What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Don Carlo on June 24, 2017, 04:55:17 AM

Verdi : Don Carlo.

Possibly my favourite Verdi opera, though, aside from Gobbi and Christoff, this set doesn't have much to commend it. I did a comparative review of three off my favourites on my blog.

https://tsaraslondon.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/verdis-don-carlos-a-comparison-of-three-different-recordings/

Gobbi and Christoff are probably best represented on this live recording of the famous Covent Garden Visconti production, if you can get hold of it.




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

kishnevi

Quote from: Conor71 on June 24, 2017, 12:03:40 AM
Now playing:



Listened to this for the first time last week and I was knocked out by it - quite a sublime work: there seems to be one beautiful Aria after another.
So far I am rating this as one of Puccini's best Operas..

I think that's the only mature Puccini opera I have yet to hear. I have the Callas recording, just not yet played it.

TD
First listen to this recording

One of the recordings I haven't heard from this box.

Crespin as Marschallin, Minton as Oktavian, Donath as Sophie. And Pavarotti in the tenor cameo (the Italian singer).

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 24, 2017, 09:53:44 AM
I think that's the only mature Puccini opera I have yet to hear. I have the Callas recording, just not yet played it.

Not my favourite Puccini by a long chalk, but Callas makes as good a case for it as is possible, even though she's not in her best voice.

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 24, 2017, 09:53:44 AM

TD
First listen to this recording

One of the recordings I haven't heard from this box.

Crespin as Marschallin, Minton as Oktavian, Donath as Sophie. And Pavarotti in the tenor cameo (the Italian singer).

This recording has its devotees, but I'm afraid I'm not one of them. I've never really taken to Solti, and find Crespin just a bit too matronly for my taste.

My favourite is still the first Karajan with Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Stich-Randall, Edelmann and Gedda as the Italian Singer.

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

Florestan

Tsaraslondon, please let me know which are your top 3 La Sonnambula's. TIA.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 24, 2017, 11:53:51 AM
Not my favourite Puccini by a long chalk, but Callas makes as good a case for it as is possible, even though she's not in her best voice.

This recording has its devotees, but I'm afraid I'm not one of them. I've never really taken to Solti, and find Crespin just a bit too matronly for my taste.

My favourite is still the first Karajan with Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Stich-Randall, Edelmann and Gedda as the Italian Singer.
I tend to agree. The HVK recording is one of my favorite opera recordings, of anything. Everything comes together in that. Sound is wonderful also.

kishnevi

#366
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on June 24, 2017, 12:39:46 PM
I tend to agree. The HVK recording is one of my favorite opera recordings, of anything. Everything comes together in that. Sound is wonderful also.

Having heard the full recording, I am inclined to say I also agree.

My first recording was the Haitink, with Te Kanawa and Otter.  Then I got the DVD with Fleming, Koch, and Damrau, and was so taken with that I had no urge to get another recording. It's also available as audio CD if are interested in it (conductor is Theilemann).  I have the film with Schwarzkopf somewhere in my pile of DVDs that have yet to be viewed.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Florestan on June 24, 2017, 12:26:32 PM
Tsaraslondon, please let me know which are your top 3 La Sonnambula's. TIA.

1. Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto (Live La Scala in Cologne 1957)
2. Callas, Valetti, Modesti; Bernstein (Live La Scala 1955)
3. Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto  (Studio 1957).

Well, you did ask!
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

kishnevi

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 24, 2017, 04:02:03 PM
1. Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto (Live La Scala in Cologne 1957)
2. Callas, Valetti, Modesti; Bernstein (Live La Scala 1955)
3. Callas, Monti, Zaccaria; Votto  (Studio 1957).

Well, you did ask!

All right, which three senza Callas!

I will point to the Bartoli, myself--which I mention for Florestan's benefit because I know you don't like it.

