What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[The new erato]

Sadko by Rimski-Korsakov in the Gergiev version. Previously unknown and unlistened to by me - I consider Kitezh to be a great opera though!

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Sadko by Rimski-Korsakov in the Gergiev version. Previously unknown and unlistened to by me - I consider Kitezh to be a great opera though!

Sadko's my favorite Rimsky-Korsakov opera. Hope you enjoy it!

[Tsaraslondon]

Richard Strauss mixed with a touch of Lehar is what I always think when listening to Korngold's most famous opera.

Unbelivably this 1975 recoring was its first, but it's an excellent performance catching Carol Neblett at the apex of her career. Kollo is a little strained at times, but captures Paul's obsessive character well. Superb support too from Rose Wagemann, Benjamin Luxon and Hermann Prey. The Bavarian forces under Erich Leinsdorf give a beautiful account of the score.

[Wendell_E]

Sadko by Rimski-Korsakov in the Gergiev version. Previously unknown and unlistened to by me - I consider Kitezh to be a great opera though!

Rimsky-Korsakov for me as well, a Netflix rental of a DVD of an early 1990s Bolshoi performance of Mlada. First time I've heard it, outside of "The Procession of the Nobles". I wonder what they were smoking in late-19th Century Russia? Lots of fun, I'll watch it again before returning it.

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[Tsaraslondon]

Richard Strauss' final opera can sometimes seem wordy and long-winded, but in a performance such as this it is anything but boring. This luxury cast is just about as perfect as any you are likely to hear, all the singers giving due attention to the words. The Countess Madeleine was always one of Schwarzkopf's best roles, and she steers a perfect course between sophistication and elegance, between playfulness and tender affection. It is one of her greatest achievements for the gramophone, her radiant singing of the gorgeous closing scene a perfect rounding up of the whole opera. If the opera asks the question, which should come first, words or music, there is no doubt which side Strauss himself comes down on. The male voices - Gedda as the dreaming composer Flamand, Fischer-Dieskau as the more impulsive poet Olivier, Wächter as the flirtatious Count, and, last but not least, Hotter as the harassed theatre director La Roche are all wonderfully characterised. Ludwig is a superb Clairon and we even have the young Moffo as the Italian Singer. Sawallisch is a marvellously experienced Strauss conductor and presides over a recording that has become a classic of the gramophone.

The recording is mono only but is wonderfully well balanced with the voices as they should be, especially in a conversational piece like this, firmly in the foreground.

[knight66]

It is very unusual for me to satisfy myself with a single version of an opera that I love, this might be my only exception. I am sure that everything you write about the Sawallish set is true and it includes a number of my favourite singers. However, it happened that I first encountered the opera when I bought the Bohm set as soon as it was issued, that seems to have been 1970, (So long ago!). I cannot now separate the piece from the voice of Janowitz, who is far from bland but of course did not use words in the conversational way of Schwarzkopf. The overall sound is forward, rich and well ventilated. The glamour of the piece comes across well. Fischer Dieskau, Prey, Schreier, Troyanos and Ridderbuch are all first rate.

I could so easily have hit on the other set first and I ought to at least give it a listen.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

I suppose the reverse is true for me. I just can't imagine Countess Madeleine ever being sung (and played) better than by Schwarzkopf in this set.

[Tsaraslondon]

Lecocq, little known today, was considered Offenbach's main successor, and there is no denying Offenbach's influence when listening to this once popular operette. It was first heard in London in 1873, pre-dating Gilbert and Sullivan's collaboration, and more than once I was reminded of the British pair as well.

This is a sparkling performance with an all French cast, chorus and orchestra conducted by Jean Doussard. Mady Mesplé, with her light, bright French voice with its characteristic quick vibrato is, as on all the Offenbach operettas she appears on, perfect for this repertoire, and there are wonderful contributions from Charles Burles, Bernard Sinclair, Michel Roux and Christine Stutzmann.

Very enjoyable.

[Tsaraslondon]

My first encounter with Ariadne auf Naxos was a scenically splendid Glyndebourne Touring Opera production, which I saw in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1971. I'd never heard a note of the music before, but enjoyed it immensely.

However it was quite some time before I bought a recording, and this classic brilliantly cast 1954 recording was my choice. The years haven't dimmed its lustre and I simply cannot imagine a better all round performance.

