What are your best moments at the Opera or best recording from 2007?
On cd i would suggest the Jacobs Don Giovanni. What are other peoples opinion on this recording?
On DVD without doubt is Handel's Giulio Cesare from Copenhagen with Andreas Scholl. The Kabuki inspired Die Frau ohne Schatten is also great.
On CD, a live Don Giovanni from Karajan on Orfeo. It is lively and full of drama. On DVD, Gergev conducting Il Viaggio A Reims, wonderful fun.
Mike
Karajan conducting in 2007? That's a man that won't quit.
I don't do a lot of opera, but so far: Hindemiths Cardillac with Nagano on DVD, and the Amsterdam/Janssons Lady Macbeth, also on DVD.
Quote from: JoshLilly on December 14, 2007, 08:20:44 PM
Karajan conducting in 2007? That's a man that won't quit.
You know that he is almost 100, don't you.
Mike
I can't keep up with which recordings came out (or I first heard) in a particular year. Live, the New Orleans Opera's Il Trittico has been the best.
A comment about Prokofiev's "War and Peace" that may be less expensive on DVD rather than CD prompted me to search up a replacement for my miserable tape of Monteverdi's "Orfeo". Any suggestions?
ZB
2007 has been a good year. First I discovered Rene Jacobs accidentally and 2 new (to me) composers Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Haydn's The Seasons. I also discovered Haydn's Creation with Karajan.
Next was Gluck's Orfeo and Eurydice(Janet Baker on DVD - wonderful!), Alceste, Armida.
I read that Iphigenie en Tauride was his masterpiece; don't know how true that is. I have the Minkowski CD's but still need to learn it yet.
Following that was Rubinstein's The Demon. I had never known that this opera existed; I had 2 other versions but the best was from Opera d'Oro. I used one of the other versions to get a libretto.
Next was Szyamsky's King Roger. Am still learning that one.
I discovered Smetana's Dalibor and Hubicka (The Kiss). Still can't get enough of these 2. Every time I listen, I hear something new.
Die Tote Stadt by Korngold. Am still working on this one.
The last one was Rossini's Stabat Mater on Naxos. That version was better that the 2 others I had from big-name labels.
The biggest event was going to a Met High Definition performance yesterday of Romeo et Juliette which was beamed by satelite to over 600 ($78,000 per cameras) to theaters across the world. This includes 14 countries. The first performance was sold out on Saturday and yesterday's had the seats 3/4 filled.
At the box office there was a sign that La Boheme on April 5 was already sold out. Thank goodness I have already bought tickets for my son and myself for Tristan und Isolde on March 22. I don't know why he chose that opera. The owners of the theater are so overjoyed with the success.
I have more info for them - La Scala is doing the same thing. I think because I was on the Met mailing list, I received an email from La Scala wanting me to attend their operas. They said they saw how successful the Met was and wanted to do the same thing. 100+ people are clamoring for season tickets with designated seating. The Met has set ticket prices at $22 adults, $20 for seniors, $15 for young people.
For me, the best Opera (EMI) recording during the year 2007 is absolutely Amroise Thomas Hamlet, starring with Natalie Dessay as Ophélie. Actually she had recorded the work already earlier in France and guess I like that even more than the version made in Barcelona Teatro del Liceu. But still, Natalie is the same superb herself whatever she is recording. Already looking forward when the earlier production will be published on DVD. :o
Favorite live opera event of 2007: Janáček's Jenůfa at the Met, with Karita Mattila and Anja Silja. Runner-up: Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming.
Favorite opera DVD of 2007: Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk from the Netherlands Opera. (Actually released in 2006 I believe.)
--Bruce
Quote from: Guarnerius on December 17, 2007, 01:50:07 PM
But still, Natalie is the same superb herself whatever she is recording. Already looking forward when the earlier production will be published on DVD.
Yikes, a vision of horror with Dessay shredding her wedding veil and the music of Donizetti in the last act of Lucia was recently broadcast on TV. Give me Sutherland and/or Callas ANY DAY. She was a screechy Manon as well.
At least, it is historically incorrect to sing
bel canto roles in the style of
verismo. (High notes are not supposed to be blasted out.) Vocal troubles may be just around the corner if she keeps this up.
ZB
Quote from: Anne on December 17, 2007, 07:08:26 AM
The biggest event was going to a Met High Definition performance yesterday of Romeo et Juliette which was beamed by satelite to over 600 ($78,000 per cameras) to theaters across the world. This includes 14 countries. The first performance was sold out on Saturday and yesterday's had the seats 3/4 filled.
At the box office there was a sign that La Boheme on April 5 was already sold out. Thank goodness I have already bought tickets for my son and myself for Tristan und Isolde on March 22. I don't know why he chose that opera. The owners of the theater are so overjoyed with the success.
I have more info for them - La Scala is doing the same thing. I think because I was on the Met mailing list, I received an email from La Scala wanting me to attend their operas. They said they saw how successful the Met was and wanted to do the same thing. 100+ people are clamoring for season tickets with designated seating. The Met has set ticket prices at $22 adults, $20 for seniors, $15 for young people.
Without a doubt, the new Hi-Def broadcasts were certainly the highlights of 2007, and, yes, 2008 promises to be even bigger. Here in Cleveland, 7 theaters sold out of R&J this past weekend, and most opened 2 theaters per location. I'm eagerly looking forward to the La Scala broadcasts. There's only one location (!) here in town for those...
I'm going to several of these in the spring. Just got tickets for the Peter Grimes broadcast on March 15.
