What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Don Carlo on May 30, 2017, 08:44:49 PM
Dream cast made in heaven.  :-*

Thanks - yes I really enjoyed this one (ended up listening to it several times!) :).

Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Alberich on May 31, 2017, 12:38:24 AM
My first (and favorite) Ring!

I made the mistake of collecting Haitink's Ring as my first recording (it wasn't too bad in most respects but I agree with the people who thought Eva Marton's Brunnhilde was horrible).
I bought this Solti ring a couple of years back (although I only listened to it last week) and I think it's brilliant! - I can see how this could be a favourite recording :).

Quote from: Alberich on May 31, 2017, 12:39:43 AM
My first (and favorite) rigoletto!

Good stuff haha - yes this one is great for sure! :D

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Webernian on May 30, 2017, 09:08:32 PM
Do you recommend this recording?

It depends on what you want from an opera recording. If it's chiefly beautiful singing, then it might be the one for you.

However if you want something a little more dramatically truthful, then I'd go for Serafin with Gobbi, Callas and Di Stefano (unfortunately in mono with the cuts traditional at the time),



or Giulini, with Cappuccilli, Cotrubas and Domingo.





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

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: king ubu on May 31, 2017, 12:41:15 PM
@Tsaraslondon: thanks a lot - crazy times here and off for a short vacation (I really do need it!) from tomorrow on ... will read upon my return! And hopefully the recently announced Callas live box will improve that situation, that Callas Verdi box was dirt-cheap anyway (but I've amassed so many live recordings, not sure how attractive the upcoming box really is, had no time to run against what I already have, and I guess in many cases we're talking of improving sound from extremely poor to very poor, so the question is: how much does it really matter?)

On top of the crazy times, btw, just did attend a show of Profokofiev's "The Fiery Angel" (and fought sleep a few times, I'm afraid) - musically excellent I found, very dense and intense and dissonant and most though-provoking, with an amazing Ausrine Stundyte in the main role (and an excellent Leigh Melrose in the male main role) and Gianandrea Noseda conducting - all very good, but I still found it lacking as far as theater goes. And I'm okay with that quite often in opera, but this time after the good reviews I had somewhat higher expectations and found the whole action just to be mostly make-believe, movement that had no connection to the plot really, which is a story, not a play. But either way, I guess I need to investigate some recordings of Prokofiev operas, of which I have none. This was my very first exposure, and as such it was mighty good for sure! Any recommendations?

Well it remains to be seen what the sound on the Warner box will be like, and what sources they used. I heard that they approached Pablo Berruti at Divina Records, who goes to great lengths to find the very best sources and transfers them painstakingly, but Warner weren't prepared to pay him a reasonable fee, so I fear we will just get a re-hash of the EMI, where there is one, and copies of whatever CD issue they can get their hands on.

I can't really help with Prokoviev operas. Years ago I saw the ENO production of War and Peace, which was excellent and a Sendak designed production of The Love for Three Oranges at Glyndebourne, also excellent and also a long time ago. The only recording I have any real knowledge of is the Bolshoi War and Peace, with a starry cast under Melik-Pashayev.



Well worth investigating.

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

kishnevi

A nice recital with arias ranging from the sort of familiar to the totally unknown.  All phases of Mayerbeer's career are represented.  Two arias are marked "world premiere recording".
[asin]B06XKGJD2H[/asin]

Autumn Leaves

Now playing:



Another work Im not especially familiar with - quite an old recording but it sounds good in this incarnation.

Jaakko Keskinen

I hate to sound like a broken record but Don Giovanni is IMO Mozart's greatest opera. I am not familiar with that recording but with Fischer-Dieskau in the lead role you can't go wrong. Hope you enjoy it!
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

GioCar

Earlier this morning Act 1 & 2

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Now just finished Act 3. It makes me shiver all the times.

Spineur

#208
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 02, 2017, 01:13:15 PM
A nice recital with arias ranging from the sort of familiar to the totally unknown.  All phases of Mayerbeer's career are represented.  Two arias are marked "world premiere recording".
[asin]B06XKGJD2H[/asin]
This is indeed a very nice album, with some of the finest music Meyerbeer composed.  Half of the operas (2 in German-Alimek - Ein Feldlager in Schlesien, 2 in italien-Il crociato in Egitto-Emma di Resburgo) were unknown to me.

