Reply With QuoteActually I don't have the Kaufmann set. I really like the Bernstein set (and DVD) with Janowitz a lot.
Maybe time Hoffmann added one more to his collection (don't ask Florestan or MAuer, they might suggest adding a two-figure number to your Fidelio collection)Originally Posted by Hoffmann
how about
Beethoven: Fidelio, Op. 72
Jonas Kaufmann (Florestan), Nina Stemme (Leonore), Falk Struckmann (Pizarro), Christof Fischesser (Rocco), Rachel Harnisch (Marzelline), Christoph Strehl (Jaquino), Peter Mattei (Don Fernando), Juan Sebastian Acosta (Erste Gefangener), Levente Pall (Zweite Gefangener)
Lucerne Festival Orchestra & Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Claudio Abbado
JK astounding and Nina, well I almost travelled to Gothenburg last year to see a performance written for her...
Actually I don't have the Kaufmann set. I really like the Bernstein set (and DVD) with Janowitz a lot.
"Music is enought for a whole lifetime--but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
As Soave_Fanciulla once described, it has maybe one of the greatest notes ever recorded (JK mein gott)... really very thrilling...
Yesterday, for my walk, another of my Semiramide recordings (just to be sure I was right not to include it as Top 100..):
As you might imagine, with a cast like this (Caballe, von Stade, Ramey, Araiza), the singing is out of this world. The quality of the recording and sound are only ok - the recording is live, so there is plenty of stage noise, lots of applause (especially because they want us to note that the audience is stomping their feet in approval) and the sound is kind of boxed-in due to the stage boundaries. There is also the practice of each number ending in a spacing before the next number - sort of like the pause between acts on most recordings.
Then, for today's walk, I paid a visit to countertenor-land with Messrs. Jarrousky, Cencic, Fagioli and Barna-Sabadus:
Dizzying. Opera and singing
"Music is enought for a whole lifetime--but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
From the Christmas binge...
Butterfly has grown on me just like Tosca and Fanciulla de west. At this point the only work of Puccini's I don't adore is Manon Lescaut (Its music is for the most part unmemorable and its pacing is dreadful). Butterfly as a character still irks me somewhat but I confess that I wish I had more Puccini operas as I'm very sad I've now run out
"Non sono in vena" Rodolfo summing up P.B's feelings on his dissertation.
yeah... I'm a Rolfe-Johnston fan
but have not heard this yet. I think I remember Mary saying it had good points, what does Florestan think?
Since I wasn't planning to walk until this afternoon, I had time for a morning listen, so decided on something different in this piece from 1923:
It seems there was nothing that Marilyn Horne couldn't do - even tops with the modern idiom.
Then, for my walk:
I just weeded out a lot of Fidelio/Leonores off from my mp3 player. I had a couple dozen and cut it to about half. Mackerras/Benackova and Bohm/Nilsson (post 5284) were a couple that were removed. They are not bad, but I have better Fidelios. However, the process was not very scientific. I would listen and then decide to keep or remove them. Some I removed because they were early recordings with poor sound quality. Others because I didn't like the way Abscheulicher sounded (Benackova was one of these).
Actually the Mackerras recording is cool because it looks like a weird production of Carmen with the lady on the CD cover dressed like she is to perform in Carmen instead of Fidelio.
"Music is enought for a whole lifetime--but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
Oooh haven't heard that in a while. I think I'll take José and Katia to the shops today.
Update:
The fields were so flooded this morning I think Piero was disappointed he didn't have his SCUBA diving gear with him but he said he enjoyed the walk. At one stage José and Katia disappeared behind the fruit and veg aisle and goodness knows what they were looking for. Samuel arranged for some flowers to be delivered to 'a lady' (that's all he would say) so I think they all had a good time. I enjoyed their singing so quid pro quo.
Last edited by Ann Lander (sospiro); January 4th, 2016 at 12:07 PM. Reason: Update
"Every theatre is an insane asylum, but an opera theatre is the ward for the incurables."
FRANZ SCHALK, attributed, Losing the Plot in Opera: Myths and Secrets of the World's Great Operas
To borrow an old '70s cliché, different strokes for different folks. Benaċkova’s Leonore is the primary reason I like this recording, though Rolfe-Johnson's Florestan is also quite good once he's past his big aria. I'd be strongly tempted to buy the recording of Fidelio with Benaċkova and Josef Protschka in the leads if it were in audio rather than DVD format. (I'm not wild about the production, and Protschka doesn't exactly look like he's been starving.)
It is entirely possible that I may warm back up to Benackova on CD. I had the DVD and got rid of it. Did not care for the whole production though Benackova was probably the best part of it.
"Music is enought for a whole lifetime--but a lifetime is not enough for music." --Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
I was away in a small island a little south of Rio this week for New Year with no wi-fi and barely any 4G signal, and this was the only one I had with me:
Proved to be a strong candidate for the (not-so-)deserted island recording.
Jenufa
I was away in a small island a little south of Rio this week for New Year with no wi-fi and barely any 4G signal, and this was the only one I had with me:
Proved to be a strong candidate for the (not-so-)deserted island recording.
That's my favorite Le Nozze di Figaro recording! I have several, and the Solti makes everything else sound pale by comparison.
With the possible exception of just the "Sull'aria" from the Karl Böhm recording - you know, the duet used in The Shawshank Redemption.
Small island south of Rio for New Years? I could live without wifi/4G for a few days for that location, myself!
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