What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Spineur]

I don't think I've seen such an interesting, positive master class in some time. Really fascinating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGCOxk6sGk
Hampson is very articulate and has a wonderful manner.

I have always found Thomas Hampson interesting.  He sings the marquis de Posa in Don Carlos at Paris opera with Jonas Kaufmann and Sonia Yoncheva.  I did not succeed in getting ticket for this exceptional event.

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TD another Opera Rara: Ambroise Thomas La cour de Célimène.  Typical Ambroise Thomas style, reminiscent of Mignon.  The libretto is so thin that it is transparent.  But the music is much better than I expected.  Some exquisite ensemble singing.  The orchestral prelude has 3 different themes one of which is treated as variation.  The Celimene aria at the begining of act to is often part of french cd recitals for sopranos.  4/5 for the music.

[mc ukrneal]

I have always found Thomas Hampson interesting.  He sings the marquis de Posa in Don Carlos at Paris opera with Jonas Kaufmann and Sonia Yoncheva.  I did not suceed in getting ticket for this exceptional event.

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TD another Opera Rara: Ambroise Thomas La cour de Célimène.  Typical Ambroise Thomas style, reminiscent of Mignon.  The libretto is so thin that it is transparent.  But the music is much better than I expected.  Some exquisite ensemble singing.  The orchestral prelude has 3 different themes one of which is treated as variation.  The Celimene aria at the begining of act to is often part of french cd recitals for sopranos.  4/5 for the music.

I love that one. it led me to Mignon and then to Hamlet. Speaking of Hampson, I have the Hamlet with him, Ramey and June Anderson. As you would expect, the singing was pretty awesome. But the orchestra play beautifully too, and I really enjoy the orchestration of Thomas.

[JCBuckley]

Spineur - many thanks for the reviews. I'm kicking myself for not making the trip to Paris. From what I can can gather, the DVD of the Wilson production suffers from lousy sound quality. And it costs a silly amount of money in the UK.

[Spineur]

Spineur - many thanks for the reviews. I'm kicking myself for not making the trip to Paris. From what I can can gather, the DVD of the Wilson production suffers from lousy sound quality. And it costs a silly amount of money in the UK.

I have also heard that the sound quality of the DVD is very poor.  For Debussy that just kills it.

[Spineur]

Revisiting al old favourite of mine, Emmanuel Chabrier's Le Roi malgré lui:

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That this wonderful work is not better known and does not enjoy wider circulaton remains for me one of the great operatic mysteries of all time. It is so full of esprit and bon goût, has a fun (if convoluted--even by operatic standrads) plot and is brimming with great melodies. But not only that, Chabrier's mastery is present at every measure of the score, with the subtle introduction of unexpected modulations and daring harmonic twists. And the orchestration is simply superb.

In Act I, there are two jewels in quick succession; Minka's romance "Hélas! À l'esclavage..." (with the soprano being accompanied wonderfully by an oboe), and King Henri's entrance, with the nostalgic and plangent "Beau pays, pays du beau soleil" in which he regrets his far away France. Both numbers are breathtaking.

The perfomance (the only commercial recording of the work ever made AFAIK) is excellent (even if sans dialogues and appraently cut), with a very involved and homogeous cast, persuasively led by Charles Dutoit. Still, Barbara Hendrick's (at her considerable best as Minka) stands out. What a beautiful voice this lady has, and how effectively she uses it! Really touching...

I decided to check this opera which I confess I had never heard of.  Light and pleasant music very much in Chabrier style.  As you said, the King Henri aria Beau pays, pays du beau soleil in act I is wonderful so is Ah viens Minka fidèle in act II as well as the duo "O rêve eteint" at act III.  All the orchestral preludes are indeed wonderful.  A pretty cool work.

[ritter]

I decided to check this opera which I confess I had never heard of.  Light and pleasant music very much in Chabrier style.  As you said, the King Henri aria Beau pays, pays du beau soleil in act I is wonderful so is Ah viens Minka fidèle in act II as well as the duo "O rêve eteint" at act III.  All the orchestral preludes are indeed wonderful.  A pretty cool work.

Glad you liked it, cher ami...

You do know L'Étoile, no? Another jewel...

"Aussitôt que l'aurore,
aux doigts gantés de rose,
éclaire à son lever
les magasins de nouveautés
où le bon goût repose,
à nos vitrines apparaissent les clients"

Priceless! 

[ritter]

Some French Rossini tonight:



I haven't listened to Maometto II for quite a while, and it's been even longer since I've approached its revision as Le Siège... This seems to be the only recording of the work that more or less presents what Rossini offered the Paris audience in 1826.

[Spineur]

There is also this Naxos CD.  I do not know either versions

[anothername]

little bit of digging gets  you the best one can get.

