Tag Archives: Mozart
The Magic Flute in HD – 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd June 2023Mozart’s enduringly popular musical comedy was televised this afternoon in its latest Met incarnation directed by Simon McBurney. The bright comedy is swathed in darkness (lighting not tone) in his staging which employs more theatrical gimmicks than found in the trunks of 10 touring magicians. The orchestral pit is raised almost to stage level. A…
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Don Giovanni in HD – 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th May 2023Ivo van Hove’s Jack the Ripper with music by Mozart and sets by Jan Versweyveld masquerading as Le Corbusier was telecast this afternoon from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. The screen and the program said the opera was Don Giovanni, but Mozart’s dramma giocoso had all the giocoso removed by director Hove. The…
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Finale 27 – The Marriage of Figaro Act 2
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th January 2021The famous finale to Mozart’s comic opera begins when the door to the closet in a room Count Almaviva’s estate is opened. Both the Count and Countess think Cherubino, the Count’s page, is in the closet. The Count is about to break down the door and then decides to use his sword on the page…
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Glenn Gould and Mozart
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st October 2020Glenn Gould was one of the greatest performers of JS Bach’s keyboard works since the advent of recordings. The Canadian pianist was also a gifted pedagogue and world class eccentric. He invented nutty alter egos, one of whom appears in the video at the end of this article. Among Gould’s quirks was hypochondriasis. Shortly after…
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Mozart and Schubert at the MIM
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th May 2019The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra presented the third of three concerts devoted to Mozart and Schubert last night. The venue was the Theater of the Musical Instrument Museum. Its a sleek and comfortable auditorium ideal for smaller scale compositions. The program began with the Overture to La Clemenza di Tito, Mozart’s penultimate opera. The scaled down…
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Così Fan Tutte in HD 2018
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st March 2018When I heard that the Met was going to do a new production of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte set in Coney Island during the 1950s I was relieved that they were not going to place the last of the Da Ponte operas in a Turkish brothel. Then I wondered why the Met needed a new production…
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Mad Max Meets Mozart – 2004
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd February 2018This is a review that I wrote in 2004. It’s been buried deep within this site. I decided to copy it to a more visible spot. Things can always get worse. Consider Don Giovanni at the English National Opera. I was at the October 4th performance. Calixto Bieito was the director. He is from Barcelona….
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Don Giovanni’s Timeline
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th October 2017The time setting of the two acts of Mozart’s Don Giovanni has always puzzled me. Everyone, including I suppose Mozart and Da Ponte, seems to think that the action in Act 2 starts immediately after that of the first act. In other words, the action from start to finish is continuous and depicts the last…
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Finale 11 – Don Giovanni Act 1
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th February 2017Don Giovanni is one of opera’s greatest works, but it’s on the long side. So when the finale to act 1 finally arrives it’s always welcome, especially as it’s so good. Giovanni is supposedly a great seducer, but he fails at every amatory attempt, resorting to attempted rape at the conclusion of act 1. His…
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Il Mio Tesoro
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th January 2017Don Ottavio,the tenor in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is opera’s biggest nebish. After being alone in a bedroom with Giovanni, a life with Ottavio seem worse to Donna Anna than 100 flights on American Eagle. I think after more than two centuries Ottavio’s still waiting for her to agree to marry him. But he has two…
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