What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Hoffmann]

I started the day off with a classic:



I love Callas in Puritani, the male voices, though, pale in comparison to the Sutherland/Ghiaurov/Cappuccilli recording.

Then, inspired by some of the comments on the 'recommended operas' thread:



A wonderful opera, but takes a little getting used to when one is accustomed to the more florid bel canto style..

[Itullian]

Fantastic Dresden version.

[Clayton]

Verdi: I Masnadieri
Ruggero Raimondi (Massimiliano), Carlo Bergonzi (Carlo), Piero Cappuccilli (Francesco), Montserrat Caballé (Amalia), John Sandor (Armino), Maurizio Mazzieri (Moser), William Elvin (Rolla)
Ambrosian Singers & New Philharmonia Orchestra,
Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded - Brent Town Hall, London, August 1974



Another under rated/under performed great?
What a brilliant cast this recording has too.

Ha! Ha!
Another funny one; Brent Town Hall?

[Clayton]

Berlioz: Les Troyens
Ben Heppner (Enée), Michelle DeYoung (Didon), Petra Lang (Cassandre), Sara Mingardo (Anna), Peter Mattei (Chorèbe), Stephen Milling (Narbal), Kenneth Tarver (Iopas), Toby Spence (Hylas), Alan Ewing (Priam), Guang Yang (Hécube), Isabelle Cals (Ascagne), Tigran Martirossian (Panthée), Bülent Bezdüz (Helenus), Mark Stone (Un chef grec), Leigh Melrose (Un soldat troyen/Mercure), Orlin Annastassov (L'Ombre d'Hector), Andrew Greenan (Premiere Sentinelle), Roderick Earle (Deuxieme Sentinelle)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus,
Sir Colin Davis



A three hour fifty-nine minute package of great music.

[Clayton]

Oh come, come, now. The Kubelik can't be all that pricey! I mean it's the Kubelik Meistersinger, for goodness sake! What's a couple of bucks for an opera?

Yes. I was mostly joking.
Though Solti was actually GBP 28
and Kubelik GBP 42
I think the prices for these recordings vary a lot with reprints. I'll take the 28 Solti for now thinking the difference between the two is not 28:42. If I like Die Meistersinger so much that I want to listen to another great interpretation, I know I can come to Kubelik at a later time... or keep an eye on it and see if the price reduces.
Or... I will sell a kidney and buy another 12 more CD's.
Or... I will come by your place, steal one of your paintings and buy another 1200 CD's. or 12 if I picked up the dummy you sometimes hang to fool dumb burglars.

[Hoffmann]

Yes. I was mostly joking.
Though Solti was actually GBP 28
and Kubelik GBP 42
I think the prices for these recordings vary a lot with reprints. I'll take the 28 Solti for now thinking the difference between the two is not 28:42. If I like Die Meistersinger so much that I want to listen to another great interpretation, I know I can come to Kubelik at a later time... or keep an eye on it and see if the price reduces.
Or... I will sell a kidney and buy another 12 more CD's.
Or... I will come by your place, steal one of your paintings and buy another 1200 CD's. or 12 if I picked up the dummy you sometimes hang to fool dumb burglars.

Good luck with that! I don't think my paintings have all that much value - they were more a labor of love that took me some 25 years of bits and pieces of good luck in finding things I like. People who pay a lot of money for paintings tend to buy art based upon the reputation of the artist (sometimes, no matter how remote or obscure the reputation) - and even kind of regardless of whether the artist was having a good day, or, in all too many cases, a not so good day.

Anyway, I do understand. I paid a lot for my copy of the Kubelik - I bought it in Berlin, and was delighted to even have found a copy (and, of course, when on vacation, I tend to pay ridiculous amounts of money for just about anything without even thinking about it - including currywursts...).

- - - Updated - - -

Fantastic Dresden version.

I love that recording!

- - - Updated - - -

Verdi: I Masnadieri
Ruggero Raimondi (Massimiliano), Carlo Bergonzi (Carlo), Piero Cappuccilli (Francesco), Montserrat Caballé (Amalia), John Sandor (Armino), Maurizio Mazzieri (Moser), William Elvin (Rolla)
Ambrosian Singers & New Philharmonia Orchestra,
Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded - Brent Town Hall, London, August 1974



Another under rated/under performed great?
What a brilliant cast this recording has too.

Ha! Ha!
Another funny one; Brent Town Hall?