Veronique Gens just recorded also a Grand Opera album
[asin]B071CFJYZM[/asin], with 100% obscure french operas.  In spite of the very strong presence of Veronique Gens, I have to admit that there are here good reasons why some of these operas have been forgotten.

Wendell_E

Quote from: GioCar on June 03, 2017, 06:23:56 AM
Earlier this morning Act 1 & 2

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Now just finished Act 3. It makes me shiver all the times.

After reading about Jeffrey Tate's death, I decided to give this another listen:

[asin]B00127ISEK[/asin]
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

kishnevi

#210
Quote from: Spineur on June 03, 2017, 10:08:48 AM
This is indeed a very nice album, with some of the finest music Meyerbeer composed.  Half of the operas (2 in German-Alimek - Ein Feldlager in Schlesien, 2 in italien-Il crociato in Egitto-Emma di Resburgo) were unknown to me.


Meyerbeer's Crociato is available in at least one CD version from Naxos, but I think there are other recordings, including a DVD.  Beyond this Damrau CD I haven't heard a note of it, however.

TD
Doing two operas today.  It's time to get serious with my Opera Pile.
This afternoon starting Karajan's Ring with Rheingold
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There seems to be a budget reissue from last year btw
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Then tonight, after some other CDs, the first opera, Armida, in this set, which I have had for eight years or more but never played until tonight.
[asin]B002EPLGWU[/asin]

Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Alberich on June 03, 2017, 02:33:30 AM
I hate to sound like a broken record but Don Giovanni is IMO Mozart's greatest opera. I am not familiar with that recording but with Fischer-Dieskau in the lead role you can't go wrong. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks very much for your reply - I really enjoyed the recording of Don Giovanni and am listening to it again now :):


Autumn Leaves

Now playing:



I wasn't sure if I liked this work at first but I am enjoying it now - the vocal cast in this version is superb! :).

Autumn Leaves


ritter

Quote from: Conor71 on June 04, 2017, 11:42:07 PM
Current listening:


Wonderful recording IMHO. My go-to Figaro...Karl Böhm at his best, and a wonderful cast (Janowitz & Mathis:) )

Autumn Leaves

Quote from: ritter on June 04, 2017, 11:54:07 PM
Wonderful recording IMHO. My go-to Figaro...Karl Böhm at his best, and a wonderful cast (Janowitz & Mathis:) )

Thank you :) - I can't fault this one and think it's my kind of thing.
Up till last weekend this was the only version of the work that I owned (I hope the new versions I bought measure up to this though perhaps that might be a bit difficult..).

Maestro267

Wagner: Das Rheingold
John Wenger (Wotan), Oleg Bryjak (Alberich), Simon Yang (Fasolt), Malcolm Smith (Fafner), Hans-Jorg Weinschenk (Loge)
Badische Staatskapelle/Neuhold

kishnevi

Two days ahead of you

Yesterday I did Walkure, tomorrow I hope to do at least the first half of Gotterdammerung.

Maestro267

I must point out that right now this is no conscious intention to listen to the entire Ring cycle. Not long after I got the set, I listened to Götterdämmerung, and while I enjoyed it, I was mentally exhausted at the end of it. I probably couldn't do the whole thing in 4 days, or even in a week. I'm effectively treating them as four separate operas. This may well end up being the time where I listen to it in order, but maybe one a week. I am not committing myself to anything rn.

kishnevi

Quote from: Maestro267 on June 06, 2017, 06:43:17 AM
I must point out that right now this is no conscious intention to listen to the entire Ring cycle. Not long after I got the set, I listened to Götterdämmerung, and while I enjoyed it, I was mentally exhausted at the end of it. I probably couldn't do the whole thing in 4 days, or even in a week. I'm effectively treating them as four separate operas. This may well end up being the time where I listen to it in order, but maybe one a week. I am not committing myself to anything rn.

I don't blame you. I have extra time on my hands, and decided to give it a try.  In fact, I am listening to Act II of Gotterdammerung right now, and will listen to it all the way through. But I didn't try to listen to it all in one go. I listened to the first two hours (Prologue and Act I) this morning, then ate, did errands, ate supper. So a long break between the two halves.  And all the other music I listened to this week, with one exception, was by Rameau, Bach, and Haydn. On purpose.  (The exception was Richter playing the Diabelli Variations.)

And I will give Wagner a bit if a rest, but not a long one.  This was a first listen to the Karajan. But I also have four other Rings (Solti, Barenboim, Janowski, and a mono hotchpotch) and a number of the non Ring operas sitting in a pile....