Netrebko & Garanča's Capu-luv: Where The Boys Aren't

Maybe you slept through the weekend and missed out on a monumental drop from DG? Which one, you ask? Oooooh, that 2-disc drop where Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča are getting rather cozy on the cover. Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi has been given the old dust-off by the marketing wizards.

With Anna Netrebko as Juliet and Elīna Garanča as Romeo (and Joseph Calleja as Tebaldo), the 2-CD set is from a live April 2008 recording at Vienna's Konzerthaus conducted by Fabio Luisi, doing his thang with the Wiener Symphoniker.

DG describes on their website "Anna's and Elīna's voices match like pearls from one oyster". Gross.

Opera Chic took some screenshots, but you can go here for the secksiness yourselves.

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Comments

[Miguel]

Girl-on-girl belcanto action!

[Marshie]

Does anyone know if the Deluxe edition comes with the p*rn* DVD?

[Coloratura Tempura]

They LOOOOOOVE each other! So lame!

[ellie]

Too much cleavage and bulging eyeballs for my taste. Seriously, it can't get worse...unless of course these pictures fell into category other than opera, in which case I wouldn't care.

[Aliprando]

Hmmm. Looks like the DG marketing men are targeting the "red-blooded" hetero male as an untapped market...However I must say that on the London stage in Pizzi's production, especially under certain of the lighting conditions, Garanca makes a pretty convincing young "male" which is not the case (or perhaps the intention) in these pictures...

[Sandy]

Laverne and Shirley had more chemistry.

[Francois]

Forget the media blah, get the recording. It is stupendously well sung.

[zach]

This won't be released until May in the States, but there are pirate copies on the internet already so I've heard the entire recording. I will still buy it when it becomes available to show my support because the recording is very well sung by the two leads.

[furst]

We're glad they seem to be getting along and hope (along with DG, we are sure) and believe there is a great deal of genuine affection left over in spite of La Garanca's cleptocraic activities (in respect of the show) in the ealier C&M run in London.

We can just imagine the exchange as they reunite after Anna's great Lucia triumph in Vienna and La Garanca's successful German tour (of which we have heard the best reports - we hear it in Vienna ealier in the year - as well as one of the C&M performances last year)

La Garanca: Anyuska, dear*. You look absolutely wonderful!!! Did you gain weight**...again?

Trebs: Elinachka, darling. Congratulations!!! I read you made it into the top 20 Diva list (Trebs herself was number 1 on such). All the way up to 19. What terrfic progress for you!

The embrace with such "affection" and "tenderness" (not to say ferocity) as might lead one for concern about the preservation of their lungs.

*The conversation takes place in Russian but we lack the time and inclination to go Cyrilic.

**Although this is probably well known, in Russia it was generally considered a big complement to tell someone they had gained weight but we leave it to the reader to decide whether this is the case her, especially in light of Trebs recent adventures.

[lusciousbobby]

oh jeeez, that's anna pretending to be a sex radical. Anna is so regular and girl-next-door. This is staged.

Come on, she's the hot girl who sings opera.

[-Ed.]

I didn't understand your post until I opened the comments because, apparently, I am dum, dum, dum. How would I throw up on this CD set without soiling Bellini?

Speaking of, TKS for the bubble/pin/pop action on Dessay.

[vale]

I prefer my Beverly Sills recording of this work and Connie Francis singing "Where the boys are..."

[Moi]

It's been on sale in the UK since late February and it's a damn good listen (well, I would say that wouldn't I?). If only CG could have signed up the rest of the cast then they would have had an excellent production on their hands as the male leads have been cannon fodder to Netrebko & Garanca's doomed lovers.

[G-Wag]

Elina looks FAR sexier in the ROH production - see both reviews on the Intermezzo blog for pictures (link on right under "Music Blogs"). Romeo is the sexy one anyway in the Bellini version; Juliet's a simple innocent girl.

[ellie]

It's amazing how packaging and hype convince people that what they are listening to is "good." Unless of course they don't know better. The only way for me to suppress nausea when in the presence of these singers to remind myself that this too will pass...

[Aliprando]

Having seen neither the packaging nor been aware of "hype" as respects Elina Garanca, I bought her Belcanto cd, have listened to the DG Capuleti e Montecchi and seen both these singers in that opera in London just the other evening. My ears and eyes, not marketing, "convinced" me that they were more than "good", at least in these roles. Especially Garanca who, through an announcement, asked for the public's understanding because of the effects of a cold. She didn't need to. The operatic world is not so full of talent that I would wish her a "passing" phenomenon. Nausea is often caused by bile, I believe....

[furst]

@Aliprando

Exactly right. We caught Trebs several years after she became known but before the boom and found her very impressive. For some reason we were not aware of Garanca before bumping into her, as it were, in a Vienna Rosenkavalier at Thanksgiving 2006. We were thrilled and only after following up realized that she was very much a fast rising star, almost deserving of much of the hype (and in several respect more compelling than here C&M partner).

[Constantine A. Papas]

Well, the Draculetta is going to have a fit! The Times on line ranked Netrebko #1 among the 20 reigning sopranos. AG came second. Who came last? Jenkins! I cannot believe she made the list at all! UK's differential patriotism in full force!

[ellie]

Didn't someone named George Bush Jr. also win a Presidential election twice? Certainly not proof of his greatness.

[furst]

44 men have won presidential elections in the history of the United States and an impressively small number have approached adequacy, much less greatness in the role. A fairly ostentatious example of the failure to do so is currently on display in London and coming to a continent near you.

[ellie]

Well, the same can be said of politicians from nearly every country...but the analogy may also apply to this situation...except that in IMO Bush was THE worst ever by FAR, just like no other "diva" has ever attained such status based on SO little actual merit.

[furst]

We are one of the last people to write a brief for the Bush Administration but we assert quite firmly Jimmy Carter (of whom our memories are very very vague) was considerably worse. We might have a look at Hoover (wrongly accused of doing "nothing"), he of the extravagant government spending, astronomical taxes and lavish protectionism, and complete failure to deal with the banking crisis. Hmm. To be perfectly honest, the extent to which the incumbent it is in some respect reminiscent of these two is horribly. We certainly wish neither him nor all the people who stand to benefit from a prosperous and strong U.S. the good fortune to avoid such a fate.

Buchanan was also quite appalling - though possessed of one of the most impressive resumes of anyone who has heretofore assumed the office.

[ellie]

Well I don't claim to be an expert but no one was worse than Bush. No matter how incompetent or criminal the others may have have been, although I suppose there are other factors involved that none of his predecessors had to deal with. In any case, I apologize for the digression...I just wanted to point out that who the people choose is not necessarily the most fit for the role.