What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks PD - my friend recommended that recording as well. I don't think that I have any Maria Callas recordings in my collection!

  Well, then you have a treat in store!  She was a truly fabulous Tosca....and the others, well, I figured (rightly) that I'd let Tsaraslondon sing its praises.    Please do give the whole opera a shot Jeffrey. 

PD

[André]

I almost never listen to highlights discs. Except for Don Giovanni. It's been recorded so often that once you have half a dozen complete versions it becomes rather redundant to buy another one just for this or that singer's participation. Toscanini once said that casting Il Trovatore is easy: you just book the four greatest singers in the world and voilà. The same could be said of Giovanni, except make that six or eight. Even the insignificant role of Masetto gets a good aria! Actually Masetto is the only character where less than stellar singing is acceptable.

If Bonynge's version of the complete opera was available I'd buy it right away. Conducting, playing, singing and sound are outstanding through and through. There are a couple of annoyances: a too busy harpsichord in the recitatives (nice instrument and fine sonic presence, though) and an unusual amount of vocal embellishments, some of which sound plain silly. Each and everyone of the singers are superb both vocally and dramatically. The other singers (not listed on the cover) are Clifford Grant (a terrifying Commendatore), Donald Gramm (an excellent Leporello), Leonardo Monreale (Masetto) and Werner Krenn (Ottavio). A nice supplement to other favourite versions.

[JBS]

Thanks Biffo. Well, for now, I've just ordered a second-hand CD featuring that scene. I think that I might sample some more Tosca excerpts online before I take the plunge with the opera. I don't have any Puccini in my collection.

Tosca is an opera that a highlights CD can't really do justice to. For one thing, some of its most memorable moments are non-musical--the end of Acts 2 and 3 depend for their impact on what Tosca is doing onstage, not what she is singing. (Although the last line of Act 2 is one of opera's great exit lines.) Plus it's only about 110-115 minutes total.

The Callas recording is one of the best.

[Florestan]

The most lyrical and gentle opera I've ever heard. Superb.

[Tsaraslondon]

The most lyrical and gentle opera I've ever heard. Superb.

And such a lovely recording, which I was listening to myself just a couple of days ago. The Cherry Duet is a particular favourite, even more magical in this performance featuring Tito Schipa and Mafalda Favero.

https://youtu.be/CZSewl5wT4k

[Florestan]

The Cherry Duet is a particular favourite, even more magical in this performance featuring Tito Schipa and Mafalda Favero.

https://youtu.be/CZSewl5wT4k

That's my favorite version as well. I knew it long before I listened to the whole opera.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Janacek's Kata Kabanova from the Vienna State Opera House (Thanks to a heads up from another forum member here).  Very enjoyable!  First time that I've seen it performed.  Available for several more hours on their website for free--all you need to do is register.    And I did figure out too that they do have closed captioning (in a number of languages).  After you click on "play" at the bottom right side of the screen is an icon with a "cc" under it.  You just click on it and pick your language. 

PD

[Tsaraslondon]

Gosh! A Callas performance I hadn't heard before! Or rather part of a performance because some sections have been lost and so we don't get all the music.

Callas is in fabulous voice for this performance, her top register in fine shape, but it isn't as moving a performance as the 1955 performances (Rome concert and La Scala), although as always there is some wonderfully eloquent singing especially in the finale. Ah padre ah padre and the whole of Deh non volerli vittime are absolutely heart wrenching.

It's also wonderful to have her paired with Corelli when still in such great voice, as it has to be admitted that by the time of the second studio recording (love it though I do) she is having to deal with failing resources. Christoff too makes a great deal of the role of Oroveso, his voice in absolutely terrific shape.

Though not my favourite Callas performance of Norma, it still adds to her lustre and confirms why she is still considered the greatest of all recorded Normas.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Gosh! A Callas performance I hadn't heard before! Or rather part of a performance because some sections have been lost and so we don't get all the music.

Callas is in fabulous voice for this performance, her top register in fine shape, but it isn't as moving a performance as the 1955 performances (Rome concert and La Scala), although as always there is some wonderfully eloquent singing especially in the finale. Ah padre ah padre and the whole of Deh non volerli vittime are absolutely heart wrenching.

It's also wonderful to have her paired with Corelli when still in such great voice, as it has to be admitted that by the time of the second studio recording (love it though I do) she is having to deal with failing resources. Christoff too makes a great deal of the role of Oroveso, his voice in absolutely terrific shape.

Though not my favourite Callas performance of Norma, it still adds to her lustre and confirms why she is still considered the greatest of all recorded Normas.

I'm afraid that I can't see your picture (I just get a little blue and white box).  Would you mind creating a link to it?  And a Callas recording that you hadn't heard before now?!      And who sings Adalgisa?

PD

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm afraid that I can't see your picture (I just get a little blue and white box).  Would you mind creating a link to it?  And a Callas recording that you hadn't heard before now?!      And who sings Adalgisa?

PD

Does it show up now?

It's from Treiste in 1953 and Elena Nicolai is the Adalgisa. She's ok, but not in the Simionato or Stignani class. I'd also prefer Ludwig on the second studio recording.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Does it show up now?

It's from Treiste in 1953 and Elena Nicolai is the Adalgisa. She's ok, but not in the Simionato or Stignani class. I'd also prefer Ludwig on the second studio recording.

Yes, I can see it now...thanks! 

PD

[Florestan]

(Cross-posted)



Belcanto goes French in this hilarious little opera full of charm and wit.

Me voici, me voici, militaire et mari! --- indeed, double reason for merriment...

