What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

Started by Tsaraslondon, April 10, 2017, 04:29:04 AM

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Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 09, 2021, 02:20:45 PM
From the "Listening" thread -

I'm enjoying Solti's Strauss much more than I expected to as Rafael (ritter) caused me to second-guess my opinion of these performances. Lesson here, don't listen to anyone and go with your own gut feeling. Anyway, Arabella is an extremely beautiful work and, from what I've read, this is the best recording of it.

I'm not so sure. Della Casa was a wonderful Arabella, it is true, but even Solti fans think he was somewhat swift and perfunctory in this opera. I like the Sawallisch, who gives a much more lyrical reading of the score, but it can't be denied that Fischer-Dieskau is past his best.

That said, there's quite a bit of the opera I'd happily do without, so I'm quite happy with the excerpts Schwarzkopf recorded under Lovro von Matcic.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Mercadante: Il Giuramento

Bianca .... Agnes Baltsa
Viscardo .... José Carreras
Elaisa ... Annabell Bernard
Manfredo ... Robert Kerns

Chorus and Orchestra of Deutsche Oper, Berlin - Gerd Albrecht
Performance of September 23, 1974

Baltsa and Carreras take the vocal honours here. Sound is a bit boomy but listenable. I'm enjoying it.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

André



Much to my surprise this 65-year old live recording is eminently listenable. There is little clouding (in ensembles mostly) and the solo voices are caught with thrilling immediacy. And what voices ! All the men are in excellent voice. Del Monaco more stentorian and commanding than ever. Warren's instrument is in splendid shape although he is a mite instable in long singing lines. But what commanding presence ! The 33-year old Siepi is a vocal marvel. His Silva fills the stage with plush, voluminous tones. Only Milanov's matronly Elvira leaves a bit (or two) to be desired. In Surta è la notte...Ernani, Ernani involami her big voice has trouble negotiating the aria's wide tessitura and her coloratura sounds cautious. Still, past that she has fine vocal and dramatic presence. To hear that magnificent aria sung to perfection, turn to Callas (recital disc).

Mitropoulos conducts perfectly, expansively or tautly, as the score demands. As live historical recordings go, this one has a lot going for it.

Tsaraslondon



Raymond Leppard's arrangements of the operas of Monteverdi and Cavalli no doubt seem over-romaticised and anachronistic now, but we do well to remember that they played their part in the revival of a repertoire that was largely forgotten at the time.

This is a live performance by Sadlers Wells Opera (before it changed its name to English National Opera), recorded at the Coliseum in 1971. The main reason for its reissue is no doubt the casting of Dame Janet Baker in the role of Poppea, a casting that goes against type (one would expect her to play the role of the wronged queen Ottavia), but which she pulls off magnificently, revealing Poppea's manipulative quest for power. A fine performance of Ottavia too from Katherine Pring. Some will be less happy about the casting of a tenor as Nero, but Robert Ferguson does bring out the nastiness of the character.

We woulld never perform Monteverdi like this anymore of course, but it is good to have this slice of history preserved in sound.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



This recording is of the Naples version, which differs in many respects from the Venice version. It also now seems likely that much of the score was not by Monteverdi, but by what one might call "school of Monteverdi" with contributions by Cavalli and others.

Cavina's conception is certainly dramatically alive and vivid, and uinstrumentally this recording sis superb, but some of the singing leaves something to be desired. The good includes Emanuela Galli's provocatively sexy and scheming Poppea, Roberta Mamelli's almost petulantly boyish Nero and Francesca Cassinari's delightful Drusilla. The bad gives us Ian Honeyman's wildly over the top Arnalta and Xenia Meijer, whose Ottavia has absolutely no dignity and turns her into almost a comic character, which is a serious blot on the performance.



\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Purists should probably stay away. Haïm's take on Monteverdi's opera is unashamedly operatic (well it is, after all, an opera) with singers well versed in stage performances. There is no doubling of the various roles, which makes for a large cast of quite famous voices.

I'm not a purist and I think this might just be the most enjoyable performance of the opera I've ever heard.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

André

Cross-posted:



This starts well. The sound is excellent, the playing warm and precise, the overture fizzes with joy at a zippy tempo (the winds are positively effervescent). Mackerras paces the music utterly naturally. Under his baton it lives and breathe - nothing is forced or driven.

