What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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ritter

Quote from: KevinP on September 28, 2022, 07:18:26 PM
A contender for the worst cover art thread? That text is garish!
Yes, it looks like a road sign!  :o
Quote from: KevinP on September 28, 2022, 07:20:19 PM


Meanwhile, this is en route:


Great stuff, those Milhaud sets. The Forlane one has some operas not available elsewhere (Bolivar, Maximilien). Here my initial reaction to the former. Hope you enjoy those sets, KevinP.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: KevinP on September 28, 2022, 07:18:26 PM
A contender for the worst cover art thread? That text is garish!

I thought so too. It seems completely at odds with its contents.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon





The Karajan, though slightly cut, is still my favourite recording of the opera, and not just because Callas is in it. I have never come across a better conducted version. Karajan finds just the right rhythmic verve and swagger, but also gives plenty of room for the more reflective moments of the score. Even though the sound is mono, he brings out so many incidental felicities in the orchestration too. His cast is excellent too. By 1956, Callas's days as Leonora were coming to an end, and indeed she didn't sing the role again after making this recording, but she gives a masterclass in how to sing Verdi, all the filigree of the role beautifully articulated. Musically, I've always thought Leonora one of her greatest achievements. Di Stefano is no doubt a bit light of voice, but I sometimes think that the interpolated top Cs in Di quella pira have made us all think of the role as a big dramatic sing, when much of the role requires tenderness and lyricism. As usual he can push too much, but his diction is superb and he sings a lovely Ah si, ben mio. Panerai is excellent as Di Luna, capturing the character's crazed obsession to perfection, Barbieri possibly only bettered by Simionato or Stignani and Zaccaria a firm, sonorous Ferrando. A classic set.

Giulini's approcah is rather different. Tempi are generally slower, though they never sag. I suppose you'd consider it a much more thoughtful approach, but I still enjoy it. Domingo isn't a heroic Manrico either and, though he still sings the top Cs, they aren't the best bit of his performance. Plowright, in what I think is her best recorded performance, has exactly the right voice for the role, dark and plangent, Zancanaro a fine Di Luna and Nesterenko excellent as Ferrando. The most controversial element of the performance is no doubt Fassbaender's Azucena, but she throws herself into the role with gusto and I like her performance very much. The recording doesn't supplant the Karajan in my affections but I do enjoy it and it comes in a good second to me.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

KevinP

Quote from: ritter on September 29, 2022, 01:59:15 AM
Yes, it looks like a road sign!  :oGreat stuff, those Milhaud sets. The Forlane one has some operas not available elsewhere (Bolivar, Maximilien). Here my initial reaction to the former. Hope you enjoy those sets, KevinP.

Nice review. I'm definitely looking forward to the set. Unforunately, I had to get it from Rarewaves, whose packages take about a month to reach me.

Been on a big Milhaud kick since summer.

Todd

The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

bhodges

Last night, the final performance of Black Lodge, a new piece by David T. Little, presented by Opera Philadelphia as part of its innovative "Festival O." Armed with great photos from the company's PR office, I didn't have a publication for a formal review, so I assembled a series of four tweets.

https://twitter.com/BruceHodgesNY/status/1577016315755515905

--Bruce

Todd



Relistened for the first time since around when it came out.  Well played, good singing, fun.  I will try to listen more frequently going forward.  Maybe in a decade.
The universe is change; life is opinion. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

People would rather believe than know - E.O. Wilson

Propaganda death ensemble - Tom Araya

Tsaraslondon





I'd always hoped that Pappano would conduct a new recording of Verdi's Les vêpres Siciliennes in French, with Alagna and Gheorghiu when they were at the height of their powers and so we still don't have a really recommendable recording of the opera in French. It's a major hole in the catalogue and I don't see it being filled any time soon.

I must say I really enjoyed hearing the opera again in these two performances after a gap of some years and I find I like the opera much more than I thought. The Levine of course enjoys the best sound, but its a little studio bound and Levine's conducting can turn to the bombastic. The performances of the soloists are good, but not exactly revelatory. There is a slight feeling of production line opera about the whole thing. The opera is gven absolutely complete.

The Kleiber is a different matter altogether. Of course the sound is pretty awful, but I find my ear soon adjusted as I became more involved in the performance. Kleiber's conducting is superb, showing him to be a Verdian of the first order. There are a few minor cuts, but the ballet music s given complete. Kokoliós-Bardi, a Greek who had sung with Callas at the Athens Opera, somehow never gives the performance he sounds he could be capable of, but he is adquate at the very least and Mascherini, though also not in the first rank, gives a finer performance here than as Macbeth with Callas in 1952. The two transforming performances are those of Callas and Christoff. Christoff is superb at expressing the single-minded zeal of Procida and Callas gives one of her best Verdian performances as the Duchess Elena, her opening aria an object lesson in how to use music to dramatic ends. Arroyo is pallid in comparison. Furthermore, technically the role holds no terrors for her at all. It was after this performance that Ghiringhelli found he could no longer ignore Callas and she landed her first full contract with La Scala, opening the 1951 season with this very opera.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Back in July, I started listening to all my Verdi recordings. That's 50 different opera sets and three recordings of the Requiem. It means I've been listening to Verdi almost exclusively now for the past three months, and, though that's an awful lot of Verdi, I honestly can say I haven't tired of his music. If anything, my admiration for the ma has increased. I've now moved on to the few exclusively Verdi recitals I have starting with this fascinating and essential collection of Verdi recordings from the first half of the twentieth century. The quality of the singing is consistently high and there are quite a few names I had never heard before. Essential for all lovers of Verdi, I'd have said.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on October 10, 2022, 04:26:52 AM

