What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I think this is for KFV fans only. To me he sounds like a perfect "reine Tor". I did enjoy the conducting too.

[StarThrower]

[Clayton]

I was trying to decide between The love for three oranges, written on skin and Dialogues des Carmélites, today but took a wrong turn at the tea cabinet and ended up somewhere completely different.

Rossini: Matilde di Shabran
Annick Massis (Matilde), Juan Diego Florez (Corradino Cuor di Ferro), Bruno Taddia (Raimondo Lopez), Hadar Halevy (Edoardo), Marco Vinco (Aliprando), Bruno de Simone (Isidoro), Chiara Chialli (Contessa d'Arco), Carlo Lepore (Ginardo), Gregory Bonfatti (Egoldo), Lubomir Moravec (Rodrigo)
Orquesta Sinfonica De Galicia with the Prague Chamber Choir, Riccardo Frizza
Recorded live at the 2004 Pesaro Rossini Festival

[JohnGerald]

Clayton, it appears that you are listening to quite a bit of Bel Canto. Bravo!! It builds both character and sensitivity. All that heavily orchestrated Northern European stuff that needs heldensingers to shout out over the orchestra will harm your hearing, diminish your sensitivity and cause you to think about attending mass outdoor rallies of the political sort.

[Clayton]

...and cause you to think about attending mass outdoor rallies of the political sort.

No heldensingers in Kaschey the Deathless...

though I have this warm feeling recently like I have just discovered Rossini

with La Donna and Tancredi (thanks to a few nudges by OL members)

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Clayton, it appears that you are listening to quite a bit of Bel Canto. Bravo!! It builds both character and sensitivity. All that heavily orchestrated Northern European stuff that needs heldensingers to shout out over the orchestra will harm your hearing, diminish your sensitivity and cause you to think about attending mass outdoor rallies of the political sort.

Some alternatives to Herr Wagner ( I assume you are referring to him) AND to 19C Italian Bel Canto are plangent, pastoral or bravado Baroque (actually the original bel canto), charming delicate Classical, lyrical melancholy Russian, graceful French, heart-tugging atmospheric Britten, or spiky challenging modernist. No Heldensingers necessarily required in any of those either.

[Amfortas]

Some alternatives to Herr Wagner ( I assume you are referring to him) AND to 19C Italian Bel Canto are plangent, pastoral or bravado Baroque (actually the original bel canto), charming delicate Classical, lyrical melancholy Russian, graceful French, heart-tugging atmospheric Britten, or spiky challenging modernist. No Heldensingers necessarily required in any of those either.

I might also put in a plug here for Herr Wagner and the Heldensingers. But if you folks will excuse me, I have a mass outdoor political rally to attend.

[Clayton]

...Baroque (actually the original bel canto)...

I read somewhere a comment [by a baritone speaking to a writer his thought] that belcanto period ended about the time of Rossini and that composers after that were belcantoesque/belcantissimo that remembered the traditions of belcanto writing from earlier period.
I was trying to recall the details, and went through the booklets of the last sixty or so CD purchases and several issues of opera magazines. It was driving me nuts. Never found it again.
Does anyone know?

[Clayton]

I may have taken a wrong turn yesterday but eventually, all roads lead to... err... the opera that you need to listen to...

Poulenc: The Carmelites
Dialogues des Carmélites Sung in English (translation by Joseph Machlis)
Catrin Wyn-Davies (Blanche de la Force), Ashley Holland (Marquis de la Force), Peter Wedd (Chevalier de la Force), Felicity Palmer (Madame de Croissy), Orla Boylan (Madame Lidoine), Dame Josephine Barstow (Mother Marie), Sarah Tynan (Sister Constance)
English National Opera Chorus & English National Opera Orchestra, Paul Daniel CBE
This is the premiere recording in English
Recorded October 2005, Blackheath Halls, London



I had initially thought about listening to both this and the Bertrand de Billy recording but after one round decided that the human heart (well mine at least) is not designed to receive such battering as listening to this opera twice in a row. I'll come back to the other recording once I have sufficiently recovered spiritually.
I can thoroughly recommend this recording/opera or advise you to stay away, depends on which way you look at it.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Hanging around waiting to be selected for jury service does have its good points, as long as you remember your headphones.

Massenet: Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame


Roberto Alagna, Stefano Antonucci & Francesco Ellero d’Artegna
Orchestre National de Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, Enrique Diemecke

Dallapiccola: Il prigioniero


Maurizio Mazzieri (The Prisoner ), Giulia Barrera (The Mother ), Romano Emili (The Jailer / The Grand inquisitor)
The University of Maryland Chorus & National Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C., Antal Dorati

Rubinstein: The Demon


Alexander Polyakov (Demon), Nina Lebedeva (Tamara), Evgeny Vladimirov (Gudal), Alexey Usmanov (Sinodal), Nina Grigorieva (Nanny), Nina Derbina (Angel), Yury Elnikov (Messenger), Boris Morozov (Old Servant)
Academic Choir of the USSR All-Union Radio, Symphony Orchestra of the USSR All-Union Radio, Boris Khaikin

[Clayton]

that was a long wait, no wonder some people are worried about the disruption to their schedule that jury service brings

well someone has to put the baddies behind bars


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

needing something light and gay after the emotional sledgehammer that was The Carmelites yesterday

(even if Acis does get crushed to death by a great rock)

Handel: Acis and Galatea
Sophie Daneman (Galatea), Paul Agnew (Acis), Alan Ewing (Polyphemus), Francois Piolino (Tenor), David Le Monnier (Baritone), Andrew Sinclair (Tenor), Joseph Cornwell (Coridon) & Patricia Petibon (Damon)
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie
Recorded 10-13 May 1998, Salle Wigram, Paris

[Clayton]

ki still not aligned

I went back for some more Fantasio

Offenbach: Fantasio
Sarah Connolly (Fantasio), Brenda Rae (Elsbeth), Russell Braun (Le prince), Brindley Sherratt (Le Roi) & Neal Davies (Sparck)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Mark Elder
Recorded December 2013, Henry Wood Hall, London



much better now

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

needing something light and gay after the emotional sledgehammer that was The Carmelites yesterday

(even if Acis does get crushed to death by a great rock)

Handel: Acis and Galatea
Sophie Daneman (Galatea), Paul Agnew (Acis), Alan Ewing (Polyphemus), Francois Piolino (Tenor), David Le Monnier (Baritone), Andrew Sinclair (Tenor), Joseph Cornwell (Coridon) & Patricia Petibon (Damon)
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie
Recorded 10-13 May 1998, Salle Wigram, Paris

Oooh nice! I think I'll get this.

[Clayton]

Oooh nice! I think I'll get this.

I am turning in to a bigger fan of Les Arts Florissants and William Christie every time I hear his works

and now I know of his love of gardening (opera and gardening, his two passions) again, a bigger fan now!

I was looking at his garden and opera project and ws investigating ticket availabilty and price (Les fêtes vénitiennes, Campra)

http://www.arts-florissants.com/

but I could not figure out how to find the English page (if there is one)

that looks REALLY amazing

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I am turning in to a bigger fan of Les Arts Florissants and William Christie every time I hear his works

and now I know of his love of gardening (opera and gardening, his two passions) again, a bigger fan now!

I was looking at his garden and opera project and ws investigating ticket availabilty and price (Les fêtes vénitiennes, Campra)

http://www.arts-florissants.com/

but I could not figure out how to find the English page (if there is one)

that looks REALLY amazing

Looks interesting. English version top right hand corner of screen. If I was clever I'd do a screen print with a circle. But I'm not.