What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Hoffmann]

Best thing about this Rheingold: René Pape's Wotan. Such a beautiful lyrical bass voice. Runner up: Johannes Martin Kränzle's wild-eyed Alberich. He so SO good at slimy villains. I liked a lot of the stage design but found the dancers very intrusive and not really integrated, except in the imprisoned Alberich scene where his Nibelungen acted as chains imprisoning him:

This was the Ring I saw in Berlin last year. Das Rheingold was almost unbearable because of the GD dancers. At the same time, the stage was very dark and the dancers dressed in black made it even more difficult to watch. Whatever were they thinking? Rene Pape sang in Rheingold (not very enthusiastically) and was supposed to sing Wotan throughout, but disappeared after the first night, nearly without comment, only to be replaced by the mediocre Thomas Johannes Mayer in Walkure. Jeez.

[Hoffmann]

Painful price, this is what keeps me away from Opera Rara releases........

All Opera Rara recordings are almost beyond price here in Berlin - they run about 45 euros (about $60), if I remember correctly. I plan to do another expedition to Dussmann over the weekend, so will try and confirm. Baroque operas also disappointingly pricey here - although there is a Hasse 'Antonio and Cleopatra' (25 Euros) that I want to go back for. Do I have to declare CDs - doesn't the U.S. have a special customs exemption for opera??

[Clayton]

All Opera Rara recordings are almost beyond price here in Berlin - they run about 45 euros (about $60), if I remember correctly. I plan to do another expedition to Dussmann over the weekend, so will try and confirm. Baroque operas also disappointingly pricey here - although there is a Hasse 'Antonio and Cleopatra' (25 Euros) that I want to go back for. Do I have to declare CDs - doesn't the U.S. have a special customs exemption for opera??

You do not have to declare to the Department of Homeland Securities' Customs and Border Protection Agency (phew wot a long title) your opera memories but on return to US soil are fully expected to report all your opera experiences to Opera Lively.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

This was the Ring I saw in Berlin last year. Das Rheingold was almost unbearable because of the GD dancers. At the same time, the stage was very dark and the dancers dressed in black made it even more difficult to watch. Whatever were they thinking? Rene Pape sang in Rheingold (not very enthusiastically) and was supposed to sing Wotan throughout, but disappeared after the first night, nearly without comment, only to be replaced by the mediocre Thomas Johannes Mayer in Walkure. Jeez.

Yes, the dancers got in the way, added noise and generally detracted from the effect. I'm now watching the Walkure and so far mercifully they have been absent.

[Clayton]

Inspired by Xavier35's passion for Monteverdi...

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Naples manuscript version
Emanuela Galli (Poppea), Roberta Mameli (Nerone), Josè Maria Lo Monaco (Ottone), Xenia Meijer (Ottavia), Ian Honeyman (Arnalta) & Raffaele Costantini (Seneca)
La Venexiana,
Claudio Cavina (direction)
Recorded in the Church of San Carlo, Modena September 2009



So, so beautiful...

[Clayton]

Look what the postman brought today...

MARIA CALLAS As PUCCINI'S Tosca - The Legendary 1953 La Scala Recording
Maria Callas - Tosca
Giuseppe di Stefano - Cavaradossi
Tito Gobbi - Scarpia
Franco Calabrese - Angelotti
Angelo Mercuriali - Spoletta
Melchiorre Luise - Sacrestan
Dario Caselli - Sciarrone/Gaoler
Alvaro Cordova - Shepherd
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Chorus Master Vittore Veneziani
Conductor Victor de Sabata
Recorded 10-21 August, 1953 Teatro alla Scala, Milan

[Clayton]

Donizetti: Maria di Rohan
José Bros (Riccardo), Christopher Purves (Enrico), Krassimira Stoyanova (Maria), Graeme Broadbent (Il Visconte di Suze), Loïc Félix (Armando di Gondì), Brindley Sherratt (De Fieque), Christopher Turner (Aubry), Riccardo Simonetti (Un famigliare di Chevreuse), Enkelejda Skhosa (Armondo di Gondì – appendix items),
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
Sir Mark Elder – conductor
Recorded Henry Wood Hall October/November 2009

