What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Florestan]

Yes, I like that Martha opera a couple posts back. In fact, am watching it on video but no subtitles.

Now I am listening to this which was delivered today:


Not bad for Opera in English. But it won't replace the Italian one. Glad it is not a DVD as the characters just don't look right to me. A mention in the booklet about Don Pasquale has me looking into that one. Might have to get a Don Pasquale DVD.

There is no cure for this opera addiction--thankfully!

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

It is a great opera as it has many good passages

Naturally, I would also recommend the 1991 Bonynge, not just because of Edita Gruberova (well that is a major selling point) but also because of the other cast, Neil Shicoff (Edgardo), Alastair Miles (Raimondo), Alexandru Agache (Enrico), Bernard Lombardo (Arturo), Diana Montague (Alisa), Francesco Piccoli (Normanno), which I think are all excellent.

Neil Shicoff is at his very best here, a young romantic fool but hot and passionate. Agache is strong and not too foul to remove any sympathy from his story and Miles has both the warm and authorative Raimondo portrayal. Like the López-Cóbos recording for you, this was the first I had and still my favourite.

I recommend it above all. It is total recorded time 143 minutes (same as López-Cóbos) and complete.

Attachment 7871

I've not seen this one before, thanks Clayton

[Clayton]

I was going to sail again with the wretched couple to Cornwall (get a nice pasty whilst I'm there) but got distracted This time inspired by Mario's choice of a Vivaldi masterpiece


Vivaldi: Orlando Furioso, RV728
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Jennifer Larmore, Veronica Cangemi, Philippe Jaroussky, Lorenzo Regazzo, Ann Hallenberg, Blandine Staskiewicz
Choeur Les Eléments & Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi
2004

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I was going to sail again with the wretched couple to Cornwall (get a nice pasty whilst I'm there) but got distracted This time inspired by Mario's choice of a Vivaldi masterpiece

I think pasties were the last thing on their minds. But I reckon it could have save them a lot of trouble if they'd settled down with with a nice golden-brown one filled with savoury mince and veggies instead of insisting on death/love potions,

[Clayton]

I think I have been poisoned... I ended up going, this time with Furtwängler at the helm...

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Ludwig Suthaus (Tristan), Kirsten Flagstad (Isolde), Blanche Thebom (Brangaene), Josef Greindl (Konig Marke), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Kurwenal), Edgar Evans (Melot), Rudolf Schock (Hirt), Rhoderick Davies (Steuermann), Rudolf Schock (Stimme eines jungen Seemanns)
Chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Philharmonia Orchestra
Wilhelm Furtwängler
1952 Studio recording



This is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. It brought tears to my eyes (well, not really but would have if I wasn't a propa geeza). Furtwängler makes a really beautiful romantic story telling, Kirsten Flagstad's rendition is heart tearing and Ludwig Suthaus's Tristan is fairytale.
The sound on this 2001 remastered recording is fine and there is very little noise (this was a studio first on tape). Yup, a blinding record and I can't believe it's available for only GBP 14.75.



Post script

I went straight after and heard the sample on Pristine for Andrew Rose's remaster. It is better but much like the story of diminishing returns on audiophile equip, it is difficult to reason the price difference.

Of course, I went and ordered the Pristine.

[Hoffmann]

I was going to sail again with the wretched couple to Cornwall (get a nice pasty whilst I'm there) but got distracted This time inspired by Mario's choice of a Vivaldi masterpiece


Vivaldi: Orlando Furioso, RV728
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Jennifer Larmore, Veronica Cangemi, Philippe Jaroussky, Lorenzo Regazzo, Ann Hallenberg, Blandine Staskiewicz
Choeur Les Eléments & Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi
2004

Great cast - I'll have to look into it.

[Hoffmann]

I think pasties were the last thing on their minds. But I reckon it could have save them a lot of trouble if they'd settled down with with a nice golden-brown one filled with savoury mince and veggies instead of insisting on death/love potions,

Makes me wonder what that Leitmotiv might have sounded like! Might even have made an opera fan out of Julia Child.

