Reply With QuoteOriginally Posted by Festat
It's been a long time...
I've got to say, I saw 3 Carmens in a year (Santa Fe/2014; Met/2015; WNO/2015) that's plenty enough for me!
It's been a long time...
It's been a long time...
I've got to say, I saw 3 Carmens in a year (Santa Fe/2014; Met/2015; WNO/2015) that's plenty enough for me!
The plot is pretty weak, not to mention historically inaccurate, but the music's wonderful. And this recording has Domingo as the King and Milnes as Joan's father, both of whom are a real treat for the ears. Can't complain about Caballé’s Joan, either, especially when she's in full heroic mode.
I was aiming for Phaëton
but as president of the EGG club (Emanuella Galli's Grrrrreat!)
went instead to
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
Emanuela Galli (La Musica/Eurydice), Mirko Guadagnini (Orfeo), Marina De Liso (Messaggiera), Cristina Calzolari (Proserpina), Matteo Bellotto (Plutone), Josè Lo Monaco (Speranza), Salvo Vitale (Caronte), Vincenzo Di Donato (Apollo), Francesca Cassinari (Ninfa), Giovanni Caccamo (Pastore I), Makoto Sakurada (Pastore II/Spirito I), Claudio Cavina (Pastore III), Tony Corradini (Pastore IV/Spirito II)
La Venexiana, Claudio Cavina
I started the morning with this not very interesting opera (I say that despite some remarks I've read suggesting it is more powerful than La Wally):
Then, later, for my walk, an old favorite:
This continues to be my personal recording of choice for La Donna del Lago. Katia Ricciarelli is in what seems to be peak form, plus Dano Raffanti, Lucia Valentini-Terrani and Samuel Ramey - A+
I've not heard this production, what do you think about it?
Martin Pearlman, Cond. with Christine Goerke, et al.
Natalie
That's quite a cast on that!
Then, after posting my update to the list of "Favorite Recordings of the Top 100 Operas", I decided to refresh my memory on another Beatrice di Tenda recording I hadn't listened to in a while:
Leyla Gencer is competent in the role of Beatrice in this recording from 1964, but doesn't have the easy command of the role that Sutherland did. This is a remastering of the '64 Mono recording, so the sound is not all that good. Interesting to hear someone else sing these roles, tho'...
Not long got back from London after last night seeing the divine Ms Gheorghiu wow us in Tosca. I use a rail company whose trains stop at all the stations and which are really slow in between stations as wellbut which saves me a ridiculous amount of money. A chance for me to listen to the Peter Grimes I saw in Vienna. When I've seen a performance I think I prefer an audio recording rather than a DVD because I can play back the scenes in my head as I listen but watching a DVD, I find over time I forget what I actually saw and what's on the DVD replaces my own memory.
When the opera starts, Peter Grimes is asleep in his bed and the stage is in total darkness, with the bed containing Grimes barely visible.
Suddenly Hobson appears with a torch and runs across the stage. He gets Grimes in a headlock and shines the torch into his face as he sings "Peter Grimes! Peter Grimes! Peter Grimes!" I can picture this as I listen. It's fab!
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 6th, 2018 at 05:26 AM.
"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
What a great opening to the opera!
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 6th, 2018 at 05:26 AM.
Natalie
It is a good recording. Arleen Augér is a great Alcina. Harry and Jones (Morgana and Ruggiero) aren't as good, I think. Even though they don't compromise the whole thing I think in that sense other recordings are really stronger. Maldwyn Davies is delightful, though.
It uses the complete text with all the ballet music and runs a little longer than usual (almost 3h40min) because there are some alternate chorus and arias in the end as an appendix. We don't have that many Alcinas out there, so I'd say this is well worth it — it's super cheap anyway!
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