What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Tsaraslondon]

Enjoyable enough, but nowhere likely to challenge the Bonynge set with Sutherland and Pavarotti. First of all, this being live, there is quite a lot of stage noise. Anderson often sounds a bit like Sutherland, but she doesn't have Sutherland's sparkle, or her sheer vocal beauty and dexterity. She has no trill and intonation is occasionally suspect (she ends "Il faut partir" terfibly flat). Kraus is something of a miracle. Just shy of his sixtieth birthday at the time of this performance, he executes its difficulties, including those top Cs with an ease that would be the envy of many a younger man, added to which his singing is, as always, stylish and refined. However, there is no denying his tone has dried out a bit and his voice is nowhere as sappy as Pavarotti at his best.

I'm sure I'd have enjoyed this performance had I been at the theatre, but it is no competition for the Bonynge set, which was recorded in the studio but based on performances at Covent Garden.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks Bruce for that link and others for your comments.

And, yes, RS, what a great night at the opera that must have been for you!

I'll keep an eye out for a copy of the CD--or DVD.

Best wishes,

PD

p.s.  The copy that I have (on CD) is the one with Peter Pears.

[arpeggio]

Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano:

[asin]B01BYRP9S0[/asin]

[Roasted Swan]

I remember being wowed when watching this video (on youtube) years ago by Milnes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHOJCdfBFQg

Nice to read your operatic comments, as always, TL.    Like you, I always come back to Callas as being my ultimate favorite re Tosca.  I have her live recording with Pretre and her other one with De Sabata.  Haven't listened to my Leontyne Price/Karajan recording in some time.  Will have to revisit that one.  I'm a huge fan of her Aida as well as her singing overall.

Well, I finally got around to watching Britten's Peter Grimes with Jon Vickers.  Excellent!  Thoroughly loved it!  Really impressed by Jon Vickers singing and acting--extremely powerful and poignant at times.  Also, by the compassion and restraint of Heather Harper's character and singing.  I wasn't able to get my little mitts on the Met DVD but did get ahold of the Kultur one which was filmed at the Royal Opera House with Heather Harper, etc.  Particularly impressed by the characters/acting/and singing of Capt. Balstrode (Norman Bailey) and I believe the characters name was Mrs. Sedley (Patricia Payne)...the opium addicted (via Laudanum) character who keeps ranting (and gossiping) about Peter Grimes' crimes and guilt.  Time well spent.  The only negative:  it was filmed in 1981, so the picture is rather more grainy and blurred than I would like, but hey, I adapted to it.    Enjoyed, too, the shots of the opera (and the conductor) during the interludes and the passacaglia.

PD

EDIT:  Sorry, I had meant to type "orchestra" rather than "opera" re the interludes and the passacaglia.

Interesting that you picked out Bailey's Balstrode.  In the theatre the moment when he speaks to Peter and says; "Sail out 'till you lose sight of the Moot Hall then sink the boat, D'you hear?  Sink her!  Good-bye Peter." was extraordinarily powerful and moving.  A real coup de theatre.

[Tsaraslondon]

Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano:

[asin]B01BYRP9S0[/asin]

I really enjoyed this opera when I saw the video of the original production, which unfortunately doesn't seem to be available at the moment. It had a pretty starry cast that included Teresa Stratas, Renee Fleming, Hakan Hagegard, Gino Quilico and Marilyn Horne!



How is the Pentatone disc?

[ritter]

I felt a sudden urge—as happens every so often—to listen to one of my favourite pieces of music ever, the sublime third act of Die Meistersinger. This time around , I pulled out the 1956 broadcast from Bayreuth conducted by André Cluytens:


Even with the subpar sound, the magnificence of this music shines through. This act is miraculous: the prelude, David's entrance and his "Am Jordan Sankt Johannes stand", the "Wahn!" monologue, the interlude preceding Beckmesser's appearance, and everything from the luminous quintet to the jubilant end...

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Anyone heard Teufel Von Loudon ,It's one of my first opera listen Love it but it's spooky folks, I feel a presence in the room when it play no kidding...

[Tsaraslondon]

My first ever listen to this set, and probably my last. I have seen Fedora once at Covent Garden in a lavish production that starred Carreras and, it has to be said, an ageing Freni. It didn't make much impression on me then and it doesn't do now. It seems very musically slight to me.

Olivero displays her great technique and superb vocal control, but she was around 60 when it was recorded and, to my ears, she does sound it, however thrilling her dramatic commitment. As for Del Monaco, by this time he had resorted to bawling most of the time. Amor ti vieta, the best aria in the score, is really unpleasant.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd heard Callas and Corelli sing it at La Scala, but, like Andrea Chénier it remains an oddity in her career, and a very strange substitute for the originally planned Parsifal that was cancelled when Erich Kleiber died suddenly.

[Tsaraslondon]

Thought I'd give this recording a try as I hadn't heard it before. I quite enjoyed it, but I wouldn't prefer it to either Patanè or Muti. Compared to Gruberova and even Sills, I find Hong's tone pallid and unvaried. Larmore I liked a lot more, but I still prefer both Baker and Baltsa. All three give dramatically alive performances but I just prefer Baker's and Baltsa's voices.

