What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Kalevala]

Yes, indeed. My first recording of Bluebeard's Castle and still one of the great ones. It was through this recording that I became obsessed with this work that I ended up buying books and really any information I could find on it.

Bluebeard's Castle remains my favorite piece of music of all-time.

I really do need to give that a listen to as I love a lot of Bartok's music.  Is there an online libretto?

K

[Lisztianwagner]

I wish it would have been my first one! Had it been, my first reaction to this wonderful opera probably wouldn't have been so mixed!

Agreed, a very good performance can certainly change the perception of a work. Out of curiosity, what is the first Lohengrin you've ever listened to?

[Ganondorf]

Agreed, a very good performance can certainly change the perception of a work. Out of curiosity, what is the first Lohengrin you've ever listened to?

The only thing I remember about that recording is that it was made, incredibly enough, in Bayreuth and that performance was quite monotonous to my ears. So your guess is as good as mine. There is a chance that my ears were not yet ripe for this work although it's hard to imagine anyone interested in good Wagnerian sound to be unimpressed with Kempe Lohengrin. Christa Ludwig alone is enough to make this exceptional recording.

[Mirror Image]

I really do need to give that a listen to as I love a lot of Bartok's music.  Is there an online libretto?

K

Hey K, this is the only thing I could find by doing a quick Google search:

https://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/64_Bluebeard/Words.html

[JBS]

The only thing I remember about that recording is that it was made, incredibly enough, in Bayreuth and that performance was quite monotonous to my ears. So your guess is as good as mine. There is a chance that my ears were not yet ripe for this work although it's hard to imagine anyone interested in good Wagnerian sound to be unimpressed with Kempe Lohengrin. Christa Ludwig alone is enough to make this exceptional recording.

My first Lohengrin was a live performance: the Metropolitan Opera on its then-annual spring tour in Atlanta. All I remember of it is that it was rather dark and dreary, especially the first act.

Cast listing from the Met archives

Lohengrin
Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta, Georgia, Fri, May 6, 1977




Lohengrin (564)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
LohengrinJohn Alexander

Elsa Pilar Lorengar

Ortrud Mignon Dunn

Telramund Morley Meredith

King Heinrich John Macurdy

Herald Arthur Thompson

Gottfried Antoinette Peloso

Noble Robert Goodloe

Noble Andrea Velis

Noble Philip Booth

Noble Charles Anthony


Conductor James Levine




The name Andrea Velis brings back memories...always a supporting role but the sort of singer no opera company can do without

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Velis

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm not sure Georges Prêtre ever had the measure of Berlioz's idiom, with conducting which at times seems somewhat perfunctory. It's a great shame, because he has one of the best casts ever assembled for the work, with Janet Baker outstanding as Marguerite, as she is in La mort de Clêopâtre.

[ritter]

Verdi: Simon Boccanegra. Cappuccilli, Freni, Carreras, Ghiaurov, van Dam, La Scala, Claudio Abbado.

[Tsaraslondon]

Klemperer's magisterial conducting makes this a great recording, but, truth to tell, some of the singing lets it down. Adam can be a bit wobbly as the Dutchman and, whilst there's no denying Silja's commitment, she can be a bit squally as Senta. Talvela is superb as Daland and Kozub is fine as Erik, but Unger as the Steersman, sounds all of his 52 years at the time of the recording, if not older.

[Tsaraslondon]

All in all, I have to say I prefer this Konwitschny recording of Der fliegende Holländer to the Klemperer. Fischer- Dieskau gives a more thoughtful, intellectual account of the Dutchman, and, at this stage of his career (he was 35 at the time of the recording) he is less inclined to bark. Frick is superb as Daland and Shoch is fine as Erik, with the youthful Wunderlich the best of all possible Steersmen. The let down is Marianne Schech's Senta. I can't agree with Ralph Moore in finding that she "suggests youthful feminine idealism and naivety." To me she sounds dreadfully matronly, indeed more suited to the role of Mary, which is ably sung here by Sieglinde Wagner (no relation, apparently). I do agree with him, though, about Konwitschny's vital conducting and the excellent playing of the Staatskapelle, Berlin.

[Lisztianwagner]

Béla Bartók
Bluebeard's Castle

Christa Ludwig (Judith), Walter Berry (Bluebeard)
István Kertész & London Symphony Orchestra

[ritter]

György Kúrtag: Fin de partie. Frode Olsen (bar.), Zsolt Haja (bar.), Hilary Summers (alto), Leonardo Cortellazzi (ten.), Danubian Orchestra, Markus Stenz (con.).

[Lisztianwagner]

Alban Berg
Lulu

Gerd Nienstedt, Teresa Stratas, Franz Mazura, Robert Tear, Kenneth Riegel, Toni Blankenheim, Jules Bastin, Helmut Pampuch, Hanna Schwarz, Yvonne Minton, Pierre-Yves Le Maigat, Jane Manning, Claude Meloni, Anna Ringart, Ursula Boese
Pierre Boulez & Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris

[ritter]

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Turandot in Milan on 25 April 1926.



This is the first recording of the work, made in 1938. Franco Ghione conducts the Turin EIAR Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with Gina Cigna in the title rôle, Francesco Merli as Calaf, Magda Olivero —whom I got to see live in recital towards the end of her long and distinguished career— as Liù, Luciano Neroni as Timur, et al.