TD
Strauss Capriccio
The EMI recording with Schwarzkopf, DFD, Gedda, etc conducted by Sawallisch.
First listen ever to this opera so I will make only two trivial observations

1. Strauss actually had an affinity for one act operas, this merely being the last of a string that started with Salome.
2. I guess I will keep referring these recordings as EMI productions no matter how many years Warner keeps the catalogue.


Autumn Leaves

#369
Recent listening:



Freni is in good voice here (as she is in her other recording with Pavarotti) and the rest of the principals were great too - enjoyable version (I will certainly be playing it again!).
Quite an old recording I guess but the SQ was acceptable (and it didn't detract from the music in any way).



Very good work - lots of nice Aria's as usual.
Domingo was great as would be expected (I love his work!).
I'll be re-visiting this one again for sure.


Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 24, 2017, 09:53:44 AM
I think that's the only mature Puccini opera I have yet to hear. I have the Callas recording, just not yet played it.

I liked it enough to listen to it several times already - it gets the thumbs up from me! :).

zamyrabyrd

"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on June 24, 2017, 05:39:12 PM
All right, which three senza Callas!

I will point to the Bartoli, myself--which I mention for Florestan's benefit because I know you don't like it.


To be honest, without Callas I find the opera a bit of a bore. Callas is the only singer I know who manages to breathe life into the otherwise somewhat cardboard character of Amina. Bartoli sounds all wrong to me, and not just because she is singing the Malibran mezzo version. Von Stade (also a mezzo) sang it (though, as far as I am aware, there are no recordings) and I would imagine her voice would be more suited to it. Bartoli's style is altogether too vibrant in the wrong way.

I've heard both Sutherland versions. In the first the droopy style and mushy diction drive me mad, and in the second she sounds much too mature. Others tell me the Naxos/Organasova and the Dessay recordings are quite good, but I admit I haven't heard either.

So I'm happy with Callas.



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

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 25, 2017, 01:51:59 AM
To be honest, without Callas I find the opera a bit of a bore. Callas is the only singer I know who manages to breathe life into the otherwise somewhat cardboard character of Amina. Bartoli sounds all wrong to me, and not just because she is singing the Malibran mezzo version. Von Stade (also a mezzo) sang it (though, as far as I am aware, there are no recordings) and I would imagine her voice would be more suited to it. Bartoli's style is altogether too vibrant in the wrong way.

I've heard both Sutherland versions. In the first the droopy style and mushy diction drive me mad, and in the second she sounds much too mature. Others tell me the Naxos/Organasova and the Dessay recordings are quite good, but I admit I haven't heard either.

So I'm happy with Callas.
The Naxos is quite good overall, though Organasova is not my personal favorite. Dessay is excellent, though there are other issues with that set. I am sorry to say, that for me (on CD anyway), that none of them really get a full recommendation. I think it's just a matter of which one has more that works for you.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

ComposerOfAvantGarde

Enjoying this at the moment. What do people here think of this? Are there other recordings available?



I can imagine the interchange between Feldman and Beckett

B: I don't like this opera
F: Me neither

kishnevi

Spending Sunday with Solti's Strauss

From here

kishnevi

Morning with Strauss

From the Solti Mozart Operas set which was part of the same series as the Strauss set I posted this morning.

This was Solti's first recording of Cosi, and seems to have much less availability than his second one.

Autumn Leaves


ComposerOfAvantGarde

Does anyone know of other recordings of Neither? Despite what its creators think of it, I think it is a very good opera. Interested to hear your thoughts.

zamyrabyrd

Besides Amina, Callas brought a depth of character, a quality of despair to Manon that is hard to believe coming out of the flighty character of the first two acts:

https://www.youtube.com/v/nRCY18PWv8w

Thank goodness Callas left recordings of Puccini heroines that she did not perform onstage.
I have a German score (no Italian) of Manon Lescaut (honestly don't remember how I acquired it), published by Ricordi in 1893.
There are stamps of "Hofoper" in it. I wonder if it is valuable...

ZB
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds