James wrote:
> ltlee1 wrote:
>> J.Venning wrote:
>>>> The NYT article did say something bad about the production:
>>>> "Still, music drives the theatrical experience of opera, and Mr.
>>>> Tan's score is an enormous disappointment, all the more so because
>>>> whole stretches of it, and many arresting musical strokes, confirm his
>>>> gifts."
>>>> "Also, because Mr. Tan integrates Chinese melodic elements into the
>>>> music, the vocal lines continually move by wide and sometimes awkward
>>>> leaps to unusual notes, making the phrases tiring for the singers.
>>>> There is undeniable artistry at work in all this. Playing through these
>>>> passages on the piano (from the piano-vocal score), I found some of Mr.
>>>> Tan's exotic harmonies and elusive vocal lines enticing. But a little
>>>> of this goes a long way."
>>>> However, the Epochtimes article did demonstrate the ignorance of the
>>>> author. Since the Northern Song dynasty, the government elites, mostly
>>>> of confucian background, did settle
>>>> to favor a centralized government which held all the power. Although
>>>> the ruler maight be far
>>>> from perfect, a stable government with centralized power was still
>>>> preferred over a unstable government and/or a splitted country.
>>>>
>>> How familiar are you with Western Grand Opera? How many reviews of world
>>> premiere operas have you read? You will find that reviewers tended to be
>>> sceptical about a new work, no matter how wonderful they were, unless they
>>> were trying to encourage a local boy in his efforts. Puccini's "Madam
>>> Butterfly", Verdi's "La Traviata", and Bizet's "Carmen", were all slashed
>>> and trampled by the press after their respective premieres, and yet stayed
>>> to be the mainstay of the best-loved classical repertoire of all opera
>>> houses in the world.
>>>
>>> For any nitwit to condemn the production because it was written and
>>> stage-directed by two Chinese is equal to a blind man telling you the
>>> colours of the rainbow or a sunrise over a clear mountain top. It is
>>> sacrilegious, and like I said, I cannot believe that "Dr.Wang" saw a
>>> performance of the piece, nor do I believe that she has any knowledge of
>>> opera.
>>
>> If you had seen the show, please tell in what way the NYT article is
>> wrong or
>> off the mark.
>>
>>> Had it been a production written by two Chinese from Taiwan sponsored
>>> by the Falun Gong, she would be peeing in her knickers praising anything
>>> they dish out.
>>
>> As a matter of fact, the FalunGong article did not comment on the
>> production
>> aspect of the show at all. Rather the point is "the Chinese Communist
>> Party (CCP) is using this opera as part of an effort meant to justify
>> the Party's use of violence to maintain its dictatorship and power."
>> Care to
>> comment on that?
>>
>>
>>> J.
>
> I got sucked into reading the FalunGong crap because OP's title mislead
> me to think it was a critic's review.
>
> Is this Tan's
Yes. It is.
>
> Anyway if Domingo is involved, it couldn't be all bad. Plácido
> Domingo brought the Polish production of Madama Butterfly to
> Washington. Some loved the production and others (critics included)
> hated it.
Of course it is usually the case.
>
> I doubt CCP had anything to do with the avant-garde Chinese-American
> composer Tan Dun's creation.
I don't either. There are indeed good reasons not to beleive that.
> A few years ago Sony had an epic film
> _The First Emporor_.
Are you refering to the one about an assassin?
> My opinion of it was it would have been better if
> they used the Reader's Digest version.
