What opera have you been watching lately?

[JohnGerald]

Last night we watched Mose in Egitto from the ROF. The music is moving, the singing is first rate and the staging played to some seriously negative reviews, mine among them. This production is more of a biased political statement about conditions in the modern Middle East than it is about things Biblical. However, last night involved some ingestion of adult beverages and that, perhaps, allowed me to see past the staging and appreciate the dynamics between the characters, as well as the music. The final Preghiera has to be heard to be appreciated: it's a simple melody repeated by individual characters and chorus, But the result?

Stunning!

[JohnGerald]

Being of a mind for Rossini, we dusted off the 2006 ROF performance of Bianca e Falliero. B&F was the first "authorized" DVD of an ROF staging. Maria Bayo was Bianca. She is a tiny thing with a very large and flexible coloratura soprano (Alma alert: there is an amazing display of ... somewhat modest pillow tops.). Daniella Barcellona plays the en travesty role of Falliero in a kind of Romeo & Juliet thing, but with a happy ending. Barcellona is not a tiny thing, but has both a voice that fills the house and a smile that lights up the room. The music may not be Rossini at his best, but is still worth seeing and hearing.

It is useful to note how relatively recent is the rebirth of interest in Rossini's many fine operas.

[Adrian]

Last night with some close friend we relived this wonderful piece .

Renée Fleming (Armida), Lawrence Brownlee (Rinaldo), Barry Banks (Gernando/Carlo), John Osborn (Goffredo), Yeghishe Manucharyan (Eustazio), Peter Volpe (Idraote), José Manuel Zapata (Gernando), Keith Miller (Astarotte), Kobie van Rensburg (Ubaldo)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Riccardo Frizza

DVD Video - 2 discs

[MAuer]

Oooo, lots of tenors! Lots of good tenors, I might add. May just have to add that Armida to my wish list.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Oooo, lots of tenors! Lots of good tenors, I might add. May just have to add that Armida to my wish list.

Yes, Armida is a hard piece to stage because it requires too many good tenors so its hard for the casting department to locate this many that can be at the same place together.

I saw that production live and it was wonderful. I bought the DVD as well but never got the time to watch it.

[Floria]

Sunday, we watched part 3 of the Ring Cycle, Siegfried.
Jay Hunter Morris, Debra Voigt, Bryn Terfel, Gerhard Siegel

[JohnGerald]

This Armida is a splendid staging, done as a showcase for Renee Fleming, who, as she states in the interview, is not a bel canto specialist. Yet she does a very fine job with the demanding score. And Mary Zimmerman, notorious for her staging of Sonnambula, gets it pretty much right on. Armida is also instructive on the theatre of Rossini's time, where he had to compose for the singers available at the time; in this case a bevy of tenors. Back then, no one flew into town to sing a role contracted for years before.

[Adrian]

I do hope you all forgive me that this not a complete opera , but it's such a great DVD that I watch over and over again.
Shame they didn't recorded the whole performance.(as far as I know)

Talking about highlights is almost impossible but to name a few:
Dame Joan Sutherland in that hideous green dress doing Rossini,
Dame Kiri doing a very fine Mozart.
Malfitano and Krauss in Romeo and Juliet ,
Carreras and Caballé in Andrea Chenier and not to be forgotten :
Viene la sera (from Madama Butterfly) Giuliano Ciannella, Leona Mitchell.
last but not least the final of Faust with the then on high point Ricciarelli.



Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet, James Levine, Richard Bonynge, David Stivender, Jeffrey Tate Leonard Bernstein, Sir John Pritchard & Thomas Fulton

DVD Video - 2 discs DG

[Clayton]

...Talking about highlights is almost impossible but to name a few:
Dame Joan Sutherland in that hideous green dress doing Rossini...

at least a commentary on what the rest were wearing

[Adrian]

at least a commentary on what the rest were wearing

Caballé always wares black, the only one that look like a modest diva was Leona Mitchell,
I am sure Almaviva can describe that much better then me

[JohnGerald]

I like the Met gala DVDs; the selections are varied and the singing is mostly first rate. And it argues for bringing back the "big hair" look for the ladies!

Last night, I dug out the Dynamic disc of the 2007 Norma with Cedolins and Ganassi. While there are vocally superior audio recordings, for the total theatrical experience, this is hard to beat (except for the tenor! What is it about Norma that requires the recording folks to consistently use second rate tenors??). The involvement of both women in their roles is nowhere more apparent than in the closeups, where the marriage of the vocal and dramatic is complete .. and perfect. I haven't seen the "woman scorned" and angry look since my wicked (but thoroughly enjoyable) single days, but Cedolins does it perfectly ... and is frightening, too. Druid high priestesses can throw a mean curse I've been told ...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I like the Met gala DVDs; the selections are varied and the singing is mostly first rate. And it argues for bringing back the "big hair" look for the ladies!

Last night, I dug out the Dynamic disc of the 2007 Norma with Cedolins and Ganassi. While there are vocally superior audio recordings, for the total theatrical experience, this is hard to beat (except for the tenor! What is it about Norma that requires the recording folks to consistently use second rate tenors??).

Too right. That's why I like the controversial audio recording with Bartoli and John Osborn (other reason is that I'd rather listen to a mezzo any day). The tenors in most recordings are often blustering shouters, which fits the character of horrible Pollione well enough, but not the musical style.

[Amfortas]

Shame they didn't recorded the whole performance.(as far as I know)

They recorded, and televised, the entire performance (I remember watching it many years ago), but sadly did not include all of it on the DVD.

[Adrian]

They recorded, and televised, the entire performance (I remember watching it many years ago), but sadly did not include all of it on the DVD.

I remember that , it was broadcast in Germany television, witch we can receive in the Netherlands .
We had two VCR running and alas the tape did run out of time at some point .

[Amfortas]

I remember that , it was broadcast in Germany television, witch we can receive in the Netherlands .
We had two VCR running and alas the tape did run out of time at some point .

Yes, I had the whole thing on VHS tapes, back in the day when I had a large opera collection in that format. All of it long gone now; where do the years go?