[Tsaraslondon]

The sound may not be great, the tenor roles may not be as well filled as they might be today, but, as a display of dramatic coloratura singing, Callas's Armida has to be heard to be believed. The power, the accuracy and the sheer insouciant ease with which she tackles the role's difficulties is unparalleled.

To my ears the Warner issue sounds duller than the Divina, though some may find it more comfortable to listen to. They also omit about 12 minutes of music (included in the Divina issue) that had voice interference on the tape.

[ritter]

little bit of digging gets  you the best one can get.

Yes, two great female leads, of course (alhough I've never warmed to Mrs. Sills artistry, I must confess  ), but....in Italian translation, and in what I read is a spurious edition with interpolations from other Rossini works--including chunks of Le Siège's precursor Maometto II.

I must say, though, that in the French version I listened to, some of the singers might as well be singing in Italian, so poor is their pronunciation...

[Tsaraslondon]

I've never warmed to Mrs. Sills artistry, I must confess  ),

I'd say I appreciate her artistry, but have never warmed to her actual voice, which had too little colour and was a couple of notches too small for many of the roles she sang.

[ritter]

I'd say I appreciate her artistry, but have never warmed to her actual voice, which had too little colour and was a couple of notches too small for many of the roles she sang.

Yes, you've most eloquently epressed what I feel.... It's the voice itself I don't find appealing.

Cheers,

[Spineur]

Ritter and his Siège de Corinthe, inspired me in a coup de coeur purchase of another french opera by another italian composer



It is OOP so I had to resort to the audio file download from Opera-Rara web site.  Dom Sébastien is a very  very good opera.  The topic is relatively close to Meyerbeer L'Africaine/Vasco de Gama.  The music style is also quite close to Verdi Don Carlos.  So far I have listened only to the first CD.  I dare say, this is the best Opera-Rara I have listened so far.  Not so much the singers, but the opera.  Late Donizetti at his best.

[ritter]

Ritter and his Siège de Corinthe, inspired me in a coup de coeur purchase of another french opera by another italian composer



It is OOP so I had to resort to the audio file download from Opera-Rara web site.  Dom Sébastien is a very  very good opera.  The topic is relatively close to Meyerbeer L'Africaine/Vasco de Gama.  The music style is also quite close to Verdi Don Carlos.  So far I have listened only to the first CD.  I dare say, this is the best Opera-Rara I have listened so far.  Not so much the singers, but the opera.  Late Donizetti at his best.

I'm not really that much into Donizetti, but this Dom Sébastien is a work I have always wished to explore, exactly for the reasons you mention, Spineur (it's closeness to Don Carlos and to the grand opéra genre in general). Pity physical copies are very difficult to locate at reasonable prices  (I'm not a download guy  ).

[JCBuckley]

Revisiting this - a terrific performance with an amazing cast: Piau, Genaux, Basso, Stutzmann, Laurens. I'm assuming Naive's Vivaldi opera project is now dead in the water - but perhaps someone here knows more?

[Spineur]

I'm assuming Naive's Vivaldi opera project is now dead in the water - but perhaps someone here knows more?

I have no fresh information on the Vivaldi project but these days Naive is releasing a lot of new CDs.  There was the late Beethoven SQ by the Mosaiques quartet which got discussed on GMG.  This Bach also got quite good reviews
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So you should keep an eye on the new release column !

[kishnevi]

Revisiting this - a terrific performance with an amazing cast: Piau, Genaux, Basso, Stutzmann, Laurens. I'm assuming Naive's Vivaldi opera project is now dead in the water - but perhaps someone here knows more?

At the beginning Naive talked about a 100 CD series which would include 15 operas.  They actually released 15 operas, which means about 50 CDs worth of instrumental and sacred music remains unrecorded after deducting everything else that was issued, but no operas...and it's probably less of a financial and logistical challenge because of that. So perhaps someone will rise to the challenge.

[JCBuckley]

At the beginning Naive talked about a 100 CD series which would include 15 operas.  They actually released 15 operas, which means about 50 CDs worth of instrumental and sacred music remains unrecorded after deducting everything else that was issued, but no operas...and it's probably less of a financial and logistical challenge because of that. So perhaps someone will rise to the challenge.

Thanks for this, Jeffrey. I clearly misunderstood - I was under the impression that the opera series was intended to be more extensive than that.

[kishnevi]

Thanks for this, Jeffrey. I clearly misunderstood - I was under the impression that the opera series was intended to be more extensive than that.

There may have been plans for more: Naive expanded the scope of the series to include music not part of the Turin archive, so they may have meant to issue additional operas. But fifteen operas was the original number. It's the non-operatic music that suffered the most: less than half of the originally promised recordings were issued.