It's nice to have the dialogue in English, so easy to follow. When it comes to arias and choruses though the advantage is less clear. Most opera arias have rather plain lyrics, made all the plainer when heard in the vernacular. As for choruses, words are not always easy to follow anyway, whatever language they are sung in. The soloists sound young and act well. I'm happy to have this as a complement to the original Czech version.

Mirror Image

Quote from: André on December 22, 2021, 10:24:08 AM
Cross-posted:



This starts well. The sound is excellent, the playing warm and precise, the overture fizzes with joy at a zippy tempo (the winds are positively effervescent). Mackerras paces the music utterly naturally. Under his baton it lives and breathe - nothing is forced or driven.

It's nice to have the dialogue in English, so easy to follow. When it comes to arias and choruses though the advantage is less clear. Most opera arias have rather plain lyrics, made all the plainer when heard in the vernacular. As for choruses, words are not always easy to follow anyway, whatever language they are sung in. The soloists sound young and act well. I'm happy to have this as a complement to the original Czech version.

The only recording I own of The Bartered Bride is this one, Andre:



I haven't heard it yet, but would you say this is a good recording?

André

I can't tell, as I don't know the singers in that recording but Behlolavek certainly knows his Smetana !

Mirror Image

Quote from: André on December 25, 2021, 11:01:18 AM
I can't tell, as I don't know the singers in that recording but Behlolavek certainly knows his Smetana !

Thanks, I guess I'll just have to find out for myself. ;) I've read good things about it.

Tsaraslondon



A starry cast and some wonderful singing in this 1976 recording of Mozart's last opera seria.

It's not an opera I listen to often and not one I'd want multiple versions of, but this one seems to me to do the opera proud. It was based on a fantastically successful production at Covent Garden, which also travelled to La Scala (the only time Dame Janet Baker sang an opera outside of the UK).
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

ritter

#2871
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on January 11, 2022, 01:35:48 AM


A starry cast and some wonderful singing in this 1976 recording of Mozart's last opera seria.

It's not an opera I listen to often and not one I'd want multiple versions of, but this one seems to me to do the opera proud. It was based on a fantastically successful production at Covent Garden, which also travelled to La Scala (the only time Dame Janet Baker sang an opera outside of the UK).
That looks like a very interesting recording of La Clemenza di Tito. I might look for it; I've seen the opera live, but it's absent from my collection. The Böhm recording (with Berganza, a favourite singer of mine, but also with Peter Schreier, whom I don't really like in Mozart) is not readily available, so the Davis could be a suitable alternative.

THREAD DUTY:

First listen to this 1947 live recording of Act II of Tristan und Isolde from Berlin, under Wilhelm Furtwängler. The soloists are Erna Schlüter (Isolde --quite outstanding IMHO), Margarete Klose (Brangäne --excellent as well), Ludwig Suthaus (Tristan, as he would also be in Furtwängler's later studio recording), Gottlob Frick (Marke), Jaro Prohaska (Kurwenal), and Kurt Rehm (Melot). Quite a starry cast; even if the glory days of many of them were the pre-war years, they give a superb performance! And Furtwängler's handling of the score seems so natural, so theatrically convincing (and I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a diehard fan of this conductor). Great stuff (and the sound is better than I had expected).

CD 6 of this set (Acts II and III were broadcast at the time, but only the former is included here) :


JBS

Quote from: ritter on January 11, 2022, 06:24:50 AM
That looks like a very interesting recording of La Clemenza di Tito. I might look for it; I've seen the opera live, but it's absent from my collection. The Böhm recording (with Berganza, a favourite singer of mine, but also with Peter Schreier, whom I don't really like in Mozart) is not readily available, so the Davis could be a suitable alternative.


I'd put the Rene Jacobs as a first choice, with Mackerras next in line.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

ritter

#2873
Quote from: JBS on January 11, 2022, 07:34:11 AM
I'd put the Rene Jacobs as a first choice, with Mackerras next in line.
Thanks! Will keep in mind. I tend more to "old school(ish)" Mozart, but more HIP approaches can certainly be interesting as well.