Back in July, I started listening to all my Verdi recordings. That's 50 different opera sets and three recordings of the Requiem. It means I've been listening to Verdi almost exclusively now for the past three months, and, though that's an awful lot of Verdi, I honestly can say I haven't tired of his music. If anything, my admiration for the ma has increased. I've now moved on to the few exclusively Verdi recitals I have starting with this fascinating and essential collection of Verdi recordings from the first half of the twentieth century. The quality of the singing is consistently high and there are quite a few names I had never heard before. Essential for all lovers of Verdi, I'd have said.
What are the earliest recordings that are on there?  And who did you "discover"?  :)

I have a bunch of early opera records (mostly on CD) that I purchased some years ago; I should revisit them.  Trying to remember the various labels?  Among them:  Pearl, *Nimbus...some on an Italian label that I hadn't heard of before (They were evidently part of a series of fairly early Italian opera recordings.  The covers were some sort of red velvet with gilt lettering!  :D  ).  *A bunch of Nimbus' Prima Voce series.  Fun to explore!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter


Tsaraslondon

#3331
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 10, 2022, 08:24:50 AM
What are the earliest recordings that are on there?  And who did you "discover"?  :)

I have a bunch of early opera records (mostly on CD) that I purchased some years ago; I should revisit them.  Trying to remember the various labels?  Among them:  Pearl, *Nimbus...some on an Italian label that I hadn't heard of before (They were evidently part of a series of fairly early Italian opera recordings.  The covers were some sort of red velvet with gilt lettering!  :D  ).  *A bunch of Nimbus' Prima Voce series.  Fun to explore!

PD

Well, these are eight very well-filled discs and I've already forgotten which of the singers I hadn't heard before impressed me most. As I've just listened to Disc 8, I can remember mezzo/contralto Irene Minghini-Cataneo, who is superb in Ulrica's Re dell'abisso.

Te earliest recordings go back to around 1904.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on October 11, 2022, 07:47:27 AM
Well, these are eight very well-filled discs and I've already forgotten which of the singers I hadn't heard before impressed me most. As I've just listened to Disc 8, I can remember mezzo/contralto Irene Minghini-Cataneo, who is superb in Ulrica's Re dell'abisso.

Te earliest recordings go back to around 1904.
Thanks.  :)

I found this interesting review of your set.  So many singers out there over the years--impossible to keep up with them all!  https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-5657/

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Patrick Murtha

#3333
I need to assemble a new AV system, so for the moment CDs and LPs are out, and I rely on Internet radio, YouTube, and Spotify for my operatic, classical, and jazz listening. I monitor which operas are appearing on Internet radio by checking the Operacast and World Concert Hall websites. I also keep up with the offerings at Operavision. Preference given to operas that I have never heard, or have not heard recently, or are rarities in any sense.

So today for example, listening to Raff's Samson, conducted by Dominik Beykirch, on DLF Kultur. Live performance from September 11. Very enjoyable. This is the first Raff opera I have heard.

https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/joachim-raff-samson-musikdrama-dlf-kultur-2cb5f535-100.html


JBS

This afternoon is dedicated to:


Relatively early Handel-in-London [1715].

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Maestro267

Gounod: Romeo & Juliette
Alagna (Romeo), Georghiu (Juliet) et al.
Chorus & Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse/Plasson

Papy Oli

Puccini - Madama Butterfly
(Karajan, Freni, Pavarotti)

Olivier

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 20, 2022, 07:50:22 AM
Puccini - Madama Butterfly
(Karajan, Freni, Pavarotti)


How did you like it Papy?

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Papy Oli

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 21, 2022, 03:09:23 AM
How did you like it Papy?

PD

My listening of it (with several previous on-and-off attempts) has been too scattered but the chunk I listened to yesterday was promising (part of Act II). I really need to allocate the proper listening time it deserves. 
Olivier

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 21, 2022, 06:58:46 AM
My listening of it (with several previous on-and-off attempts) has been too scattered but the chunk I listened to yesterday was promising (part of Act II). I really need to allocate the proper listening time it deserves.
Operas (perhaps with the exception of Wagner's Ring) I find are best listened to in one fell swoop (though feel free to take "intermission" breaks).  :)  That, and I suggest reading along with the libretto (unless it's a dvd or tv broadcast that has subtitles).

Good luck!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter