What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Ok, so I made myself listen to this (only skipped a couple of Joanie arias). I see why Annie loves it - Ghiaurov and Cappuccilli were both stonking.

Way to go Nat!!

[JohnGerald]

Way to go Nat!!

Now that you have met The Puritans, you are permitted, yea encouraged, to view the Blu ray with JDF and Nino Machaidze. Good bass, too, with D'Arcangelo.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Then, during a walk this afternoon:

Attachment 6298

Very nice recording - the guys are really good. Fiorenza Cossotto always is dependably good, but I think her Lady Macbeth is a little on the light side here for my taste.

There's a woman in this opera? Never knew that.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Oh c£ap

I just realized, Sospiro might have just been asking about the recording, already knowing about the opera.

Well in that case, Söderström is a beautiful Káta, a somehow damaged, religion infused girl next door. Perfect imagery.



Pint sized brain, with a mouth that shoots before the brain engages. I AM Clayton.

I don't know this opera at all so any information is really useful. I'm not bothered about spoilers either.

The only Janáček opera I know is Jenůfa which I researched and learned before I went to see it. The story is heartbreaking and I loved Janáček's style so I'm sure I'm going to find Kát'a Kabanová equally rewarding.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Now that you have met The Puritans, you are permitted, yea encouraged, to view the Blu ray with JDF and Nino Machaidze. Good bass, too, with D'Arcangelo.

Well, I must have listened to it 3 or 4 times previously, just a different version, and I have that DVD and the one with Trebs. It was more overcoming the meh feelings I have about the principals.

[Hoffmann]

There's a woman in this opera? Never knew that.

Funny thing. I listen to Macbeth and judge the recordings by the Lady Macbeth quotient. Her music is earth-shattering. The guys are usually well cast, but their music just isn't as interesting.

It's the reverse case with I Puritani - Elvira who? It's nice that 'Joanie' sings the role so well, but her music is hardly noticeable against that composed for the guys. I had friends over for dinner last weekend, who are not opera lovers - don't know it, don't listen to it, etc. I had the remastered Callas Puritani playing when they were due to arrive, and decided not to turn it off. After awhile, both asked "Who's that? She's wonderful!" They thought the Puritani guys were - meh. I was slack-jawed.

[Hoffmann]

This is very nice - the voices are really good. I'll get a better sense of it after a couple of listens, but like what I've heard.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Funny thing. I listen to Macbeth and judge the recordings by the Lady Macbeth quotient. Her music is earth-shattering. The guys are usually well cast, but their music just isn't as interesting.

It's the reverse case with I Puritani - Elvira who? It's nice that 'Joanie' sings the role so well, but her music is hardly noticeable against that composed for the guys. I had friends over for dinner last weekend, who are not opera lovers - don't know it, don't listen to it, etc. I had the remastered Callas Puritani playing when they were due to arrive, and decided not to turn it off. After awhile, both asked "Who's that? She's wonderful!" They thought the Puritani guys were - meh. I was slack-jawed.

Have to say that Pav goes rather countertenor on us in one aria towards the end. Hopefully they weren't listening to Ghiaurov or Cappuccilli...

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Funny thing. I listen to Macbeth and judge the recordings by the Lady Macbeth quotient. Her music is earth-shattering. The guys are usually well cast, but their music just isn't as interesting.

horses for courses

It's the reverse case with I Puritani - Elvira who? It's nice that 'Joanie' sings the role so well, but her music is hardly noticeable against that composed for the guys. I had friends over for dinner last weekend, who are not opera lovers - don't know it, don't listen to it, etc. I had the remastered Callas Puritani playing when they were due to arrive, and decided not to turn it off. After awhile, both asked "Who's that? She's wonderful!" They thought the Puritani guys were - meh. I was slack-jawed.

Yes. I think I would be too!

[Hoffmann]

horses for courses









Yes. I think I would be too!

Thanks - all great clips.

[Hoffmann]

By the way, I got an email from the Berliner Staatsoper with their January - February, 2015 schedule. Looking through, they will be staging Macbeth, with Placido singing Macbeth, which seems a stretch to my mind. Rest of the principals are outstanding:

http://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en_E...-2014/12261596

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

By the way, I got an email from the Berliner Staatsoper with their January - February, 2015 schedule. Looking through, they will be staging Macbeth, with Placido singing Macbeth, which seems a stretch to my mind. Rest of the principals are outstanding:

http://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en_E...-2014/12261596

No! Not a good idea.

[Clayton]

A LIDP urge

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Danielle Borst (Poppea), Guillemette Laurens (Nerone), Axel Köhler (Ottone), Jennifer Larmore (Ottavia), Michael Schopper (Seneca), Lena Lootens (Drusilla), Dominique Visse (Nutrice), Christoph Homberger (Arnalta), Maria-Cristina Kiehr (Damigella/Virtù)
Concerto Vocale, René Jacobs
Recorded February 1990, Abtei Machern, Zeltingen (Mosel)



followed by

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
Sylvia McNair (Poppea), Dana Hanchard (Nerone), Anne Sofie von Otter (Ottavia), Michael Chance (Ottone), Francesco Ellero d' Artegna (Seneca), Catherine Bott (Drusilla), Bernarda Fink (Arnalta)
The English Baroque Soloists, John Elliot Gardiner
Recorded December 1993, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London



Both are really very good interpretations and I would recommend both. The Jacobs is delicately passionate and the Gardiner is dramatic with perhaps more balance across the characters but both are beautifuly romantic.

Or if I was to put it in a more natural way for me, Gardiner is like a candle lit dinner in a gothic mansion where Jacobs is a summer picnic with champagne in green fields. Take your own pick.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

By the way, I got an email from the Berliner Staatsoper with their January - February, 2015 schedule. Looking through, they will be staging Macbeth, with Placido singing Macbeth, which seems a stretch to my mind. Rest of the principals are outstanding:

http://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en_E...-2014/12261596

He'll be the first Macbeth to go down to meet Birnam wood on a zimmer frame.

[Clayton]