What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Hoffmann]

I'm coming round to all this operetta malarkey. Simon and Angelika do it brilliantly.



Some good "extra random portmanteau arias for singers who wanted to show off in the middle of an opera" in this collection.



And here is an opera from the Knights an fairytale collection, although quite a lot of it could belong to the "Russian rabble on the rampage group, along with Prince Igor and Khovanshchina.

Rimsky Korsakov: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia
Vladimir Galusin (Grishka Kutyer'ma), Galina Gorchakova (Fevroniya), Nikolai Putilin (Fyodor Poyarok), Nikolai Ohotnikov (Yury Vsevolodovich), Yevgeny Boitsov (Merchant I), Evgeny Fedorov (Merchant II), Nikolai Gassiev (Bear Trainer), Olga Korzhenskaya (Youth), Larissa Diadkova (Alkonost). Kirov Opera & Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Valery Gergiev

It's a slippery slope, my dear Natalie: it might be operettas today and musicals tomorrow!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

It's a slippery slope, my dear Natalie: it might be operettas today and musicals tomorrow!

Eewww no, I don't think so. Operetta never actually set my teeth on edge. It just seemed a bit... schmaltzy.

[JohnGerald]

Eewww no, I don't think so. Operetta never actually set my teeth on edge. It just seemed a bit... schmaltzy.

Ms. Natalie, if you can find the DVD of The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe)with Rodney Gilfry as Danilo and Piotr Beczala as Camille, you may (if your reaction is any where near that of my live in) have an out of body experience. And maintain your ... operatic integrity. It's an Arthaus disc.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Ms. Natalie, if you can find the DVD of The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe)with Rodney Gilfry as Danilo and Piotr Beczala as Camille, you may (if your reaction is any where near that of my live in) have an out of body experience. And maintain your ... operatic integrity. It's an Arthaus disc.

Yes, I've seen it. It is definitely one of the better ones (better than la Veuve Joyeuse with Veronique Gens). My favourite is Die Fledermaus conducted by Kleiber.

I've watched a lot of other German operettas like Zigeunerliebe and Das Land des Lächelns and found them totally daft (yes , I know, I like Trovatore....)

[StarThrower]

[Hoffmann]

I hadn't listened to this in months. It's a wonderful opera and an excellent recording.

[Floria]

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rustica

Milanov, Bjorling, Merrill

[Clayton]

{Cimarosa - Il Matrimonio Segreto}

I hadn't listened to this in months. It's a wonderful opera and an excellent recording.

Can you expend on this a bit more?

(curiosity may be the death of clayton, he'll never know)

[Hoffmann]

Can you expend on this a bit more?

(curiosity may be the death of clayton, he'll never know)

I don't typically follow along with a libretto, so can't speak to any dramatic impression of the piece. It's a comic opera that dates to 1793 or thereabouts, so is composed very much in the style of Mozart and the late Classical period. The singing is superb and the music is sprightly - bright and sparkling. No Sturm und Drang. The sound is very good, but does require a small volume boost.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Can you expend on this a bit more?

(curiosity may be the death of clayton, he'll never know)

I've got this version and it's great fun

[Clayton]

Royer, P: Pyrrhus
Michael Greenberg, Lisa Goode-Crawford, Guillemette Laurens, Emmanuelle De Negri, Alain Buet, Jeffrey Thompson
Les Enfants d’Apollon
Recorded 14 & 16 September 2012, la Salle des Croisades du Château de Versailles

[Clayton]

Pacini: Carlo di Borgogna
Bruce Ford (Carlo), Elizabeth Futral (Leonora di Jork), Roberto Frontali (Arnoldo), Jennifer Larmore (Estella), Helen Williams (Amelia), Dominic Natoli (Lord Athol), Garry Magee (Guglielmo)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
David Parry
Recorded August 2001, Henry Wood Hall, London



Wonderful performances from Elizabeth Futral and Bruce Ford in a sadly neglected opera of the belcanto tradition.

[StarThrower]

Don't worry that it's in English. This is a wonderful recording and performance.

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Don't worry that it's in English. This is a wonderful recording and performance.

Nice, cute cover!

[Hoffmann]

The weather was very mild Saturday afternoon, so a long walk was in order. What better to listen to than:



This is the Solti recording from 1969 with Regine Crespin, Yvonne Minton, Helen Donath, Manfred Jungwirth and a very young and superb Luciano Pavarotti as the Italian Tenor.