Thursday, July 26, 2007

Green Hill 2: Back to the Hill

A: hey
J: hello
J: streams are not as good today
A: yeah
J: right now I have the wmv from Bartok which seems to be doing OK
A: I think I have the m3u from them
A: there is some popping
J: yeah
J: I wish NDR Kultur would do it every day
A: such a fan of NDR Kultur
J: pop-frei, buffer-frei internet radio
J: I once again downloaded the Wagner Society application
A: what do you have to do to get some of their tix?
J: hopefully nothing too nasty
A: they have the goofiest web page
J: I know
J: it's dumb
A: um
A: have you read the reviews of yesterday?
J: no are they insane?
A: here
A: or
A: "Some Wagner enthusiasts were won over by the bold staging, which saw the singing troupe running around the stage adorned with outsized genetalia."
J: um it sounds insane. the boo-ing sounds aweomse
J: they boo'ed Hans Sachs and Eva!
A: she kept coming back for more?!?
A: damn you NDR Kultur
A: "At one point, sports shoes rained down on the stage."
J: wow
A: from the guy who replaced the dove at the end of Parsifal with a decaying rabbit corpse: " The enfant terrible of German theatre, Christoph Schlingensief, delivered a harsh verdict on Deutschland Radio, saying it felt like she had set the opera in a "fitness studio or a porn shop"."
A: Mad props for the Colonel, tho
J: act one of Pantyhäuser is awfully short
J: followed by an hour intermission
A: must be good revenue for whatever the Bayreuth equivalent of the Revlon Bar is
J: for serious
J: "I'll have a brownie and a decaf. And a sausage."
A: tasty
J: es schmeckt gut
A: I hope this Elisabeth is ok
A: maybe instead of finding someone to run it who can put on crazy naked productions they should get someone who can hire good singers
J: yeah that might be a thing to try
A: interesting opera-L bit on the poor singing:
A: and hoops
A: hm
A: I think I prefer a little more honey on my Elizabeth, but I can be down with this
J: that was pretty OK though the Elizabeth is a hair too dramatico
A: Chorus (trans.): Everybody come on down to the Halle, we're gonna have ourselves a sangin' contest!
A: I think I would like to see a Tannhauser production with a back country of Appalachia theme
A: the Venusberg would be like the cathouse in town
A: Elisabeth would be the buxom mountain girl
A: everyone would have banjos
A: eek
A: did T-hauser just blow a pipe?
J: I was away
J: damn
J: um is it on intermission?
A: yeah
A: are you getting the a capella Hungarian woman?
J: yes
A: we're not in Deustchland any more, Toto
J: damn NDR
A: this is absurd
A: the musical values have really gone downhill in this opera, huh
A: Tannhauser, as interpreted by 100 year old Slavic women
J: this is so horrible
J: stop buzzing, Hungarian people
A: maybe this is the background music the play on the lawn during intermission
J: UGH
J: enough!
A: dude
A: they should broadcast this on loudspeakers to get cults to surrender in standoffs
J: unless you are Muslim and praying, your singing is not allowed to sound like this
A: sweet lord
A: finally
J: they take like hour intermissions
J: during Tannhäuser
J: not that long an opera, folks
J: during which all of Hungary evidently starts wailing
A: some nice pics here, tho none of the meistercocks
J: huh
J: the video on that page makes me want to be in Bayreuth
A: Angela Merkel is so cute
J: it's all red carpet and mobbed
J: yay
J: I like this part
A: uh-oh
A: I think Liz may be tot
A: Wolfram (trans.): Um...wait. What exactly did she die of?
J: heh
J: see, I don't really know T-häus well enough for that game, which bums me out, cause it's so priddy
A: she dies of a broken heart or some BS
J: natch
A: then he sings this song about how nice she was
A: Then the Haus comes back
J: she expires a la Elsa, Gutrune,
A: wait--Gutrune dies?
J: she expired in this production
J: but like for no reason
J: she's just really bummed about everything
A: Bummers: The Silent Killer
J: Gutrune's like "I bet if I died you wouldn't even notice"
J: and I actually didn't
J: I thought she was Hagen as they were dressed the same
J: and I was confused
J: for the rest of the opera
J: knowing he had to also die at the end
A: ha
J: that character sucks
J: she obviously doesn't say the thing about no one noticing if she died
J: but she's sort of desperate for attention like that
A: its kind of unique among Wagner characters, no?
A: the super pathetic type?
A: you almost don't know what to do with her
A: it's like "look, Brunnhilde is going to be here in an hour and I think you might piss her off"
J: I think I am projecting some of the lameness on her
J: I think she just had the fewest unique character traits so I think of her as sort of pathetic and lame. And also, she uses a potion to get a man
J: who is not hers
A: the orch really sounds great
J: yes
A: then T threatens go to go back to Venus
A: and she shows up
A: and then he changes his mind
A: and dies
J: dies of indecision
A: more or less
A: then the pilgrims from Rome show up with the Pope's staff
A: which has blossomed
A: meaning that he has been forgiven
A: but it is a tad bittersweet, since both he and his woman are tot
J: wait, go to sfopera.com and click on "Macbeth" for a really kick-ass picture of Thomas Hampson
A: haha
J: isn't that awesome?
A: amazing
A: maybe she dies out of embarassment than Tannhauser keeps insinuating that she is a really, really bad lay
A: "we could have perfect holy love and my soul would be redeemend for eternity but...I'm sorry, baby, sex with you would just be SOOO weak"
J: is that basically how it goes?
A: more or less

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