What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Ganondorf]

Time for another Strauss opera I've never heard


I think after this I have five Strauss operas to go: Guntram, Feuersnot, Intermezzo, Liebe der Danae, Friedenstag.

Die Liebe der Danae is, IMHO, one of Strauss's underappreciated gems. Hope you'll enjoy it whenever you'll listen to it!

[Le Buisson Ardent]

Salome and Elektra are as far as I've got as yet, but those are great  .

For many listeners, they don't venture beyond these two operas, which is a grave mistake, IMHO. Der Rosenkavalier remains my favorite Strauss opera and really one of my favorite works of his overall.

[JBS]

The second of Rossini's Venetian farse.


There are some comic moments, but it's really an opera semiseria in one act and not an opera buffa.

[JBS]

More Rossini, this time 191 minutes worth of him


Rossini steals from himself in Act II.

[Florestan]

Rossini steals from himself in Act II.

Handel stole from himself a century before Rossini. 

It was common practice back then... 

... and nobody cared a fig, as long as they enjoyed, and were moved by, the music "here and now". 

[JBS]

Handel stole from himself a century before Rossini. 

It was common practice back then... 

... and nobody cared a fig, as long as they enjoyed, and were moved by, the music "here and now". 

e vero.

But very fitting for an opera titled La Gazza Ladra.

[JBS]

This afternoon another of Rossini's farse, one which he composed in eleven days.  The plot is closer to farce in the modern sense than some of the others.


Stage noise and singers moving closer to or further away from the microphones are more apparent in this recording than some of the others from the Naxos in Wildbad series.

[Florestan]

This afternoon another of Rossini's farse, one which he composed in eleven days.  The plot is closer to farce in the modern sense than some of the others.


Stage noise and singers moving closer to or further away from the microphones are more apparent in this recording than some of the others from the Naxos in Wildbad series.

There's an excellent production of it from the Schwetzingen Festival on YouTube. Worth a watch.

[André]

George Enescu's Oedipe. I don't have a picture of this particular set (if anyone is lucky enough to find one, be my guest 😉).

Details are:

- Live performance from 18.05.1955 at Salle Pleyel, Paris.
- Ch. and orch of the RTF, conducted by Charles Bruck.
- Cast includes Xavier Depraz, Geneviève Moizan, Rita Gorr, Berthe Montmart, André Vessieres, Jean Giraudeau. These are the names I'm familiar with.
- Label: Malibran. Track listing, a few period photos, no timings, no libretto.

Obviously this is an historical recording and the sound is adequate, no more. The performance has lots of intensity though, and the singers' diction is perfect. Words are lost whenever the goings get crowded (ensembles, choruses).. Obviously not a prime recommendation, but certainly of interest for anyone curious about this neglected masterpiece.

[ritter]

George Enescu's Oedipe. I don't have a picture of this particular set (if anyone is lucky enough to find one, be my guest 😉).

...

Obviously this is an historical recording and the sound is adequate, no more. The performance has lots of intensity though, and the singers' diction is perfect. Words are lost whenever the goings get crowded (ensembles, choruses).. Obviously not a prime recommendation, but certainly of interest for anyone curious about this neglected masterpiece.

Great to read, André. I was really impressed by that performance when I first listened to it.

Here's the cover (of the release I have, on the Malibran label):



Good evening to you!

[André]

Great to read, André. I was really impressed by that performance when I first listened to it.

Here's the cover (of the release I have, on the Malibran label):



Good evening to you!

Thanks and good evening to you too, Rafael !

I read your post on that recording and it's chef's kiss ! Funnily, I see that I had replied to you at the time (2019) lamenting that this set wasn't available here.... That is still the case I'm afraid. I listened to a copy of the Malibran disc a friend made from the original he had borrowed at the Montréal Grande Bibliothèque. Sounds like a back alley smuggling plan but hey ! One must have what one wants 😁

[JBS]

Finishing up my exploration of Rossini's farse with the first (and shortest) one


Pretty good for an kid who was 4 1/2.*
Plot: an English merchant plans to marry his daughter to an Canadian merchant he does business with in order to settle a bill of exchange (the cambiale of the title). The daughter has her eyes on a not-wealthy Englishman. The Canadian, the stereotypical honest benevolent colonial,  eventually makes the boyfriend his heir to get the father to agree to his daughter marrying the man she wants.