--Bruce
I enjoyed Roméo et Juliette (not one of my favorites) more than I thought possible. I'm especially looking forward to that Grimes. Last year, the closest theatre to me (Gulfport, MS, about 70 miles from home) carried only the "reruns" of Puritani and The Last Emperor. There were only five people in the theatre for each performance, so I guess they decided not to carry the rest. I went to the "rerun" of Roméo and there were about a dozen there for that. I wonder how many were at the "live" one? I hope the don't drop them again.
Back on topic, I'll add that Roméo to my "best of 2007" list.
'Mathilde di Shabran' which was not out of my player or off my iPod for weeks.
Testaments Bayreuth 'Gotterdamerung.' Is there a performance on disc better than this? Tremendous.
Which, neatly, brings me to Terfel as Wotan at the ROH!
Finally, as if I didn't know, or, at least, suspect already that 'Thais' is a wonderful opera despite the rudeness of the London critics when it received a semi-staged performance earlier this year. Yah-boo, sucks to them, I say. Go out and get the Renee Fleming recording and hear her seducing the socks off Thomas Hampson! ;D
Oh, I almost forgot, we are to get the ROH 'La Fille du Regiment' on BBC4 at the end of the month. Set your PVRs and see if it is Dessay that steals the show or not.
Doctor Atomic at the Lyric Opera. Which reminds me I still have to finish writing that review.
Just found Marc Geelhoed's review of Doctor Atomic for the Financial Times, here (http://deceptivelysimple.typepad.com/simple/2007/12/lord-these-affa.html).
--Bruce
I forgot to mention. My review is up (http://tonicblotter.blogspot.com/2007/12/bomb-20-hits-chicago.html) as well now.
Quote from: O Mensch on December 28, 2007, 07:41:22 AM
I forgot to mention. My review is up (http://tonicblotter.blogspot.com/2007/12/bomb-20-hits-chicago.html) as well now.
O Mensch, a very thoughtful review, very beautifully written. Makes me really wish I'd been there, not to mention musing about someone in New York staging it. (Maybe it's on Mortier's radar for NY City Opera.)
I'm also a huge fan of Gerald Finley, who has one of the great voices around these days, and does lots of unusual repertoire.
--Bruce
Quote from: bhodges on December 28, 2007, 10:41:24 AM
O Mensch, a very thoughtful review, very beautifully written. Makes me really wish I'd been there, not to mention musing about someone in New York staging it. (Maybe it's on Mortier's radar for NY City Opera.)
I believe the production is set to come to the Met in 2008 or 09, actually.
Quote from: O Mensch on December 28, 2007, 11:00:25 AM
I believe the production is set to come to the Met in 2008 or 09, actually.
Oh
[smacking forehead] now that you mention it, I'd heard that, too. Thanks for the reminder... It's going to be nice having both Gelb and Mortier vying for our attention.
--Bruce
I'll second the nomination of Jacobs's Don Giovanni--I like it much better than the SFO production I saw earlier this year. However, the SFO production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress last month was thoroughly delightful!
Quote from: bhodges on December 28, 2007, 10:41:24 AM
O Mensch, a very thoughtful review, very beautifully written. Makes me really wish I'd been there, not to mention musing about someone in New York staging it. (Maybe it's on Mortier's radar for NY City Opera.)
It's on Gelb's radar at the Met for next season (2008-9). Actually, it's been in their plans for a while, from back when Volpe was in charge. They'd originally planned on doing the Sellars production, but according to this
Press Release (http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/press/detail.aspx?id=2675) at the Met website, they've decided to go with a new co-production with the English National Opera:
Quote[Penny] Woolcock, who directed the 2002 movie version of John Adams's opera The Death of Klinghoffer, will make her opera directing debut with the new production of Doctor Atomic. Improbable theater's Julian Crouch, who makes his ENO and Met debut as associate director and designer of Philip Glass's Satyagraha, will design the sets. Tony Award-winning designer Catherine Zuber, who made her Met debut last season with the Met's new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, will design the costumes. Tony Award-winning artist Brian MacDevitt will be the lighting designer. Alan Gilbert, the newly appointed Music Director Designate of the New York Philharmonic, will make his Met debut conducting the new production. At ENO, the conductor will be Lawrence Renes in his UK opera debut. Gerald Finley will sing the role of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer in both New York and London, reprising his acclaimed portrayal of the title role.
Wendell, thanks for that. I had seen conflicting reports that the Met production would be the same and that it wouldn't and I wasn't sure who to believe. This clears it up.
Usually these kinds of threads are too difficult for me--to difficult to whittle things down to a short(ish) post.
But 2007 had two really remarkable opera events for me, one live--Miguel Azguime's
Itinerário do Sal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN8xk7xTWLg) and one on DVD--Chaya Czernowin's Pnima...ins innere. (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Czernowin_Pnima_..._Ins_Innere/70052875) (This DVD came out in 2006; I only found it this year. So new to me.)
Azguime's performance opened the Bourges festival this year. It was a tough act to follow, but somehow they managed: it was a spectacularly good festival this year.
Czernowin is one of those people, like Helmut Lachenmann, who continues to get new and interesting sounds out of acoustic instruments. Her maim zarim, maim gnuvim on a three CD compilation of Donaueshcinger Musiktage 2002 pieces, hardly strays from my CD player. Helmut Oehring's ER.eine She (aus: 5ÜNF/ Haare-Opfer), also on the set, is also pretty cool.