Not like, “OMG WHO IS THIS CHICK HOLY CRAP” good? But very, very good. She isn’t now as enormous vocally, from what little I remember? But I did think she sounded very good. How does this compare?Ĭhoire: I can’t remember when I last saw her in the Olden Times. Did you ever see her live, pre-surgery? All I have are videos. Matthew: Yes, I thought she also sounded great But while I thought Susan Bullock was pretty good last night - all the blah blah about her lack of power had me expecting something much more enervated - I was actually surprised by how much I liked Voigt as Elektra’s sister Chrysothemis. Seth: Obviously everyone always fixates on the title role. Matthew: I felt very much the same way…I was interested to note today that it is actually 100 years old, i.e., it premiered in Dresden in 1909 Seth: As I think you both know, I am the young-ish, enthusiastic sort, and am willing to forgive a production lots of little things because I am grateful that they are bringing fucking Elektra to my eye-sockets and ear-holes. Matthew: I felt like the singers were less worried about being in the right place in the right time and ‘letting loose’ more than they had previously - I thought it had great ‘energy.’ Seth: Why did you think last night was better than the time you went with Choire, and better than the dress rehearsal? Instead, I saw Courtney Love bare her breasts at Lollapalloza ’96 and then storm off stage to fight with Kathleen Hanna. Matthew: Whenever I go to the opera, I try to put myself in the shoes of those hearing it for the first time, 100–200–300 years ago, and what it must have been like to hear something that powerful (pre-Husker Du/My Bloody Valentine/Velvet Underground/etc.). This piece that really did people’s faces in when it was new still retains a lot of its blammo and kapow.Ĭhoire: It’s got a real Reichsmusikkammer! (Sorry! Kidding!) His collaboration with Strauss was like the _& _ of rock music.Ĭhoire: I would add that Elektra retains a lot of its original power, amazingly. The librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal was obsessed with the past: he said something about how it’s impossible to speak without hearing 2000 years of history reverberating in your head. Matthew: Elektra is also psychologically nuanced and reflects the revolutionary theories of Freud/Jung. We’re so dilapidated and crushed by our pathetic existence we need it like a fix.” ELEKTRA DOES THIS. I wanna feel it whipping through me like a fucking jolt. I like big-ass vicious noise that makes my head spin.
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Seth: And regarding the music, for people who are not familiar? I’m going to drop that Steve Albini quote about punk. (Read Alex Ross for more accurate information!) In the manner of say, Picasso, he paved the way for the atonal dissonance and 12-tone scales that would come to define progressive music for the next 100 years or more. Matthew Gallaway: Elektra is an opera written in 1909 by Richard Strauss, who is one of the most important composers of the 20th Century.
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Seth: And why have you gone 3 times in the last week, weirdo? Why are we doing this one?Ĭhoire Sicha: Yeah, seriously, what the hell? Seth Colter Walls: Matthew, why is Elektra, currently at the Met, important? Like, The Awl basically never covers operas.