This morning...
Vivaldi: Ercole sul Termodonte
Rolando Villazón (Ercole), Patrizia Ciofi (Orizia), Diana Damrau (Martesia), Joyce DiDonato (Ippolita), Vivica Genaux (Antiope), Topi Lehtipuu (Telemone), Philippe Jaroussky (Alceste), Romina Basso (Teseo)
Europa Galante,
Fabio Biondi
Recorded Saloncino, Teatro della Pergola, Florence 2008-2010
Now Florence opera house Teatro della Pergola also looks very pretty (or does just any opera house look attractive to me?).
Now I did want to visit 16th Century Bologna by way of Donizetti today but now I'm thinking I want to listen to this again or some more Vivaldi.
hm. Where to go, where to go...
Note PC says "out of stock... up to six weeks..." Now the last time I had this (La Straniera) it did not go well; they had to cancel after a few months of waiting. So I had to go to the A site for this and purchased from a vendor I had experience with.
There is also the option of the Glossa site direct. However they sell in EUR and the GBP is so farty against EUR now that if I go to the bank and ask to buy some EUR they ask
"certainly and how would Sir like to pay"
"with GBP"
"in that case b@££$& off!"
"Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables."
FRANZ SCHALK, attributed, Losing the Plot in Opera: Myths and Secrets of the World's Great Operas
And thus Clayton's learning contineu... continuo... carries on.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Handel: Rinaldo
Vivica Genaux (Rinaldo), Inga Kalna (Armida/Second Siren), Miah Persson (Almirena/First Siren), Christophe Dumaux (Eustazio), James Rutherford (Argante), Lawrence Zazzo (Goffredo), Dominique Visse (A Christian Magician)
Freiburger Barockorchester,
René Jacobs
Recorded August 2002 Congress Innsbruck
Handel: Rinaldo
(complete opera - original 1711 version)
Cecilia Bartoli (Almirena), David Daniels (Rinaldo), Bernarda Fink (Goffredo), Gerald Finley (Argante), Luba Orgonasova (Armida), Daniel Taylor (Eustazio), Bejun Mehta (A Christian Magician)
Academy of Ancient Music,
Christopher Hogwood
Recorded November 1999, Henry Wood Hall
I love the energy and excitement of Jacobs but on the other hand Daniels and Bartoli are a beautiful Rinaldo and Almirena...
I have 3 Rinaldos, and like them all:
The Rene Jacobs was included in the Opera Baroque box set, so no high price paid.
But, I admit to being partial to this one - despite some unfortunate cuts, Marilyn Horne rules! I guess I've said before that I saw Horne sing this in the early 80s with Samuel Ramey, and was one of the best things I've ever seen at the Met.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to listen to during my (hot and humid) walk yesterday, so, taking a cue from Clayton:
Then, because it was a longish walk, and Iphigenie not long enough to last the duration:
Just, well, out of this world. Gives me chills.
Always a pleasure to listen to this!
It's hard to top Elisabetta, but I went for it:
![]()
Today I was listening to various versions of Norma's final aria (deh non volerli vittime) begging her father to not let her innocent children suffer, to grant one final wish to a loving daughter about to die.....there is nothing to compare to Callas here, I have read accounts where the singers on stage were moved to tears during her performances so passionate is Maria's final request......
Bookmarks