What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Clayton]

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Thomas Allen (Eugene Onegin), Mirella Freni (Tatyana), Anne Sofie von Otter (Olga), Neil Shicoff (Lensky), Rosemary Lang (Larina), Ruthild Engert (Filipyevna), Paata Burchuladze (Gremin), Michel Sénéchal (Triquet), Gunther Emmerlich (Zaretzky), Jürgen Hartfiel (Captain)
Staatskapelle Dresden, James Levine

[Clayton]

Gluck: Paride Ed Elena
Magdalena Kozena & Susan Gritton
Gabrielli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

[Clayton]

Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore
Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara & Dawn Upshaw
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus,
James Levine



In my mind, I play back the performance at the Met I saw with Gheorghiu and Alagna. A treasure of the heart. Alagna walking across stage on his hands, what a performer!

[Hoffmann]

Gluck: Paride Ed Elena
Magdalena Kozena & Susan Gritton
Gabrielli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh

How was this - both the recording and the opera?

[Hoffmann]

[Itullian]

I'm a big Sills fan. She always seemed like Callas light to me.
Always sang with much feeling and from the heart.

[Clayton]

How was this - both the recording and the opera?

This is quite different for Iphigenie en Tauride; much more romantic and the voices of both Magdalena Kozena and Susan Gritton are exquisite. Delicate yet with emotional content. I would describe fach as Baccarat crystal designs "Rohan" and "Parme" respectively. At the risk of sounding like having an acute case of the last-thing-I-heard-itis, this is my favourite Gluck opera.






Huh. Imagine that. 3 months ago if someone said to me "Gluck", I would have said "Bless you!"

[Clayton]

How was this opera/recording for Maria Stuarda? I thought I only liked the opera for the Pavarotti.Sutherland.Tourangeau.Bonynge combination...

[Itullian]

How was this opera/recording for Maria Stuarda? I thought I only liked the opera for the Pavarotti.Sutherland.Tourangeau.Bonynge combination...

Sill's 3 Queen operas are wonderful. My favorites, but i'm a Sills fan.

[Hoffmann]

How was this opera/recording for Maria Stuarda? I thought I only liked the opera for the Pavarotti.Sutherland.Tourangeau.Bonynge combination...

I really like the recording. There are times when I think that Beverly Sills' voice might be an acquired taste but, at least at this early stage of her career, she never fails to catch your attention. She handles the music without effort, even if she didn't have the vocal gift that Sutherland did. Itullian is right - she is more evocative of Callas in her delivery than most other singers. I think she really makes Maria Stuarda come alive.

I haven't heard Sills' versions of the other Queen operas, but plan to fix that soon.

[Clayton]

Thought I'd open the account with Gluck.

Orfeo ed Euridice
Grace Bumbry, (Orfeo), Anneliese Rothenberger (Euridice), Ruth-Margret Pütz (Amor)
Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig
Václav Neumann



Oh my so beautiful.

Oh no! Struck by Hearditis again.

[Clayton]

Uh Oh...

It's started again...

I don't know exactly how this happened...

I think it's got something to do with Itullian hanging around here more recently.
He stamps his size 16 steel boots (that can break through two feet of reinforced concrete),
And that has the power to change the will of weak minded animals in the vicinity,
Even through cyberspace...

Wagner: Das Rheingold
Theo Adam (Wotan), Gerd Nienstedt (Donner), Hermin Esser (Froh), Wolfgang Windgassen (Loge), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Erwin Wohlfahrt (Mime), Martti Talvela (Fasolt) Kurt Böhme (Fafner), Annelies Burmeister (Fricka), Anja Silja (Freia), Vera Soukupova (Erda), Dorothea Siebert (Woglinde), Helga Dernesch (Wellgunde), Ruth Hesse (Flosshilde)
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele,
Karl Böhm



Prices are 20 to 1 that I will be stuck in this cycle and will not be able to break out for the next 14 hours...

[Hoffmann]

I saw this when the Met brought it to DC with Marilyn Horne and Samuel Ramey in the early 1980s and the performance/production has been stuck firmly in my brain ever since. This recording captures Marilyn Horne, but is deficient insofar as there is no Samuel Ramey

[Clayton]

Wagner: Die Walküre
Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Theo Adam (Wotan), Leonie Rysanek (Sieglinde), James King (Siegmund), Gerd Nienstedt (Hunding), Annelies Burmeister (Fricka/Siegrune), Gertraud Hopf (Waltraute), Helga Dernesch (Ortlinde), Elisabeth Schärtel (Grimgerde), Sona Cervená (Rossweise), Sieglinde Wagner (Schwertleite), Liane Synek (Helmwige), Danica Mastilovic (Gerhilde)
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele,
Karl Böhm
Recorded in 1967



I am really enjoying this. I'm starting to see more and more.

[Amfortas]

I am really enjoying this. I'm starting to see more and more.

An opera website recently rated it their #1 recommended opera.