What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Florestan]

Let's face it, nobody who's not French can sing in French!

Nicolai Gedda.

Pavarotti (yes, he!) in La fille du regiment, where his French diction mops the floor with Sutherlands'.

Peter-Christoph Runge in Auber's Manon Lescaut (much better diction than Mady Mesple's, which is virtually unintelligible, go figure!)

[springrite]

Nicolai Gedda.

Pavarotti (yes, he!) in La fille du regiment, where his French diction mops the floor with Sutherlands'.

Peter-Christoph Runge in Auber's Manon Lescaut (much better diction than Mady Mesple's, which is virtually unintelligible, go figure!)

Yes, I have Gedda in several French operas!

[Tsaraslondon]

Nicolai Gedda.

Pavarotti (yes, he!) in La fille du regiment, where his French diction mops the floor with Sutherlands'.

Peter-Christoph Runge in Auber's Manon Lescaut (much better diction than Mady Mesple's, which is virtually unintelligible, go figure!)

I always think Pavarotti's diction is so good you can hear just how bad his French pronunciation is. 

Callas sang wonderfully in French. According to Walter Legge, she was the original choice for the Beecham Carmen, but she turned it down, "because my French isn't good enough yet." She later became fluent in the language, of course.

A few other non-French singers, who sang French well:

Janet Baker
Frederica Von Stade
Alfredo Kraus
José Carreras
Victoria De Los Angeles

and a couple who most certainly didn't:

Franco Corelli
Boris Christoff
The already mentioned Joan Sutherland

[Florestan]

The already mentioned Joan Sutherland

Her Italian was not much better than her French. 

[ritter]

...

A few other non-French singers, who sang French well:

Janet Baker
Frederica Von Stade
Alfredo Kraus
José Carreras
Victoria De Los Angeles

...

Indeed. And Bidú Sayão, whose French was impeccable.

[Florestan]

Anne Sofie von Otter's French is quite good, too, at least in Offenbach's Barcarolle.

[Cato]

I always think Pavarotti's diction is so good you can hear just how bad his French pronunciation is.  .

A few other non-French singers, who sang French well:

...

and a couple who most certainly didn't:

Franco Corelli

Wonderful voices of course, but...

Although as somebody said once: "It's French!  How could anyone tell if the pronunciation is good or not?!"   

[Tsaraslondon]

Her Italian was not much better than her French. 

Nor her English. I remember once playing her Christmas album to my partner (not an opera fan) and he asked in all seriousness "What language is she singing in?" It was supposed to be English. 

[Wanderer]

I always think Pavarotti's diction is so good you can hear just how bad his French pronunciation is. 

Callas sang wonderfully in French. According to Walter Legge, she was the original choice for the Beecham Carmen, but she turned it down, "because my French isn't good enough yet." She later became fluent in the language, of course.

A few other non-French singers, who sang French well:

Janet Baker
Frederica Von Stade
Alfredo Kraus
José Carreras
Victoria De Los Angeles

Also, Felicity Lott!

[Florestan]

And Tassis Christoyannis.

[Tsaraslondon]

Also, Felicity Lott!

And Valerie Masterson, who was a great favourite in France, as of course were both Mary Garden and Maggie Teyte, who were both chosen by Debussy for his Mélisande.

[ritter]

...

...

Act II this evening...

[ritter]

And now, a delightful intermezzo, Pergolesi's La Serva padrona, in a classic and IMHO very engaging recording from 1960, with Renata Scotto (then only 26 years old, but with quite a few successes behind her already) and Sesto Bruscantini, under the baton of Renato Fasano.

[Florestan]

And now, a delightful intermezzo, Pergolesi's La Serva padrona, in a classic and IMHO very engaging recording from 1960, with Renata Scotto (then only 26 years old, but with quite a few successes behind her already) and Sesto Bruscantini, under the baton of Renato Fasano.

Classic indeed. 

[ando]

Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann Wilden, Sutherland, Meyers, Tourangeau, Connell; Bonynge, Sydney, 1974
This recorded live radio telecast has had me riveted since I hit play. I must get my own copy not only to hear one of the best sopranos of the 20th century sings all four heroin roles but the entire production, including a stunning performance by tenor, Henri Wilden, is superlative. Nice Sunday treat, in any event. 

[ritter]

Francesca da Rimini, by Riccardo Zandonai, in its first ever recording (from 1952).



IMHO, this is one of the most interesting operas from Italy in the early 20th century. The libretto (by Tito Ricordi, from Dante via D'Annunzio) is rather exalted, but works very well, and the music has some really magnificent moments (the long love duet in Act III standing out).

The performance is a delight. Maria Caniglia as Francesca is caught towards the end of her illustrious career, and displays some strain at the top, but is a very solid singer. Giacinto Prandelli might be a touch light for the rôle of Paolo il bello, but is a refined and very elegant tenor.

