What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Clayton]

...My remastered Callas set arrived this morning and now I'm stuck. Where do I start?
...

me thinks this had many, many people stumped all over the world

few would have taken a nap

though faced with such dilema, some may have pathetically passed out

but to awake to such a beautiful sight

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Pergolesi always strikes me like a mid-range rosé from Hawkes Bay: perfectly pleasant while it lasts, and not in the leat bit memorable. For instance, I can't think how many times I've heard La Serva Padrona, and every time I don't recognise a single aria.



Handel on the other hand seems more distinctive, even in a second tier work like this.

[Clayton]

Gluck: Ezio
Original Prague version (1750)
Sonia Prina (Ezio), Max Emanuel Cencic (Valentiniano), Ann Hallenberg (Fulvia), Topi Lehtipuu (Massimo), Julian Pregardien (Varo), Mayuko Karasava (Onorio)
Il Complesso Barocco
Alan Curtis
Live recording Théâtre de Poissy, 18 December 2008

[Clayton]

Gluck: Paride ed Elena
Magdalena Kozená (Paride), Susan Gritton (Elena), Carolyn Sampson (Amore), Gillian Webster (Pallade)
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh
Recorded London All Saints Curch, Tooting October 2003

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Gluck: Paride ed Elena
Magdalena Kozená (Paride), Susan Gritton (Elena), Carolyn Sampson (Amore), Gillian Webster (Pallade)
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Paul McCreesh
Recorded London All Saints Curch, Tooting October 2003

This is one of the most beautiful opera recordings I've ever listened to.

[Clayton]

This is one of the most beautiful opera recordings I've ever listened to.

Magdalena Kozená and Susan Gritton, one of those great combinations that really work well and set to beautiful music. I've listened to it many times this year. Kozená has a number of the songs on her solo albums.

[Clayton]

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Don Giovanni), Sena Jurinac (Donna Anna), Ernst Haeflinger (Don Ottavio), Maria Stader (Donna Elvira), Karl Christian Kohn (Leporello), Walter Kreppel (Il Commendatore), Ivan Sardi (Masetto), Irmgard Seefried (Zerlina)
RIAS-Kammerchor Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay
Recorded September & October 1958, Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin



WOW!

[Clayton]

Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, K620
Hans Peter Blochwitz (Tamino), Barbara Bonney (Pamina), Anton Scharinger (Papageno), Edita Gruberova (Königin der Nacht), Matti Salminen (Sarastro), Peter Keller (Monostratos), Edith Schmid (Papagena), Thomas Moser, Antti Suhonen (Zwei Geharnischten), Pamela Coburn, Delores Ziegler, Marjana Lipovsek (Drei Damen), Stefan Gienger, Markus Baur, Andreas Fischer (Drei Knaben)
Chor und Orchester des Opernhauses Zürich
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Studio recording, November 1987, Kirche Altstetten, Zurich




Die ZauberFlöte - Edita Gruberova and Wolfgang Mohr (Production)

[MAuer]

The Fricsay Don Giovanni is one of my favorites, and I have the other recording of Die Zauberflöte (Haitink) with Edita Gruberova's Queen of the Night (as well as Fricsay's version with Haefliger as Tamino).

[Clayton]

Salieri: Les Danaïdes
Sophie Marin-Degor, Hans Christoph Begemann, Christoph Genz, Kirsten Blaise, Wolfgang Frisch, Sven Jüttner, Daniel Sütö & Jürgen Deppert
Chorus & Orchestra of Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
Michael Hofstetter
Recorded 28-31 August 2006, Kirche der Karlshöhe, Ludwigsburg

[Hoffmann]

Conductor: Sir Georg Solti

Marschallin: Regine Crespin
Octavian: Yvonne Minton
Sophie: Helen Donath
Baron Ochs: Manfred Junwirth
Singer: Luciano Pavarotti

Recorded: November, 1968 (Vienna)

I like this recording much better than the Haitink, which seems to be missing that necessary spark of liveliness.

Playing now:

[Adrian]

Conductor: Sir Georg Solti

Marschallin: Regine Crespin
Octavian: Yvonne Minton
Sophie: Helen Donath
Baron Ochs: Manfred Junwirth
Singer: Luciano Pavarotti

Recorded: November, 1968 (Vienna)

I like this recording much better than the Haitink, which seems to be missing that necessary spark of liveliness.

That sound from Decca is so wonderful and Crespin is glorious.

[Amfortas]

That sound from Decca is so wonderful and Crespin is glorious.

I was going to say the same!

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

I was going to say the same!

I was thinking, "what does he mean? Where is the hidden humor here? It's Amfortas, after all." So I though and thought about it... and concluded that this time, maybe you just meant "I was going to say the same!"

Atypical of you, buddy! You are losing your touch!

[Clayton]

Scarlatti, A: La Griselda
Dorothea Roschmann (Griselda), Lawrence Zazzo (Gualtiero), Veronica Cangemi (Costanza), Bernard Fink (Roberto), Silvia Tro Santafe (Ottone), Kobie van Rensburg (Corrado)
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
René Jacobs
Recorded Teldex Studio Berlin November 2002