What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[DrMike]

I have to admit I am quite a fan of Mackerras' recordings of Mozart's works, but have not yet heard his conducting of any of Mozart's operas. How does it fare alongside some of the other big recordings of the Magic Flute? It stands as the only opera that I have listened to more than twice, and always enjoy hearing various interpretations. Right now I quite enjoy Rene Jacobs' recording, but I also like Klemperer (Popp is an incredible Queen of the Night).

[brianwalker]

Act III: Vickers aside, Jerusalem is easily the best Tristan on stereo and Barenboim's conducting is miles ahead of Karajan's, revealing all the complex interwoven fabric of Wagner's score in a way that Furtwangler couldn't do on mono, Bohm couldn't do because of his hasty, slipshod pace, and Karajan couldn't because of his all consuming fetish for the homogeneous, saccharine sound. Only Kleiber beats Barenboim in unveiling the essence of the score but Jerusalem is more of a heldentenor than Kollo and the Teldec early 90s sound engineering is richer, warmer, and deeper than the rather thin stereo, albeit more than satisfactory, sound of late 70s DG.

Here is my amazon review of the recording.

[Aramis]

Jerusalem is easily the best Tristan on stereo

Certainly, if you don't mind pseudo-dramatic approach which makes Wagnerian singers yell, shout out and produce ugly, flat notes instead of searching for expression within the boundaries of utter singing. He does a lot of that in intense, dramatic moments, especially in last act. I do have and treasure this CD, but this complain is firm.

[brianwalker]

Certainly, if you don't mind pseudo-dramatic approach which makes Wagnerian singers yell, shout out and produce ugly, flat notes instead of searching for expression within the boundaries of utter singing. He does a lot of that in intense, dramatic moments, especially in last act. I do have and treasure this CD, but this complain is firm.

"Vickers aside"

Maybe "aside" was too ambiguous syntactically? "Aside from Vickers", "Besides Vickers".

How would you rank the Tristans on stereo? I have a loose tongue, I say "easily" now but I could change my mind a week from now (yes, it's a bad habit, yes, I'm making excuses for myself). The hyperbole functions to bring more attention to what I believe is a very underrated recording and catch the attention of anyone who might be unfamiliar with Jerusalem's Tristan.

I do mind, but I also mind the sacrifice of drama for expression, the exemplary case being Karajan's Ring; between the two thunderstorms I prefer Solti's . I know that Jerusalem's singing has been rightly criticized for being "blank" despite being impeccable note by note. Ideally of course, you would have the unity of drama and expression on the highest order. To mix metaphors I see it as a multiplication table; I'd take Flagstad with the substituted high Cs or without the high Cs over Nilsson any day.

[Aramis]

How would you rank the Tristans on stereo? I have a loose tongue, I say "easily" now but I could change my mind a week from now. The hyperbole functions to bring more attention to what I believe is a very underrated recording and catch the attention of anyone who might be unfamiliar with Jerusalem's Tristan

I'm not ranking guy, nor am I expert on Wagner but I liked Rene Kollo's Tristan on Kleiber's recording (it's great as a whole) more than Jersusalem's - Kollo is very passionate but his voice remains ringing even when he gets close to hysterical in his singing. I do know though that many don't like him and my high regard may be controversial here.

[brianwalker]

I'm not ranking guy, nor am I expert on Wagner but I liked Rene Kollo's Tristan on Kleiber's recording (it's great as a whole) more than Jersusalem's - Kollo is very passionate but his voice remains ringing even when he gets close to hysterical in his singing. I do know though that many don't like him and my high regard may be controversial here.

I'm quite fond of the Kleiber and it's my second favorite stereo Tristan overall. The singers aren't heroic but they're not intrusive and makes way for Kleiber's conducting. I don't have much of an opinion on Kollo's Tristan because I'm almost always instinctively focusing on the orchestra when listening to the Kleiber recording (the litany of things going off at once in many of the passages of Act III can consume all of my attention, even more so when it's superbly conducted so that all the details are brought out and can be paid attention to in the first place) and Kollo's voice isn't intrusive or repellent in any way so it almost fades into the middle ground/background like a woodwind(s); the inverse is true for the Karajan where Vicker's voice is dominant and the orchestra becomes an accompaniment. It's only in the Barenboim where I feel that Tristan and the orchestra fuses into one another. I'll have to re-listen to Act III of the Kleiber to get back to you on Kollo.

For what it's worth, I prefer Kollo over Windgassen in Act III where the latter often growls, exacerbated by Bohm's poor racing tempo which obscures the score so that the voice becomes prominent inevitably; I feel that Bohm's Tristan is one of the most overrated recordings of all time (there we go with the hyperboles again). Granted, it was a live recording at the sunset of his career.

Edit:

[HarpsichordConcerto]

Finally, I have managed to get this recording, which is now out of print. Youtube has it complete but I don't settle for that other than for sampling, and the upload sounded "weak" anyway. Music quintessentially Vivaldian.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Where did you find it HC?

[HarpsichordConcerto]

Where did you find it HC?

I absolutely refused to pay the exorbitant price for used copies of the work on various Amazon places (suggested price well over or near US$100, thinking instead of alternative brand new Blu-rays that I could buy instead for that price, rather than the amount per se). I contacted a relative overseas who could download it legally from Amazon MP3/whatever (I'm not familiar with this stuff), and then ... the rest you intuitively would know.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I absolutely refused to pay the exorbitant price for used copies of the work on various Amazon places (suggested price well over or near US$100, thinking instead of alternative brand new Blu-rays that I could buy instead for that price, rather than the amount per se). I contacted a relative overseas who could download it legally from Amazon MP3/whatever (I'm not familiar with this stuff), and then ... the rest you intuitively would know.

Ah nice one HC. The lack of legal downloading is a very irritating part of living Down Under.

[brianwalker]

Still the most satisfyingly conducted Tristan und Isolde on disc.

Finally, I have managed to get this recording, which is now out of print. Youtube has it complete but I don't settle for that other than for sampling, and the upload sounded "weak" anyway. Music quintessentially Vivaldian.

HarpsichorConcerto, where should one start in Vivaldi's opera oeuvre?

[Aksel]

HarpsichorConcerto, where should one start in Vivaldi's opera oeuvre?

I'm not HC, but I started with the recent Ercole sul Termodonte conducted by Fabio Biondi with Villazon, Genaux and an otherwise amazing cast.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I'm not HC, but I started with the recent Ercole sul Termodonte conducted by Fabio Biondi with Villazon, Genaux and an otherwise amazing cast.

I'm not HC either but I recommend this as well.

[Aramis]

I'm not HC, but I started with the recent Ercole sul Termodonte conducted by Fabio Biondi with Villazon, Genaux and an otherwise amazing cast.

I'm not HC either but I recommend this as well.

I didn't hear this CD and can't recommend it but I'm not HC too.

[DrMike]

I had no idea we had so many members here who are not HC.