more Tchaikovsky
I'm afraid it doesn't end too well for these guys either
Tchaikovsky: Charodeika
Oleg Klenov (Prince Nikita Kurlyatev), Lyudmila Simonova (Princess Yevpraksiya Romanovna), Lev Kuznetsov (Prince Yuri), Evgeni Vladimirov (Mamirov), Nina Derbina (Nenila), Boris Dobrin (Ivan Zhuran), Rimma Glushkova (Natasia)
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Gennady Provatorov
Recorded 1977 (?) perhaps in the Moscow Conservatory Great Hall (?)
dark tale, beautiful music and... err... enchanting
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Diana Damrau (Lucia), Ludovic Tézier (Enrico Ashton), Joseph Calleja (Edgardo Di Ravenswood), David Lee (Lord Arturo Bucklaw), Nicolas Testé (Raimondo Bidebent), Marie Mclaughlin (Alisa) & Andrew Lepri Meyer (Normanno)
Münchener Opernchor & Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Erato - 2564621901
I spent the Christmas with among others this present.
I am very sorry to say.... not so good.
Ms Damrau has a nice voice but this is something different than the doll role from The Tales of Hofmann.
That's how she approach it like that role, the notes are there but noway this is a woman who just lost it.
The males are very well , Calleja is fast approaching becoming a very great tenor.
Mr Cobos lost the plot complete. try it and you know what I mean.
As if I heard a very different opera all together
Oh well. I did have my eye on that (though it was quite far down on the list) but I might leave it for a while now.
but for me this morning... but for me this morning... but for me this morning... but for me this morning... but for me this morning...
Rimsky Korsakov: The Tale of Tsar Saltan
I. Petrov (Tsar Saltan), E. Smolenskaya (Militrissa), L. Nikitiana (Weaver), E. Shumilova (Cook), E. Verbitskaya (Babarikha), V. Ivanovsky (Gvidon), G. Oleinichenko (Princess Swan), P. Chekin (Old Grandfather), A. Ivanov (Messenger), M. Reshetin (Jester), N. Kaluzhsky, A. Bolshakov, A. Gheleva (Sea Merchants)
The Choir and Orchestra of the USSR State Academic Bolshoi Theatre
Chief choir master – A. Khazanov
Choir master – I. Litsvenko
Conductor – Vassili Nebolsin
Recorded 1958
Remastering – N. Radugina 2014
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Unfortunately, no cover art for this one, but a delightful and beautifully sung L'Italiana in Algeri on the Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM (satellite radio), while driving home last night. Traffic was nasty on I-95 and I was mesmerized by the gorgeous singing of Marilyn Horne, Kathleen Battle and John Rockwell. Ca 1980, I think.
more Rimsky-Korsakov
Rimsky Korsakov: Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden)
Valentina Sokolik (Snow Maiden), Irina Arkhipova (Spring), Anton Grigoriev (Tsar Berendey), Anatoly Moksayakov (Mizgir), Lidya Sakharenko (Kupava), Alexander Vedernikov (King Frost), Vladimir Matorin (Bermyata) & Ivan Budrin (Carnival)
Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio
Vladimir Fedoseyev
Recorded 1975
absolutely superb
9 reasons why Katherine Battle is one of my favourite sopranos, mauvais caractère notwithstanding.
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Natalie
I haven't told any stories for awhile, so here's another oldie:
When I was doing my supernumerary thing with the Met when they were at the Kennedy Center on tour, back in the early 1980s, the singers' rehearsal and dressing rooms and supers' dressing rooms were sort of co-located. I had changed into my costume and was waiting for the rest of the supers to finish and was bored, so wandered out into the hallway and nearby elevator lobby. I heard this amazing soprano voice singing scales - just clear as a bell. I stood transfixed when the elevator doors opened and this beautiful young petite African-American woman popped out. I looked at her and asked who it was that I had heard singing. She gave me a dazzling smile, turned and walked down the hall, and brightly said "That - was me".
I was in a bit of a daze, and went back into the dressing room and asked the Met costume guy who she was. He said "that was Kathleen Battle and she'll be famous some day".
I'm still dazzled and don't believe all those awful things people said about her in NYC.
This is well done, but I have to admit that I'm not crazy about the timbre of Rene Kollo's voice. He is in very good form on this recording with no evident struggles in hitting all the notes, but the voice has something of a strident quality that will take some getting used to. Christa Ludwig - great. Chorus - great. Georg Solti - great. Loved the shepherd scene.
I'm another who just can't warm up to Kollo's voice. For a long time, I wondered why I didn't like a voice that so many others found appealing -- and then came across a review where the critic described Kollo as being "his usual sour, strained self." Finally, there was someone else who was hearing what I was hearing, and I just decided this is one of those great singers whose voices I will never "get." Actually, I find his voice rather attractive when he is singing in his midrange and at moderate dynamic levels.
Rimsky Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia
Galina Gorchakova, Vladimir Galusin, Nikolai Putilin, Nikolai Ohotnikov, Yuri Marusin, Bulat Minjelkiev, Vladimir Ognovienko
Kirov Opera & Orchestra
Valery Gergiev
Live recording February 1994, Mariinksy Theatre, St Petersburg
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If you don't like Kollo as Tannhäuser early in his career on the 1970 Solti recording (when he was only thirty-three years old, three years before he assayed the role onstage), you'll be *really* put off by his performance in the same role, way past his prime, in the DVD of David Alden's rather strange Bavarian State Opera production from 1994.
Kollo may have been at his best singing Walther in the Karajan Meistersinger from 1970, the same year as his Solti Tannhäuser. Whatever his vocal shortcomings, he and Helen Donath make for a lively, appealing pair of young lovers.
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