What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Tsaraslondon]

La Cenerentola has been quite lucky on disc and there are quite a few good recordings available. I wouldn't like to choose a best recording, but this is certainly one of the good ones.

[Ganondorf]

After Rheingold and Die Walküre from Keilberth (Bayreuth 1953), this:



Solti's Das Rheingold from Decca. With a fantastic lead trio: George London a commanding, incisive Wotan (better than Hotter IMO), Kirsten Flagstad's sumptuous, voluminous tones as Fricka, Gustav Neidlinger again as Alberich, none the better than here - and very good secondery roles: Erda, Loge, Froh, Donner, the two giants and the Rhinemaidens, albeit slightly less alluring than on the Keilberth set. There's no denying the thrill of the splendid orchestral playing and beautifully produced soundstage. The Nibelungen's wails of terror are overdone of course, but at least we are not in any doubt about the power of the ring. A classic production, still amazing after 64 years.

Still my favorite opera recording of all time (or alternately the whole Solti Ring if one considers it a single work) 

[André]

Die Walküre. I find it to be the richest of the Ring operas. At once heroic, tender, erotically charged, filled with action, its characters complex and filled with contradictions, it's probably the least binary of the lot. It also has the richest trove of leitmotive, the musical motifs that give musical shape to characters, emotions, even inanimate objects. A masterpiece through and through.

By and large Solti's version is IMO the safest recommendation for this mammoth work on account of its technical brilliance, orchestral splendour and superb vocal casting. The latter element is as always a crucial element for the Wagner amateur. While the mid 1950s was possibly the true golden age of wagnerian singing, one has to contend with mono sound and live conditions - a good or bad thing depending on one's view.

In 1963 Decca was able to secure just about the best cast possible and I have very little to complain about here. The singing of Christa Ludwig is beautiful but she doesn't sound as implacable as she should. In her hilarious Wagner skit Anna Russell famously says that all Fricka does is « nag, nag, nag ». Well, Ludwig is too noble sounding and not enough nagging. Conversely, Hans Hotter as Wotan hits rough patches when in shouting mode, wobbly and almost distressed, but he is magnificent in the tenderness and nobility of his soft singing. James King is an excellent Siegmund, Crespin an ideal Sieglinde, her creamy tones unmarred by any sign of vocal discomfort. Gottlob Frick is THE Hunding to send all others packing. What a voice ! Nilsson is excellent as Brünnhilde, tossing high notes with insolent facility. Mödl (in the Keilberth set) hojo-tohoes even better though, articulating every word tellingly. The walkyries are an exciting, vocally healthy bunch.

In the end this Walküre is a Decca-Sotli-WP triumph, the superb cast being mostly a deluxe adornment to it. As a total dramatic and vocal experience I still treasure Goodall's version above all others, but that is in English and not all listeners respond well to Goodall's slow tempi.

[Tsaraslondon]

No doubt there are cuts, but Gui's Rossini recordings from the 1950s exude such joy in the act of making music that criticism is disarmed. Joyfully entertaining.

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm never quite as knocked out by Rossini's final opera as I feel I should be. There are some wonderful set pieces, it's true, but it's very long. The finale of Act IV is truly sublime though.

By and large I prefer it sung in the original French and this recording is really excellent, with terrific performances from Bacquier, Gedda and Caballé. The recording also includes a lovely aria for Jemmy, placed as an appendix at the end of Act III, that does not appear in any full score, as Rossini decided to omit it from the completed version. Dramatically he was no doubt right, but it is good to hear it and it is beautifully performed here by Mady Mesplé.

[Tsaraslondon]

I saw the production on which this recording is based when it made its way to Covent Garden in 1988, though only two of the Vienna cast (Agnes Baltsa and Alessandro Corbelli) remained from this 1987 recording. Gabriele Ferro took over the conducting honours and it was a superb performance, with Baltsa both vocally splendid and hilariously funny. The fun from that performance doesn't quite come across here and, though the singing is generally of a very high standard, it lacks the sparkle and sheer joy you hear in some of those Rossini recordings from the 1950s featruring Gui, Gavazzeni or Galliera and I find myself wondering if the fault lies with Abbado. I often find his other recordings of Rossini comic operas also a bit lacking in fun.


Incidentally, I also saw the revival the following year when Marilyn Horne took over the role of Isabella. It was towards the end of her career and she was rather disappointing, the voice having shrunk on volume quite a bit and her acting rather hammy and nowhere near as funny as Baltsa's.


Nonetheless it is good to have this as a memento of Baltsa's superb Isabella at Covent Garden.

[Tsaraslondon]

Recorded live at concerts in Wildbad in 2012, this was I think the first absolutely complete recording of Semiramide and runs about an hour longer than the famous recording with Sutherland and Horne. Alex Penda is certainly dramatically compelling but she doesn't have Sutherland's beauty of tone, nor is her coloratura anywhere near as fluid and, compared to Horne, Marianna Pizzolato is just rather dull. Lorenzo Regazzo's Assur is woolly and heavily aspirated and in fact some of the best singing comes from John Osborn as Idreno. That said, there is a surfeit of aspirates from the whole cast in what I suppose we must now call the modern manner.

Since it was issued, Opera Rara have also issued a complete recording, but I haven't heard that one and I'm not sure I like the opera enough to acquire a second recording, so this one will have to do. It's a good enough performance and, at least when Penda is in front of the microphone, rather more than that.

