What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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mc ukrneal

Thanks for all the great comments on the Meyerbeer! At this point, it is just a question of when I buy it, not if I buy it.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Autumn Leaves

Recent listening:



Enjoying this newly arrived recording.



Superb recording - Pavarotti singing "Che gelida manina" is the best thing about this IMO.

Spineur

Nice performance but disappointing opera.


mc ukrneal

Quote from: Spineur on July 13, 2017, 10:16:48 PM
Nice performance but disappointing opera.


Oh bummer, I was considering that...The Herold opera issued some months ago is quite good though if you'd like something French from that series...
Be kind to your fellow posters!!


king ubu



Playing Verdi's "Macbeth" (Leinsdorf, Met 1959 - from the "Giuseppe Verdi - Great Recordings" box on Sony)
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Tsaraslondon

#486
Quote from: king ubu on July 15, 2017, 12:31:26 AM


Playing Verdi's "Macbeth" (Leinsdorf, Met 1959 - from the "Giuseppe Verdi - Great Recordings" box on Sony)

One of my favourite Verdi operas. This isn't a bad recording of the opera by any means, but I think it was completely superseded by the excellent Muti and Abbado recordings, which arrived in quick succession in 1976. My personal favourite would be the La Scala based Abbado, with Cappuccilli, Verrett, Domingo and Ghiaurov in great form; indeed Verrett's Lady Macbeth is the greatest since Callas, whose live 1952 recording of the opera under Victor De Sabata's baton is a must for anyone who likes this opera. The sound is typical for its period and source (distinctly lo-fi), but is just about listenable in its Myto pressing. The EMI should be avoided at all costs, and it is to be hoped that Warner have not just copied it for their issue in September of Callas Live.











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

king ubu

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 15, 2017, 01:38:07 AM
One of my favourite Verdi operas. This isn't a bad recording of the opera by any means, but I think it was completely superseded by the excellent Muti and Abbado recordings, which arrived in quick succession in 1976. My personal favourite would be the La Scala based Abbado, with Cappuccilli, Verrett, Domingo and Ghiaurov in great form; indeed Verrett's Lady Macbeth is the greatest since Callas, whose live 1952 recording of the opera under Victor De Sabata's baton is a must for anyone who likes this opera. The sound is typical for its period and source (distinctly lo-fi), but is just about listenable in its Myto pressing. The EMI should be avoided at all costs, and it is to be hoped that Warner have not just copied it for their issue in September of Callas Live.

Thanks! I have the Abbado and Muti lined up for listening (all of these are first listens, the previous one was the Leinsdorf Met from the "Verdi at the Met" box). As for Callas, I have that Verdi live box ... it was dirt cheap. Waiting for the new Warner box and first reviews before deciding what else to get in terms of live recordings. Plenty here, but never acquired in a systematical way or with much previous research, just snatched up stuff that was recommended here or elsewhere, or recordings I was curious about, or ones that cost almost nothing ... and may be worth same  ;)

I have one more recoding with DFD in the title role (Gardelli, 1970, with Souliotis as Lady and Ghiaurov as Banco) ... must be weird, but when that gorgeous Pavarotti "First Decade" box went cheap, I just had to get it and that "Macbeth" is in there. Guess Pavarotti doing MacDuff is the main interest there (at least for me).

Anyway, Leonie Rysanek is mighty fine with Leinsdorf (I'm not familiar with her at all), and I immediately started listening with more attention when Bergonzi came on in the fourth act! We can easily agree on "very good/not great" here though.
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Tsaraslondon

#488
Quote from: king ubu on July 15, 2017, 02:33:04 AM

I have one more recoding with DFD in the title role (Gardelli, 1970, with Souliotis as Lady and Ghiaurov as Banco) ... must be weird, but when that gorgeous Pavarotti "First Decade" box went cheap, I just had to get it and that "Macbeth" is in there. Guess Pavarotti doing MacDuff is the main interest there (at least for me).


