The Spectacular Riddle of Turandot in a “passionate, precise, and powerful performance”

Margaret Higginson — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:02:48 +0000

As if he knew this opera would be his last, Puccini crams as much drama and story as he can into every moment. Instead of an overture, BOOM! we’re in Turandot’s palace, with the chorus demanding blood. Characters are introduced quickly, and connections between them are established with lightning speed.

Turandot, the Music of The Nightingale, and Magic of Chinoiserie

Michael van Baker — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:00:28 +0000

You could translate "chinoiserie" as "Chinese...ish," if you want. It's a cultural form of infatuation with the transfer student--in retrospect it may come to seem childish and superficial. But initially, there's a flush of novelty, a flash of curiosity, and a fleshing out of another inner life through trial and error, mostly error. (In a similar way, knock-offs of products are usually not very good, most fail, and a few develop into something so good they rival the original--witness Japan's whisky.)

The SunBreak » turandot

The Spectacular Riddle of Turandot in a “passionate, precise, and powerful performance”

Turandot, the Music of The Nightingale, and Magic of Chinoiserie