[ritter]

My first ever listen to this set, and probably my last. I have seen Fedora once at Covent Garden in a lavish production that starred Carreras and, it has to be sai, an aging Freni. It didn't make much impression on me then and it doesn't do now. It seems very musically slight to me.

Olivero displays her great technique and superb vocal control, but she was around 60 when it was recorded and, to my ears, she does sound it, however thrilling her dramatic commitment. As for Del Monaco, by this time he had resorted to bawling most of the time. Amor ti vieta, the best aria in the score, is really unpleasant.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I'd heard Callas and Corelli sing it at La Scala, but, like Andrea Chénier it remains an oddity in her career, and a very strange substitute for the originally planned Parsifal that was cancelled when Erich Kleiber died suddenly.

I purchased that set (used) some years ago for Magda Olivero, and artist I admire and had the chance to see live in recital late (1978 IIRC) in her very long career. I agree with you, Fedora is musically slight (that's possibly an understatement, its really quite an awful piece IMHO). Umberto Giordano was not the greatest opera composer ever, but he was capable of much more than what he offers us here. The excerpts from Francesca da Rimini that serve as a filler are much, much better. Pity they did not record the whole thing, and that the live recording from La Scala with the same lead singers under Gavazzeni has dismal sound.

[Tsaraslondon]

Muti's set really is as good as I remembered. The live sound lets it down a bit, but the performance is superb and it's no surprise that EMI decided it should be recorded for posterity. Gruberova is not a singer I usualy like, but here she is wonderful, spinning out her phrases in masterly fashion. But in Bellini's opera the leading character is undoubtedly Romeo and this has to be one of Baltsa's best roles. Tender in the duets, quick to anger in her exchanges with Tebaldo, her voice firm and free throughout its range. Her delivery of the recitatives is particularly thrilling.

None of the other singers are quite in their class, but none of them let the side down and Muti's pacing of the score is just right.

[Tsaraslondon]

The best things on this recording are Sass's Elvira and Gardelli's idiomatic conducting. Otherwise there is not a great deal to commend it. Lamberti's whining Ernani is a bit tiresome and both Miller and Kovats are a bit provincial. No doubt it would be enjoyable enough if you came across it on a night in Budapest, but the recording doesn't challenge either Schippers or Muti. I did enjoy Sass's Elvira though. This was one of her earliest recordings and the voice is in fine shape. She may not have Price's beauty of tone but she makes more of the character.

[Tsaraslondon]

What a pleasure it is to hear French opera sung so idiomatically. Thill and Vallin enunciate the text so clearly here that even people with only a smattering of French should be able to understand them. Were it not for the 1931 sound (not bad for its age but nowhere near as good as those of modern alternatives like Pappano and Davis) I'd probably have made this recording my first choice for the opera.

The last time I saw the opera was at Covent Garden last year. Though the role of Werther has been sung with success by lyric tenors like Schipa and Tagliavini, Juan Diego Florez was just too light of voice to do justice to the part. Half the time it seemed as if he were husbanding his resources and, when he did let the voice out, he was still overpowered by the orchestra. His Charlotte, Isabel Leonard, had a pleasant enough voice, but was so reticent as to seem impassive, and only mildly concerned by Werther's suicide. Jacques Imbrailo's Albert was similarly low key resulting in a rather dull performance of an opera that should be seeting with barely suppressed passion. This classic recording certainly redresses the balance.

[ritter]

Revisting thet absolute jewel that is Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, in what I understand is its first recording (from 1947), conducted by Ernest Bour.


The sound is excellent for its vintage, the performance has a natural flow to it that is admirable, Colette's text is beguiling, and the music is simply wonderful. C'est magnifique!

"Keng-ça-fou, Mah-jong, Keng-ça-fou, puis' -kong-kong-pran-pa, Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ...Ça-oh-râ, Cas-ka-ra, harakiri, Sessue Hayakawa Hâ! Hâ! Ça-oh-râ toujours l'air chinoâ." 

[Tsaraslondon]

Revisting thet absolute jewel that is Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, in what I understand is its first recording (from 1947), conducted by Ernest Bour.


The sound is excellent for its vintage, the performance has a natural flow to it that is admirable, Colette's text is beguiling, and the music is simply wonderful. C'est magnifique!

"Keng-ça-fou, Mah-jong, Keng-ça-fou, puis' -kong-kong-pran-pa, Ça-oh-râ, Ça-oh-râ...Ça-oh-râ, Cas-ka-ra, harakiri, Sessue Hayakawa Hâ! Hâ! Ça-oh-râ toujours l'air chinoâ." 

An absolutely magical recording of this enchanting work. I'm not sure it's ever been bettered.

[T. D.]

[Handelian]

Julius Caesar from Glyndebourne directed by David McVicar. I don't know how much of it Handel would have recognised but he would've loved the music and the way it is done. A tremendous production. Are rattling good show with Denise and Connolly. And much else besides that is really good

[Handelian]

Arrived today. Get a load of this!

[André]

An excellent disc !

[Scion7]