What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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Mirror Image

Quote from: André on November 21, 2021, 08:48:39 AM
BTW these Bychkov recordings are from a very cheap box currently selling for 12.99€ at JPC:



The Strauss, Wagner and Verdi are superb, with state of the art sound. The Rachmaninoff disc, too except I'm not overly fond of these particular scores  :-\

Are these discs hybrid, Andre? If they are, I'll definitely be acquiring this set.

André

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 22, 2021, 05:53:48 PM
Are these discs hybrid, Andre? If they are, I'll definitely be acquiring this set.

You mean can they be played as regular CDs ? Yes, that's it. I don't own a SACD player.

JBS

#2822
NP

First ever listen to this opera.
The CD set I have carries over the cover art of the LP issue above. A later CD issue was seemingly produced by a design team that didn't realize the opera was not set in Paris 1910.

Full cast listing

The booklet has a lengthy essay diving into the compositional and performance history, plus a musicological analysis, in English and French, but only the German portion has a synopsis of the action on stage. (Did they think Germans weren't up on their Homer?)  So non-Germanophones must actually read the libretto to see where it diverges from Homer (most important omissions seem to be cutting out Telemachus entirely, and making the finale less violent: only the suitors are killed, not the disloyal maids, and in place of the confrontation with the suitors' families, the people of Ithaca acclaim their returned king.)

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: JBS on November 23, 2021, 04:36:55 PM
NP

First ever listen to this opera.
The CD set I have carries over the cover art of the LP issue above. A later CD issue was seemingly produced by a design team that didn't realize the opera was not set in Paris 1910.

Full cast listing

The booklet has a lengthy essay diving into the compositional and performance history, plus a musicological analysis, in English and French, but only the German portion has a synopsis of the action on stage. (Did they think Germans weren't up on their Homer?)  So non-Germanophones must actually read the libretto to see where it diverges from Homer (most important omissions seem to be cutting out Telemachus entirely, and making the finale less violent: only the suitors are killed, not the disloyal maids, and in place of the confrontation with the suitors' families, the people of Ithaca acclaim their returned king.)

I had this set on LP with the cover detailed above and now have the same CD issue you posted.

I do like the opera. The music is rather beautiful, but it's a bit lacking in dramatic event. It works well enough as an aural experience though. This is a fine recording of it too.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

ritter

#2824
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on November 24, 2021, 02:58:40 AM
I had this set on LP with the cover detailed above and now have the same CD issue you posted.

I do like the opera. The music is rather beautiful, but it's a bit lacking in dramatic event. It works well enough as an aural experience though. This is a fine recording of it too.
+1

I too had this recording of Pénélope on LP in its original garb, and now with the floral fin-de-siècle cover. IMHO, the best bit probably is the prelude, but the whole thing is beautiful (despite it being very static). And Jessye Norman, as usual, is outstanding!

Fauré made a reduction of the prelude for solo piano, which works wonderfully well IMO:

https://www.youtube.com/v/SL4YEgSZXwk

EDIT (THREAD DUTY):

Act II of Parsifal, in Daniel Barenboim's 1991 studio recording.


This, of course is the "Kundry act", and what a Kundry! Waltraud Meier was for decades the greatest exponent of the role, and here she is in extraordinary form. Barenboim is a Wagner conductor to reckon with, perhaps slightly of the traditional, "reverential" type, but the results here are first-class: a Berlin Philharmonic in excellent shape, the marvels of this wonderfully scored piece apparent in each bar, and the conductor manages to shape of the whole act perfectly. Gunther von Kannen is sounds simultaneously elegant and tormented as Klingsor (and this fits the rôle perfectly). Siegfried Jerusalem is perfectly adequate as Parsifal, singing with class, but I tend to find this tenor somewhat anonymous (even the two times I saw him live in this opera).

Mirror Image

Quote from: André on November 23, 2021, 01:19:50 PM
You mean can they be played as regular CDs ? Yes, that's it. I don't own a SACD player.

Yep and thanks for the feedback. At that price, it's rather enticing I must say.

T. D.

#2826
Quote from: ritter on November 24, 2021, 03:20:13 AM


EDIT (THREAD DUTY):

Act II of Parsifal, in Daniel Barenboim's 1991 studio recording.


This, of course is the "Kundry act", and what a Kundry! Waltraud Meier was for decades the greatest exponent of the role, and here she is in extraordinary form. Barenboim is a Wagner conductor to reckon with, perhaps slightly of the traditional, "reverential" type, but the results here are first-class: a Berlin Philharmonic in excellent shape, the marvels of this wonderfully scored piece apparent in each bar, and the conductor manages to shape of the whole act perfectly. Gunther von Kannen is sounds simultaneously elegant and tormented as Klingsor (and this fits the rôle perfectly). Siegfried Jerusalem is perfectly adequate as Parsifal, singing with class, but I tend to find this tenor somewhat anonymous (even the two times I saw him live in this opera).

