Having seen this one, I'm glad it's so quickly out on DVD and deservedly
so.  Dorothea Roeschmann was gorgeous, what fulsomeness to her voice!
Days after the recording, she and Keenlyside were to perform a recital
at the Wigmore Hall - he couldn't make it, and she had to carry the
programme as the replacement baritone wasn't very good.  She seems to
like singing mixed programmes and has given recitals with Goerne, Holzmair,
Keenlyside and Bostridge.  She's recorded the entire Myrthen with Bostridge
on Hyperion, out this summer.  (recommendation from me).  Soon after
Pamina, she sang the lead role in Nicholas Maw's Sophie's Choice.  If
anything has established her as star, this was it - she was singing
nearly the full four hours and specially beautifully.  Without her, I
suspect the production might have dragged.

Why was Keenylside at no show at the recital?  At the performance after
the DVD was recorded, he fell through a faulty trap door on stage, and
needed extensive surgery to his arm.  So treasure the DVD as a "moment
in time".  People forget, when scrapping over opera stars as they do
in some circles, that they are human beings, and performance is no easy
ride.  It says a lot about Keenlyside's athlecticism (he was a Cambridge
blue = sports star) that within months he was performing a dance
interpretation of Winterreise to choreography by Trisha Brown.  I didn't
see the New York premiere, or the Amsterdam, or the Edinburgh but I did
catch the belated London one, and it was very good indeed.  Very
intelligently done, and sensitively performed.

And isn't the Papagena a scream!  In contrast to the ethereal Queen and
Pamina, this was a hilarious dose of down to earth humour!  There is
cultural baggage to the portrayal, she's an "Essex girl" caricature.
What's the translation?  Trailer Park Princess?  But in a nice way.

Anne
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