What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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knight66

Quote from: Florestan on April 20, 2021, 12:07:29 PM
Who are they, actually? The cover art is utterly and inexcusably silent about them.  ;D


Here is an extract of a review.

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Some of the singing is magnificent. Kenneth Tarver is the finest Ferrando since Simoneau–perhaps better, singing with melting tone, ardor, long breath, and beautifully controlled dynamics. Christopher Maltman is as fine as Guglielmo, his rich baritone well-used. For some reason, Currentzis does not see Guglielmo as much of a character, and the role is underplayed. The sisters are differentiated, almost to a fault: Simone Kermes insists on whispering 80 percent of Fiordiligi's lines into the microphone as if she's afraid of getting caught, and Malena Errman is an aggressive Dorabella–there's never an issue of knowing who's who.
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I don't much enjoy Errman, but I can't stand Kermes and I only bought Don Giovanni because she was not in it.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Florestan

Quote from: knight66 on April 20, 2021, 12:13:40 PM

Here is an extract of a review.

========
Some of the singing is magnificent. Kenneth Tarver is the finest Ferrando since Simoneau–perhaps better, singing with melting tone, ardor, long breath, and beautifully controlled dynamics. Christopher Maltman is as fine as Guglielmo, his rich baritone well-used. For some reason, Currentzis does not see Guglielmo as much of a character, and the role is underplayed. The sisters are differentiated, almost to a fault: Simone Kermes insists on whispering 80 percent of Fiordiligi's lines into the microphone as if she's afraid of getting caught, and Malena Errman is an aggressive Dorabella–there's never an issue of knowing who's who.
===========

I don't much enjoy Errman, but I can't stand Kermes and I only bought Don Giovanni because she was not in it.

Mike

Thank you, Mike.

I still find not listing the cast on the cover art extremely egotistical and bad taste. But then again, Currentzis who?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

JBS

Quote from: Florestan on April 20, 2021, 12:07:29 PM
Who are they, actually? The cover art is utterly and inexcusably silent about them.  ;D

The back cover lists them.

Amazon US lists it as currently unavailable.

Quote from: Florestan on April 20, 2021, 10:51:19 AM
Does he both conduct and sing all roles simultaneously?  ;D

I'm sorry but I think an opera recording art cover which lists only the conductor and the orchestra and no soloists is the top of egocentrism from the conductor's part. Really sorry, but that's my honest feeling.

You'll love the photos Amazon includes as images for the listing



Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Florestan

Quote from: JBS on April 20, 2021, 12:20:24 PM
You'll love the photos Amazon includes as images for the listing




WTF?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

JBS

Speaking of trendy young conductors doing Mozart operas, has anyone heard any of Nezet-Seguin's recordings?

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

knight66

Quote from: Florestan on April 20, 2021, 12:16:43 PM
Thank you, Mike.

I still find not listing the cast on the cover art extremely egotistical and bad taste. But then again, Currentzis who?

The format of each issue is a thick book roughly the size of a CD box and the casts appear on the back cover.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Florestan

Quote from: knight66 on April 20, 2021, 12:26:04 PM
The format of each issue is a thick book roughly the size of a CD box and the casts appear on the back cover.

Mike

Shameful. Really shameful, Mr. Currentzis! I'll just pass without any regret whatsoever.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

knight66

Quote from: JBS on April 20, 2021, 12:24:07 PM
Speaking of trendy young conductors doing Mozart operas, has anyone heard any of Nezet-Seguin's recordings?

Yes, I have and enjoy his Don Giovanni. The fly in his ointment is for me Damrau whose voice sets my teeth on edge. But plenty of people enjoy her. Because of her presence, I have avoided the other sets in the series. The Giovanni goes with a zing without being driven.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

JBS

Quote from: knight66 on April 20, 2021, 12:39:26 PM
Yes, I have and enjoy his Don Giovanni. The fly in his ointment is for me Damrau whose voice sets my teeth on edge. But plenty of people enjoy her. Because of her presence, I have avoided the other sets in the series. The Giovanni goes with a zing without being driven.

Mike

Thanks. I don't mind Damrau and realized that Joyce DiDonato is in at least some of them, which renders them obligatory for me.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

André

Quote from: JBS on April 20, 2021, 12:24:07 PM
Speaking of trendy young conductors doing Mozart operas, has anyone heard any of Nezet-Seguin's recordings?

I have 4 of them (DG, Figaro and the 2 german operas). Don't intend to get the other 2. I don't really like Tito and, short of a perfect cast, Cosi falls apart for me. Figaro and Zauberflöte are very good, Don Giovanni and Entführung almost excellent. Their qualities are a sense of a finely honed ensemble cast (taped during a run of performances if I'm not mistaken), excellent playing from the orchestra, fizzy and bubbly conducting from NS and some outstanding solo contributions. Among the faults: a few less than agreeable voices, very uneven singing from Villazon (outstanding as Tamino and Don Ottavio, annoying and overparted as Papageno) and a sometimes distracting adherence to PI mannerisms telegraphed from the podium.

Honestly, considering that today's singers are from so many different cultures and schools of singing, I doubt any new recording can do justice to Mozart's operas. They may seem unsinkable from the outside, but they are super delicate confections that must run like a swiss clock. The gulf between today's recordings and the bunch of bicentenary (1956) releases is abyssal. Nézet-Séguin's Mozart recordings are as good as they come considering the singing issue, and better than most with regard to the orchestral playing (fabulous) and conducting (enthusiastic yet sensitive).

Fritz Kobus


Wanderer

Quote from: knight66 on April 20, 2021, 12:01:50 PM
How do you find it? I bought the Figaro which I did not much enjoy and the Don Giovanni which enjoyed a lot. I decided that his likely approach to Cosi was not for me. Also, I don't take to some of his singers.

Mike

I like it the most among his da Ponte recordings, but this might in part be because I am not as set in my ways with Così fan tutte as with the other two. I also like his Nozze di Figaro, not so much his Don Giovanni; both have parts that delight and others that do not. His requirement for vibrato-less singing takes some getting used to, but the orchestral contributions as well as the recitativi are, in my view, quite refreshing.

Wanderer

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Quote from: Florestan on April 20, 2021, 10:51:19 AM
Does he both conduct and sing all roles simultaneously?  ;D

That would've been truly avant-garde.  8)

Fritz Kobus


Wanderer


Que


Tsaraslondon



Wunderlich's peerless Belmonte is reason enough to hear this recording, but it does have other things going for it, not least Jochum's sprightly conducting.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

ritter

Following suit to Tsaraslondon's example above, with another classic recording of a German opera. Arturo Toscanini conducts Fidelio:


Fritz Kobus


Tsaraslondon



The premiere recording of Barber's somewhat neglected Vanessa with the cast of the original production. Superb performances from Steber, Elias, Resnik, Gedda and Tozzi.  I sometimes wonder why nobody ever thought of reviving it for Renee Fleming. Is it because Erika is the more sympathetic character, despite the opera being called Vanessa?
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas