What have you been listening to, lately?

[Almaviva]

Just received my Netrebko/Garanca Anna Bolena blu ray......so I have been taking a refresher CD course

Darn, why haven't I received mine yet?

[Dark_Angel]

Darn, why haven't I received mine yet?

Presto UK is my secret weapon..........

[DrMike]

See we knew we would convert you to opera!

Oh, I have never denied my fondness for Mozart's operas. But that is a small fraction of the total music I listen to.

Anyways, I'm finishing up The Magic Flute right now, and then moving on to Jacob's recording of Le nozze di Figaro, and possibly later, Cosi fan tutte.

[Festat]

Jocobs' Così is my favorite of his Mozart recordings.

[Aksel]

The Jacobs Così is a fantastic recording. I even like it better than his Zauberflöte, which is already a seriously amazing CD.

[DrMike]

I have to admit that I haven't listened to Cosi as much as I have the other 2, and Tito and Idomeneo and Don Giovanni even less. Not that I don't like those others, but they just haven't gotten the play time that these first two do. I will likely load those last 3 on my mp3 player for tomorrow. I am just about finished with Figaro.

[HarpsichordConcerto]

I am part way through this opera by Michael Haydn, brother of Joseph, Andromeda und Perseus. So far, it's been pretty good for I have never listened to a Michael Haydn opera before.

[Anne of Green Gables]

Yet another L'Elisir. This time:

Metropolitan Opera House
March 16, 1968

Adina...................Roberta Peters
Nemorino................Alfredo Kraus
Belcore.................Mario Sereni
Dr. Dulcamara...........Fernando Corena
Giannetta...............Joy Clements
Conductor...............Fausto Cleva

Though quality isn't perfect I enjoyed it very much. I picked it to exclusively to hear Kraus in this role and I don't regret it - I never understood what people mean when they say that's some singer sounds "aristocratic", but Kraus made me understood that, he has such noble grace in his voice and singing manner - but I was also pleased to hear Corena whose Dulcamara really sings instead of groaning which often happens to others in this role.

[Dark_Angel]

A couple new Tebaldi operas for the collection, a great 1967 Gioconda in excellent sound quality......I have never heard Tebaldi this dramatic before especially in the closing "suicido" sequence, I love this opera

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Continuing my Handel exploration:



Marijana Mijanovic sounds wonderful here.



Nancy Argenta = pure silver

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Borrowed this from the library, I'm glad I didn't buy it. The 61-year-old Edita Gruberova is at the limit of her powers there, as you could tell by the awful last note, and although her achievement is impressive I didn't entirely enjoy it. Alice Coote sounded uneven (surprising, she's usually very dependable. The performance I enjoyed the most was Pavol Breslik. The staging by Christof Loy was Regie lite and rather dull.

[Dark_Angel]

Borrowed this from the library, I'm glad I didn't buy it. The 61-year-old Edita Gruberova is at the limit of her powers there, as you could tell by the awful last note, and although her achievement is impressive I didn't entirely enjoy it. Alice Coote sounded uneven (surprising, she's usually very dependable. The performance I enjoyed the most was Pavol Breslik. The staging by Christof Loy was Regie lite and rather dull.

I felt the same about her recent Norma DVD, very good looking production but should have been done 20 years ago when Gruberova was capable of really singing this challenging role

[Dark_Angel]

I love Ewa Podles in the role of Polinesso here.

Although I'm not entirely convinced by Anne-Sofie von Otter singing Handel, I very much enjoyed her rendition of Scherza Infida yesterday. I had reached a point on my walk where I was on a little bridge over a tidal estuary. I stopped walking and listened to this lovely aria, basking in the sun, gazing at the honeysuckle on a nearby bank trailing in the shimmering water and watching a cormorant catch its breakfast. A magic moment.

Classical music can often inspire and touch our soul with its beauty......it is good to be able to appreciate these wonderful things in life

[AnaMendoza]

Borrowed this from the library, I'm glad I didn't buy it. The 61-year-old Edita Gruberova is at the limit of her powers there, as you could tell by the awful last note, and although her achievement is impressive I didn't entirely enjoy it. Alice Coote sounded uneven (surprising, she's usually very dependable. The performance I enjoyed the most was Pavol Breslik. The staging by Christof Loy was Regie lite and rather dull.

This is amusing: I'm not very familiar with opera DVDs, but I saw this much of your post on the front page excerpt, yesterday:

Borrowed this from the library, I'm glad I didn't buy it. The 61-year-old Edita Gruberova is at the limit of her powers there

and I wondered if you might be referring to this very one. I'd checked it out from the library a few months ago, and was disappointed in Gruberova's performance. Also, I couldn't help laughing at the promoters of the video, who put a picture of Gruberova in an elaborate period gown on the cover, I assume in the hope that the buyer won't realize that she and the other singers are more-or-less on an empty stage, throughout the opera.

[Almaviva]

Yes, not a good one in my opinion. I think the opera is very good, but this production is sub-par.