Seeking Marriage Advice--Marriage of Figaro that is

[JLR]

Hello. I am just starting my collection.  Well, I have maybe 30 CDs, but they were bought haphazardly over time.  I have only a little Mozart and not much choral music.

So I am wanting to add some Mozart and in particular am looking at getting a Figaro.  Would I be going wrong with this?

(Karl Bohm and the : Chor und Orchester des Deutschen Oper Berlin)

[asin]B000001GX8[/asin]

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

JLR

[JLR]

Hello. I a relative newbie.  I have maybe 30 CDs, but they were bought haphazardly over time.  I have only a little Mozart and not much choral music. Love Missa Solemnis and Haydn's Creation.

So I am wanting to add some Mozart and in particular am looking at getting a Figaro.  Would I be going wrong with this?

(Karl Bohm and the : Chor und Orchester des Deutschen Oper Berlin)

[asin]B000001GX8[/asin]

I would also welcome any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

JLR

[Cosi bel do]

I find this performance pleasant but not as exhilarating than a few others, mainly Gardiner's live recording, and the recent version by Currentzis.

[Wanderer]

I find this performance pleasant but not as exhilarating than a few others.

Ditto. My suggestion, JLR, would be to sample both Currentzis and Jacobs before making a decision.

[asin]B00CE26AU6[/asin][asin]B0001HZ728[/asin]


PS. Welcome to the forum!

[Jay F]

It was my favorite for years. I also like Ostman, and enjoyed Muti's version for a season or two. Did not like Solti. I haven't thought about getting anything to replace these three. It's not a work I feel the need to hear in infinite versions.

[Mandryka]

[Cosi bel do]

Yeah, of course, Erich Kleiber, a wonder. But I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a self-proclaimed newbie who has only 30 CDs : old sound, etc....

[JCBuckley]

I'd go for Gardiner or Jacobs.

[mc ukrneal]

Avoid Jacobs. The recitatives are great, but it is lacking in a number of different areas. I have the Currentzis winging its way to me, so I will only be able to give you impressions on that until after I get it.

The Bohm, though not my favorite, is very fine. Personally, I enjoy Solti the most. It's a starry cast, and they sing brilliantly. It's this one:
[asin]B0000041OU[/asin]

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The recommendations will no doubt rain down for this opera. No bad thing for such a great work.

For me no one does it better than Fricsay. Fricsay has always been my go-to for perfectly proportioned Mozart opera. His approach perfectly straddles the middle-ground between the skeletal and the inflated, and the music is freshly alive and buoyant.       

His recording of Figaro has finally been brought back into the catalog. The cast is super and the recording is warm and natural.



[asin]B00B2M7A6C[/asin]

[amw]

My first recommendation would be to get the opera on DVD. If you've never seen it live before, you'll miss out on a lot without the action.

After that, I find that the quality of the voices is of much greater importance to me than the quality of the conducting or playing. And I am extremely picky with voices. (e.g. I like Kiri but not Ramey so ended up getting rid of Solti) Don't have a current recommendation because I seem to end up disliking 95% of singers, but I suspect Currentzis is the one most likely to give pleasure. If you like your Mozart old-fashioned it seems hard to go wrong with the DVD Böhm recommended by Mandryka. (Kiri might be the most famous Countess on record, everyone likes DFD except me and opera is meant to be watched as well as listened to.)

[Mandryka]

My first recommendation would be to get the opera on DVD. If you've never seen it live before, you'll miss out on a lot without the action.

After that, I find that the quality of the voices is of much greater importance to me than the quality of the conducting or playing. And I am extremely picky with voices. (e.g. I like Kiri but not Ramey so ended up getting rid of Solti) Don't have a current recommendation because I seem to end up disliking 95% of singers, but I suspect Currentzis is the one most likely to give pleasure. If you like your Mozart old-fashioned it seems hard to go wrong with the DVD Böhm recommended by Mandryka. (Kiri might be the most famous Countess on record, everyone likes DFD except me and opera is meant to be watched as well as listened to.)

