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Iphigenia - a NY-Met/Seattle co-production - WOW


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I will see the last performance on 12/22. The broadcast was very impressive. This is an amazingly dramatic work, which could have influenced Wagner but even more obviously the Berlioz of Les Troyens. (Wagner knew enough Gluck to have written a concert ending to the overture from his other Iphigenia opera, Iphigenie en Aulide.)

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Yes, Klavier! Please tell us about it after you see it live.

I'm listening to an interview with Susan Graham (by Margaret Juntwait) during the third intermission of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet on Sirius radio, and she is so intelligent and articulate. She's speaking about the production.

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I saw this last night with Susan Graham as Iphigenia, Placido Domingo as Orestes, Paul Groves as Pylade, and Louis Langree conducting. Graham was superb – a powerful mezzo with equal beauty and passion in all registers. Domingo sang the role as a baritone rather than a tenor, and there were no particular challenges for him, but he sounded wonderful. His burnished tones were quite beautiful, and the weight and darkness creeping into his voice makes me hope that he continues singing for a long time. He seems to have found a way to keep his artistry evolving. I recognized what the critics were complaining about with regard to his French. "Je" sounded like the Spanish double L a lot of the time. Paul Groves gave a very strong performance in the tenor role. I think my favorite part of the evening was in Act IV when the three of them were sitting at the end of the altar singing together. Quite beautiful. There was a lot of O: Let me die. P: No, let me die. O: No, I have to die. P: No, you live, I die. I: No, you have to die and you have to live. But it was all highly emotional and, as I said, beautiful.

I thought the choreography was pretty on spot. Normally at the opera, you hear certain music which signals "Okay, it's time for the ballet", but this choreography was very well integrated into the whole staging, which for the most part didn't have a lot of movement in it. But then, how far can one move when one is chained to the altar?

Langree's conducting took me on an emotional roller coaster, and the Met Orchestra was as always unmatched. Great job with the scenery, and especially the lighting. I'm not used to seeing a full opera at the Met with essentially the same scenery throughout the night, but it worked well last night.

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and especially the lighting

Haglund's, how were you struck by Orestes and Iphigenia in that pool of light at the end of Act II (that is, at the start of the one and only intermission).

It was very moving. In silence, Placido got up and began to slowly turn toward Iphigenia. Just as one felt their energies moving toward one another, the pools of light vanished. Ooohs and awes from the audience.

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