What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[JBS]

Siegfried
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.

[NumberSix]

Keeping 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]

Allons-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.

[Wendell_E]

Years 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.

[JBS]

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.

[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]

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. 

[NumberSix]

and 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. 

[foxandpeng]

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. 

Ah, I thought his whole tenure was a massive ship show. Or something like that.

[JBS]

Gluck sung în German? That's like Wagner sung în Italian. 

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.

[Florestan]

Callas sang Parsifal in Italian.

The horror, the horror! ---- on both counts!....

[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.)

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]

Ah, 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.

[NumberSix]

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]

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

  

[Pohjolas Daughter]

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.

The 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]

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

All good and fine --- but I'll rather have an opera in the language it was originally conceived in, thank you!

[NumberSix]

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]

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. . .

And if you did, who could blame you?

Listening to Don Pasquale with my morning coffee.