What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Nekrotzar]

Das Rheingold from the Barenboim box

[Clayton]

Meyerbeer: Vasco de Gama (original version of L'Africaine)
Guibee Yang (soprano), Martin Gabler (bass), Kouta Rasanen (bass), Rolf Broman (bass), Bernhard Berchtold (tenor), Anton Reimer (tenor), Pierre-Yves Pruvot (bass), Claudia Sorokina (soprano), Tiina Penttinen (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Frob (tenor), Thomas Seidel (tenor), Bjorn Werner (bass), Stefan Kringel (bass), Tommaso Randazzo (tenor)
Robert Schumann Philharmonie, Chor der Oper Chemnitz,
Frank Beermann
Recorded 4-7 February 2013 Operhaus Chemnitz

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Meyerbeer: Vasco de Gama (original version of L'Africaine)
Guibee Yang (soprano), Martin Gabler (bass), Kouta Rasanen (bass), Rolf Broman (bass), Bernhard Berchtold (tenor), Anton Reimer (tenor), Pierre-Yves Pruvot (bass), Claudia Sorokina (soprano), Tiina Penttinen (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Frob (tenor), Thomas Seidel (tenor), Bjorn Werner (bass), Stefan Kringel (bass), Tommaso Randazzo (tenor)
Robert Schumann Philharmonie, Chor der Oper Chemnitz,
Frank Beermann
Recorded 4-7 February 2013 Operhaus Chemnitz

Any good, Clayton?

[Clayton]

Any good, Clayton?

First reaction from Yes man; Yes! It has drama, it has romance, it has some beautiful singing (mainly from Yang) and (musical) story that is coherent and absorbing. A very good opera and production; why is this not performed more?

Though... aware that I am a Yes man, if I try to pick holes... Sometimes Beerman lacks some punch and continuity, waffles a bit. The singing from the cast is not the whole content of power and passion that the opera warrants. I have no comparison; this was my first introduction to L'Africaine opera, there is a lack of recent recordings in CDs and it is very high price.

On balance, I am pleased with the recording and the experience but am unsure whether many others would be satisfied.
6.977/10

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Meyerbeer: Vasco de Gama (original version of L'Africaine)
Guibee Yang (soprano), Martin Gabler (bass), Kouta Rasanen (bass), Rolf Broman (bass), Bernhard Berchtold (tenor), Anton Reimer (tenor), Pierre-Yves Pruvot (bass), Claudia Sorokina (soprano), Tiina Penttinen (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Frob (tenor), Thomas Seidel (tenor), Bjorn Werner (bass), Stefan Kringel (bass), Tommaso Randazzo (tenor)
Robert Schumann Philharmonie, Chor der Oper Chemnitz,
Frank Beermann
Recorded 4-7 February 2013 Operhaus Chemnitz

I may be misinformed, and it's certainly nit-picking, but just as a matter of a theoretical point, I'm not sure this can be called original version in the sense that would imply that there is a modified second version. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that the only modification is the title. Meyerbeer wanted the opera to be named Vasco de Gama after the main character, the Portuguese navigator, but he died before the première. Subsequently, the title was changed to L'Africaine (I guess it sounds more exotic and has more commercial appeal) by François-Joseph Fétis, but I believe the music was not changed.

So, later a critical edition was released (recovering the intended title) and of course there will be some musical differences because operas over time have a way to acquire spurious changes, and the function of a critical edition is to spell it all out and recover the composer's intention, but in my understanding there is just one L'Africaine version, with no substantive changes, regardless of the title.

It's not the same case of say, different versions of Don Carlos authored by Verdi, or something like Le Siège de Corinthe versus Maometto II. It's the same opera, but the critical editor decided to restore the title that Meyerbeer had picked before he died. So, Meyerbeer never had the possibility of re-writing a second version, for the good reason that he was dead.

Again, that's my understanding, but I could be wrong.

By the way, it's a good opera, in my opinion. It's my second preferred Meyerbeer, after Dinorah (I can't stand Les Huguenots, and I think Robert le Diable is interesting but very uneven; Le Prophète and Il Crociato in Egito are so-so).

[Clayton]

I may be misinformed, and it's certainly nit-picking, but just as a matter of a theoretical point, I'm not sure this can be called original version in the sense that would imply that there is a modified second version. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that the only modification is the title. Meyerbeer wanted the opera to be named Vasco de Gama after the main character, the Portuguese navigator, but he died before the première. Subsequently, the title was changed to L'Africaine (I guess it sounds more exotic and has more commercial appeal) by François-Joseph Fétis, but I believe the music was not changed.

