What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

kishnevi

Quote from: GioCar on June 16, 2017, 05:04:43 AM
You'll love it. And this is a stellar performance.

That might well be the best overall (meaning singers, conducting, and sonics combined) recording of Turandot.

TD

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Conor71 on June 16, 2017, 03:13:04 AM


[img width=300]
Have listened to everything in the box apart from Turandot - will be playing it tonight for a first listen (the recording and the work - never heard this Opera  before).
That recording is famous for Sutherland having never sung that role on stage and for her bewildered consonant-popping next to the natural, florid Italian of Pavarotti and the equally fine contribution of Caballe. It is very comical if you pay attention.

ComposerOfAvantGarde

Curiously, what do people think of this Turandot?



My own favourite

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: jessop on June 16, 2017, 03:05:25 PM
Curiously, what do people think of this Turandot?



My own favourite
Well now you are talking about a role that Nilsson more or less owns, the security of the high notes, the absolute evenness of her registers. Like Sutherland not a very subtle performance but who cares right? Not sure whether that is the exact recording I have but I have some version  of Nilsson. I think both this one and the Mehta are very good.

kishnevi

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 16, 2017, 03:24:13 PM
Well now you are talking about a role that Nilsson more or less owns, the security of the high notes, the absolute evenness of her registers. Like Sutherland not a very subtle performance but who cares right? Not sure whether that is the exact recording I have but I have some version  of Nilsson. I think both this one and the Mehta are very good.

There are two studio recordings with Nilsson. The other one is conducted by Leinsdorf, with Bjorling and Tebaldi, using the same orchestra and chorus even though it is on a different label  (RCA). I think both are about equal. There are also several live recordings listed on Amazon. I prefer the Mehta because the sonics are better, and I like the handling of the chorus, which is a very important part of Act I.

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 16, 2017, 03:36:01 PM
There are two studio recordings with Nilsson. The other one is conducted by Leinsdorf, with Bjorling and Tebaldi, using the same orchestra and chorus even though it is on a different label  (RCA). I think both are about equal. There are also several live recordings listed on Amazon. I prefer the Mehta because the sonics are better, and I like the handling of the chorus, which is a very important part of Act I.
Yes the DECCA sonics is very fine, demonstration class I think.

Interestingly there aren't THAT many Turandots (not counting all the bootlegs I mean) as compared to something like Butterfly.

kishnevi

#326
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 16, 2017, 03:38:36 PM
Yes the DECCA sonics is very fine, demonstration class I think.

Interestingly there aren't THAT many Turandots (not counting all the bootlegs I mean) as compared to something like Butterfly.

OTOH, there are some Turandots on both CD and DVD brought out smaller opera companies with sometimes casts you never heard of.  All my recordings are with big names: the Mehta, the two studio Nilssons,  a bootleg with Nilsson from Opera d'oro,  Lombard (Caballe sings the title role), the Callas,  and one DVD (the Met, with Domingo and (I think) Eva Marton.)

Meanwhile, may as well report the Opera part of my purchase earlier today.

The Falstaff will join five others plus a DVD, the Aida will join five others (including another Domingo), but the Capriccio will have for company only one DVD I have never gotten around to watching.

Autumn Leaves

Quote from: GioCar on June 16, 2017, 05:04:43 AM
You'll love it. And this is a stellar performance.
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 16, 2017, 06:56:44 AM
That might well be the best overall (meaning singers, conducting, and sonics combined) recording of Turandot.
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 16, 2017, 11:24:30 AM
That recording is famous for Sutherland having never sung that role on stage and for her bewildered consonant-popping next to the natural, florid Italian of Pavarotti and the equally fine contribution of Caballe. It is very comical if you pay attention.

Thanks for all your replies - I enjoyed the Turandot enough to listen to it twice.
I cant fault the recording with Pavarotti/Sutherland (although it is only my first experience with the work).

Quote from: jessop on June 16, 2017, 03:05:25 PM
Curiously, what do people think of this Turandot?



My own favourite

I own this recording (its part of a Puccini box-set from Warner Classics) although I have not listened to it yet.
Hopefully I will get to this next week or thereabouts - thanks for advocating it (I am certainly more interested in hearing it now).

Autumn Leaves

#328
Now playing:



Enjoying this recording more with successive listens (although I think I have imprinted on Abbado's version of the work somewhat).

ritter

#329
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 16, 2017, 03:59:39 PM
....