Has there ever been a more impetuously ardent Composer than Seefried? I doubt it; and it's good to hear a soprano in the role, as Strauss indicated. Schwarzkopf's Ariadne is not only gloriously sung, but, as always with this artist, with due attention to the words, and she does a fine parody of herself in the prologue. Streich's adorable Zerbinetta manages to be both sparkily flirtatious and sympathetic, and the accuracy of her coloratura is stunning. Rudolf Schock's dryish tenor might not offer quite the same sensual delights, but he also sings with intelligence and attention to the text.

The supporting roles are all superb too, especially Karl Dönch's Musicmaster, Hugue's Cuénod's Dancing Master and the young Hermann Prey's Harlequin. One should also mention Alfred Neugebauer's laconic Major-Domo.

Karajan has the full measure of the score and the Philharmonia play brilliantly for him. Mono of course, but wonderfully well balanced recording. I've never felt the need to look elsewhere.

[knight66]

That Ariadne is really superb and I have had it as LP, then CD and duplicated in a big Karajan box. I do however just as much enjoy Kempe with Janowitz and King, warm and beautifully paced with no lingering during the Dryad etc scene. Then there is the perhaps too firmly refulgent, but sounding glorious, Jessye Norman supported by Masur and an all round excellent cast.

Nagano conducts the original, slightly longer, version, paired with some pieces Strauss wrote as accompaniment to the  Moliere play which was to be given on the same six hour long evening as the Ariadne. Margaret Price Sings beautifully, but if it could only have been recorded five or ten years before. Sumi Jo is as good as any other Zerbinetta and the rest of the cast is first rate. However, Nagano, who I think of as hit or miss, here is a bit stodgy and rather as with Leinsdorf's version, there is not a lot of drama or energy. But the set is well worth hearing.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

The Kempe is stereo of course, and looks like the one I'd go for if I were looking for a stereo set. How is Zylis-Gara's Composer? Seefried is so wonderful on Karajan's set.

[knight66]

I have a soft spot for Zilis-Gara, a very under-recorded singer. She does well as Composer, strong rather than wayward and a soprano rather than, as you said, the now usual mezzo.
I saw a production a few months ago where the composer was played as a woman and she ended the opera going off with Zerbinetta.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

I suppose it might work. I'm not sure Strauss would have approved however 

[Tsaraslondon]

Das Land des Lächelns

Lisa - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Gustl - Erich Kunz
Sou-Chong Nicolai Gedda
Mi - Emmy Loose
Tschang - Otakar Kraus

Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus - Otto Ackermann

Lehar's second most popular operetta gets the fabulous star treatment in this wonderful recording from 1953. The young Nicolai Gedda may not have had the vocal glamour of Richard Tauber, for whom the operetta was written, but he makes a charmingly reticent Sou-Chong. Schwarzkopf is a sparkling, but sensitive Lisa and Emmy Loose and Erich Kunz are wonderful as the secondary couple.

Pure delight.

[ritter]

I have a soft spot for Zilis-Gara, a very under-recorded singer. She does well as Composer, strong rather than wayward and a soprano rather than, as you said, the now usual mezzo.

+1 A very talented and versatile singer, Teresa Zylis-Gara. I also like her Donna Elvira in Böhm's second "official" Don Giovanni on DG (the one live from Salzburg, which IMHO  is vastly—I mean, really vastly  —superior to the Prague studio recording).

I got to see her live as Cio-Cio-San in a modest production of Madama Butterfly (in the late seventies or early eighties) in Caracas, and she was very touching.

Her Composer in the Kempe Ariadne auf Naxos is at the same level as the rest of the (superb) cast. A great recording. 

[Tsaraslondon]

The main problem with Lisa Della Casa's studio recording of Arabella is Solti's hard driven, perfunctory conducting. I think I read somewhere it was his first complete opera recording for Decca, and even his greatest fans admit that he sounds as if he had little sympathy for his task, whereas Sawallisch's conducting on this set is one of its principal glories, as is the wonderfully warm digital sound.

There are other reasons to treasure the performance, however, not least the performances of Julia Varady as Arabella and Helen Donath as Zdenka. Varady's husband, Fischer-Dieskau was in his mid 50s at the time of the recording, and it has to be admitted that he does sound a bit over the hill at times, with an occasional tendency to bark. Nonetheless he makes a sympathetic Mandryka, without exactly eclipsing memories of Josef Metternich, who sings Mandryka on a superb excerpts disc with Schwarzkopf as Arabella (what a shame they didn't record the full opera).

