What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I really enjoyed listening to Maxim Mironov and Marianna Pizzolato in this. Sonio Ganassi did a reasonable job but she's no Joyce, and unfortunately she is a gasper on a scale that make Hvorostovsky look like an amateur (hello... sound engineers... couldn't you have done something about that? So distracting). It is a pretty opera, with plenty of tenors and mezzos for those of us who are that way inclined.

Rossini: La donna del lago: Sonia Ganassi (Elena), Maxim Mironov (Uberto/Giacomo), Marianna Pizzolato (Malcolm), Ferdinand von Bothmer (Rodrigo di Dhu), Wojtek Gierlach (Douglas d'Angus), Olga Peretyatko (Albina), Stefan Cifolelli (Serano)
SWR Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern, Prague Chamber Choir & Tubingen Festival Band, Alberto Zedda

[Clayton]

How are you getting on with it? I'm still struggling.

I was reminded about it by the e-mail today from ROH (still plenty of tickets left I see) and as maybe recently I'm listening to WAAAYYYYY to much baroque...

It's a very colourful score but quite hard impact and dark. I don't quite feel an elation at the end either. I think this would be very good in the theatre and maybe after Ormindo is the most interesting in the calendar for me. I would be very interested in seeing this but I don't think it would be a good opera for the wife... (plus I really blew the budget last season).

I strongly suspect that I will regret not going to see this.

I do that alot.

[Clayton]

If the wife does suddenly get called away on a business trip in May and there are tickets left, I will go alone.

I may call her company.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I was reminded about it by the e-mail today from ROH (still plenty of tickets left I see) and as maybe recently I'm listening to WAAAYYYYY to much baroque...

It's a very colourful score but quite hard impact and dark. I don't quite feel an elation at the end either. I think this would be very good in the theatre and maybe after Ormindo is the most interesting in the calendar for me. I would be very interested in seeing this but I don't think it would be a good opera for the wife... (plus I really blew the budget last season).

I strongly suspect that I will regret not going to see this.

I do that alot.

I'm going to have to persevere with this otherwise I won't enjoy it as much as I hope to.

[Clayton]

Rossini: La donna del lago: Sonia Ganassi (Elena), Maxim Mironov (Uberto/Giacomo), Marianna Pizzolato (Malcolm), Ferdinand von Bothmer (Rodrigo di Dhu), Wojtek Gierlach (Douglas d'Angus), Olga Peretyatko (Albina), Stefan Cifolelli (Serano)
SWR Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern, Prague Chamber Choir & Tubingen Festival Band, Alberto Zedda

Soave_Fanciulla listening to Marianna Pizzolato...

[Clayton]

I'm going to have to persevere with this otherwise I won't enjoy it as much as I hope to.

I'm no expert but I think Sospiro is going to enjoy this in the opera house. I think the ROH monster is not going to invest halfway with a production for an opera like this. They're going to do it with a big bang; Pappano and Mariusz Kwiecień included in the recipe. I am not familiar with the works of Kasper Holten but pictures of the Ormindo production makes me think he can get what he wants.

I wonder if they will make a DVD of this? Does the ROH tell us in advance of the DVDs it is making?

[Hoffmann]

Listening to a new acquisition - a well-reviewed (Fanfare Magazine) of the famous Beverly Sills - Marilyn Horne production of Rossini's L'Assedio Di Corinto . This is the role that made Sills famous and put her on the front page of the New York Times and Time magazine. According to Fanfare, Legato Classics somehow got hold of the original tape(s).



It is a much clearer, far improved recording of the same performance over the one I already had:



The bad news is that it seems the Legato Classics CD set also is out of print, i.e., not available new. My copy is skipping all over the place, but gives a much better sense why the performance is so famous.

Back to the drawing board.

[Adrian]

Listening to a new acquisition - a well-reviewed (Fanfare Magazine) of the famous Beverly Sills - Marilyn Horne production of Rossini's L'Assedio Di Corinto . This is the role that made Sills famous and put her on the front page of the New York Times and Time magazine. According to Fanfare, Legato Classics somehow got hold of the original tape(s).



It is a much clearer, far improved recording of the same performance over the one I already had:



The bad news is that it seems the Legato Classics CD set also is out of print, i.e., not available new. My copy is skipping all over the place, but gives a much better sense why the performance is so famous.

Back to the drawing board.

Great taste

[Adrian]

Tried this one yesterday again, the singing is sublime the conducting also but that recording, dear heaven , did nobody notices that horrible sound?

Whilst at the same time DG came out with Carreras and Plowrigt (recorded also very poorly, like a public toilet ) this EMI recording has nothing in technical aspects.
I hope Warner does something about it.

[Clayton]

Rossini: Guillaume Tell
Gerald Finley (Guillaume Tell), John Osborn (Arnaud), Malin Byström (Mathilde), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Hedwige), Matthew Rose (Walter Furst), Frédéric Caton (Melchtal), Elena Xanthoudakis (Jemmy), Carlo Cigni (Gesler), Carlo Bosi (Rodolphe), Celso Albelo (Ruodi), Dawid Kimberg (Leuthold), Davide Malvestio (Un Chasseur)
Orchestra e coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano
Recorded in concert October and December 2010, Sala Santa Cecilia, Rome



A revisit to the mountains means this opera storms the Clayton Rossini charts (no sponsors but open to offers) to the number one position. It just has so much.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Rossini: Guillaume Tell
Gerald Finley (Guillaume Tell), John Osborn (Arnaud), Malin Byström (Mathilde), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Hedwige), Matthew Rose (Walter Furst), Frédéric Caton (Melchtal), Elena Xanthoudakis (Jemmy), Carlo Cigni (Gesler), Carlo Bosi (Rodolphe), Celso Albelo (Ruodi), Dawid Kimberg (Leuthold), Davide Malvestio (Un Chasseur)
Orchestra e coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano
Recorded in concert October and December 2010, Sala Santa Cecilia, Rome



A revisit to the mountains means this opera storms the Clayton Rossini charts (no sponsors but open to offers) to the number one position. It just has so much.

It is wonderful, isn't it.

[Adrian]

Present from friends yesterday :Renata Tebaldi
Very poor presentation, just a box with CD's no remastering whatsoever.

Verdi: La traviata
1954 recording (Francesco Molinari-Pradelli)

[Hoffmann]

It's supposed to snow, sleet, pour rain, who knows what else and in which sequence today, so had to get out for a walk yesterday while it was sunny - albeit quite cold. My listening choice:



A nice opera, though this is a live recording with requisite shuffling of feet and singers fairly removed from microphones. Still, there aren't many recordings of this opera out there, so still worthwhile.

[Dark_Angel]

Present from friends yesterday :Renata Tebaldi
Very poor presentation, just a box with CD's no remastering whatsoever.

Verdi: La traviata
1954 recording (Francesco Molinari-Pradelli)

An insult to the legacy of one of Decca's greatest opera stars, especially compared to recent deluxe boxsets for Callas and Pavarotti, does no one there know the historical stature and devoted fan base of this singer

Also unthinkable Decca has no opera boxset for Sutherland......only recital boxsets

[Clayton]

...Present from friends yesterday :Renata Tebaldi
Very poor presentation, just a box with CD's no remastering whatsoever...

Shame and shameful

The Renata Tebaldi: Voce d'Angelo the complete Decca recordings reviews read it is not something for a Tebaldi fan to add to their collection, in fact seems only to have angered fans.

I did have an eye on this collection before launch but am no longer interested.

However, even though I am not familiar with all the recordings, the price is something I could not argue about. What a great way to start an opera CD collection; 26 operas including some of the most famous recordings for that price.