... but the Capriccio will have for company only one DVD I have never gotten around to watching.
That Capriccio is considered by many to be the reference recording of the piece. I do not own it (as I have never been a fan of Frau Schwarzkopf's art), but thoroughly enjoy the Böhm on DG (with a wonderful Gundula Janowitz). It's a very conversational opera, but has many outstanding moments, such as a string sextet in lieu of an overture, and the ravishing final scene (Strauss at his considerable best as far as writing for the soprano voice). 

You will be pleasantly surpsrised by a (brief) quote from Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide that appears in Strauss's operatic swansong... ;)

Regards,


Tsaraslondon

Quote from: ritter on June 17, 2017, 12:13:14 AM
That Capriccio is considered by many to be the reference recording of the piece. I do not own it (as I have never been a fan of Frau Schwarzkopf's art),

And I'd be one of those many. But then I adore Mme Schwarzkopf, and Countess Madeleine might just be her best role. Janowitz sings beautifully with that lovely silvery top, but she makes much less of the words, which, in this of all operas, are so important.

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

Jaakko Keskinen

Quote from: jessop on June 16, 2017, 03:05:25 PM
Curiously, what do people think of this Turandot?



My own favourite

I haven't heard that many Turandot recordings, but of those that I have heard, that is definitely one of the greatest, maybe even THE greatest. My personal favorite (once again).
"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

ritter

#332
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 17, 2017, 02:32:09 AM
And I'd be one of those many. But then I adore Mme Schwarzkopf, and Countess Madeleine might just be her best role. Janowitz sings beautifully with that lovely silvery top, but she makes much less of the words, which, in this of all operas, are so important.
I am familiar with Mme. Schwarzkopf's Countess, from this live recording from Vienna (with a rather stellar cast):


Unfortunately, it seems as if the microphone was placed under the cushion of one of the bergères of the sets, so it's almost impossible to get a clear picture of her portayal... >:(

Curiously, the only recording by Schwarzkopf I truly like is the exceprts from William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (she had famously refused to perfome the rôle in that opera's world première, and the task fell to Magda László)...

kishnevi

Quote from: ritter on June 17, 2017, 12:13:14 AM
That Capriccio is considered by many to be the reference recording of the piece. I do not own it (as I have never been a fan of Frau Schwarzkopf's art), but thoroughly enjoy the Böhm on DG (with a wonderful Gundula Janowitz). It's a very conversational opera, but has many outstanding moments, such as a string sextet in lieu of an overture, and the ravishing final scene (Strauss at his considerable best as far as writing for the soprano voice). 

You will be pleasantly surpsrised by a (brief) quote from Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide that appears in Strauss's operatic swansong... ;)

Regards,

I figured any recording in which Christa Ludwig gets bottom billing must be of interest....
Thanks for the tip about the Gluck quote.
TD

Continuing with the Mozart opera box.  This one he wrote at age 16.  Next time anyone complains about the length of Wagner's operas, point out this one: 3 1/2 hours long. And, it being an opera seria, the plot is so convoluted, it's best to just sit back and enjoy the music.

kishnevi


Autumn Leaves

Recent listening:



I enjoyed listening to Lohengrin last week so I decided to listen to Parsifal for the first time.
Found the work to be an easy listen and thought it was very beautiful - possibly the best Wagner Opera I have heard so far but I am really only in the formative stages of listening to his work.
I don't have any complaints about the live recording with Levine - I think it might be worthwhile to pick up the Wagner: Complete Opera's box on DG at some stage as it collects some interesting studio recordings of Wagner's work.


ComposerOfAvantGarde

Boulez's Parsifal, though on the fast side, is probably the most refreshingly expressive performance I've heard.

Autumn Leaves

Quote from: jessop on June 17, 2017, 05:38:44 PM
Boulez's Parsifal, though on the fast side, is probably the most refreshingly expressive performance I've heard.

Hey Jessop,
I was browsing for Alt. recordings of Parsifal and I seen the Boulez for a good price - I've got my heart set on picking up a studio performance of Parsifal at the moment (and will probably buy another box-set for that) but thanks for your input :).

Autumn Leaves


kishnevi

My zweipfennigen:

I rate the Boulez the worst, precisely because of its speed.
My favorites are Knappertsbusch and Solti. Solti is studio.
Of the other studio recordings I see on Amazon, I only have the Kubelik. It's actually as good as Solti, but pricey. The Barenboim is in the pile of operas not yet listened to.