[Emphasis added] Agreed. Meier "owned" the role of Kundry for a long time, and she was near peak form at the time of this recording. Good observations on Barenboim and Jerusalem as well.

I attended a 1992 NY Met Opera Parsifal with Meier and Jerusalem, but Levine conducted.

ritter

#2827
First listen to Vincent d'Indy's Fervaal, in this super-budget release of a 1962 French radio performance:


D'Indy's L'Étranger, AFAIK his only other opera to have been recorded (on the Accord label), made a very week impression on me when I listened to it some years ago. This is a more ambitious work, and the prelude has been recorded often (by Monteux, for instance). According to Wikipedia, some refer to this as the "Parsifal français". I am inclined to say it's a "Parsifal de pacotille::).  The admittedly very adroit orchestration doesn't compensate for the obvious lack of worthwhile thematic material or development, and the originally Swedish plot, transplanted to the South of France to make it more "national", seems uninteresting.

The radio performance (in tolerable sound) is undistinguished.

ritter

Revisiting Stravinsky's Le Rossignol after a long hiatus.


This was the works's first recording ever (it's from 1955), in French translation, and is utterly charming. The cast includes some of the most distinguished French vocalists of the time (Janine Micheau and Jean Giraudeau are outstanding), and André Cluytens' handling of the score is, as could be expected, masterful.

Very enjoyable!  :)

ritter

Another vintage opera recording tonight chez ritter (ordered last week from melomania in Paris, and landed today  :)).


This recording of L'Heure espagnole is possibly the first ever made of Ravel's "other" opera (it's never had the success of L'Enfant et les sortilèges, but IMHO is a wonderful work in itself). It was made live in concert in wartime (but post-liberation) Paris —December 1944—, soon after Manuel Rosenthal returned to conducting the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française. What a wonderful conductor of Ravel this man was (his set of the orchestral works with the orchestra of the Opéra, from the late 50s, is among my favourites). Concepción is the delightful Geori Boué, and the rest of the cast is unknown to me (except for Roger Bourdin), but they are all excellent, and the diction is crystal-clear, making this the conversation piece it should be. The sound is remarkably good for the age of the recording.

The booklet has a lengthy and very interesting discussion between Rosenthal and musicologist (and Ravel biographer) Maurice Marnat.

I now realise this is the fifth recording of the work (I already had Leibowitz, Ansermet, Maazel, and Maderna), but rarely have I enjoyed it as much as this time.

Tsaraslondon



Hardly ever performed these day, but Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz I enjoy rather more than quite a lot of verismo works that are more regularly given.

If not quite erasing memories of Mafalda Favero and Tito Schipa in the famous Cherry Duet, Freni and Pavarotti are nonetheless at their youthful best and Vicente Sardinero is excellent as David. I don't much care for the blowsy mezzo of Laura Didier Gambarella in the breeches role of Beppe, but Gavazzeni conducts with evident love of this charming score.

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

ritter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on November 30, 2021, 01:45:07 AM


Hardly ever performed these day, but Mascagni's L'Amico Fritz I enjoy rather more than quite a lot of verismo works that are more regularly given.

If not quite erasing memories of Mafalda Favero and Tito Schipa in the famous Cherry Duet, Freni and Pavarotti are nonetheless at their youthful best and Vicente Sardinero is excellent as David. I don't much care for the blowsy mezzo of Laura Didier Gambarella in the breeches role of Beppe, but Gavazzeni conducts with evident love of this charming score.

A winner.
Lovely recording of a lovely opera! I revisit it (as well as the earlier version conducted by the composer himself) every so often, and it never fails to charm (particularly the second act, full of nostalgia and longing).

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: ritter on November 30, 2021, 01:51:12 AM
Lovely recording of a lovely opera! I revisit it (as well as the earlier version conducted by the composer himself) every so often, and it never fails to charm (particularly the second act, full of nostalgia and longing).

I'm not big on verismo, but I much prefer this to those overwrought operas like Fedora, Adrianna Lecouvreur and even Andréa Chénier, which seem to be performed far more often.

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

ritter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on November 30, 2021, 02:00:22 AM
I'm not big on verismo, but I much prefer this to those overwrought operas like Fedora, Adrianna Lecouvreur and even Andréa Chénier, which seem to be performed far more often.
+1

I'm not into the cruder areas of verismo either. I think we've talked about Fedora, which is a bête noire for me, in the past. Burt somehow, I treat Mascagni as an exception. Cavalleria rusticana is not an example of finesse by any means, but it has some great music and works very well, I really like Iris, and think there's some brillant stuff in the hardly ever performed (and excessive in most ways) Parisina.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: ritter on November 30, 2021, 02:47:30 AM
+1

I'm not into the cruder areas of verismo either. I think we've talked about Fedora, which is a bête noire for me, in the past. Burt somehow, I treat Mascagni as an exception. Cavalleria rusticana is not an example of finesse by any means, but it has some great music and works very well, I really like Iris, and think there's some brillant stuff in the hardly ever performed (and excessive in most ways) Parisina.

