What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Cross-posted from the 'Listening' thread:

An anti-operatic double-bill!

Schoenberg
Erwartung, Op. 17
Jessye Norman, soprano
MET Opera
Levine



Feldman
Neither
Sarah Leonard, soprano
Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt
Zoltán Peskó

Some criticism for this performance of Feldman's Neither: I'm not fond of Sarah Leonard's voice which is too shrill (and not in an eerie, good Feldman-like way), but I love the orchestral performance a lot. The other recording on Col Legno is more to my own taste and the soprano in this recording Petra Hoffmann has a better timbre and blends with the orchestra more naturally to my ears. YMMV of course.

The Col Legno recording in question:



The main issue with this Col Legno recording is its a live performance and there some audible noises from the audience. I remember reading some review (it might've been from David Hurwitz) where he complained that it broke the spell this work is supposed to weave, but the reality is you have to take the good with the bad sometimes and the audience noises aren't that bad. I mean it's not like some Soviet Era recording or something where there's someone in the audience who sounds like they're losing a lung.

Anyway, 2.5 stars for the Neither on the Hat Hut label (w/ Sarah Leonard and Peskó).

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Now playing Act I from Weill's Aufstieg Und Fall Der Stadt Mahagonny from this recording:



I bought all of the Weill recordings on Capriccio several years ago and it was a pain in the neck to find them all, but I'm glad I did because there were two box sets released called the Kurt Weill Edition, Vols. 1 & 2 and none of the contained the libretti. I also prefer having the original cover art, too. Anyway, if you're into Weill's music, then the Capriccio recordings are well worth hunting down.

[KevinP]

I wonder how many composers have seen the release of multiple recordings of their operas. Davis, Glass and Adams at least.