What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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kishnevi

This afternoon, from the Zyx hotchpotch Ring, this performance

Followed by the Bugs Bunny short, "What's Opera, Doc?".
If you've seen, the relevance to the Ring should be obvious. If you haven't, it's on Youtube....

Autumn Leaves

Recent listening:



Love this..



For a first listen (it's great so far!).



Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Todd on July 02, 2017, 01:18:25 PM


Nice one! - I think this is my preferred version of the work ATM.
Going to have to spin it again soon..

anothername


Tsaraslondon

#444
Quote from: Conor71 on July 02, 2017, 07:00:31 PM
Recent listening:



Love this..


I've always preferred Karajan's second recording for EMI, which is less self consciously beautiful, and a good deal more dramatic. Freni and Carreras could be considered rather light of voice, I suppose, but they both sing most beautifully, and Baltsa is my favourite Amneris of all, reminding us that she is a young, spoiled princess, and a valid rival for Radames.



Quote from: Conor71 on July 02, 2017, 07:00:31 PM



For a first listen (it's great so far!).

Muti's first Traviata is interesting, but he was going through his rigid, straightjacketing phase, which means the score exactly as written. Violetta is not even allowed a high Ab at the end of Sempre libera, let alone the traditional Eb in alt. Scotto and Kraus are somewhat past their prime too, though their singing is, as usual, unfailingly musical.

I actually prefer his second recording, based on a spectacular La Scala production. Fabricini is vocally fallible, but none the less very affecting, though probably best seen as well as heard in the video of the production.



My favourite studio recording is the Kleiber, with Cotrubas a most affecting Violetta, and Domingo and Milnes as the Germonts.



That said, I don't think any soprano has ever matched Callas's achievement in the role, the one she sang most after Norma, and the one she continued to refine throughout her career. The Cetra studio recording made in 1952 is let down by a second rate orchestra and chorus, and rather provincial support. Callas is in fresher voice here than in some of the later live recordings, and she is still very much inside the role, but it is still to those later live recordings that I always return; Giulini at La Scala in 1955 (with Di Stefano and Bastianini), Ghione in Lisbon in 1958 (with a young Kraus and Sereni), and, best of all, Rescigno at Covent Garden in 1958 (with Valletti and a wonderfully sensitive Mario Zanasi). She was not in good health for these performances, but her portrayal is full of detail, deeply affecting, and almost too real. It leaves me completely drained every time. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in the audience.

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

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Don Carlo on July 02, 2017, 08:56:50 PM


What a dreadful wig (I assume it's a wig) Fleming is wearing. She can look so much more attractive.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

zamyrabyrd

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 03, 2017, 02:54:55 AM
What a dreadful wig (I assume it's a wig) Fleming is wearing. She can look so much more attractive.

With all due respect, so many of her gowns over the years were simply weird.
As per the above Fanciulla del West, I cannot get out of my head: "Spaghetti Western".
(I'm in a funny mood today...)

I see Tebadi has been mentioned a few times lately. She manages to keep an even sound despite the treacherous leaps in this aria:

http://www.youtube.com/v/E_HmhrtIvg0
"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

kishnevi


Autumn Leaves

#448
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 03, 2017, 02:48:46 AM
I've always preferred Karajan's second recording for EMI, which is less self consciously beautiful, and a good deal more dramatic. Freni and Carreras could be considered rather light of voice, I suppose, but they both sing most beautifully, and Baltsa is my favourite Amneris of all, reminding us that she is a young, spoiled princess, and a valid rival for Radames.



Muti's first Traviata is interesting, but he was going through his rigid, straightjacketing phase, which means the score exactly as written. Violetta is not even allowed a high Ab at the end of Sempre libera, let alone the traditional Eb in alt. Scotto and Kraus are somewhat past their prime too, though their singing is, as usual, unfailingly musical.

I actually prefer his second recording, based on a spectacular La Scala production. Fabricini is vocally fallible, but none the less very affecting, though probably best seen as well as heard in the video of the production.



My favourite studio recording is the Kleiber, with Cotrubas a most affecting Violetta, and Domingo and Milnes as the Germonts.