The opera still has its problems, it seems to me. Invariably Zdenka emerges as the more sympathetic character, as she does here, despite Varady's gorgeous, creamy Arabella. I remember that  my first encounter with the opera was the film with Janowitz as Arabella, and my sympathies were all with Matteo! The Fiakermilli music always seems pointless and empty to me too, and there are quite a few places where my attention wanders. Maybe Schwarzkopf was right just to record exceprts.

[knight66]

The main problem with Lisa Della Casa's studio recording of Arabella is Solti's hard driven, perfunctory conducting. I think I read somewhere it was his first complete opera recording for Decca, and even his greatest fans admit that he sounds as if he had little sympathy for his task, whereas Sawallisch's conducting on this set is one of its principal glories, as is the wonderfully warm digital sound.

There are other reasons to treasure the performance, however, not least the performances of Julia Varady as Arabella and Helen Donath as Zdenka. Varady's husband, Fischer-Dieskau was in his mid 50s at the time of the recording, and it has to be admitted that he does sound a bit over the hill at times, with an occasional tendency to bark. Nonetheless he makes a sympathetic Mandryka, without exactly eclipsing memories of Josef Metternich, who sings Mandryka on a superb excerpts disc with Schwarzkopf as Arabella (what a shame they didn't record the full opera).

The opera still has its problems, it seems to me. Invariably Zdenka emerges as the more sympathetic character, as she does here, despite Varady's gorgeous, creamy Arabella. I remember that  my first encounter with the opera was the film with Janowitz as Arabella, and my sympathies were all with Matteo! The Fiakermilli music always seems pointless and empty to me too, and there are quite a few places where my attention wanders. Maybe Schwarzkopf was right just to record exceprts.

I have never cracked this opera. I have heard it on radio, streamed it and have the same DVD that you have. What I want is a pair of sharp scissors. I have the Schwarzkopf disc and the music is so well done, I want more, just not it all. However, I have just ordered the live Caballe version, so we will see whether I can make headway.

Re Zilis-Gara, I recall seeing a telecast of a Met gala with her and Corelli in the act one Otello duet. He oversings and she gives him a lesson in phrasing and dynamics. I bought the disc of the event largely for her contribution. I think that is the same one that Nilsson did her Salome final scene duet with the bloody prompter.

Mike
Mike

[Draško]

What I want is a pair of sharp scissors. I have the Schwarzkopf disc and the music is so well done, I want more, just not it all.

Arabella has always struck me as having really strong first act but then falls off rather steeply, though there are some moments of quality later. Most often I find myself just listening to the first act alone.

I agree with Tsaraslondon about Solti, he seems to be conducting against his singers instead supporting them. My favorite recording is the Salzburg premiere of the best known staging that'll run for years. It's in mono, unlike the Solti studio, but it's decent mono, and the main cast is to me preferable to Solti.

[Tsaraslondon]

What I want is a pair of sharp scissors. I have the Schwarzkopf disc and the music is so well done, I want more, just not it all.

Re Zilis-Gara, I recall seeing a telecast of a Met gala with her and Corelli in the act one Otello duet. He oversings and she gives him a lesson in phrasing and dynamics. I bought the disc of the event largely for her contribution. I think that is the same one that Nilsson did her Salome final scene duet with the bloody prompter.

Mike
Mike

The three acts together aren't that much longer than the one act of Capriccio. They just seem so, I agree.

I used to have some of Zylis-Gara's work on LP, but I can't now remember what. Maybe it's time to reinvestigate.

[André]

I have never cracked this opera. I have heard it on radio, streamed it and have the same DVD that you have. What I want is a pair of sharp scissors. I have the Schwarzkopf disc and the music is so well done, I want more, just not it all. However, I have just ordered the live Caballe version, so we will see whether I can make headway.

Re Zilis-Gara, I recall seeing a telecast of a Met gala with her and Corelli in the act one Otello duet. He oversings and she gives him a lesson in phrasing and dynamics. I bought the disc of the event largely for her contribution. I think that is the same one that Nilsson did her Salome final scene duet with the bloody prompter.

Mike
Mike

You mean she cut his head off, too ?