What opera have you been watching lately?

[Florestan]

Started this one tonight.

[Sonata]

Tosca- Conducted by Antonio Pappano, with Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Gheorgiu, and Bryn Terfel

Finally getting a chance to watch Tosca. In comparison to other Puccini operas, I feel this is one that really benefits from watching versus just listening. I watched Act I yesterday and plan to watch some more in a few minutes

[Florestan]

^ That one is in my unwatched pile. Just a matter of time.

[Amfortas]

^ That one is in my unwatched pile.

My unwatchable pile keeps growing. I make really bad choices.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

My unwatchable pile keeps growing. I make really bad choices.

That's even worse!

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Watching this while I do the ironing. Haha.

Natalie Dessay is a brilliant actress as well as a great singer and a joy to watch.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Watching this while I do the ironing. Haha.

Did you sulk and huff and puff Frenchly?

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Did you sulk and huff and puff Frenchly?

Well I do sulk and puff because I hate ironing! Not sure if I'm doing it Frenchly though.

[Clayton]

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Recorded live in Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam in June 2006
Stage Director - Martin Kušej

Eva-Maria Westbroek (Katerina Izmailova), Christopher Ventris (Sergey), Carole Wilson (Aksinya), Vladimir Vaneev (Boris), Lani Poulson (Sonyetka), Ludovít Ludha (Zinovi), Alexandre Kravets (Shabby Peasant)
Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

Love, lust, jealousy, murder; all good ingredients for a great opera! It is dramatic, powerful and violent with beautiful melodies of fragile love to painful sounds of torment played out by a fantastic cast.

*Not for the faint-hearted

[MAuer]

Stage Director - Martin Kušej

Cast members or choristers running around in their underwear?

[Clayton]

Strauss, R: Der Rosenkavalier
Gwyneth Jones (Marschallin), Brigitte Fassbaender (Octavian), Lucia Popp (Sophie), Manfred Jungwirth (Baron Ochs), Benno Kusche (Faninal), Francisco Araiza (Italian Singer), Anneliese Waas (Marianne Leitmetzerin), David Thaw (Valzacchi), Gudrun Wewezow (Annina), Albrecht Peter (Polizeikommissar)
Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Carlos Kleiber 1979



So beautiful

[Clayton]

Hosokawa: Stilles Meer
Susanne Elmark (Claudia), Mihoko Fujimura (Haruko), Bejun Mehta (Stephan), Viktor Rud (Hiroto), Marek Gasztecki (Fisherman)
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Vokalsolisten Hamburg, Kent Nagano (conductor) & Oriza Hirata (director)
2016



Aaaaaaargh!
last 6mins unwatchable due to dvd fault

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Hosokawa: Stilles Meer
Susanne Elmark (Claudia), Mihoko Fujimura (Haruko), Bejun Mehta (Stephan), Viktor Rud (Hiroto), Marek Gasztecki (Fisherman)
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Vokalsolisten Hamburg, Kent Nagano (conductor) & Oriza Hirata (director)
2016



Aaaaaaargh!
last 6mins unwatchable due to dvd fault

What a shame. Is it possible to get a refund/replacement?

[Clayton]

What a shame. Is it possible to get a refund/replacement?

Presto Classical are very good and if they have it in stock will dispatch a replacement on next day delivery or they will ask their supplier to dispatch same day.

Though there is a moment of emotion that can't be replaced or recreated the same...

[Povero Buoso]

Watched the 2010 performance of Attila from the Marinsky theatre (took ages to find a version on YouTube with English subtitles but missions complete so no need to buy a £30 dvd!!!) on the Euro-arts channel.

I enjoyed the opera quite a lot I am a fan of the very early Verdi with their vigorous cabalettas and quick pacing though I feel it was a weaker effort than Ernani perhaps equal to Nabucco though no chorus as strong as Va Pensiero (as I said I like Cabalettas). Nevertheless a fun opera which I immediately bought a recording of (I really like cabalettas as they are great walking music especially if one walks fast like I do). The performance itself and staging hit all the markers for me though I confess I was just happy to have a version with subtitles that I could watch to get acquainted with the opera.

8.75 out of 10