Well Souliotis might just have the voice of a she-devil in this recording, but her Lady M is something of a disaster. The voice seems to have aged twenty years since her fantastic Abigaille, recorded just a few years earlier, opening up chasms rather than breaks between the registers, the top squally, the middle voice hollow and unsupported, the chest voice overused and forced. D F-D makes an interesting Macbeth, with a Lieder singer's attention to the text, but he never sounds idiomatically correct. The set's only real assets are Gardelli's conducting, Pavarotti's MacDuff and Ghiaurov's Banquo.

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

king ubu

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 15, 2017, 03:44:18 AM
Well Souliotis might just have the voice of a she-devil in this recording, but her Lady M is something of a disaster. The voice seems to have aged twenty years since her fantastic Abigaille, recorded just a few years earlier, opening up chasms rather than breaks between the registers, the top squally, the middle voice hollow and unsupported, the chest voice overused and forced. D F-D makes an interesting Macbeth, with a Lieder singer's attention to the text, but he never sounds idiomatically correct. The sets only real assets are Gardelli's conducting, Pavarotti's MacDuff and Ghiaurov's Banquo.

Thanks again - not familiar with Souliotis at all so far, but that confirms what I've read about that recording of "Macbeth". What recording of "Nabucco" is she in? The mid sixties Vienna one with Gardelli? Or are there others?

The Abigailles I have: Callas in an early live recording, Rysanek again - these two not yet heard, I think -, Scotto, and Dimitrova... I guess the Sinopoli may be my favourite there, Scott with Muti is somewhat too old for the role as well. But it's been a few years since I played any recording of "Nabucco".
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Tsaraslondon

#490


Watching some of the live telecast of the Covent Garden Turandot led me seek out this recording today; one I haven't listened to in a long time, and it certainly justifies its reputation. I even found the Ping Pang Pong episodes less irritating than I usually do.

Sutherland seemed strange casting at the time (and she never sang the role on stage) but it's a casting decision that definitely paid off. Her diction is better here than it usually is, though she doesn't make as much of the text as Callas does. On the other hand, by the time Callas came to record the complete role in 1957, she couldn't disguise the strain the role made on her resources. (Too bad she didn't record it a few years earlier, when she recorded a stunningly secure, and subtly inflected version of In questa reggia for her Puccini recital.) Anyway for my money, Sutherland has much more vocal allure in the role than Nilsson, and surely Turandot has to have allure if one is to make any sense at all out of the plot.

Pavarotti is caught at his mid career best and Caballe sings beautifully, spinning out her fabulous pianissimi to glorious effect. If I'm absolutely honest, I prefer a slightly lighter voice in the role, like, say, Moffo, Freni or Scotto. Caballe sounds as if she could sing Turandot, which indeed she did, but there's no doubting her class. The rest of the cast is superb and Mehta conducts a splendidly dramatic and viscerally beautiful version of the score. On balance, it's probably still the best recording of the opera around.





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

Tsaraslondon

#491
Quote from: king ubu on July 15, 2017, 04:03:04 AM
Thanks again - not familiar with Souliotis at all so far, but that confirms what I've read about that recording of "Macbeth". What recording of "Nabucco" is she in? The mid sixties Vienna one with Gardelli? Or are there others?

The Abigailles I have: Callas in an early live recording, Rysanek again - these two not yet heard, I think -, Scotto, and Dimitrova... I guess the Sinopoli may be my favourite there, Scott with Muti is somewhat too old for the role as well. But it's been a few years since I played any recording of "Nabucco".

Yes, the Gardelli, which I still think is the best studio recording of Nabucco. Souliotis is absolutely thrilling, though her recklessness sends out warning signals, and indeed the voice didn't last. This is, hands down, the best thing she ever did n the studio, second only to Callas's glorious assumption of the role, which, as you know, is in absolutely dreadful sound. I wonder what it will sound like in the new Warner version. the Gardelli also benefits from Gobbi's superb Nabucco. It's a little late in his career to be sure, but he makes more of the role than anyone.