I think DFD is very funny in that DVD I mentioned - a sort pompous ass. And I like the postmodern kitsch of the production.  They all give themselves 100% and you can see they're enjoying themselves.

[ritter]

Back to square one...Each one of us will have his or her preferred recording of Figaro: old, new, big-band, HIP, etc., etc.

I'd say that the answer to JLR's original question, "Can I go wrong with this [Böhm]?" is a resounding: "No, you can't go wrong!".... This is a a solid and loving performance by a seasoned mozartian. Yes, it may not be HIP, but it breathes Mozart through and through, the cast is excellent, and (having been made in the wake of staged performances in Berlin) has real theatrical flair. After having gotten to know this wonderful opera through this classic recording, then other alternative approaches can be considered.

[JCBuckley]

Back to square one...Each one of us will have his or her preferred recording of Figaro: old, new, big-band, HIP, etc., etc.

I'd say that the answer to JLR's original question, "Can I go wrong with this [Böhm]?" is a resounding: "No, you can't go wrong!".... This is a a solid and loving performance by a seasoned mozartian. Yes, it may not be HIP, but it breathes Mozart through and through, the cast is excellent, and (having been made in the wake of staged performances in Berlin) has real theatrical flair. After having gotten to know this wonderful opera through this classic recording, then other alternative approaches can be considered.

Completely agree - Böhm wouldn't be my first choice, but it's a very good place to start.

[JLR]

Thanks so very much to you all.  Good advice.  Sounds like Bohm is a good place to start.  Maybe next Christmas I will ask for one of the others.  The Currentzis/Perm recording sounds fascinating.

I appreciate the help!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

If Böhm's is a "classic" then why would it be necessary to look elsewhere after one gets to know this recording?

Böhm's may be "classic" in the sense that it's been around for a long time, but looking at it that way there are many other recordings that fit this description.

As far as the merits of the Böhm, I've always felt the pulse and pacing were too sluggish to do the work justice. It's Mozart without vigor. Which is a huge liability.   

[psu]

Bohm, Kleiber, and Guilini are all good IMHO.

[springrite]

Bad Italian diction aside, the Bohm is a very good recoding that I enjoy very much. It is a very good place to start. I may prefer both the Giulini and Kleiber, but the Bohm is just fine. The Jacobs (which I love) isn't for everyone. Frankly, if you are not that particular about recitatives or HIP, you may find the singing is inferior and orchestra thin, and the supposedly more "correct" details irrelevant.

[Jay F]

Bad Italian diction aside, the Bohm is a very good recoding that I enjoy very much. It is a very good place to start. I may prefer both the Giulini and Kleiber, but the Bohm is just fine. The Jacobs (which I love) isn't for everyone. Frankly, if you are not that particular about recitatives or HIP, you may find the singing is inferior and orchestra thin, and the supposedly more "correct" details irrelevant.

I had the Giulini on EMI. It became bronzed, and Pat Burns' hotline didn't have another copy. I don't remember what I got as a replacement. I didn't like the Kleiber. I was surprised how little I liked the Jacobs. It was an SACD, for G-d's sake. I sold it to someone in Italy. It took three months for him to get it. I hope he liked it.

Throughout, I was able to listen to the Bohm, and love it. It will always be my favorite, at least partly because the Ostman is recorded at such a low volume. But I think it's more a matter of imprinting. Davis' Zauberflote was my first, and has remained my favorite, though I like Ostman, too. Bohm, not so much, but I'd been Zauberfamiliar for decades before I heard it.

[ritter]

If Böhm's is a "classic" then why would it be necessary to look elsewhere after one gets to know this recording?

Clearly because even if it is a classic, it is hardly the last word as far as Figaro is concerned. And that, because IMHO there is no such thing as "the last word" for a work of this caliber. If our friend JLR becomes fascinated by this opera (as I have been for many years now, and hope he does too), then he possibly might want to seek out other approaches to it. If he doesn't, then he'll have gotten to known the piece via a top quality (both as far as the conductor and vocalists are concerned), "mainstream" performance...

Curious: you find Böhm sluggish, I think it is very theatrical (but with no flashy excesses)...another feature that makes it a "classic"