TD:

As an appendix to the Act II of Tristan I was listening to now, the Liebestod from the same performance (YouTube).

https://www.youtube.com/v/brvRupBtPeM   
Erna Schlüter was quite the Isolde!

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: ritter on January 11, 2022, 07:41:18 AM
Thanks! Will keep in mind. I tend more to "old school(ish)" Mozart, but more HIP approaches can certainly be interesting as well.

TD:

If you like "old school(ish)" Mozart, then you could hardly do better than this set. Davis had a natural feel for Mozart, with excellent recordings of the three da Ponte opers to his credit. The singing on this set is really wonderful and I think you'd probably prefer Stuart Burrows to the rather dry-voiced Schreier.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

JBS

Quote from: ritter on January 11, 2022, 07:41:18 AM
Thanks! Will keep in mind. I tend more to "old school(ish)" Mozart, but more HIP approaches can certainly be interesting as well.

TD:

As an appendix to the Act II of Tristan I was listening to now, the Liebestod from the same performance (YouTube).

https://www.youtube.com/v/brvRupBtPeM   
Erna Schlüter was quite the Isolde!

Then look to Mackerras.
TBH, I've never thought Davis's Mozart to be anything more than solid.  It's only in Berlioz that he's the obvious first choice.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: JBS on January 11, 2022, 08:41:55 AM
Then look to Mackerras.
TBH, I've never thought Davis's Mozart to be anything more than solid.  It's only in Berlioz that he's the obvious first choice.

This Clemenza is a lot better than merely solid, and his singing cast could hardly be bettered. I also have two Davis recordings of Cosi fan Tutte (one studio/one live) and they are both extremely fine.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

JBS


Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Wendell_E

#2878
Saturday, the 8th/Sunday, the 9th:



From Netflix, a DVD of a 2006 Deutsche Oper Berlin production of Alberto Franchetti's Germania, It takes place during Napoleonic times and involves a love triangle among students who are working secretly underground for the liberation of a Germany then under occupation by France. The world premiere took place at La Scala in 1902, Toscanini conducting, with Caruso in the title role, They also gave the U.S. premiere of the work in January 1910, where they were joined by Emmy Destin and Pasquale Amato as the other points of the triangle, and Adamo Didur, the Met's first Boris Godunov, as the protestant pastor, Stapps. All five reunited in December of that year for the world premiere of La Fanciulla del West (Didur sang Ashby). Germania got seven performances at the Met that season, two more a year later, and hasn't been seen there since, though it's apparently Franchetti's biggest hit.

Lise Lindstrom was the leading lady in Berlin, with tenor Carlo Ventre and baritone Bruno Caproni as the men in the triangle, Artujun Kotchinian as Pastor Stapps. Renato Palumbo conducts, and the production is by Kirsten Harms. There's a "special feature" interview with Harms in German, but unlike the opera, it's not subtitled, so I got maybe 40% of what she was talking about. It starts slowly.  I stopped Satuday night about halfway through the Prologue, which does go on for 45 minutes. It gets better, and I'm keeping it for a second viewing before returning it.

BTW, the valkyrie pictured on the cover is a non-singing role, an addition by the director, who only appears in the Symphonic Interlude, The Battle of the Nations, that's played before the Epilogue.

Tuesday, the 11th:



In Memorium Maria Ewing, her  1991 DG recording of Pelléas et Mélisande, with Abbado conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker and Le Roux, van Dam, Jean-Philippe Courtis, and Christa Ludwig.


Wednesday, the 12th:



On Blu-ray, Dimitri Tcherniakov's 2007 Bavarian State Opera Khovanshchina, with Paata Burchuladze and Klaus Florian Vogt as the Khovanskys, John Daszak as Golitsyn, Valery Alexejev (Shaklovity), Anatoli Kotscherga (Dosifei), Ulrich Reß (Scrivener), and Camilla Nylund (Emma). In this production, the role of Susanna is split between three women, part of a group of Old Believers who are tormenting Marfa (Doris Soffel). Kent Nagano conducts, using Shostakovich's orchestration, with Stravinsky's ending.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

André

Very interesting, Wendell !

I have the Nagano Khovanshchina DVD and enjoyed it quite a lot. Franchetti is a name I've never encountered before.