Staying In Tune

Musical highlight of the day: listened in full to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro for the first time ever - the version from the John Eliot Gardiner set of the seven big Mozart operas I purchased earlier in the year. This is part of an autodidactic attempt to see what I've been missing in the operatic field all these years. The answer is obviously a lot, though I've still got plenty of work to do in growing in my understanding and ability to respond to this genre.

The theatrical artifice I have no problem with, though I can't always quite see in my mind's eye exactly what's happening on stage. I've also conquered my aversion to soprano voices. What I previously perceived as a kind of over-the-top fruitiness has simply dissolved for me. Everything here sounded entirely natural. I suppose that's a good example of how the ear adjusts to artifice if it's given enough exposure. To my surprise I think I've even come to terms with the whole business of recitative. I remember some years ago watching an educational documentary on Cosi Fan Tutte, designed for listeners like myself with zero background in classical music and just a vague enthusiasm to get a bit more civilised. An excellent explanation of the function of recitative was given and some good examples of the thing itself, but I thought it sounded so false as to be close to unlistenable. In fact, if I put the operas on as 'background' the recitative still jars, but following with a libretto (and a lot of attention) has brought me to an awareness of how expressive those segments can be.

So what is the 'lot' I still have to work on? I think I can sum it up as developing enough familiarity with the music to let it completely sweep me away. I was keenly aware, for example, that the ending of the opera didn't really intoxicate me in the way I thought it might (whereas I was completely swept away by the ending of Act 2.) Theoretically I know how great this music is, but I wasn't able to entirely feel that today, if that makes sense. I thought the end was rushed, something that reminded me of a similar feeling about the ending of Porgy and Bess that lasted until a magical play-through when everything came together for me.

The other thing I have to confess to is my need for substantial breaks between the acts to get myself back to full listening mode. For someone who occasionally prides himself on his powers of concentration this is a good reminder that I really don't have any of real note.

I think the thing I was most pleased about today is that I fell entirely in love with Figaro's Susanna, both the character and the voice of Alison Hagley singing the role. Wonderfully adolescent of me.