So, later a critical edition was released (recovering the intended title) and of course there will be some musical differences because operas over time have a way to acquire spurious changes, and the function of a critical edition is to spell it all out and recover the composer's intention, but in my understanding there is just one L'Africaine version, with no substantive changes, regardless of the title...

I have little knowledge on Meyerbeer and his works but from information from the accompanying booklet I understand that the Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis was brought on to the team by Meyerbeer's widow and a contract from the Grand Opéra to produce a performable work from Meyerbeer's material.

Due to what he thought was inconsistencies in the libretto, along with a large number of cuts to the score he also made various changes to the score mainly in act three and five. There are a number of alterations and omissions made by Fétis from the material of Meyerbeer's work but we also know that Meyerbeer himself would have and frequently did make alterations during rehearsals.

This edition has the work performed from the material at the time of his death.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Out of sequence but some pre-performance listening

[Clayton]

Anna, Anna, Anna.

Plus Hoffmann reminded of this recording so this morning I went to 13th Century Verona.

Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi
Anna Netrebko (Giulietta), Elina Garanca (Romeo), Joseph Calleja (Tebaldo), Robert Gleadow (Lorenzo) & Tiziano Bracci (Capellio)
Wiener Singakademie & Wiener Symphoniker
Fabio Luisi
Recorded Vienna Konzerhaus April 2008



An album that any Anna fan should have.

Fans of both Anna and Bellini could possibly have even two copies, one to listen to and one to frame and hang on the wall.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Fans of both Anna and Bellini could possibly have even two copies, one to listen to and one to frame and hang on the wall.

So what happens to fans of Anna, Elina, and Bellini?

[Clayton]

So what happens to fans of Anna, Elina, and Bellini?

They find this conversation didactic; they already have a secret altar built in their potting shed where they show their affection to this recording every morning whilst pretending to potter around in the garden doing green stuff and have given instruction in their will to be buried with two copies, one to hold and one sealed in an airtight glass container to last for centuries to come. This is also kept secret from their spouse so there can not be any argument about it. Also they joined Cecilia in getting a wholly inappropriate tattoo.

[Nekrotzar]

I'm listening to something which looks like this



and sounds even better.

[Hoffmann]

As promised:



Conductor: Sir Georg Solti
with London Philharmonic and
London Opera Chorus

What a cast!

Count: Thomas Allen
Countess: Kiri Te Kanawa
Figaro: Samuel Ramey
Susanna: Lucia Popp
Cherubino: Frederica von Stade,
et al.

[Clayton]

More Anna

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
Anna Netrebko (Giovanna d’Arco), Plácido Domingo (Giacomo), Francesco Meli (Carlo VII), Roberto Tagliavini (Talbot) & Johannes Dunz (Delil)
Philharmonia Chor Wien & Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Paolo Carignani
Recorded Salzburg, Felsenreitschule, 8/2013



Okay, it's starting to sound like I am a major Anna fan. I'm not, I just like opera and she has a stunning voice.

If however she does do the ice bucket to raise awareness for ALS, well then I will probably will buy every opera recording she has made and follow her every performance...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

The sound world of The Triumph of Time and Truth is much closer to Handel's English Oratorios - think Messiah - than to the much earlier "Il trionfo del tempo e del desinganno". To be honest I prefer the Italian version composed in Rome 50 years earlier, but this is a well-sung recording.

Sophie Bevan, Mary Bevan (sopranos), Tim Mead (countertenor), Ed Lyon (tenor), William Berger (bass)
Ludus Baroque, Richard Neville-Towle



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More Anna

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
Anna Netrebko (Giovanna d’Arco), Plácido Domingo (Giacomo), Francesco Meli (Carlo VII), Roberto Tagliavini (Talbot) & Johannes Dunz (Delil)
Philharmonia Chor Wien & Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Paolo Carignani
Recorded Salzburg, Felsenreitschule, 8/2013



Okay, it's starting to sound like I am a major Anna fan. I'm not, I just like opera and she has a stunning voice.

If however she does do the ice bucket to raise awareness for ALS, well then I will probably will buy every opera recording she has made and follow her every performance...

I'd consider buying it if it didn't have Placidone foisting his baritone shtick on us.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

They find this conversation didactic; they already have a secret altar built in their potting shed where they show their affection to this recording every morning whilst pretending to potter around in the garden doing green stuff and have given instruction in their will to be buried with two copies, one to hold and one sealed in an airtight glass container to last for centuries to come. This is also kept secret from their spouse so there can not be any argument about it. Also they joined Cecilia in getting a wholly inappropriate tattoo.

I disagree. That tattoo is not inappropriate. I actually have it, too.