[Hoffmann]

For today's walk - and even at 8:30 this am it was really very hot.





This is my second listen to this one. I have trouble with the timbre of Hans Hopf's voice. It seems excessively reedy or something - almost whiny. I bought it because I like Konwitschny's conducting of Der Fliegende Hollander and because I thought Wunderlich would be singing Tannhäuser, which isn't the case; this recording has yet to grow on me.

[Adrian]

Bellini : I Capulletti & I Montechi.
You guessed it right, on vinyl, who need CD's with this kind of covers?

Beverly Sills/ Janet Baker/ Nicolai Gedda .
The weakest link is Baker but that could also be me, never liked the voice.

[Clayton]

Bellini : I Capulletti & I Montechi.
You guessed it right, on vinyl, who need CD's with this kind of covers?
...

I love that cover and I love that recording.

[Clayton]

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Marta Mödl, Ramon Vinay, Werner Faulhaber, Hans Hotter, Ira Malaniuk, Ida Malaniuk, Ilda Malaniuk, Ludwig Weber, Herman Uhde, Gerhard Unger, Gerhard Stolze
Orchester Der Bayreuther Festspiele, Chor Der Bayreuther Festspiele, Chor Der Festspiele, Herbert von Karajan
Bayreuth Festspiele 1952
Urania 2001 remaster



This too is very good, a faster and bouncier (Clayton technical term) interpretation making it a little more dramatic and very exciting performance from Mödl and Vinay. Sound is good (for a 1952 live performance).

[Clayton]

Reading John Gerald's post, I had to pull out

Donizetti: Belisario
Nicola Alaimo (Belisario), Joyce El-Khoury (Antonina), Camilla Roberts (Irene), Russell Thomas (Alamiro), Alastair Miles (Giustiniano), Julia Sporsen (Eudora), Peter Hoare (Eutropio), Edward Price (Eusebio), MIchael Bundy (Ottario), Darren Jeffery (Centurione)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder
2012



It is a very good opera and a very good recording. I love it.

[Clayton]

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Huguette Tourangeau (Orfeo), Catherine Malfitano (Euridice), Barbara Hendricks (Amor)
Residentie Orkest, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Hans Vonk
Live recording 1975



Very beautiful performance. The sound is okay; I wish a studio recording had been made of this, in which case it would definitely had been a top three. As it is there is too much ballet farts (technical term for pitter patter pitter patter shloop shloop sound made by ballet dancers) in the recording but I still like this recording very much.

[Clayton]

Handel: Tamerlano
Xavier Sabata (Tamerlano), Max Emanuel Cencic (Andronico), John Mark Ainsley (Bajazet), Karina Gauvin (Asteria), Ruxandra Donose (Irene), Pavel Kudinov (Leone)
Il Pomo d’Oro, Riccardo Minasi
2013



Okay, so as much as I like Petrou and the orchestra of Patras, this makes so much more sense. Some very good performances from all round and all recorded in excellent sound.

[Amfortas]

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Marta Mödl, Ramon Vinay, Werner Faulhaber, Hans Hotter, Ira Malaniuk, Ida Malaniuk, Ilda Malaniuk, Ludwig Weber, Herman Uhde, Gerhard Unger, Gerhard Stolze
Orchester Der Bayreuther Festspiele, Chor Der Bayreuther Festspiele, Chor Der Festspiele, Herbert von Karajan
Bayreuth Festspiele 1952
Urania 2001 remaster



This too is very good, a faster and bouncier (Clayton technical term) interpretation making it a little more dramatic and very exciting performance from Mödl and Vinay. Sound is good (for a 1952 live performance).

I listened to part of this again just yesterday; may have to finish the rest this evening. In recent years some have called it the best Tristan recording of all, despite the sound limitations. Mödl may not have the most beautiful of voices, but her Isolde is sharply characterized. Vinay makes for a noble, heroic Tristan, but I can't help feeling his voice sounds just a bit tired even in Act II. Still, it's a memorable performance, under the young Karajan's driving energy.