(Photo copyright & credit: Ken Howard)
Opera Chic likes and doesn't like René Jacobs, that historically correct Belgian potato, a sweet man, a better countertenor than a conductor, a relentless nostalgic of museum-ready musical dogma who irritates us almost as much as the vinyl LP geeks who in 2008 still insist that CDs sound "flat", not to mention René is a staunch supporter of criminal endeavors such as slapping Sussmayer's recitativi in the middle of a Mozart opera (as if the Requiem wasn't enough bootleg Sussy-posing-as-Wolfie to last us for a lifetime). But oh does René have a long list of redeeming qualities: among them, his devotion to Alexandrina Pendatchanska, the dark-colored fearsome voice that lately haunts many of Opera Chic's favorite opera-listening moments (and who boasts a pretty bada$$, even if Flash-heavy, website).
Fact is la Pendatchanska, this week, is touring Europe like she's a character in some wacky videogame: together with Jacobs and the nostalgic bY0tches up at the Freiburger Barockorchester she's touring with Idomeneo (she's Elettra) all over Valladolid (Teatro Calderón, this past Sunday), Köln (Philharmonie, last night), Brussels (Bozar, Nov 27) and Paris (Salle Pleyel, Nov 29).
Valladolid seems to have gone down extremely well already. OC has a weakness for Idomeneo because, even more than La Clemenza, it tends to be overlooked and not get fully recognized as a masterpiece, because obviously the splendor of the Mozart/DaPonte trilogy can be blinding at times, and we are all in love with that crazy bird-catcher Mozart himself loved so dearly.
But Idomeneo nevertheless soars; and it's nice to have la Pendatchanska in charge of that, this time.
(Photo copyright & credit: Ken Howard)