I like Cavalleria Rusticana too and, to a slightly lesser extent I Pagliacci. I don't know either Iris (save for a couple of arias) or Parisina. Maybe I should give them a try.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

ritter

#2835
Iris is a floral-orientalist-symbolist hodgepodge (one of Luigi Illica's most outlandish creations), and with a very crude dénouement (the title character ends in a gutter, and is transfigured in a sort of choral Liebestod à la italo-japonnaise). And yet, it's attractive. There's several pirated sets with Magda Olivero, who sang the role often. My favourite, though, is live from Rome in 1956 under --you guessed it  ;)-- Gavazzeni, with Clara Petrella, di Stefano and Boris Christoff. The sound, alas, is subpar.

Here's my favourite bit from Act I with Petrella from that recording:

https://www.youtube.com/v/mBsnQ4FVHHY

Parisina is a much more exalted and ambitious work. Mascagni said he'd set D'Annunzio's play in toto ("even the commas" :D) , and the result was so excessive that on the second performance, the fourth (and last) act was struck altogether (and nobody seems to have cared). Yet, it has some extraordinary moments (particularly the second act, with an interplay of choruses that is quite masterly). If you want to explore it, get the Gavazzeni recording on Bongiovanni (live from Rome). The Actes Sud from Montpellier (with Gavazzeni's by then widow, Denia Mazzola) is let down by a very inadequate tenor. The only apparently 100% complete recording (from Italian Radio) features Emma Renzi, but is only available from "private" sources (I don't have it, but it's on YouTube).

Here's Act II from that ultra-complete recording:

https://www.youtube.com/v/flISHv3AX98
The first seven minutes or so, with the choruses, are superb IMHO, as is the title character's arioso Sono carica d'oro...Bene morró d'amore from around 15'30" to 22'30" (but it really gets going at 18'25"). The concluding duet (where the choruses come back) goes on and on and on, but just listen for some minutes starting at around 47' and you'll see that Mascagni tried to outdo himself here (the repeated phrase "La notte viene", at ca. 53'55" is quite something).

MusicTurner

#2836
Quote from: JBS on November 23, 2021, 04:36:55 PM
NP

First ever listen to this opera.
The CD set I have carries over the cover art of the LP issue above. A later CD issue was seemingly produced by a design team that didn't realize the opera was not set in Paris 1910.


It's a Carl Larsson drawing from his idyllic, very Swedish, provincial house at that time ('Azalea' 1906), so an even more remote illustration choice ...

ritter

Quote from: MusicTurner on November 30, 2021, 04:39:23 AM
It's a Carl Larsson drawing from his idyllic, very Swedish, provincial house at that time ('Azalea' 1906), so an even more remote illustration choice ...
Yep...probably a wink at Ulysses' short stop in Gotland on the way back to Ithaca... ;)

Roasted Swan

Quote from: ritter on November 30, 2021, 01:51:12 AM
Lovely recording of a lovely opera! I revisit it (as well as the earlier version conducted by the composer himself) every so often, and it never fails to charm (particularly the second act, full of nostalgia and longing).

+1

MusicTurner

#2839
Quote from: ritter on November 30, 2021, 05:38:32 AM
Yep...probably a wink at Ulysses' short stop in Gotland on the way back to Ithaca... ;)

When checking possible theories, it appeared that actually, some have suggested a Scandinavian & Baltic origin for the Ulysses/Odysseus travels & myths, including the writers Felice Vinci and John Larsen. The theories have however mostly been dismissed by conventional scholars, and overall characterized as 'a fascinating and charming dream'.

But interesting to think that if taken literally, one theory would imply that Odysseus was born about 5 km from where I spent most of my childhood, in Odsherred, Denmark, and that he lived a good deal of his life in just the same area :)

https://www.saxo.com/dk/baltic-origins-of-homers-epic-tales_felice-vinci_epub_9781594776458
https://nome.unak.is/wordpress/tag/ulysses/
critique: http://www.paabo.ca/reviews/BalticHomericVinci.html
http://odisse.dk/index.html (Danish)

As a (further) side remark, back in August, some archaeologists claimed to have found parts of the original, Trojan horse in situ - at the correct, Turkish location, that is: https://greekreporter.com/2021/08/10/archaeologists-discover-trojan-horse-in-turkey/