What opera have you been watching lately?

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I'm currently watching this ...



... and I'm enjoying it very much. However, considering all the care which has gone into the costumes, I did wonder why Jemmy is wearing what looks like a traditional Aran jumper. Maybe to indicate he's a fisherman?

https://www.trouva.com/products/bibi...ol-aran-jumper

[Florestan]

[JohnGerald]

I just received and watched (twice) the recent Nabucco from Bel Air Classiques. It was filmed in the Arena di Verona and is quite good. Timewise, it is staged during the 1848 national movement in Italy, and despite the loss of dramatic tension (Biblical) in the original, it works well enough. Nabucco is portrayed as an Austrian general which makes his "conversion" to a deity a bit awkward. Susanna Branchini is a surprisingly good Abigaille. Daniel Oren has the score nailed pretty well.

[MAuer]

Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano
Director: Peter Stein
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlo), Anja Harteros (Elisabeth of Valois), Thomas Hampson (Rodrigo, Marquess Posa), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Princess Eboli). Matti Salminen (Philip II), Eric Halfvarson (Grand Inquisitor), Maria Celeng (Tebaldo), Benjamin Bernheim (Count Lerma), Robert Lloyd (a Friar), Sen Guo (Celestial Voice)

[Florestan]

[Florestan]

[MAuer]

Conductor/orchestra: Michel Plasson, Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris
Director: Benoit Jacquot
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann (Werther), Sophie Koch (Charlotte), Ludovic Tézier (Albert), Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie), Alain Vernhais (Bailiff), Andreas Jäggi ((Schmidt), Christian Tréguier (Johann), Alexandre Duhamel (Brühlmann), Olivia Doray (Kätchen)

[Florestan]

32 minutes in. This is very good.

[Florestan]

[MAuer]

I've wanted to buy a recording of La fille du régiment for some time, and at this point, I'm still leaning toward the CD version with Edita Gruberova and Deon van der Walt in the romantic leads. But since Patrizia Ciofi is one of my favorite sopranos, I checked some of the YouTube clips of this production. As the cover photo of the DVD case suggests, Emilio Sagi's production updates the action from the Napoleonic wars to World War II. But I was really surprised to see the "French" soldiers all wearing the "Screaming Eagle" unit insignia of the 101st Airborne Division on the left sleeves of their uniforms. They also sport the stylized paratroopers' wings worn by those in U.S. Airborne Divisions. Of course, this is a comedy, so audiences aren't expected to take what happens seriously. But Sagi must have really done some stretching to make his concept fit the opera's plot. (0r make the plot fit his concept.)

[Florestan]

I've wanted to buy a recording of La fille du régiment for some time, and at this point, I'm still leaning toward the CD version with Edita Gruberova and Deon van der Walt in the romantic leads. But since Patrizia Ciofi is one of my favorite sopranos, I checked some of the YouTube clips of this production. As the cover photo of the DVD case suggests, Emilio Sagi's production updates the action from the Napoleonic wars to World War II. But I was really surprised to see the "French" soldiers all wearing the "Screaming Eagle" unit insignia of the 101st Airborne Division on the left sleeves of their uniforms. They also sport the stylized paratroopers' wings worn by those in U.S. Airborne Divisions. Of course, this is a comedy, so audiences aren't expected to take what happens seriously. But Sagi must have really done some stretching to make his concept fit the opera's plot. (0r make the plot fit his concept.)

I do like the Gruberova CD version a lot. There just are not many CD versions and if you are not a big Sutherland fan, Gruberova is about the only other one to choose. There is Beverly Sills but I think the sound quality is not as good. I should see what the Lily Pons set sounds like. As for the Italian version, never cared for it.

The DVD with Florez and Ciofi is pretty good. Florez really got the audience excited with the high Cs so they had him repeat that section. It is in the video.

[JohnGerald]

May I suggest that the version with Florez and Dessay is very, very good.

[MAuer]

If one isn't particularly a fan of either Dame Joan or Flórez, there's very little to choose from in this opera's discography. I prefer both Larry Brownlee and Michael Spyres to him (their voices somehow sound more "masculine" to me), and wish there would be a recording of this opera with one of those gentlemen instead.

[MAuer]

Conductor/orchestra: Sir Antonio Pappano, Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, London
Director: Keith Warner
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann (Otello), Maria Agresta (Desdemona), Marco Vratogna (Iago), Frédéric Antoun (Cassio), Kai Rüütel (Emilia), Thomas Atkins (Roderigo), Simon Shibamu (Montano), In Sung Sim (Lodovico), Thomas Barnard (Herald)

Of course, there's JK's Moor. But I'm also getting a little preview of next summer's opera season here, as the Cassio, Frédéric Antoun, is scheduled to sing the male lead in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

[Florestan]