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Donizetti: Maria di Rohan
José Bros (Riccardo), Christopher Purves (Enrico), Krassimira Stoyanova (Maria), Graeme Broadbent (Il Visconte di Suze), Loïc Félix (Armando di Gondì), Brindley Sherratt (De Fieque), Christopher Turner (Aubry), Riccardo Simonetti (Un famigliare di Chevreuse), Enkelejda Skhosa (Armondo di Gondì – appendix items),
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
Sir Mark Elder – conductor
Recorded Henry Wood Hall October/November 2009

Love these Opera Rara recordings. Not often you get new studio recordings of complete operas these days.

[Clayton]

Love these Opera Rara recordings. Not often you get new studio recordings of complete operas these days.

I have 3 Opera Rara recordings and I think they're great. Wonderful production and beautifully packaged.

I look at the fantastic book that they put together to go with the recordings and feel that there was a lot of passion invested in the putting together of these works.

I sincerely hope for the love and sake of opera that they can continue to produce these great works.

I will definitely be purchasing many more of their recordings!

[Dark_Angel]

Look what the postman brought today...

MARIA CALLAS As PUCCINI'S Tosca - The Legendary 1953 La Scala Recording
Maria Callas - Tosca
Giuseppe di Stefano - Cavaradossi
Tito Gobbi - Scarpia
Franco Calabrese - Angelotti
Angelo Mercuriali - Spoletta
Melchiorre Luise - Sacrestan
Dario Caselli - Sciarrone/Gaoler
Alvaro Cordova - Shepherd
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Chorus Master Vittore Veneziani
Conductor Victor de Sabata
Recorded 10-21 August, 1953 Teatro alla Scala, Milan

Excellent XR remaster by Pristine, original mono studio recording given much more extended clean lower mids / bass making male vocals especially improved over EMI release, overall great success another opera treasure not to be missed

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I have 3 Opera Rara recordings and I think they're great. Wonderful production and beautifully packaged.

I look at the fantastic book that they put together to go with the recordings and feel that there was a lot of passion invested in the putting together of these works.

I sincerely hope for the love and sake of opera that they can continue to produce these great works.

I will definitely be purchasing many more of their recordings!

What are the other two?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Very pleased with this Serse. Very strong cast.



Inspired by Clayton's thread on Baroque opera, re-listening to this great collection of Hasse arias. Barna-Sabadus is amazing.



Roberto doing what he does best, singing idiomatic French.

[Clayton]

What are the other two?

Hoffmann prefers the Muti version with Caballe than Carmen Giannattasio. I like Giannattasio in this role and think she plays the role well with drama yet with a pretty and agile voice. At first I thought there was something missing in Jose Bros character play but the more I have listened, the more I have come to accept his suitability. After all he is not really a pirate, more like a 1990's English rugby player; a gentleman playing a ruffian.

Belisario is a great opera set in 6th century Byzantine that seems to have been lost in the shadow of Lucia. It is a story with the General, his Emperor, wife, daughter and son played by baritone, bass, soprano, mezzo-soprano and tenor through politics, murder plot, love, reunion, battle and everything! again great cast, orchestra and sound round off a wonderful production.

They are both treasures of my tea cabinet.

[Clayton]

Weber: Der Freischütz
Birgit Nilsson (Agathe), Erika Köth (Ännchen), Nicolai Gedda (Max), Walter Berry (Kaspar), Franz Crass (Hermit), Wolfgang Anheisser (Ottokar), Dieter Weller (Kuno), Jurgen Forster (Kilian), Wolfgang Büttner (Zamiel)
Chor und Orchester der bayerischen Staatsoper Munchen,
Robert Heger
Recorded 23-30 June 1969 Bürgerbräu, München



Act 1 start
Act 1 end
Act 2

[Clayton]

Mozart: La clemenza di Tito, K621
Mark Padmore (Tito), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Vitellia), Bernarda Fink (Sesto), Marie-Claude Chappuis (Annio), Sunhae Im (Servilia) & Sergio Foresti (Publio)
RIAS Kammerchor & Freiburger Barockorchester,
René Jacobs
Recorded Teldex Studio Berlin November 2005