What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

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

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JBS

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 13, 2024, 01:56:46 PMSiegfried
Richard Wagner
Sir Georg Solti
Wiener Philharmoniker
Decca


First post in the Opera threads, I think.

Broadly never that interested, but Wagner and all the drama seems somewhat compelling. Giving the Ring Cycle a poke for the first time in years.

It seems appropriate to play this at some volume. It also appears to be very well recorded, as the sound quality is great. Add in the angry sincerity and swords, and I'm enjoying this more than I thought I would.

Forgive my novice remarks...

And the dragon!

TD
Very much the opposite: concision, farce, unending melody, culminating in (one of) the greatest fugue(s)ever written.


Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

NumberSix

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 13, 2024, 04:38:47 PMKeeping up with socially acceptable expressions would prevent me from crying out, 'Geronimo!' or 'Banzaiii!', but you got the drift.

In for a penny...



Allons-y?

NumberSix


Diana Damrau -- 2017 interview at the Met

What a delight she is, just as much as one would hope she'd be.

foxandpeng

Quote from: NumberSix on September 13, 2024, 05:55:04 PMAllons-y?

It will do. Doesn't quite carry the same gung-ho, 'devil may care' caution to the wind, but it will do!

Apologies to the French and to Russell Davies fans, of course.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Wendell_E

#4144
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 13, 2024, 07:59:31 AMYears ago, I saw Juan Diego Florez in the Barber at the Met.  At one point, he jumped (from a standstill) onto the top of a piano!  So much fun and a great performance.   :)

PD

Interesting. I saw Samuel Ramey do the same thing when he sang in Barbiere in New Orleans in 2012, at the age of 70! Some of his late-career performances were wobble-filled, but he was also in good vocal shape that afternoon.
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

JBS

#4145


Sung in German
Recorded October 1956
Iphigenia--Zanek
Orestes--Prey
Pylades--Gedda
King Thaos--Cordes
Goddess Diana--Wallenstein
Conductor--Keilberth

Ms. Wallenstein gets credited like a headliner although her role is less than 2 minutes in length.

ETA: was there a Gluck boom in the mid-1950s? I just realized that the Callas live recording from La Scala dates to 1957.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

NumberSix

Cosi fan tutte
Salzburg Fest, 2020


Just started it on amazon prime, via a 7-day trial of the Carnegie Hall+ service I didn't know existed before today. I found this performance the other night - it's in gorgeous VQ on youtube, but it didn't have English subs. I watched about 20 min anyway, enough to know I liked it. So I am thrilled to discover this method of watching it. (It's for sale on DVD, but I don't have a way to watch discs at the moment.)

Florestan

Quote from: JBS on September 14, 2024, 11:46:26 AM

Sung in German
Recorded October 1956
Iphigenia--Zanek
Orestes--Prey
Pylades--Gedda
King Thaos--Cordes
Goddess Diana--Wallenstein
Conductor--Keilberth

Ms. Wallenstein gets credited like a headliner although her role is less than 2 minutes in length.

ETA: was there a Gluck boom in the mid-1950s? I just realized that the Callas live recording from La Scala dates to 1957.

Gluck sung în German? That's like Wagner sung în Italian.  ;D
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

NumberSix

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 13, 2024, 11:21:05 PMand to Russell Davies fans, of course.

Eh, he fumbled the ball so badly on ending his otherwise likable season of Doctor Disney that I don't mind if you want to insult RTD a little bit.  :laugh:

foxandpeng

Quote from: NumberSix on September 14, 2024, 12:12:02 PMEh, he fumbled the ball so badly on ending his otherwise likable season of Doctor Disney that I don't mind if you want to insult RTD a little bit.  :laugh:

Ah, I thought his whole tenure was a massive ship show. Or something like that.
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

JBS

Quote from: Florestan on September 14, 2024, 12:02:19 PMGluck sung în German? That's like Wagner sung în Italian.  ;D

Callas sang Parsifal in Italian.
But German theaters seem to have sung a lot of operas in German in the 1950s-70s.

I remember a college mate telling us his parents had seen Boris Godunov in Vienna, not knowing it was to be sung in German until they got to the performance. That would have been in the early 1970s.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Florestan

Quote from: JBS on September 14, 2024, 01:09:45 PMCallas sang Parsifal in Italian.

The horror, the horror! ---- on both counts!....
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

NumberSix

Quote from: NumberSix on September 14, 2024, 11:58:15 AMCosi fan tutte
Salzburg Fest, 2020


Just started it on amazon prime, via a 7-day trial of the Carnegie Hall+ service I didn't know existed before today. I found this performance the other night - it's in gorgeous VQ on youtube, but it didn't have English subs. I watched about 20 min anyway, enough to know I liked it. So I am thrilled to discover this method of watching it. (It's for sale on DVD, but I don't have a way to watch discs at the moment.)

Just finished the first scene of Act Two, where the ladies decide to "ironically" return the guys' affections. I knew this story at a very high level, but I have never sat down and watched the whole opera. This is one f'd up tale!

JBS

Quote from: foxandpeng on September 14, 2024, 12:39:49 PMAh, I thought his whole tenure was a massive ship show. Or something like that.

Oh that Davies!
I was wondering what Dennis Russell Davies, the conductor, had done to raise your scorn.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

NumberSix

#4154
The music is gorgeous (d'uh, it's Mozart), and the performances are terrific. But that plot? I hate these people - aside from the maid, Despina, who is at least real about who she is. There's an aspect of class war in her role, too, as she sees this game as a way to make a few bucks and have fun humilaiting the women who boss her around.

ETA:  Okay, Fiordiligi seems to have thought better of the game and refused to play along. That's something in her favor. But according to the wiki summary, that burst of conscience won't last long. Sigh. Yes, I hate these people.

foxandpeng

Quote from: JBS on September 14, 2024, 01:15:03 PMOh that Davies!
I was wondering what Dennis Russell Davies, the conductor, had done to raise your scorn.

 :laugh:  ;D
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: JBS on September 14, 2024, 01:09:45 PMCallas sang Parsifal in Italian.
But German theaters seem to have sung a lot of operas in German in the 1950s-70s.

I remember a college mate telling us his parents had seen Boris Godunov in Vienna, not knowing it was to be sung in German until they got to the performance. That would have been in the early 1970s.
Quote from: Florestan on September 14, 2024, 01:11:50 PMThe horror, the horror! ---- on both counts!....
I remember listening to a number of operas which were in say French or Italian sung in German.  I discovered a number of fine singers that way and quickly became accustomed to the performances and language differences.

PD

Florestan

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 14, 2024, 02:10:30 PMI remember listening to a number of operas which were in say French or Italian sung in German.  I discovered a number of fine singers that way and quickly became accustomed to the performances and language differences.

PD

All good and fine --- but I'll rather have an opera in the language it was originally conceived in, thank you!
"Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory." — Thomas Beecham

NumberSix

#4158



The Very Best of Maria Callas


Sometimes, a bit of a compilation hits the spot.

No doubt I won't listen to all 2+ hours tonight, but you never know. . .

Wanderer

Quote from: NumberSix on September 15, 2024, 06:55:59 PMThe Very Best of Maria Callas


Sometimes, a bit of a compilation hits the spot.

No doubt I won't listen to all 2+ hours tonight, but you never know. . .

And if you did, who could blame you?

Listening to Don Pasquale with my morning coffee.