel that the Opera House in Stockholm is living through a shift in generations between older and younger singers.
There are talented, young singers that sometimes are thrown into roles they don't have enough experience to execute and then the older singers who are very 'tired' and lack engagement.
Those latter voices are 'strained', 'battered' and one can't sense any enthusiasm concerning their will to sing.

The orchestra was good - as usual I must say. Many years ago they experienced a weak period but since long I think they hold a high 'average' level.
The dancers - not participating in this performance - are very skilfull and talented.

Again: The problem is the singers and that is not a small problem.

Falstaff: 1€ at the Royal Opera House

Ovan från The Royal Opera House i London/Above from The Royal Opera House in London.

Svenska:

Under tisdagen kunde man köa vid Operan i Stockholm för att få en biljett för tio kronor(!) till genrepet av 'Falstaff' (Guiseppe Verdi) på torsdagen (14/2), Valentindagen.

Förra året i december såg vi 'Orphée', Aurore och jag, också denna för endast tio kronor.

Dessa erbjudanden är kanske numer ett återkommande inslag för att locka besökare.

Vi brukar dock köpa hörplatser, vilka endast kostar 40:-/st. och det finns hörplatser från vilka man ser scenen riktigt väl.

English:

During Tuesday one could queue outside the Royal Opera House in Stockholm in order to buy a tickets for only 1 € (1 $, 50)(!) to the dress rehearsal of 'Falstaff' (Guiseppe Verdi) on Thursday (Valentine) .

In December last year we saw 'Orphée', Aurore and I, for only 1 €.
These offers is maybe nowadays a recurrent element in order to attract audiences.

We usually however buy listening seats that only costs less than 5 € (6 $) each and one can find seats from where one have a good look at the stage.

Headbanging

After a short shopping 'interlude', Gunnar and I go to our two regular vernissages near Södermalmstorg at Galleri Helle and Galleri Kontrast.

At Galleri Helle, some of the students of the Graphic School are exhibiting some works.

We recognize Hanna Gustavsson (21 y.o) immediately. We saw her work somewhere else before - SAK, Millesgården?
In black and white, she draws surrealistic portraits of everyday people.
They live in the suburb, buy alcohol on Fridays, watch Rickie Lake's TV program, use internet to underleaf their libido.
One of them is an angry young man sitting in a coach with a black metal t-shirt.
He looks mad, staring in front of him towards what we guees is the TV (is that Lake's fault? or Beavis and Butthead?).
He will be the key character of this day.

It might have been a tribute to Ragnar Persson, the artist who depicts with the same kind of technique the surrealistic darkness of Scandinavia and who presently has a small exhibition at Hedengrens. Who knows...

I (Gunnar) would like to add Anna Johansson Stenberg and her art, a combination between photos, drawings - some kind of collage.

I liked it very much and it reminded me to some extent of family photos on the wall in a old home in Sweden or any other country.
The photos function there as historical documents not only of the persons we know but also of old milieus, living conditions and maybe earlier unspoiled nature.

Then, Galleri Kontrast with some pictures from Northern Norway, where Russian and Ukrainian immigrants work in the mine. They live in kitsch interiors and as in Gustavsson's drawings, we experience this as a kind of surrealistic portraits.

I (Gunnar) felt very much as if these immigrants had to put up with interiors that we in the West had left behind us as being ugly or out of fashion.
This strengthens the feeling that these people are going throw the development we went through in society thirty years ago.

But let's go back to headbanging.

Direction: Opera!

Così Fan Tutte by W.A. Mozart.

The mise en scène is made by a Norwegian citizen - Olle Anders Tandberg.
As Norway is the country for Mayhem, Nattefrost or Immortal (resurrected), when the two lead characters exchange identities and use long hair postiches to embody new roles, Peter Mattei starts headbanging during some seconds.
Headbanging at the Opera! On Mozart's music! I was delighted!

I (Gunnar) think that when it comes to the performance by the singers in this production, Peter Mattei (Guglielmo, see link by his name above) was fantastic vocally and comically.
He is one of our foremost singers all categories and his baritone both has a deep and soft timbre combined with vocal strenght when needed.

Maria Fontosh (Fiordiligi) is one of my favourites among the sopranos but in this performance I where not as impressed as I have been before when hearing her sing.
I saw her in 'Eugen Onegin' and there she was tremendous sometimes reminding me of the greatest singers ever. In this performance she was very good but maybe I have to high demands on her as I fell in love with her voice immediately the first time I heard her.

Susanna Végh is also one of my favourites among singers and she sang very well though I found her performance in the last act being better than in the first.

The least interesting singers vocally where Hilde Leiland (Despina), Jonas Degerfeldt (Ferrando) and Gunnar Lundberg (Don Alfonso).

On a whole this production held high standards and I liked the mis en scène very much. The choir where excellent and also the orchestra conducted by the excellent Finnish conductor Okko Kamu.
I recommend this production to all of you.

We achieved the day with some other headbangers from Northern Europe.

Au pays de Lordi, comme dans tous les pays,

On s'amuse, on pleure, on rit,

Il y a des méchants et des gentils...

Eurovision Song Contest from Helsinki. We hear the 24 participants.
But I am waiting for something: Apocalyptica is playing during the break.
Gunnar has never heard of them, never seen them. I will have to make him listen to their tributes I keep in La Châtre.

Exhibitions, Opera, TV. Everything was under the sign of headbanging in a kitsch, surreal world.
Could it have been better? Hardly.

(Poster Così fan tutte copied from: : http://slturner6.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/cosi_fan_tutte_-_first_performance.jpg)
(Foto ensam kvinna bland svampar ur Così fan tutte kopierat från: http://gfx.svd-cdn.se/multimedia/dynamic/00009/15375101_9011c.jpg)
(Foto Peter Mattei ur Cosí fan tutte kopierat från: http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/image/10703638/210/normal/d03c48cb8d1cb/KULTUR-06s05-cosi-385_438)
(Photo Così fan tutte copied from: Mats Bäcker)