What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Clayton]

I went off in search for Lucia di Lammermoor 1972 live recording at San Francisco with Beverly Sills and Pavarotti, conducted by López-Cobos, as recommended by Zach Borichevsky. Well not really recommended but the recording he is most enjoying at the moment.

It is not so easy to find but is available on auction sites for GBP 40. I am not that keen.

Though when I was looking on SpottyTie, I found this

Andrea Rost (Miss Lucia), Bruce Ford (Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood), Anthony Michaels-Moore (Lord Enric Ashton), Alastair Miles (Raimondo Bidebent), Paul Charles Clarke (Lord Arturo Bucklaw), Louise Winter (Alisa), Ryland Davies (Normanno)
London Voices, The Hanover Band
Charles Mackerras, 1998



It is an interesting original version played on period instruments (wooden flute instead of glass harmonica and period harp). Mackerras takes it on a gently, gently approach, takes away some of the flourishes and the drama is subtle in presentation. Different but pretty.

[Floria]

I guess today can be Lucia day !

1953
Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi

[Clayton]

and what an excellent recording that is! I don't actually have the Warner release but the Pristine Classical




though I decided to spend the afternoon by the lake with a lady not named Donna. That would be La donna Donna del lago.

Rossini: La donna del lago
June Anderson (Elena), Rockwell Blake (Uberto), Giorgio Surjan (Douglas), Chris Merritt (Rodrigo), Martine Dupuy (Malcolm), Marilena Laurenza (Albino), Ernesto Gavazzi (Serano), Ferrero Poggi (Bertram)
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Riccardo Muti 1992



Muti makes a much more dramatic account than the Benini recording on Opera Rara, almost to the extent that I feel like I am hearing a different story

[Floria]

and what an excellent recording that is! I don't actually have the Warner release but the Pristine Classical

Yes, it is an excellent recording. This is the only Warner release I have but am planning on more.

Today is Maria Callas and Medea.

Dallas 1958 - live
Maria Callas,Jon Vickers,Teresa Berganza,Nicola Zaccaria,Elisabeth Carron

Studio 1957
Callas, Mirto Picchi, Giuseppe Modesti,Scotto,Priazzini

Compliments of turnipoverlord
Same recording, but from the Mercury Living Presence vinyl stereo edition
Great sound

[Soave_Fanciulla]

[Vlad]

Akhnaten and a wee dram of scotch

[Clayton]

been poleaxed by hayfever past 3 days

but mainly listening to Monteverdi

last

Cavalli: Artemisia
Recorded in Mondovì (Sala Ghisleri), Italy, in October 2010
Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (Artemisia), Roberta Mameli (Artemia), Valentina Coladonato (Oronta), Maarten Engeltjes (Meraspe), Andrea Arrivabene (Alindo), Marina Bartoli (Ramiro), Silvia Frigato (Eurillo), Salvo Vitale (Indamoro), Alberto Allegrezza (Erisbe) & Alessandro Giangrande (Niso)
La Venexiana, Claudio Cavina



- - - Updated - - -

need a little (or a lot rather) of that scotch please, Vlad.

[Clayton]

My "round-the-volcanic-basin" walk today:

This has been staring at me all week with "play me" eyes, so it is on now

but

(Clayton's super slo-mo brain in action again)

I just thought

How far is that walk? 166 minutes at let's say 4 miles an hour is

err...

a very big volcano?

[Clayton]

Akhnaten and a wee dram of scotch...

and now I have Glass' Orphee saying "me next, me next" in my ear

[Soave_Fanciulla]

a very big volcano?

a big watery hole made by a volcano:

[Clayton]

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Dresden version)
Birgit Nilsson (Elisabeth/Venus), Wolfgang Windgassen (Tannhäuser), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Wolfram von Eschenbach), Theo Adam (Hermann), Horst R Laubenthal (Walther von der Vogelweide), Klaus Hirte (Biterolf), Friedrich Lenz (Heinrich der Schreiber), Hans Sotin (Reinmar von Zweter), Catarina Alda (Hirt)
German Opera Berlin Orchestra & Chorus, Otto Gerdes



Beautiful voices of Birgit Nilsson, Windgassen and err.. Birgit Nilsson.

[Clayton]

Wagner: Tannhäuser
Plácido Domingo (Tannhauser), Cheryl Studer (Elisabeth), Agnes Baltsa (Venus), Matti Salminen (Landgraf), Andreas Schmidt (Wolfram)
Chorus of Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli 1988



I like Studer's interpretation of Elisabeth, a young, pretty and fragile Elisabeth. Sinopoli really demonstrates the romance in the score.

[Clayton]

Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Galina Vishnevskaya (Tatyana), Ywevgeniy Belos (Onegin), Sergey Lemeshev (Lensky), Larissa Avdeyeva (Olga), Valentina Petrova (Larina), Eugenia Verbitskaya (Filipyevna), Ivan Petrov (Gremin), Andrei Sokolov (Triquet), Igor Mikhailov (Zaretsky)
Choir and Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Boris Khaikin 1955



This is a very exciting opera. The recording has been remastered well and the sound is good. No noise but real colour from the music. The whole cast is good but Lemeshev is particularly wonderful here Galina Vishnevskaya's Tatiana is perfect for me; beautiful, intelligent but youthful and romantic.

[Clayton]

Wagner: Tannhäuser (Dresden version)
Klaus König (Tannhäuser), Lucia Popp (Elisabeth), Waltraud Meier (Venus), Bernd Weikl (Wolfram), Kurt Moll (Landgraf)
Bernard Haitink 1985



possibly favourite so far...

[Clayton]

Wagner: Tannhäuser (highlights)
Anja Silja (Soprano), Grace Bumbry (Soprano), Wolfgang Windgassen (Tenor), Eberhard Wächter (Baritone), Bayreuth Festival Chorus (Chorus), Grace Bumbry (Mezzo-Soprano), Else-Margrete Gardelli (Soprano), Josef Greindl (Bass), Eberhard Waechter (Baritone), Gerhard Stolze (Tenor), Franz Crass (Bass), Georg Paskuda (Tenor), Gerd Nienstedt (Bass), Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele (Chorus)
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele, Wolfgang Sawallisch
1961



So good, I am going to buy it.

Though I am looking at the "next day" radio recording released on the Orfeo d'Or label. Does anyone have this? Is the sound good?