[Tsaraslondon]

You can keep your complete and uncut Urtext versions of Rossini operas, none of them exude the sheer style and joy of this classic performance. OK, so the edition used wouldn't bear scrutiny today, but here we have a lightness of touch, a sort of blithe elegance that seems lost to us today.

Just out of curiosity, I also listened to Fiorilla's aria Non si da follia maggiore as sung by Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli, as well as Callas singing it live in 1950. Sumi Jo sings sweetly and deftly, Bartoli is just grotesque, but only Callas shapes the melody with elegance and panache, revealing in just a few notes the flirtatious character of Fiorilla. Truly she was unique.

https://youtu.be/p0pSsLKtz2g

[Maestro267]

Strauss: Salome
Behrens (Salome), Böhm (Herod), Baltsa (Herodias), van Dam (Jochanaan) etc.
Vienna PO/Karajan

[Olias]

This is my desert island opera DVD.

[Tsaraslondon]

I sometimes think Samson et Dalila is one of those operas it's difficult to get right. My favourite version is probably the video of a Covent Garden performance with Vickers and Verrett and I rather wish that they had recorded it in the studio.


On record I've owned at various times Ludwig/King/Patané, Gorr/Vickers/Prêtre and Borodina/Cura/Davis, none of which I found entirely satisfactory. The Chung recording with Meier and Domingo comes in for a lot of praise, but it still didn't do it for me and so I've ended up with Davis's first recording. Carreras's lyric tenor is stretched to its limits, but my word he gives a performance and Baltsa is both sexy and dangerous, something which cannot be said of a lot of Dalilas. Davis, as so often in French opera, paces the score just right. I'm happy with this one.

[bhodges]

Looking forward to Verdi's Rigoletto on Sunday, from Opera Philadelphia.

https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2021-2022/rigoletto/

--Bruce

[KevinP]

[KevinP]

And by extention:



Bit of a Barber kick lately.

[Tsaraslondon]

I often wonder why this opera has not been revived more often. I also wonder why Renée Fleming appears not to have sung it. It would have suited her brilliantly.

[ritter]

Teresa Berganza in memoriam:



In 1957, still only 24 at the time, made her debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. This was probably her first major international engagement, and opened the door to a long and very distinguished career. The cast was stellar: Aix stalwarts Teresa Stich-Randall and Hans Rosbaud are joined by Luigi Alva, Rolando Panerai, Marcello Cortis and Mariella Adani. Berganza (who I believe was singing her rôle for the first time, and years later went on to record it commercially under Solti) had been preceded as Dorabella at Aix by Nan Merriman, who had recorded the role under Karajan).

Even at this early stage of her career, all the features that made "Teresona" so unique (namely, the beautiful, velvety voice, a superb technique, and a captivating personality that can be felt from her singing alone, without the need to see her onstage) are there. The rôle of Dorabella of course doesn't permit her to dazzle us with one of her other strengths, the coloratura she was extraordinarily deft at; for that we have to listen to her Rossini recordings. But this is superb singing, and the whole performance is of the highest quality.

[Tsaraslondon]

I only once saw this opera, in a superb production by David Pountney at the English National Opera, with Josephine Barstow and Philip Langridge as Katerina and Sergey (oh what heady days were those). Without visual stimulus it can be quite a difficult listen, but this recording is really fantastic. This was the first recording of the orginal score and, if I remember correctly, it won a well-earned Gramophone Award, and probably many others too. Vishevskaya and Gedda could hardly be bettered and Rostropovich brings out the lyrcism as well as the violence in the score. The recording rather favours the voices and, by this time in her career, Vishnevskaya could sound a bit shrill above the stave. There is no doubting, though, that she is the star of the recording, even when it is so well cast as it is here, with Gedda outstanding as Sergei.

[Mirror Image]

I only once saw this opera, in a superb production by David Pountney at the English National Opera, with Josephine Barstow and Philip Langridge as Katerina and Sergey (oh what heady days were those). Without visual stimulus it can be quite a difficult listen, but this recording is really fantastic. This was the first recording of the orginal score and, if I remember correctly, it won a well-earned Gramophone Award, and probably many others too. Vishevskaya and Gedda could hardly be bettered and Rostropovich brings out the lyrcism as well as the violence in the score. The recording rather favours the voices and, by this time in her career, Vishnevskaya could sound a bit shrill above the stave. There is no doubting, though, that she is the star of the recording, even when it is so well cast as it is here, with Gedda outstanding as Sergei.

This is an excellent recording the best I can remember, but I'm planning on revisiting this opera soon, but I'll be giving this recording a listen (an acquisition made earlier this year or late last year):

[Tsaraslondon]

This is an excellent recording the best I can remember, but I'm planning on revisiting this opera soon, but I'll be giving this recording a listen (an acquisition made earlier this year or late last year):

I'm assuming that recording is of the censored score, when Shostakovich made changes to satisfy the Soviet authorities. The Rostropovich was the first recording of the original score and he was only able to make it because, by that time, he was residing in the West.

[Tsaraslondon]

Sibelius's short (35 minutes) opera is an early work and this is its first recording. It works well enough on disc, but I'm not sure it would be particularly dramatic on stage.