What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[ritter]

First listen to Humperdinck's Königskinder (Act I), in this 2005 live recording from Montpellier under the direction of Armin Jordan, and with a distinguished roster of soloists that includes Jonas Kaufmann, Ofelia Sala and Detlef Roth.

[Tsaraslondon]

Treigle comes in for some criticism, but I think this set is pretty good really, and Caballé is outstanding, her l'altra notte not only beautifully sung, but deeply felt. I've really enjoyed listening to it today.

[JBS]

Bayreuth 1992



DVD version


As with Barenboim's Meistersinger, the sonics are superb, probably better than any other live recording I remember, and better than most studio recordings.  Could the fact that it was filmed/recorded for DVD be the reason?

[Lisztianwagner]

Dmitri Shostakovich
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Galina Vishnevskaya (Katerina), Nicolai Gedda (Sergei), Dimiter Petkov (Boris Ismailov), Werner Krenn (Zinoviy Ismailov), Robert Tear (Shabby peasant), Taru Valjakka (Aksinya), Birgit Finnilä (Sonyetka), Aage Haugland (Sergeant), Martyn Hill (Teacher), Léonard Mroz (Priest), Alexander Malta (Old convict)
Mstislav Rostropovich & London Philharmonic Orchestra

[ritter]

Well, this is a rara avis: an Italian twelve-tone comedy...

Riccardo Malipiero: La Donna è mobile. Opera buffa in one act on a text by Guglielmo Zucconi, based on the comedy Nostra dea by Massino Bontempelli. Vocal soloists, Orchestra della RSI, Edwin Loehrer (cond.).


The CD is included in this book on Riccardo Malipiero (1914-2093, nephew of the better-known Gianfrancesco).

Very interesting in this first listen, with rich orchestral writing, and vocal lines that allow the sung text to be understood very easily.

The work was first performed in Milan in 1957, under the baton of no less an authority than Gianadrea Gavazzeni (who never processed much admiration for serial music, but led the world premieres of both of R. Malipiero's operas —Minnie la candida in 1942, and this one—).



Ah, and before anyone asks: No, so far I've detected no connection to Rigoletto or Verdi.

[Karl Henning]

Now that (through Der Ring) I've discovered that one understands opera better on DVD with subtitles: a Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades.

[Wendell_E]

Now that (through Der Ring) I've discovered that one understands opera better on DVD with subtitles: a Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades.

This one, I imagine?



I rented it a long time ago (2002) from Netflix. Very good, as I recall.

[Tsaraslondon]

This one, I imagine?



I rented it a long time ago (2002) from Netflix. Very good, as I recall.

Marusin's tenor is a bit of an acquired taste, but he acts the role brilliantly.

[Karl Henning]

This one, I imagine?



I rented it a long time ago (2002) from Netflix. Very good, as I recall.

Aye.

[JBS]

Filmed at performances in December 2021 and January 2022. Perhaps politics is the reason the liner notes refer to the folk songs and Slavic myth which are important musically and dramatically as Ukrainian.

Christian elements are present, but the main Christmas element is the rebirth of the sun at the solstice, represented by the reunion of the Virgin Goddess and the God of Spring, which the Devil and various demonic beings, sorcerers, and witches (the hero's mother being one of the latter) try to hinder. The Tsarina and her court are from the 18th century; almost everyone else is 20th century clothes, with only the hero and heroine partly costumed in traditional peasant dress. Scenery and props are minimal, but sufficient; the production design hovers between realistic and fantasy, which matches the storyline.  There's one scene of dance/pantomime that requires a knowledge of the story to understand, but it's confined to the mythic part of the opera.
There is a CD version, but enough action/dance onstage that benefits from being seen and not merely heard. Singing/acting were fairly good all around.

[Philo]

Sometime this weekend: Mozart's Don Giovanni starring Isabel Leonard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wEMzWH52FA

[San Antone]

Mozart : Die Zauberflöte
Francisco Araiza
Kiri Te Kanawa
Samuel Ramey
Cheryl Studer
Olaf Bär
Eva Lind
Neville Marriner
Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Ambrosian Opera Chorus

[Tsaraslondon]

My first Lucia di Lammermoor, though in a German Electrola pressing on LP.