But this is Antonio Guanieri's show; he was a highly regarded conductor in Italy in the first half of the 20th century, but this seems to be his only complete opera recording. He makes the most of the superb orchestration, and leads a vigorous performance. Great stuff!

[Tsaraslondon]

A sonically splendid recording that can't compete with ghosts from the past.

My latest review on Musicweb International and on my own site.

[Wanderer]

Three consecutive nights of opera (and one of ballet) in Vienna recently: La Fanciulla del West, I vespri siciliani and Don Giovanni.

La Fanciulla was given in the Marco Arturo Marelli's production with the hot-air ballon in the end: succinct, unobtrusive, successful. I have the Blu-ray with Stemme, Kaufmann and Konieczny; what we saw last Friday (with Malin Byström, Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Frontali) was better sung and played (conducted by Carlo Rizzi). The orchestra was magnificently alert to all the colours that Puccini created in this most wondrous score of his. One can hear in many places premonitions of Korngold. It's the kind of music that lifts a work up to heights where even things like "whisky per tutti!" don't register as ridiculous. A tremendous success.

Don Giovanni was given in the Barrie Kosky production with a desolate rock landscape present throughout and occasional additions and subtractions of decor as suggested by the plot. Extraneous regie nonsense was kept to a minimum here, as well, and emphasis was appropriately given to the psychological states and relationships of the protagonists. Donna Anna was particularly impressive, Don Giovanni imposingly forceful and sardonic, Leporello, by directorial demand, very buffo, everyone else excellent vocally and interpretatively; Masetto sometimes a tad lower in volume than the others, but such a superb voice.Excellently sung by all:
Don Giovanni - Christian Van Horn
Commendatore - Antonio Di Matteo
Donna Anna - Slávka Zámečníková
Don Ottavio - Bogdan Volkov
Donna Elvira - Federica Lombardi
Leporello - Peter Kellner
Zerlina - Patricia Nolz
Masetto - Martin Häßler
The latent directorial weirdness was thankfully kept to an inconsequential minimum (who knows why there was a pool of water in the cemetery and why did Leporello have to dive into it) and the orchestra was colourful, alert and very appropriately Mozartian - conductor Philippe Jordan was also in charge of the accompaniment in the recitatives, injecting the very theatrically-minded dialogue with minimal fortepiano.

I vespri siciliani, not a favourite work,was also beautifully sung and conducted, the production being by Herbert Wernicke. An imposing black staircase inhabited the whole stage and everything happened on it; costumes were obviously designed to draw attention in antithesis to it, sometimes in startling effect. Again, excellently sung and performed.
Guido di Monforte - Igor Golovatenko
Arrigo - John Osborn
Giovanni da Procida - Erwin Schrott
Herzogin Elena - Rachel Willis-Sørensen
Sire di Béthune - Simonas Strazdas
Conte Vaudemont - Hans Peter Kammerer
Ninetta - Szilvia Vörös
Danieli - Norbert Ernst
Tebaldo - Ted Black
Roberto - Michael Arivony

The ballet was Martin Schläpfer's version of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty (Dornröschen in German), conducted by Patrick Lange. Musically, the very interesting fact about this production was the additional use of music by Toshio Hosokawa in the beginning of the second act (a very atmospheric Ferne Landschaft II). Choreography was by Schläpfer and Petipa. Another very successful evening.

[Wendell_E]

I vespri siciliani, not a favourite work,was also beautifully sung and conducted, the production being by Herbert Wernicke. An imposing black staircase inhabited the whole stage and everything happened on it;

That black staircase reminded me of John Dexter's 1974 Met production, originally staged at English National Opera, IIRC.

Wernicke:
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Dexter:

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[ritter]

Three consecutive nights of opera (and one of ballet) in Vienna recently: La Fanciulla del West, I vespri siciliani and Don Giovanni.

...

Great stuff, Tassos! Sounds like a wonderful balleto-operatic week in Vienna. 

THREAD DUTY:

Listening to what IMHO is a superb recording of Il Trovatore.



Bergonzi sings beautifully in the title rôle. Some critics say he didn't have sufficient heft in his voice for Manrico, but I think his delivery is superb. Stella is also very good, even if perhaps a bit anonymous. Cossotto sounds too young for Azucena, but is a force of nature. And Bastianini shows the great Verdian baritone he was (even if not the most nuanced one). All principals performed their roles onstage at La Scala in the years around 1962, when this recording was made, and a true theatrical sense can be felt in each bar.

I must admit that Il Trovatore is a most effective opera, in that the ludicrousness of the plot is matched perfectly by the vulgarity of the music. This adds up to something rather exciting...

I'm listening to this because I am reading this book on conductor Tullio Serafin (who leads the score with real theatrical brio):



What has intrigued me is that Serafin, after having served as artistic director of La Scala in 1946-47, never conducted at the theatre again until his death in 1967 (although he did make many recordings with the forces of the Milan opera house). Let's see if this book explains why.