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Violetta’s case) brings with it prestige Fleming in the title role. Fleming has not see Susan Boyle’s dramatic triumph
and admiration. The young Dumas everything going for her. She sings on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent? Not
met the woman who was his model for divinely, as she always does, but with an likely. How many people have now seen
Violetta, and fell instantly in love with effortless lightness that never gets in the the clip on YouTube? Thirty million?
her. So does Alfredo, a young man who way of the character’s plausibility. She is Fifty million? Everyone was laughing
stalks her for a whole year before finally a wonderful actress as well as a singer. as this dumpy, ordinary 47-year old
wangling an introduction.
Finally, she is breathtakingly beautiful, woman announced that her model was
Violetta is reluctant to accept Alfre- which lends plausibility to the idea that Elaine Page (who created Memories for
do’s feelings as love, used as she is to the men could fall in love with Violetta the stage), and that she would sing the
superficial world of the Paris salon. Yet without knowing her. In that respect I exceedingly difficult I Dreamed a Dream
she finally gives in, and the second act would rank her with such sopranos of from Les Misérables. She got only one line
curtain rises on a country house, where another era as Anna Moffo (who was into the song before the laughter turned
Violetta and Alfredo are enjoying a pas- herself one of the great Traviatas) and to cheers.
UHF on line is interactive!
sionate love affair.
Renata Scotto.
Of course we live in the Age of
Of course there is a third act to She is well accompanied too. Tenor Cynicism, and right away there was the
Unlike with a physical magazine, which forces you to turn pages, the
come, and so we know their happiness Rolando Villazon has a slight build suspicion that she was a ringer, that the
on-line version of UHF Magazine helps you along with technology. For
cannot last. In the first few minutes of that makes him different from other judges were not surprised at all. That
instance, click on any title in the table of contents (on the previous page),
the opera we observed that Violetta Alfredos, but his voice is pure gold, and pretty much has to be true. The then
and you’ll be whisked right to the article itself.
suffers from weak spells, which, we in the duets with Fleming (for instance principal judge, Simon Cowell, is one of
Turn to the table of advertisers on page 81 (and that, by the way, is a
guess, point to consumption, or what Un di felice, eterea in the first act) he is the world’s biggest record producers, and
link), and click on the name of a product or company, and an an instant
is today called tuberculosis. There is, exceptional. Baritone Renato Bruson he didn’t know this woman could sing?
you’ll be looking at the ad itself.
however, another fly in the ointment, brings to the role of Giorgio a truly Give me a break!
And then try clicking on an ad…
in the form of Alfredo’s father, Giorgio. hateful quality, which is of course the But that obvious setup takes noth-
If you are connected to the Internet, you’ll be taken right to the adver-
He comes to see her in Alfredo’s absence, point, with a vocal clarity that is quite ing away from Susan Boyle’s popular
tiser’s Web site in your default Web browser.
and requests an overwhelming sacrifice, extraordinary.
triumph. The judges may have known
Those interactive features were designed for the paid electronic version
one which reveals the division in social The direction, by Marta Domingo, is what they were in for, but the audience
of UHF, but they work every bit as well on the free PDF version you’re
mores between the privileged class and very good, the decors suitably sumptu- didn’t, and the wider YouTube audience
looking at. We hope you enjoy it.
the merely comfortable. In living out of ous. Of course a production on an opera didn’t. Boyle ultimately didn’t win the
wedlock with a former cocotte, Alfredo, it stage is at a disadvantage compared to prize, losing out to a boys’ choir, possibly
seems, is disgracing his family, and his Franco Zeffirelli’s 1993 film version, because her rendition of Memories on a
sister’s fiancé will refuse to marry her. shot in an actual castle. Zeffirelli had later show was downright shaky. How-
Violetta is thus asked to destroy her (and the always-reliable Placido Domingo as ever she was quickly offered a recording
Alfredo’s) hard-won happiness in favor Alfredo, but Teresa Stratas is no match contract, and millions of people, who
of the happiness of a woman she doesn’t for Renée Fleming, and the Zeffirelli found her success story irresistible,
even know. Incredibly, at least for our DVD is dreadful, like a VHS cassette already had their credit cards out.
modern sensibilities, she accepts. that has been left in the sun. This is the Her first recording finally came out,
The next scene bring us back where one to get.
and it is a mixed bag. Even a cursory
we started, with Violetta back in her
listen reveals that what we had heard on
cocotte life with her ill-tempered baron,
Britain’s Got Talent had not been a fluke.
and a bitter Alfredo drowning his sorrow
This obscure Scottish church singer has
in alcohol and gambling. The lavish
the pipes, and she knows how to control
party is a pretext for spectacular dancing
them.
and more than one gorgeous aria of a
The problem is a different one. It
type that held no secrets for Verdi.
seems clear that Sony Music saw Susan
In the final act Violetta lies on a bed
Boyle as a flash in the pan, to be taken
in her room, suffering from the tuber-
advantage of quickly before the bubble
culosis whose existence we had already
burst. It didn’t even send its B team
guessed. We learn that Giorgio, filled
into the studio with her, more like its
with remorse, has explained everything
V or W team. I was convinced that the
to Alfredo, and both of them arrive
“strings” were actually a button on a
together, to Violetta’s delight. She
Casio synthetizer. In fact they are real
will, of course, die, leaving heartbreak
strings, but the producer has put their
behind, after an ensemble scene that
sound through so much processing that
could be maudlin in the wrong hands. I Dreamed a Dream
their natural origin is completely hidden.
This production by the Los Angeles Susan Boyle
Amidst this noise are guitar solos which
Opera was filmed in 2006 and is espe- Sony Music 88697 59829 2
would be out of place on a demo tape.
cially notable for the presence of Renée Gerard Rejskind: Did you, somehow, The guitarist makes occasional mistakes
72 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine