Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazon: La Boheme for young lovers
The musical liaison between Anna Netrebko and Roland Villazon is set to enter a new round with the release of their latest opera project. “La Boheme” follows in the footsteps of the tremendously succesful “La Traviata”, whose complete recording, solo CDs and DVD dominated classical charts for months roughly two years ago. Again issued by German classical label Deutsche Grammophon, this new encounter between Netrebko and Villazon was supervised by French conductor and artistic director of the Vienna Symphonic Radio Orchestra Bertrand de Billy. Even though the appearance of the current “dream duo of opera” will probably be enough for most to make for their local record store, there is a significant difference between the Netrebko/Villazon version of “La Boheme” and “La Traviata”. While the latter was recorded live, the former had to cope with the extended difficulties of transporting the excitement of the stage situation to the studio. “We are in a strange situation here”, Bertrand de Billy summed things up, “We’re making an opera without a stage. We’re making an opera with fantastic singers. We have to replace visible sentiments with audible ones. Everything must be exagerated with song so that the feelings can be understood. When you laugh on the stage, the laughter must be heard. When you smile, then the smile must be heard in the singing.” Despite these challenges, he also stressed the importance of this new “La Boheme”’s line-up: “This is where we are lucky with this cast, because they have such fun acting.”
What is also noticeable about this rendition of “La Boheme” is the relative tender age of many involved – making “youth” an important factor of their interpretation. “La Bohème is for young people who really feel the story”, Anna Netrebko stated, “And we fitted right in there." To Rolano Villazon and her alike, the work is about feelings of love and lust awakening in the Spring and about the “realness” of the relationship between Mimi and Rodolfo. “The most beautiful moment in La Bohème for me is when Mimì tells Rodolfo in the last act that he's the love of her life. This is one of the most expressive passages in all of Puccini”, according to Villazon, “And in our production we tried to make a particularly intimate scene of it."
Recipients of the Deutsche Grammophon’s newsletter have been able to pre-listen to a new song from the album every week and this project is said to continue. Alternatively, you can visit the special microsite for the project, to see Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon and Bertrand de Billy talk about “La Boheme” and their personal view on the project.
Picture by Felix Broede
Homepage: Anna Netrebko
Homepage: Rolando Villazon
Homepage: Bertrand de Billy
Homepage: Deutsche Grammophon
Item tags
Anna Netrebko, Bertrand de Billy, CD feature, Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, Mexico, Opera, Puccini, Rolando Villazon, Russian Federation, Vocal,Partner sites
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