Vive la guerre, vive la mort! --- I wonder if General Millan Astray was a Donizetti fan...

Je suis la duchesse de Crackentorp! --- Glad to meet you, Ma'am.

The only quibble I have with this recording is Sutherland's French diction which is, let's say, a little fuzzy. Par contre, Pavarotti's is surprisingly good.

Excellent.

[Tsaraslondon]

(Cross-posted)



Belcanto goes French in this hilarious little opera full of charm and wit.

Me voici, me voici, militaire et mari! --- indeed, double reason for merriment...

Vive la guerre, vive la mort! --- I wonder if Gen :laugh:eral Millan Astray was a Donizetti fan...

Je suis la duchesse de Crackentorp! --- Glad to meet you, Ma'am.

The only quibble I have with this recording is Sutherland's French diction which is, let's say, a little fuzzy. Par contre, Pavarotti's is surprisingly good.

Excellent.

I always say Pavarotti's diction is so good you can gear how bad his French is!   

As for Sutherland, who knows what language she is singing in.

[Florestan]

I always say Pavarotti's diction is so good you can gear how bad his French is!   

I don't think his French was bad in this particular recording. I mean, compared to Sutherland's he sounds like French-born. 

Jokes apart, I understood 90% of his singing. For Sutherland the percentage is 50%.

Be it as it might, my approach to opera is prima la musica poi le parole: I wallow in the music and treat the voice as just another instrument, albeit a very expressive one; if I understand anything, all the better.

[André]

Conductor Michi Gaigg graces the booklet cover of this release. Although she looks as spirited and congenial as Angela Merkel, her conducting is sprightly, sensitive and totally attuned to the italian sensibility of Mozart's Azione sacra. Operas were forbidden during Lent, but the Italians happily resorted to that kind of subterfuge - operas on a sacred subject. Here it's the story of Judith slaying Holopherne. The latter is not a character in the action, he is referred to in the recitatives only and the slaying happens offstage. Oratorios of the time were operas without costume or staging. And yet, overture, recitatives, arias, duets, choruses - it's all there and the mood is not really different from that of an opera seria. The amazing thing is that Mozart, just turned 15, could write so idiomatically in a genre and a language that were still quite new to him.

The orchestra is warm, sonorous yet crisp and transparent. There is not a rough sound to be heard. As its name implies it is a HIP band. Maestro (Maestra?) Gaigg conducts with a welcome balance of energy and suppleness. All the voices are excellent, but I particularly enjoyed the tenor Christian Zenker, a former pupil from the famed Windsbacher Knabenchor. I had never heard of him - or from any of the others, actually. Two decades ago such a work would have sold only if big names were involved. There's actually a  1952 recording with Boris Christoff, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Cesare Valletti. We have come a long way indeed.

[Wanderer]

Be it as it might, my approach to opera is prima la musica poi le parole: I wallow in the music and treat the voice as just another instrument, albeit a very expressive one; if I understand anything, all the better.

And sometimes it's better if you don't understand anything, if you libretto what I mean. 

[springrite]

With opera, not understanding the words can be a plus. You can just concentrate on the music, which is probably why I don't listen to opera in English much. The understanding gets in the way of musical enjoyment 

[Florestan]

And sometimes it's better if you don't understand anything, if you libretto what I mean. 

With opera, not understanding the words can be a plus. You can just concentrate on the music, which is probably why I don't listen to opera in English much. The understanding gets in the way of musical enjoyment 

Yes, most libretti are silly anyway so why even bother? 

TD and case in point:



From time to time I understood just enough to have a pretty good idea of the plot while at all times wallowing in the gorgeous music.

[Tsaraslondon]

I don't think his French was bad in this particular recording. I mean, compared to Sutherland's he sounds like French-born. 

Jokes apart, I understood 90% of his singing. For Sutherland the percentage is 50%.

Be it as it might, my approach to opera is prima la musica poi le parole: I wallow in the music and treat the voice as just another instrument, albeit a very expressive one; if I understand anything, all the better.

The distinction I was making is that Pavarotti's diction was, as always, excellent, so good that you can hear that his pronunciation of the French language is not. But I'd sooner that than the mush Sutherland comes up with. Pavarotti may not have been the greatest actor in the world (his size rather precluded it) but he did connect with the text and create character through sound alone.

I also think that it should be prima la musica doppo le parole, but I also recognise that composers set texts and often went to great lengths to find the right one, so the musica depends on the parole. Nobody expects every word to be intelligible, and sopranos have a particularly hard time of it, but I do expect to be able to make out most of what is being sung. Even in a language that I don't understand, the clarity of the words enlivens the music and ignoring them turns opera into just vocalise. You could argue, why stage them at all?

[Florestan]

The distinction I was making is that Pavarotti's diction was, as always, excellent, so good that you can hear that his pronunciation of the French language is not. But I'd sooner that than the mush Sutherland comes up with. Pavarotti may not have been the greatest actor in the world (his size rather precluded it) but he did connect with the text and create character through sound alone.

Agreed

I also think that it should be prima la musica doppo le parole, but I also recognise that composers set texts and often went to great lengths to find the right one, so the musica depends on the parole. Nobody expects every word to be intelligible, and sopranos have a particularly hard time of it, but I do expect to be able to make out most of what is being sung. Even in a language that I don't understand, the clarity of the words enlivens the music and ignoring them turns opera into just vocalise. You could argue, why stage them at all?

Fair enough but I was talking specifically about listening operas on CD. Watching them live or on DVD is a different matter altogether and in these cases there are subtitles.