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

Jaakko Keskinen

One would think that Sutherland's lyrical voice would suit better Liú rather than ruthless Turandot. But I have heard this recording and she freaking nails 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

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Alberich on July 15, 2017, 04:41:32 AM
One would think that Sutherland's lyrical voice would suit better Liú rather than ruthless Turandot. But I have heard this recording and she freaking nails it.

More than one critic at the time thought that the pre-publicity was wrong and that Caballe was to be Turandot and Sutherland Liu.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

king ubu

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 15, 2017, 04:25:02 AM
Yes, the Gardelli, which I still think is the best studio recording of Nabucco. Souliotis is absolutely thrilling, though her recklessness sends out warning signals, and indeed the voice didn't last. This is, hands down, the best thing she ever did n the studio, second only to Callas's glorious assumption of the role, which, as you know, is in absolutely dreadful sound. I wonder what it will sound like in the new Warner version. the Gardelli also benefits from Gobbi's superb Nabucco. It's a little late in his career to be sure, but he makes more of the role than anyone.

Okay, you have me curious ... just ordered the Gardelli "Nabucco"!
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: king ubu on July 15, 2017, 04:51:41 AM
Okay, you have me curious ... just ordered the Gardelli "Nabucco"!

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

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on July 15, 2017, 04:21:23 AM


Watching some of the live telecast of the Covent Garden Turandot led me seek out this recording today; one I haven't listened to in a long time, and it certainly justifies its reputation. I even found the Ping Pang Pong episodes less irritating than I usually do.

Sutherland seemed strange casting at the time (and she never sang the role on stage) but it's a casting decision that definitely paid off. Her diction is better here than it usually is, though she doesn't make as much of the text as Callas does. On the other hand, by the time Callas came to record the complete role in 1957, she couldn't disguise the strain the role made on her resources. (Too bad she didn't record it a few years earlier, when she recorded a stunningly secure, and subtly inflected version of In questa reggia for her Puccini recital.) Anyway for my money, Sutherland has much more vocal allure in the role than Nilsson, and surely Turandot has to have allure if one is to make any sense at all out of the plot.

Pavarotti is caught at his mid career best and Caballe sings beautifully, spinning out her fabulous pianissimi to glorious effect. If I'm absolutely honest, I prefer a slightly lighter voice in the role, like, say, Moffo, Freni or Scotto. Caballe sounds as if she could sing Turandot, which indeed she did, but there's no doubting her class. The rest of the cast is superb and Mehta conducts a splendidly dramatic and viscerally beautiful version of the score. On balance, it's probably still the best recording of the opera around.

My favorite Liu on record is Barbara Hendricks. She sings beautifully and meshes well with Domingo on that recording.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Tsaraslondon

#497
Quote from: mc ukrneal on July 15, 2017, 05:25:55 AM
My favorite Liu on record is Barbara Hendricks. She sings beautifully and meshes well with Domingo on that recording.

I heard Hendricks sing it in concert at the Barbican, and she had an appreciable success in a so-so evening, which included the original full-length Alfano ending. Sylvia Sass was a variable Turandot, though she was better here than at the other times I heard her live (Norma and Elisabetta in Don Carlo) and Franco Bonisolli a Calaf who played to the gallery. Unfortunately for him the gallery tittered every time he thrust his chest out expecting applause every time he hit a high note. His performance stays in the memory for all the wrong reasons whereas Hendricks's does for all the right ones. A shame that on disc Hendricks sings Liu to a Turandot who should have stuck to Liu.

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

Spineur

Classical-Music article: their 15 operas ripe for rediscovery

http://www.classical-music.com/article/15-operas-ripe-rediscovery

Not really esoteric stuff: I have Rimsky Tsar Saltan, Lalo Le Roi dYs (dvd) and Offenbach Die Rheinnixen.  All 3 are great.

Tsaraslondon



In case anyone's interested, I've now written a full length review of this superb Covent Garden performance of La Traviata.

https://tsaraslondon.wordpress.com/2017/07/17/callass-covent-garden-traviata/
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas