What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Undersea]

Recently:




Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov


Liking the work so far - I am keen to explore some more Russian Opera (have purchased a Box-Set of Rimsky-Korsakov Operas and Prokofiev's War and Peace to this end)....

[T. D.]

Both story and music are heavily influenced by Wagner, but Chausson has his own voice and one has to wonder why this excellent opera has receieved so few performances since its 1903 première.

There is at least one other recording available, but I can't imagine it being better than this one. Winbergh lets it down a bit, singing for the most part too loud in questionable French, but both Quilico and Zylis-Gara are superb, as are the smaller roles and Armin Jordan makes sure the performance never sags.

I saw a live performance a month ago: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/king-arthur/

Listening to now:

[vers la flamme]

NP:

Ravel
L'enfant et les sortilèges
Sylvaine Gilma (soprano), Francoise Ogeas (soprano), Colette Herzog (soprano), Jeannine Collard (mezzo-soprano), Jane Berbié (mezzo-soprano), Camille Maurane (baritone) et. al.
R.T.F. National Orchestre
R.T.F. Choeur De Radio France
R.T.F. Maitrise De Radio France
Maazel



Exquisite. French opera doesn't get much better than this other than Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande.

I found this last month at a record store, Bananas in St. Petersburg, FL, a very large store with a sadly limited classical selection, but there were some cool things to be found like this. I've only listened once and must admit neither opera really clicked with me. I owe it another listen soon as Ravel is one of my favorite composers.

[Tsaraslondon]

A classic recording of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, the French sung so clearly that even someone with only a smattering of French can understand most of the words. This edition has the added attraction of a collection of French songs sung by the original Mélisande, Mary Garden and her successor Maggie Teyye, both of whom studied the role with Debussy.

[Tsaraslondon]

I saw a live performance a month ago: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/events/king-arthur/

How was it? You are one of the few people to have seen the opera staged.

[T. D.]

How was it? You are one of the few people to have seen the opera staged.

I really enjoyed it. But I rarely attend operas any more, and this was my first in years, so (especially considering the COVID situation), I was bound to have a good time.
Background: Botstein is famed for programming interesting but neglected repertory. He's also an exceptional fund-raiser. The operas at his annual summer festival (Bard Summerscape) always have huge budgets, with lavish and attractive sets. Decades ago, Botstein's conducting got little respect (I recall some positively scathing New York Times reviews in the 1990s) but in my limited recent experience I have no complaints.

During the first intermission I reflected that the music was perhaps too Wagnerian, but that impression lightened up and I'd say it's sufficiently original. Sets and production impressive, singing fine.

There are many online reviews, but I'm almost totally paywalled (e.g. NYT, WSJ, Classicstoday, Opera News). I was able to read this one.
https://operawire.com/bard-summerscape-2021-review-le-roi-arthus/

[Mirror Image]

I found this last month at a record store, Bananas in St. Petersburg, FL, a very large store with a sadly limited classical selection, but there were some cool things to be found like this. I've only listened once and must admit neither opera really clicked with me. I owe it another listen soon as Ravel is one of my favorite composers.

L'enfant et les sortilèges is one of my favorites from Ravel. Keep listening is all I can tell you. If it helps, this work is more 'operetta like' than opera in that Ravel was inspired by Broadway musicals at the time he was writing L'enfant. There are some exquisite moments throughout and the huge orchestra used often times sounds like a mere chamber ensemble. Ingenious orchestration.

[Wendell_E]

No awards for the cover art, but the performance is very impressive.

[Mirror Image]

No awards for the cover art, but the performance is very impressive.

I bet it was --- I like this opera quite a bit.

[T. D.]

No awards for the cover art, but the performance is very impressive.

Good to see modern recordings. Fine opera, but for a long time it seemed like the only available recording was the old one with Leinsdorf conducting. I guess I also missed the 2011 release on Oehms.

[bhodges]

No awards for the cover art, but the performance is very impressive.

Adding to the very long list. If nothing else, the soloists!

