Joseph Machlis; Thinking Turandot

In a novel about musicians called "57th Street," author George Selcamm (pen-name for Joseph Machlis 1906-1998) established two central characters who are often set against one another in contrast. Margo Scholtz is a soprano from Poughkeepsie new to, and fascinated by, the NYC musical scene, and Bob Conrad is son of the pianist Judith Conrad, who has grown up in musical society even though he himself is not a musician.

Bringing them together and pulling them apart is one of the central threads of the novel. Margo's career begins to show signs of flourishing and near the end of the novel she is singing Liù in a performance of Turandot:


(Cynthia Haymon as Liù in 1987)

"A dark tremolo in the cellos [0:10-0:30] ushered in the melody in E-flat minor [0:31] that Puccini marked "con dolorosa esperssione;" slowly the crowd fell back, leaving Liù alone in the center of the stage, a slight figure bent forward in an attitude of humility. She sang of her secret love that sought only to give and demand nothing in return, and the music lifted her sorrow to the ideal plane of art, transfiguring it, so that she was not only little Liù singing of her prince, but everyone who had ever loved in vain, who had suffered and been defeated."

This elusive tune floats by using the raised 6th scale degree (C natural) in the first phrase [0:36], then the lowered 6th and 7th scale degree [0:46] and [0:57] in the next two phrases, which darkens them considerably. The raised 6th and raised 7th scale degree [1:02] makes the phrase "You will love him too" catch fire.

Bob, who is in the audience, hears this music. "He winced when he remembered how unworthy he had been of her love. Yet what had passed between them belonged to another period of their lives and was inevitable in terms of what the then were."

Margo, "outstretched on the stage, knew she had conquered. The long upward climb was over; the promise had been fulfilled.

Here is another view of life being opera, this time both happening in fiction written by a musician.

Met Live in HD; Turandot or Too-dark?

There are unconfirmed reports that Liù is missing. A large crowd reported hearing screams and one of the palace guards filed an insurance claim on a missing sword, but no one could testify as to exactly what took place.

This is because the first and third acts of Turandot in the Met Live in HD were too dark.

Yes, I know the scenes took place at night. I know. And I suspect that the rich atmosphere may have worked perfectly on the big stage of the Met. But unlike La Bohème, which is also an atmospheric production, this Turandot was too dark for the silver screen.

It brought to mind the standoff over lighting between Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and lighting director Guido Levi in "The Turandot Project." The film chronicles the process involved in mounting the massive "Turandot 2K" in Bejing's Forbidden City. Zhang Yimou and Levi stood with a translator between them, obviously pissed at one another and unable to reconcile fundamentally different views as to how much light was needed.

Too much light and everything is washed out, not enough and...

One advantage of the darkness was that the music glittered like a diamond. Conductor Andris Nelsons got a resonant sound from the orchestra, and brought a metric focus to this score that was refreshing. The brass in Act III sounded fabulous.

I liked Maria Guleghina's Turandot. It took some time for her voice to warm but once it did she was able to live above the staff. Marina Poplavskaya brought bell-like clarity to Liù, and balanced the delicate curves of her act three solos to build a convincing and powerful high B-flat.

The great Samuel Ramey had the part of Timur. It was wonderful to see him onstage again, but wide vibrato waves sometimes overpowered his singing. Marcello Giordani sang a muscular Calàf. His singing in the finale made a thrilling ensemble with Guleghina to close the opera with an exclamation point.

This just in...a woman fitting Liù's description was identified in ceiling-cam footage. Timur is on the scene. We will keep you up-to-date as information becomes available.