What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Amfortas]

Quite possibly so but I like the KFV / Dasch combination in the Janowski recording, they are such a pretty couple that if I listened to that one I might be saying that is my favourite...

though that has nothing to do with my recent listening

Wagner: Die Walküre
Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), James King (Siegmund), Régine Crespin (Sieglinde), Hans Hotter (Wotan), Gottlob Frick (Hunding), Christa Ludwig (Fricka)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti
1965

Attachment 7947

A magnificent opera, though the Solti Walküre, despite some real strengths (love me some Régine Crespin), is generally singled out (fairly or not) as the weak link of his set. If you ever get a chance, also check out the great Erich Leinsdorf studio recording!

I have not yet seen a video of the Ring cycle and now I have the one month MET subscription I thought I would like to watch one. I know we have the recommended DVD thread but I want to watch it as a complete cycle and only have the choice of MET on demand.

So for Das Rheingold (well the whole cycle)

Levine 1990 with Ludwig, Jerusalem, Morris, Wlaschiha

or

Levine 2010 with Terfel, Croft, Owens, Blythe?

Please send in your recommendation by midnight (Irkutsk time) Saturday 4th July and don't forget to include a SAE for your chance to win a kit-kat

A tough one. Some serious flaws in both cycles (as with any I've seen). I'd probably opt for the 1990 Rheingold but the 2010 Walküre; after that I'm not so sure.

So I say, use your month to watch both!

[Soave_Fanciulla]

A tough one. Some serious flaws in both cycles (as with any I've seen). I'd probably opt for the 1990 Rheingold but the 2010 Walküre; after that I'm not so sure.

So I say, use your month to watch both!

Good advice. The LePage Rheingold is a bit ludicrous but his Walküre is OK apart from the poor Walküres trying to slide down his paddlepop machine while singing. Jerusalem is an insufferable Siegfried but sings very well, while Morris is more noble and innocent. Behrens is rather harsh on the ear and by the end of the earlier cycle I never wanted to hear another note from her.

[Amfortas]

Good advice. The LePage Rheingold is a bit ludicrous but his Walküre is OK apart from the poor Walküres trying to slide down his paddlepop machine while singing. Jerusalem is an insufferable Siegfried but sings very well, while Morris is more noble and innocent. Behrens is rather harsh on the ear and by the end of the earlier cycle I never wanted to hear another note from her.

But the same can be said of Voigt's Brünnhilde as well . . .

There's no fully satisfying Ring; the cycle is too long and complex. Just resign yourself, Clayton, to watching different versions over the years, and gaining new insights from each of them.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

But the same can be said of Voigt's Brünnhilde as well . . .

True.. maybe the difference is that I didn't binge-watch the LePage Ring...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Another stunning Schubert opera:

Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella
Edith Mathis, Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau, Eberhard Büchner & Theo Adam
Rundfunkchor Berlin & Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner



Music to iron and cook to:

Joyce DiDonato: Drama Queens - Royal Arias from the 17th and 18th Centuries. Il Complesso Barocco, Alan Curtis



Diana Damrau - Donna - Mozart opera and concert arias. Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer

[Adrian]

Bellini: La Sonnambula. ( Vinyl) If you could only see the Libretto
Joan Sutherland/ Nicola Monti/ Elkins/Sthanlam/Corena.
Richard Bonynge conducting.
My first opera (complet set) of Joan Sutherland and it still moves me .

[Clayton]

Bellini: La Sonnambula. ( Vinyl) If you could only see the Libretto
...

I wanna see the libretto. I wanna see the libretto.

[Clayton]

Another stunning Schubert opera:

Schubert: Alfonso und Estrella
Edith Mathis, Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau, Eberhard Büchner & Theo Adam
Rundfunkchor Berlin & Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner

Vendor cancelled my Fierrebras order, no longer available. I wanted a copy that comes with the libretto and that costs less than the GDP of Vanuatu.

Does this Brilliant Classics recording come with a libretto?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Vendor cancelled my Fierrebras order, no longer available. I wanted a copy that comes with the libretto and that costs less than the GDP of Vanuatu.

Does this Brilliant Classics recording come with a libretto?

No, utterly hopeless, but then, cheap.

But you do actually NEED more Schubert in your life.

[Clayton]

No, utterly hopeless, but then, cheap.

But you do actually NEED more Schubert in your life.

well, once you put like that

and I AM cheap

so in to the shopping basket it goes


Have you listened to the Ferrandini Catone in Utica yet?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

well, once you put like that

and I AM cheap

so in to the shopping basket it goes

Good man!

Have you listened to the Ferrandini Catone in Utica yet?

Not yet, I'm having a serious case of the German Romantics so baroque will have to wait.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Hate to break this to you, Clayton, but you also need this if you don't already have it. Too lovely.

Max Emanuel Cencic: Rokoko - Hasse Opera Arias. Armonia Atenea, George Petrou.

[Clayton]

Not yet, I'm having a serious case of the German Romantic so baroque will have to wait.


Siegfried
Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Hans Hotter (Wanderer), Gerhard Stolze (Mime), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Kurt Böhme (Fafner), Marga Höffgen (Erda), Joan Sutherland (Waldvogel)
1962

[Clayton]

and the last day

Wagner: Götterdämmerung
Wolfgang Windgassen (Siegfried), Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Gottlieb Frick (Hagen), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich), Claire Watson (Gutrune), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Gunther), Christa Ludwig (Waltraute), Lucia Popp (Woglinde), Gwyneth Jones (Wellgunde), Maureen Guy (Flosshilde), Helen Watts (First Norn), Grace Hoffman (Second Norn), Anita Välkki (Third Norn)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti 1964



still opera binging before the cricket starts later today

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Trying to get through a pile of unlistened-to recitals as I do the tax return.

Bryn Terfel: Wagner. Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado



Roberto Alagna: Bel Canto. London Philharmonic Orchestra London Voices, Evelino Pidò



Valer Sabadus: Hasse reloaded. Hofkapelle München, Michael Hofstetter