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

Continuing on with this Davis performance of Les Troyens from many weeks ago:

[JBS]

Thrift shop find for $1.50.
I tend to avoid Opera d'Oro because the sound on almost all their releases hasn't been good (exception: The Merry Widow,  because it's actually EMI's studio recording with Schwarzkopf) but this one is acceptable. Orchestra and sometimes chorus are badly compressed and shrill, but the soloists were well-engineered. (So was the audience's applause for some reason.) Singers knew what they were doing here, and Karajan doesn't get in anyone's way.

The same performance was issued by Orfeo in an issue that's OOP.

Recommended if anyone is looking for a live performance by Corelli or Price.

[Tsaraslondon]

Thrift shop find for $1.50.
I tend to avoid Opera d'Oro because the sound on almost all their releases hasn't been good (exception: The Merry Widow,  because it's actually EMI's studio recording with Schwarzkopf) but this one is acceptable. Orchestra and sometimes chorus are badly compressed and shrill, but the soloists were well-engineered. (So was the audience's applause for some reason.) Singers knew what they were doing here, and Karajan doesn't get in anyone's way.

The same performance was issued by Orfeo in an issue that's OOP.

Recommended if anyone is looking for a live performance by Corelli or Price.

I've heard this recording in a different pressing. It's certainly a very exciting performance (so exciting that stage and pit become unstuck in a couple of places), but I wouldn't prefer it to Karajan's earlier studio recording with Callas. The singers on this live one might possibly be considered more entitled, but Karajan's grip on the score in the first studio one is tremendous, the score's execution wonderfully precise but just as thrilling, with superbly sprung rhythms. It's my absolute favourite recording of the opera.

[Tsaraslondon]

Continuing on with this Davis performance of Les Troyens from many weeks ago:

On balance, I still prefer this to Davis's later recording and also to the recent Nelson recording.

[Tsaraslondon]

Karajan's Pelléas et Mélisande comes in for a deal of criticisim for being too Germanic (whatever that means) and for misrepresenting Debussy. Well we have no way of knowing what Debussy would have thought and it is a recording I find myself returning to quite often. It has an excellent cast and is wonderfully played by the BPO. It's also a much better balanced recording than many of Karajan's were around this time, with the voices well forward and never submerged by the orchestra.

I have the very different Désormière in my collection too and I think there is room for both.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thrift shop find for $1.50.
I tend to avoid Opera d'Oro because the sound on almost all their releases hasn't been good (exception: The Merry Widow,  because it's actually EMI's studio recording with Schwarzkopf) but this one is acceptable. Orchestra and sometimes chorus are badly compressed and shrill, but the soloists were well-engineered. (So was the audience's applause for some reason.) Singers knew what they were doing here, and Karajan doesn't get in anyone's way.

The same performance was issued by Orfeo in an issue that's OOP.

Recommended if anyone is looking for a live performance by Corelli or Price.

Well, I had an enjoyable morning thanks to you, JBS, and your mention of this recording!    I see what you mean about the choruses disappearing at times:  heard faint murmurs from the nuns and also later on in the opera too.  But glorious singing from the main characters.  Wonder who O.D. got this recording from?  Grateful that I have other recordings of it which include the full libretto as it was nice to be able to follow along with it--though I haven't managed to get as much done around my home this morning as I had planned to! 

PD

[Mirror Image]

On balance, I still prefer this to Davis's later recording and also to the recent Nelson recording.

I don't own the later Davis LSO Live recording, but I do own the Nelson recording, which was included in the Berlioz Warner set.

[André]

Well, I had an enjoyable morning thanks to you, JBS, and your mention of this recording!    I see what you mean about the choruses disappearing at times:  heard faint murmurs from the nuns and also later on in the opera too.  But glorious singing from the main characters.  Wonder who O.D. got this recording from? Grateful that I have other recordings of it which include the full libretto as it was nice to be able to follow along with it--though I haven't managed to get as much done around my home this morning as I had planned to! 

PD

It's a 1962 Salzburg Festival production and the same performance as on the official SF release:




I have that Od'O release but not the DG one. Can't tell if the sound is different. The DG dates from 1995, the Od'O from 2002. My hunch is that they're identical.

[Tsaraslondon]

Probably Mady Mesplé's greatest performance on disc in a role that very much became her signature role, but there are other reasons to enjoy this recording, not least Charles Burles as Gérald and Roger Soyer as Nilakantha.

This recording was top choice for the opera not so long ago in BBC Radio 3's Building a Library.