Ben Heppner, Karita Mattila, Rene Pape, & James Morris - Fidelio Finale & Curtain Calls

[lovingee1]

OH MY G-D..this is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING!~!! The best!!

Barb Todres/NYC

[cesare1906]

a very poor gala !!!!pitty

[BravoLucero]

I attended this gala and it was amazing.

[BravoLucero]

So many of you like comming on here and tearing performances and singers apart. Can you do better?

[Chazzan805]

I'm no expert so someone tell me. Did the choruses years ago sing with much less vibrato? I don't know what it is about the women in the MET opera chorus.

[UlfenDaddy]

@Chazz Several have commented regarding the excessive vibrato from the chorus, a closer listening reveals it is Highly exaggerated by the vagaries of electronic copying and reposting. While I don't notice it so much from the soloists I certainly can hear it in the strings and brass, and there's simply no way that wide a vibrato can happen (even intentionally!) on a horn, it's electronic. This isn't the best performance (it's a GALA!) but it's far from incompetent, to say nothing of "drunk."

[bonnisolli]

The MET chorus have to be the most hideous wobbley chorus in the solar system......yuck

[RVP57]

Patrick Summers is a cunt.

[ShawDAMAN]

Fidelio in bell-bottoms +_+ lol

[WotansSpeer]

which gala was that?

is it available on DVD?

[cleanears]

The best used to be Scala...

[Babs22h]

i love opera it so funny.. people singing about such passionate things and singing with obvious fervor but totally "straight faced". yes!

[bassocantante89]

What a high tessitura!

[NedRorem]

The soloists are good (and René Pape is god himself, as usual) but the choir is terrible, especially the drunken old sopranos.

[SinoSene]

Agree, lol

[elephunts101]

Ben Heppner is my cousin

[Cavaradossi1981]

You are right.Or better the Rene Maison-Kirsten Flagstad live recording from the old Met under Bruno Walter.

[telephilia]

Go look at the Dermota-Modl performance from half a century ago on this site if you want to see how this finale should be performed. Despite all the big Met stars here on this gala night this rendition fails to move me - which considering the raptures that Beethoven brought to this piece is hard to do.

[Chazzan805]

@telephilia

Listen to the Bruno Walter finale on youtube with the Metropolitan. You won't believe it.

[tiffanilambert]

I could drive a boat show through the collective vibrato of the chorus.

[chanteur73]

Hmmm... what is the retirement age for the Met chorus sopranos? Have they ever heard the homogeneity of the Vienna or Berlin state opera choruses?

[RVP57]

Volpe gala....hmm....wonder if Kathleen Battle was watching...

[UlfenDaddy]

LMAO, I hope so!!! I worked with her once, what misery!

But I really like the idea of the last scene of 'Fidelio' done in a ballroom in evening attire.

[SinoSene]

The chorus is aweful!

[operaman20]

I agree those sopranos are singing like they are all in Brumhulde in die Walkure!

[guy1938]

vey good finale

[urs1765]

either the qualtity is terrible or it just the the singers, especially the chorus!!! it doesnt sound like singing anymore but more like screaming really!! and its too fast i feel.

[BelliniNorma1]

Agreed. The chorus sounds wobbly and anemic beyond words.

This was a most uninspiring GALA bar none. The MET has deteriorated considerably from its CENTENNIAL GALA (1983-84)- not to mention the BING ERA.

[BeauTenor]

phew. Reaudition the ENTIRE chorus. I agree. No one should sing like that and get paid what they make. When we did Fidelio in Dallas the chorus was amazingly good, and we didn't have anywhere NEAR the financial resources the MET does.

[RVP57]

Sadly, this is AGMA at work...they are guaranteed their jobs and mountains have to be moved for any member to be replaced. I agree, it's about the worst opera chorus in the world, though Covent Garden is nipping at their heels, and takes the prize for second worst. The recent Carmen from ROH was naught short of dreadful.

[BeauTenor]

Wow...we all belonged to AGMA in Dallas too, and nothing was ever guaranteed. I wonder what's so different? Maybe their union reps

are just better at neg a contract....

[littlemo130]

I've been to the met MANY times and listened to many more recordings...that ENTIRE chorus needs to be reauditioned. The men have no punch and you could drive a car through the sopranos wobble.

[wotancb]

yes I

[littlemo130]

Does anyone else think the sopranos in the met opera chorus sound awful?