I love this one, too!

[Clayton]

Massenet: Manon
Victoria de los Ángeles, Henri Legay, Michel Dens, Jean Borthayre, René Herent, Liliane Berton, Raymonde Notti, Marthe Serres, Jean Vieuille
Orchestre du Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique,
Pierre Monteux
1955



In a perpetual cycle of Hearditis

[Clayton]

Tristan und Isolde
Wolfgang Windgassen (Tristan), Birgit Nilsson (Isolde), Christa Ludwig (Brangäne), Martti Talvela (King Marke), Eberhard Waechter (Kurwenal), Claude Heater (Melot), Erwin Wohlfahrt (Hirt), Gerd Nienstedt (Steuermann), Peter Schreier (Seemann)
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele 1966,
Karl Böhm



this broke the cycle.

[Hoffmann]

I had never heard this opera before, but the fact that it features Elena Suliotis persuaded me that I had to have it. Although, as far as I can tell, Loreley is nearly unknown, it is a lovely opera with interesting - even compelling - music. Even just listening to the CDs, I didn't do too much else as I was afraid I might miss something. The recording itself, at best, is murky. A real shame it was never recorded in the studio.

[Clayton]

Lucrezia Borgia
Vasso Papantoniou (Lucrezia Borgia), Jose van Dam (Duca di Ferrara), Jose Carreras (Gennaro), Cora Canne-Meijer (Maffio Orsini)
Orchestre Lyrique et Choeur de l'ORTF
Pierre-Michel LeConte
Live recording Paris, July 16, 1972



A good recording, well worth the wait. A must for a Lucrezia nut and a recommended buy if Lucrezia is a favourite.
There is noise in places (esp towards end act 1) and balance is a bit off in places but as expected for a live recording of this age.
It is a performance with lot's of character; the noise and balance does not detract.
Vasso Papantoniou comes and goes (or rather is not so much there but comes) but on the whole, like a good beer, reaches those parts that others can not reach. Very satisfying.
Jose Van Dam makes plays a great Duck of death, with good weight.
Jose Carreras is actually a young and reckless man (I think 26 years old) almost playing exactly in to the character. A bit "shouty" at the start but warming up well as the performance progresses. Never a great performance but as I understand it it was his first... I think this is fine for this opera.
Cora Canne-Meijer is a bit wobbly, I do not know about her but maybe she is towards the end of her career. Again though she portrays the character of a good buddy well and I like her voice in this role.
Pierre-Michel LeConte also plays his part well, very sympathetic to all the passages with drama or delicate in the right places.
Thoroughly enjoyable!


- - - Updated - - -

Going around a second time.

[Clayton]

I had never heard this opera before, but the fact that it features Elena Suliotis persuaded me that I had to have it. Although, as far as I can tell, Loreley is nearly unknown, it is a lovely opera with interesting - even compelling - music. Even just listening to the CDs, I didn't do too much else as I was afraid I might miss something. The recording itself, at best, is murky. A real shame it was never recorded in the studio.

I think there is nothing else out there at the moment. We will just have to wait until some record company remasters and releases the 67 recording of Norma. I hope it happens some time soon, with a sympathetic record company (i.e. no expenses spared!) with good sound engineers.

[Hoffmann]

Then, this afternoon:



Fabulous!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

While I was away I managed to catch a couple of operas I had downloaded from YouTube:

Lohengrin, opening night of La Scala 2012. Kaufmann was of course fabulous as the twitching introverted Lohengrin (not sure what director Claus Guth was on about here), but the most amazing performance came from Annette Dasch who had to einspring for Anja Harteros, flying in after a 7pm phone call the previous night. You'd have thought she had worked out her character with 6 weeks of intensive rehearsals. Not perhaps the most euphonious of singers, but WOW!



L'Elisir D'amore from Glyndebourne, 2009. Very cute, charming production. Unfortunately the video has been removed from YouTube.

[ScoobyDoo]

Verdi: La Traviata
Strauss, R: Der Rosenkavalier



I just joined today! As an opera newbie, you'll see me listen to very basic repertoire for a while. I heard La Traviata for the first time only six months ago!

Richard Strauss does not disappoint with his fabulous orchestration; the music is so good that I haven't even read the entire libretto but enjoying it very much without following the story.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Indeed, these two are fabulous. You might want to consult this thread about our most recommended operas: click [here]