What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Adrian]

Playing now , due to another thread, sublime restoration of the original recoding.
This must be the most successful duo to record almost anything bel canto lover love so much .

[Clayton]

Prokofiev: War and Peace, Op. 91
Yuri Masurok, Galiana Kalinina, Arthur Eizen, Evgeni Raikov, Tamara Sinjavskaia, Evgeni Shapin, Alexander Vedernikov, Alexander Voroshilo and about another twenty others named, if you are really interested let me know and I can list them for you but many are called Alexander and Konstantin etcetera
Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra,
Mark Ermler
Recorded 1982
Remastered 2000(?)



Another great opera and a superb recording on the Melodiya label but I'm missing too much without the libretto.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Nice selection of arias - not just the usual suspects, but arias from eg Il Re Pastore, Mitridate, Lucio Silla. Will sound very "light" to listeners more used to the Romantic tradition of singing Mozart, but I enjoyed it.

[Hoffmann]

I loved this! It has a unique sound - quite different, I think, from the Solti and Krips that I own. The recording is almost a romp - very high-spirited and the voices are terrific.

[Floria]

Macbeth
Anna Netrebko, Rene Pape, Zeljko Lucic, Joseph Calleja

[Hoffmann]

[Adrian]

Massenet: Manon .
Renée Fleming and Marcelo Alvarez.
No idea if it's still available

[Clayton]

Gluck: Iphigénie en Aulide
Jose van Dam (Agamemnon), Anne Sofie von Otter (Clytemnestra), Lynne Dawson (Iphigenie), Bernard Deletré (Patrocle), John Aler (Achille), Gilles Cachemaille (Calchas), René Schirrer (Arcas), Guillemette Laurens (Diane), Ann Monoyios (First Greek Lady/Slave), Isabelle Eschenbrenner (Second Greek Lady)
Monteverdi Choir & Orchestre De L’Opera de Lyon
John Eliot Gardiner
Recorded July 1987, Opéra de Lyon



I am not familiar with the Wagner edition (yet) but Gluck fans should come here.

[Clayton]

I caved and started subscribing to Spotify, started my new relationship with

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Shirley Verrett (Orfeo), Anna Moffo (Euridice), Judith Raskin (Amor)
I Virtuosi di Roma, Renato Fasano
1965



Nice lingering pace dials up tenderness and 34 year old Verrett has a voice that expresses the pain and love.

[Clayton]

still honeymoon period with streaming; so many records to choose from...

Handel: Orlando
Bejun Mehta (Orlando), Sophie Karthäuser (Angelica), Kristina Hammarström (Medoro), Sunhae Im (Dorinda), Konstantin Wolff (Zoroastro)
B'Rock Orchestra, René Jacobs
2014



An excellent collection of voices (just another way of saying "great cast")

[L. Venskaye]

I've been listening to two at once these past couple of days: "I Puritani," starring the incomparable Maria Callas, and "Il Trovatore," starring the incomparable Maria Callas! Ha, ha! Her voice is the only one I want to hear in the soprano lead of these operas. There's so much to love about her earth- shattering range, for instance the ear- cutting top, the silver shine on the dark feathers of the trills, the chilling bottom. I can't get enough. I think my brain has been infested by Callas worms! Ha, ha!

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I don't know Monteverdi very well and need to do homework before I see the two concerts in Bucharest. But the trip is costing the proverbial arm and leg so to save money I decided to buy only ONE version of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and watch/listen to others on YouTube.




So how come this plopped on my doormat today and why is it currently playing on my CD player?



Answers on a postcard ...........

[Hoffmann]

I don't know Monteverdi very well and need to do homework before I see the two concerts Bucharest. But the trip is costing the proverbial arm and leg so to save money I decided to buy only ONE version of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and watch/listen to others on YouTube.




So how come this plopped on my doormat today and why is it currently playing on my CD player?



Answers on a postcard ...........

I know how that goes... I'm thinking I have to save some money so I can travel to see opera, but then that means not buying opera, and the equation seems out of balance. So, I buy some opera, then travel to see opera, then the equation goes wildly out of balance; so I stop traveling, I stop buying and the equation goes wildly out of balance... I must be doing something wrong.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I know how that goes... I'm thinking I have to save some money so I can travel to see opera, but then that means not buying opera, and the equation seems out of balance. So, I buy some opera, then travel to see opera, then the equation goes wildly out of balance; so I stop traveling, I stop buying and the equation goes wildly out of balance... I must be doing something wrong.

Put those thoughts out of your mind!!!!!

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

I've been listening to two at once these past couple of days: "I Puritani," starring the incomparable Maria Callas, and "Il Trovatore," starring the incomparable Maria Callas! Ha, ha! Her voice is the only one I want to hear in the soprano lead of these operas. There's so much to love about her earth- shattering range, for instance the ear- cutting top, the silver shine on the dark feathers of the trills, the chilling bottom. I can't get enough. I think my brain has been infested by Callas worms! Ha, ha!

Welcome to Opera Lively! You'll see here Dark Angel, another big Callas fan.