That said, I don't think any soprano has ever matched Callas's achievement in the role, the one she sang most after Norma, and the one she continued to refine throughout her career. The Cetra studio recording made in 1952 is let down by a second rate orchestra and chorus, and rather provincial support. Callas is in fresher voice here than in some of the later live recordings, and she is still very much inside the role, but it is still to those later live recordings that I always return; Giulini at La Scala in 1955 (with Di Stefano and Bastianini), Ghione in Lisbon in 1958 (with a young Kraus and Sereni), and, best of all, Rescigno at Covent Garden in 1958 (with Valletti and a wonderfully sensitive Mario Zanasi). She was not in good health for these performances, but her portrayal is full of detail, deeply affecting, and almost too real. It leaves me completely drained every time. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in the audience.



Thanks for your detailed reply - I've read a few times that Kleiber's La Traviata is the one to have and luckily I do own it.
I dont have many Ileana Cotrubas recordings but I particularly like her work in this and also her Carmen and Rigoletto performances.

Im not sure about picking up Karajan's earlier recording of Aida because I don't appreciate Jose Carreras yet (though perhaps i have not heard him at his best) but Ill keep the recommendation in mind.

Im still in the proces of investigating Maria Callas - I have 3 or 4 of her recordings already in various box-sets and such.
I didnt post it here yet but I really loved her Madama Butterfly recording with Karajan and have listened to it a few times already (the sound quality was quite good too for a Mono too).

Tsaraslondon

#449
Quote from: Conor71 on July 03, 2017, 07:19:08 PM
Thanks for your detailed reply -

Im not sure about picking up Karajan's earlier recording of Aida because I don't appreciate Jose Carreras yet (though perhaps i have not heard him at his best) but Ill keep the recommendation in mind.

Im still in the proces of investigating Maria Callas - I have 3 or 4 of her recordings already in various box-sets and such.
I didnt post it here yet but I really loved her Madama Butterfly recording with Karajan and have listened to it a few times already (the sound quality was quite good too for a Mono too).

But the Carreras/Freni is Karajan's second recording, made in 1979, when Carreras's voice was still a beautiful, lyric tenor. You might argue he had no business singing Radames, and it probably didn't do him much good, and he is a little strained by the more heroic parts of the opera. It's all gain in the lyrical sections though. Karajan must have preferred a more lyrical approach too, as he chose Bergonzi for the earlier recording, rather than Tebaldi's usual partner of Del Monaco. This Decca one was recorded in 1959.

Callas can be an acquired taste, but, once acquired, it can be very addictive. Callas is my preferred singer for all the roles she sang and recorded, though that does not prevent me for enjoying other singers in those same roles. It's just that Callas has a way of imprinting phrases on the brain, and I miss her insights when they are not there. Others for whom beauty of tone is paramount will have other priorities, but I prefer singing that is beautifully expressed.


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

ComposerOfAvantGarde

Any Reimann fans around? I absolutely adore opera in German above all others, perhaps because of the enormous wealth of interesting and unique works constantly being created since the 19th century. Reimann is certainly one of the greatest composers of opera in German, if not one of the greatest of all time.


Autumn Leaves

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 04, 2017, 01:23:50 AM
But the Carreras/Freni is Karajan's second recording, made in 1979, when Carreras's voice was still a beautiful, lyric tenor. You might argue he had no business singing Radames, and it probably didn't do him much good, and he is a little strained by the more heroic parts of the opera. It's all gain in the lyrical sections though. Karajan must have preferred a more lyrical approach too, as he chose Bergonzi for the earlier recording, rather than Tebaldi's usual partner of Del Monaco. This Decca one was recorded in 1959.

Ahhh ok - I think of Karajan's EMI recordings as being from the "earlier" phase of his career but I forgot he made some for them later on too..
I have only listened to 2 Jose Carreras recordings as yet - his Carmen with Karajan (from 1982) and his Tosca with Karajan also (from 1979) so it would seem his voice was still in good shape for these?.
I must admit to finding his singing a bit disappointing so far - Perhaps I am being unfair/unkind but I think his voice lacks a sense of gravitas and I find his phrasing to be a bit too polished/fussy (for want of a better word).
I'll not give up on Jose just yet - I admit I might not have heard him in his best roles. I have his recording of Macbeth with Muti and the reviews I read suggest his interpretation of Banqo to be the best. I will make a point of checking this one out when Im able (and Ill youtube some excerpts from his Aida while im at it) :).