Recorded in the grateful Kingsway Hall, it has been freshened up in this Pristine pressing, and I continue to have affection for it. Callas's voice was in decline by 1959, but not as disastrously as one might think and the filigree of the role is executed with delicacy and finesse.

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Pristine Audio) - MusicWeb International

[San Antone]

Due to some postings on another forum I've bene listening to some Donizetti I've never heard before:

(1833; 1840) Lucrezia Borgia
(1836) Belisario
(1840) La Favorite
(1840) Les martyrs
(1841) Rita
(1842) Linda di Chamounix

I've just been playing what I can find on Spotify, and surprisingly there is a choice of between three and six recordings at times. Not the whole operas, of course, but sampling here and there among all of them. 

Along with the string quartets I have learned that Donizetti was a much greater composer than I ever thought, based on the four, or five, famous operas usually performed.

[Florestan]

(1841) Rita

I listened to this recently. If I hadn't known the composer beforehand, I'd have guessed Offenbach.   

Along with the string quartets I have learned that Donizetti was a much greater composer than I ever thought, based on the four, or five, famous operas usually performed.

Agreed.

[JBS]

The credits say performed on original instruments, but I don't hear any real difference from unoriginal instruments.

[JBS]

Florence 1956
Live mono, not particularly good sonics.

Myto filled out the third CD with what seem to the Tebaldi portions of this LP, recorded in 1953 from her first performance of the role. So no Del Monaco, but some Cesare Siepi singing Padre Guardiano.

[San Antone]

Gioachino Rossini : La donna del lago

Elena: Rosanna Carteri
Giacomo V (Uberto): Cesare Valletti
Malcolm Groeme: Irène Companeez
Rodrigo di Dhu: Eddy Ruhl
Douglas d'Angus: Paolo Washington
Serano / Bertrando: Valiano Natali
Albina: Carmen Piccini

Tullio Serafin
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

[JBS]

Gioachino Rossini : La donna del lago

Elena: Rosanna Carteri
Giacomo V (Uberto): Cesare Valletti
Malcolm Groeme: Irène Companeez
Rodrigo di Dhu: Eddy Ruhl
Douglas d'Angus: Paolo Washington
Serano / Bertrando: Valiano Natali
Albina: Carmen Piccini

Tullio Serafin
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Paolo Washington sang the Marquis (ie, the father of Leonora and Carlo) in the Forza I listened to this afternoon.

[André]

Time can be an ally when it comes to assessing things from the past. I bought this set when it came out and didn't like it much. Three of the four principals disappointed me. This is THE opera where competition is at its fiercest. I won't bother detailing what irritated me back then. Suffice to say that rehearing redressed the balance substantially - to the point where i can recommend this as one of the - let's say - 5 best performances on record.

First: glorious orchestral playing, great conducting and superb engineering.
Second: a very sensitive portrayal of Aïda. Past the first Act where her voice is apt to sound stressed in the big ensembles, Anja Harteros gives a sensitive and beautifully vocalized portrayal of the eponymous heroine. Spendid pianissimo high notes - not on a Caballé level, but not far.
Third: a superb mezzo (Ekaterina Semenchuk), gutsy yet very sensual sounding. Patrician, womanly - not a man-eater ogress.
Fourth: the noble Radamès of Jonas Kaufmann. A rather over delicate, over refined 'Celeste Aïda', but a good voice (more baritonal than tenorish), good characterization, very sensitive to the mood of the scenes. The last iteration of 'si schiude in ciel' is to die for.

Ramfis and King of Egypt are very solid. The Priestess' incantations are miked closer than usual, as if she was just ahead of the procession, not in some remote locqtion. I could wish for more venom and fanaticism from Ramfis, but this is a good enough ersatz.

I am still disappointed by Tézier's Amonasro. Good voice, but little bite, not enough grit and amplitude of voice. Better than the cartoonish, mustache-twirling of some old school baritones (Leonard Warren), but a disappointment nonetheless. The drama in Aïda rests on the shoulders of the scorned lover (Amneris) and the battle-weary warrior (Amonasro).

When it's all said and done, Aïda is an opera that rises or falls on a quintet of 4 singers and a conductor/orchestra. Get 4 out of 5 right and you've got a winner. I'll keep this one.