*18 in real years

[Florestan]

Finishing up my exploration of Rossini's farse with the first (and shortest) one


Pretty good for an kid who was 4 1/2.*
Plot: an English merchant plans to marry his daughter to an Canadian merchant he does business with in order to settle a bill of exchange (the cambiale of the title). The daughter has her eyes on a not-wealthy Englishman. The Canadian, the stereotypical honest benevolent colonial,  eventually makes the boyfriend his heir to get the father to agree to his daughter marrying the man she wants.

*18 in real years

Schwetzingen Festival, on YT. Excellent production.

[ando]

Puccini La Bohème Victoria De Los Angeles, Sir Thomas Beecham, Jussi Björling (1956/86, EMI)

[nico1616]

Puccini La Bohème Victoria De Los Angeles, Sir Thomas Beecham, Jussi Björling (1956/86, EMI)

Still my favorite Bohème, despite the less than ideal sound in act 2.

[nico1616]

There are so many great commercial Butterfly recordings: the Serafin/Tebaldi/Decca, the Karajan/Freni/Decca, the Sinopoli/Freni/DG with its devastatingly slow tempi. Until now the Barbirolli/Scotto/Bergonzi/Panerai was my favorite but this Maazel one is a new loved one. Scotto's voice is less shrill here and Domingo, o Domingo! What a voice that man had in the late 70s! Still a wonderful opera that is open to multiple interpretations.

[Tsaraslondon]

There are so many great commercial Butterfly recordings: the Serafin/Tebaldi/Decca, the Karajan/Freni/Decca, the Sinopoli/Freni/DG with its devastatingly slow tempi. Until now the Barbirolli/Scotto/Bergonzi/Panerai was my favorite but this Maazel one is a new loved one. Scotto's voice is less shrill here and Domingo, o Domingo! What a voice that man had in the late 70s! Still a wonderful opera that is open to multiple interpretations.

Not forgetting Karajan's first recording of the opera with Callas in the title role, which is absolutely devastating. Then there are De Los Angeles's two recordings, the first with Di Stefano and Gobbi under Gavazzeni and the second with Björling and Sereni under Santini. I slightly prefer the first because Gavazzeni's conducting is far more vital than Santini's dull effort.

It's been a lucky opera on disc.

[André]

Henri Tomasi's Don Juan de Mañara.



French composer (1901-1971). He was recognized as a brilliant composer, master orchestrator and a renowned conductor (MD of the Orchestre national de France).

Tomasi was a leading force in the Triton group, a musical society that included Honegger, Ibert, Ferroud, Milhaud, Markevitch, Martinu, Prokofiev and many other prominent musicians of the time. Tomasi's music is tonal and loosely neo-classical in a melodic, non spiky way.

Don Juan is a neat, compact 90 minute work. Nothing to do with the Tirso de Molina and Mozart-Da Ponte anti-hero. Tomasi's Don Juan is a 'mystery play' whose main character undergoes a transformation from debauched ruffian to protector of the poors and destitutes of Seville. Pope John Paul II made him Venerable. His legend seems to have been wildly embellished by the french Romantics (Mérimée, Alexandre Dumas, Théophile Gautier, Guillaume Apollinaire among others). The opera was composed 5 years before Poulenc's Dialogue des Carmélites, with which it has been compared. Hints of Pelléas can also be heard.


Notwithstanding the confusion and fabrications surrounding Miguel de Mañara's biography, the libretto is tightly constructed. This recording is a broadcast of the work's premiere in Paris in 1952. The composer conducts. Amazingly, the mono sound is wide ranging and clear as a bell.  All the singers are from the Paris Opera's top tier roster. Raoul Jobin covers himself in glory with the difficult role of Miguel. The orchestral score is complex and absolutely mesmerizing. This is a real find.

[JBS]

Wikipedia has a less than useful article on the real Miguel de Manara, but does reveal that Eugene Goossens wrote an opera on his life, to a libretto by the English novelist Arnold Bennett

He wrote two operas, both with libretto by Arnold Bennett, which Banfield believes are among his major achievements: Judith (1929) and Don Juan de Manara (1935).[3] The latter was broadcast by the BBC on 11 April 1959 with Monica Sinclair, Marie Collier, Helen Watts, Marion Lowe, Bruce Boyce, Robert Thomas and Andrei McPherson.[13] The performance was conducted by Goossens himself.

From
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Aynsley_Goossens

The article on Miguel Manara oddly enough credits the opera to Bennett, with no mention of Goossens.  It also mentions the Tomasi opera.

[André]

That's interesting. Before I came across Tomasi's opera I knew nothing of the real Miguel de Manara.