What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Clayton]

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.

That's a recording of La Traviata I love.

And that's a recording of Der Rosenkavalier that's on my wish list.

I open my account this morning with Handel.

Ariodante
Joyce DiDonato (Ariodante), Karina Gauvin (Ginevra), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Polinesso), Sabina Puértolas (Dalinda), Topi Lehtipuu (Lurcanio), Matthew Brook (King of Scotland), Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani (Odoardo)
Il Complesso Barocco,
Alan Curtis

[Clayton]

Donizetti: Roberto Devereux
Edita Gruberova (Elisabetta), Delores Ziegler (Sara), Don Bernadini (Roberto), Ettore Kim (Nottingham), Benoit Boutet (Lord Cecil), Merih Kazbek (Sir Gualtiero Raleigh), Francois Richert (Un Paggio/Un Familiare)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Choeurs de l'Opéra du Rhin,
Friedrich Haider
Recorded 19.-23. 03. 1994., Palais de la Musique et des Congres, Strasbourg



Edita wonderful.

recording cover design, not so good.

[Dark_Angel]

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.

We discuss this here often, I think the best way to get started in opera when possible is to buy a good DVD or Blu ray of an opera and use subtitles to learn the story and words to songs associated with actions on stage.....then in future when you listen to CD you already have scences to visualize in your head instead of trying to read libretto while listening to music

For instance the Gheorghiu Traviata has very good DVD for reasonable price used.......

[PoloniumCyanide]

I'd agree, I mean, I love classical music, but there's something about seeing it, knowing the characters, then recreating scenarios in your head when you listen to a CD. IF I don't like the characters, I will then just delete them from memory and still listen to the CD for the music's sake

[Clayton]

Or...

Sometimes the synopsis, the music and an over active imagination is perfectly sufficient to enjoy the opera at first.
Read the synopsis later when you are more curious.

I think I am in a very small minority with this approach though...

Anyway, I have decided to travel from Elizabethan England to Venice, 15th century.

Verdi: I Due Foscari
Piero Cappuccilli (Francesco Foscari), José Carreras (Jacopo Foscari), Katia Ricciarelli (Lucrezia Contarini), Samuel Ramey (Jacopo Loredano), Vincenzo Bello (Barbarigo), Elizabeth Connell (Pisana), Franz Handlos (Servo de Doge), Mieczyslaw Antoniak (Fante del Consiglio de' Dieci)
ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Vienna,
Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded - Vienna, June 1976



I need some Jose Carreras.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I was curious to see how the ROH version of Written on Skin compared with the Aix version which I had seen on Youtube about 18 months ago when it premiered - same cast, director etc. Although the Aix version was stunning, the cast has grown so much into their roles that this performance was totally electrifying. I think it's a brilliant opera, but I don't know if I could bear to watch it with anyone but Barbara Hannigan as Agnès. It's confirmed my view of her as a force of nature. And Purves and Mehta are also excellent.

Everyone MUST own this.

[Itullian]

Or...

Sometimes the synopsis, the music and an over active imagination is perfectly sufficient to enjoy the opera at first.
Read the synopsis later when you are more curious.

I think I am in a very small minority with this approach though...

Anyway, I have decided to travel from Elizabethan England to Venice, 15th century.

Verdi: I Due Foscari
Piero Cappuccilli (Francesco Foscari), José Carreras (Jacopo Foscari), Katia Ricciarelli (Lucrezia Contarini), Samuel Ramey (Jacopo Loredano), Vincenzo Bello (Barbarigo), Elizabeth Connell (Pisana), Franz Handlos (Servo de Doge), Mieczyslaw Antoniak (Fante del Consiglio de' Dieci)
ORF Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Vienna,
Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded - Vienna, June 1976



I need some Jose Carreras.

I'm there with you. I close my eyes and listen to cds and imagine.
I love the music.
Especially with modern productions, I find disappointment and unintended laughter.

[Hoffmann]

Somebody help me.

The house next door is being renovated and U.S. labor is too expensive, so investors use Latin American labor. Worse, the house, being empty except for hard surfaces, is one big echo chamber. So: Mariachi. All day.

I drowned them out with Les Huguenots for a while - then with Rigoletto. It worked pretty well until they started singing along.

I need me one of Alma's nuclear devices.

[ScoobyDoo]

We discuss this here often, I think the best way to get started in opera when possible is to buy a good DVD or Blu ray of an opera and use subtitles to learn the story and words to songs associated with actions on stage.....then in future when you listen to CD you already have scences to visualize in your head instead of trying to read libretto while listening to music

For instance the Gheorghiu Traviata has very good DVD for reasonable price used.......

I got the other La Traviata by Gheorghiu on Blu Ray. It was my first opera video I watched. I would say the video was the biggest reason I was able to really get into opera. Seeing the singers in action and beautiful stage production go really far.

Still listening to Der Rosenkavalier while reading synopsis.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Somebody help me.

The house next door is being renovated and U.S. labor is too expensive, so investors use Latin American labor. Worse, the house, being empty except for hard surfaces, is one big echo chamber. So: Mariachi. All day.

I drowned them out with Les Huguenots for a while - then with Rigoletto. It worked pretty well until they started singing along.

I need me one of Alma's nuclear devices.

Oh goodness, I can sympathise, except that NZ builders listen to commercial radio with inane pop and 120812789482364018531 adverts an hour. I blast Wagner. My recording of the Ring with Nilsson has its uses.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Somebody help me.

The house next door is being renovated and U.S. labor is too expensive, so investors use Latin American labor. Worse, the house, being empty except for hard surfaces, is one big echo chamber. So: Mariachi. All day.

I drowned them out with Les Huguenots for a while - then with Rigoletto. It worked pretty well until they started singing along.

I need me one of Alma's nuclear devices.

Drown them with Parsifal. That will do it!

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

I was curious to see how the ROH version of Written on Skin compared with the Aix version which I had seen on Youtube about 18 months ago when it premiered - same cast, director etc. Although the Aix version was stunning, the cast has grown so much into their roles that this performance was totally electrifying. I think it's a brilliant opera, but I don't know if I could bear to watch it with anyone but Barbara Hannigan as Agnès. It's confirmed my view of her as a force of nature. And Purves and Mehta are also excellent.

Everyone MUST own this.

Hey! That's why you must vote for Written on Skin in our list of recommended operas! I've been voting alone for it since the batch of 11-20!

PS - Over here its' in pre-order; it will be released on January 28.

[Hoffmann]

Great singing on this recording!

[Itullian]

Great singing on this recording!

My favorite Freischutz.

[Clayton]

Somebody help me.

The house next door is being renovated...

1. How about take some Die Walküre length walks with your iPod (mind the traffic if using your new noise cancelling earphones) and take some more pictures for the "where I live thread"!

2. Unexpected visit to out of state concert/opera house which your friends has always been mentioning to try to get you to visit them but you've slightly rudely never followed through (only mildly curious).

3. Method acting; buy a six pack of yellow beer and some tortilla chips from the supermarket, stick on the "TV" with a soccer match and see if you can get in to character and enjoy the mariachi.

4. Consult with your otolaryngologist and architect to fully understand the limits before starting a sound off.

5. Go to library and borrow book on how to meditate. Practise there (nice and quiet) whilst pretending to read, for a couple of days until you're up to challenge of mariachi builders.

6. Pharmaceutical options.

Whatever option you decide, good luck,
and peace be with you, my friend.

whatever that means.