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Conor71 on July 04, 2017, 07:29:29 AM
Ahhh ok - I think of Karajan's EMI recordings as being from the "earlier" phase of his career but I forgot he made some for them later on too..
I have only listened to 2 Jose Carreras recordings as yet - his Carmen with Karajan (from 1982) and his Tosca with Karajan also (from 1979) so it would seem his voice was still in good shape for these?.
I must admit to finding his singing a bit disappointing so far - Perhaps I am being unfair/unkind but I think his voice lacks a sense of gravitas and I find his phrasing to be a bit too polished/fussy (for want of a better word).
I'll not give up on Jose just yet - I admit I might not have heard him in his best roles. I have his recording of Macbeth with Muti and the reviews I read suggest his interpretation of Banqo to be the best. I will make a point of checking this one out when Im able (and Ill youtube some excerpts from his Aida while im at it) :).

One small point. Carreras sings MacDuff in the Muti Macbeth, not Banquo, which is a bass role.

I think his voice had a lovely lyricism in his earlier years, right up to the Karajan Carmen, and I find his singing musical rather than fussy. I like his Don Carlo for Karajan too, well at least when the weird recording balance lets you hear him. Best of all are his performances in the Philips early Verdi series. Excellent in I due Foscari, La Battaglia di Legnano, Il Corsaro and Stiffelio and he's the best thing about the slightly po-faced Un Giorno di Regno with Norman and Cossotto both too heavy of voice and manner for their respective roles. There's actually an earlier and much better version of this light Donizettian comic opera on disc, with Lina Paghliughi, Renato Capecchi and Sesto Bruscantini, but I prefer Carreras to Juan Oncina, good though he is.






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

kishnevi

If you like Carreras in Giorno you will probably also like him here

If you can find it! I stumbled over it in the used CD store. This was supposedly his first complete opera recording.
TD
From my cheapo hotchpotch Ring
The Rheingold from this cycle (but not that issue, I assume)


I have one installment to go, the Gotterdammerung from that cycle. For a cheap edition of (mostly) live early1950s recordings taken from unnamed sources, this has surprisingly good quality.
[asin]B009P4LVUK[/asin]

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on July 04, 2017, 05:45:01 PM
If you like Carreras in Giorno you will probably also like him here

If you can find it! I stumbled over it in the used CD store. This was supposedly his first complete opera recording.
TD

Looks interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Autumn Leaves

#455
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 04, 2017, 08:23:26 AM
One small point. Carreras sings MacDuff in the Muti Macbeth, not Banquo, which is a bass role.

Haha thanks - I seem to be making a lot of mistakes this week :-[ :D

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 04, 2017, 08:23:26 AM
I think his voice had a lovely lyricism in his earlier years, right up to the Karajan Carmen, and I find his singing musical rather than fussy. I like his Don Carlo for Karajan too, well at least when the weird recording balance lets you hear him. Best of all are his performances in the Philips early Verdi series. Excellent in I due Foscari, La Battaglia di Legnano, Il Corsaro and Stiffelio and he's the best thing about the slightly po-faced Un Giorno di Regno with Norman and Cossotto both too heavy of voice and manner for their respective roles. There's actually an earlier and much better version of this light Donizettian comic opera on disc, with Lina Paghliughi, Renato Capecchi and Sesto Bruscantini, but I prefer Carreras to Juan Oncina, good though he is.

Thanks for your thoughts - I felt a bit bad about criticizing Jose's work in my previous posts so I'm going to work a bit harder to give him a fair chance. :)
I received his recording of Simon Boccanegra with Abbado in the mail yesterday and will try to listen to that soon (along with the previously mentioned recordings).

Autumn Leaves

Now playing:



Listening to this recording again (will be spinning C. Kleiber's version of the same work soon too).

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Conor71 on July 05, 2017, 07:26:27 PM
Haha thanks - I seem to be making a lot of mistakes this week :-[ :D

Thanks for your thoughts - I felt a bit bad about criticizing Jose's work in my previous posts so I'm going to work a bit harder to give him a fair chance. :)
I received his recording of Simon Boccanegra with Abbado in the mail yesterday and will try to listen to that soon (along with the previously mentioned recordings).

It's a stunner, one of the best recordings of a Verdi opera ever. I have a fondness for the old mono Santini, mostly for the contributions of Gobbi, Christoff and De Los Angeles, but the Abbado is in a different class.

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

Ken B

Selections from Einstein on the Beach

kishnevi

Finishing off the Solti Mozart with

DFD as the Speaker, Rene Kollo and Hans Sotin as the two Armored Men, and Yvonne Minton as the second of the Queen of the Night's ladies, probably counts as luxury casting