[Tsaraslondon]

On balance still the best recording of Berlioz's masterpiece. What a great opera this is!

[betterthanfine]

I really can't understand why Berlioz's ebullient Benvenuto Cellini isn't more popular. The score is so full of joie de vivre and Davis perfectly captures its mercurial character in this famous recording.

Tsaras, how do you find the more recent Nelson recording of this work?

[Tsaraslondon]

Tsaras, how do you find the more recent Nelson recording of this work?

I'm afraid I haven't heard it.

[Tsaraslondon]

The sound isn't great, but it's just about listenable, even for the Act III Ballet, which is given a sparkling performance under Kleiber. This is the performance than forced Ghiringhelli, the intendant of La Scala, to give Callas a permanent contract with the theatre. She opened the 1951/52 season with the same opera, though this time conducted by Victor De Sabata, and followed it with Norma and, surprisingly, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, given in Italian as Il Ratto del Seraglio, and receiving its first La Scala performance. She is in enviable form for this performance, singing with sovereign authority. Christoff is a superb Procida too and Erich Kleiber conducts with style and elan.

Callas in I Vespri Siciliani - Florence 1951

[Que]

Klemperer's magisterial conducting makes this a great recording, but, truth to tell, some of the singing lets it down. Adam can be a bit wobbly as the Dutchman and, whilst there's no denying Silja's commitment, she can be a bit squally as Senta. Talvela is superb as Daland and Kozub is fine as Erik, but Unger as the Steersman, sounds all of his 52 years at the time of the recording, if not older.

All in all, I have to say I prefer this Konwitschny recording of Der fliegende Holländer to the Klemperer. Fischer- Dieskau gives a more thoughtful, intellectual account of the Dutchman, and, at this stage of his career (he was 35 at the time of the recording) he is less inclined to bark. Frick is superb as Daland and Shoch is fine as Erik, with the youthful Wunderlich the best of all possible Steersmen. The let down is Marianne Schech's Senta. I can't agree with Ralph Moore in finding that she "suggests youthful feminine idealism and naivety." To me she sounds dreadfully matronly, indeed more suited to the role of Mary, which is ably sung here by Sieglinde Wagner (no relation, apparently). I do agree with him, though, about Konwitschny's vital conducting and the excellent playing of the Staatskapelle, Berlin.

I've read your comments with great interest!   

I always liked the Klemperer, but all in all this must be my favourite:

[Tsaraslondon]

I really like Carmen, and especially this recording, and not just for Callas's endlessly fascinating traversal of the title role, which is never quite the same as I remember it. It is a real French Carmen. All involved, apart from the two protagonists are French, and Callas and Gedda were, in any case, completely at home in the language. Prêtre is also completely at home in the idiom, much more so than he was in Berlioz, and he conducts with vital energy. The beginning of Act II, taken at quite a lick in the final verse, is absolutely thrilling. I really like Andréa Guiot's plucky, no nonsense Micaëla, and Robert Massard's suavely genial Escamillo. Gedda is a good deal better than he is given credit for, a nice young man, hopelessly out of his depth with Carmen, until, by the end, he is a man dangerously at the end of his tether. As for Callas's Carmen, I notice something new each time I hear it; the detail in her characterisation is incredible and yet she always sounds completely spontaneous.

The Callas Carmen

[André]

1952


1959

Clearly a case where a 'legendary recording' proves to have aged terribly badly: la Tebaldi is in fine voice in 1952 but everything else in that recording is second or third rate, beginning with the recorded sound: voices are all up front with the orchestra playing in a telephone booth from across the street - with the door closed. Surprisingly, Erede conducts with a soft hand and the orchestra responds in kind. Compare this to Erede's contemporaneous Decca Otello, a cracking, electric performance recorded in astonishing sound for its vintage. Stignani is a strident, matronly Amneris, Del Monaco a strident, Macho Man Radamès. Protti is a well sung and well characterized Amonasro, possibly the best portrayal in this otherwise forgettable venture.

The 1959 Decca recording offers a huge contrast. The orchestra has splendid force and beauty and is perfectly caught: superb presence but no stridency (cf. Solti's Rome Orchestra on the same label).

Tebaldi's voice is said to sound not as fresh compared to her younger self in the 1952 production, but my ears tell me otherwise: she sounds totally engaged emotionally and the mistress of all aspects of her lustrous voice. The vault to a pianissimo high C at 'fuggiam' in the Nile scene took my breath away. It has a faint hint of effort that makes the result sound all the more valiant. Freni's voice on Karajan's later WP recording cracks audibly at that point in what is otherwise a touching, proud, vulnerable portrayal of Aida.

Bergonzi is perfection itself as Radamès: strongly, evenly vocalized, full of pride and unassuming nobility. McNeil is alternately noble, leery, dangerously fanatical as Amonasro. Karajan's conducting was to be even more noble and lofty, fiery and fanatically beautiful on the EMI recording but the sounds he elicits from the WP in the 1959 recording are to die for.

The recorded sound is superb. Not a hint of saturation, everything in perfect balance. Not my favourite, but musically this is on a par with Freni/Karajan, Callas/Serafin and Caballé/Muti. All these versions have huge assets and are better than Price/Solti, Price/Leinsdorf or Ricciarelli/Abbado.