What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Florestan]

[Povero Buoso]

Have been busy holidaying and graduating so have not had a day to watch any new opera yet. Hope to rectify this come next week. However, more journey time = more opera time and a few days ago travelling meant I listened to some operas I possess which are comparatively underplayed.
Still like this a lot but it tends to be one that needs a full listen rather than dipping in hence its lack of play


This one has been listened to even less (much to my shame I think it's only my second time listening to it in full I think?)

.
I like Simon Boccanegra. I like it a lot more than Aida for certain (need to re-listen to Nabucco but probably more than that as well. I know for a fact I like Don Carlos more even though I have yet to carve out the time to listen to my recording of that in full). Well worth a listen for a change from the usual.

Throughout the holiday on various drives I have listened to excerpts of this again...


Much like Un Ballo In Maschera repeat listenings of Il Trovatore are warranted as there are lots of jewels hidden throughout the opera and very few dull or lifeless passages like my favourite other two Verdi. It took me nearly a year to come close to thinking I might know what Trovatore can offer and it is perhaps not as instantly likable as La Traviata was for me but its balance of voices (good parts for all four main voice types, a great opening led by the bass plus awesome chorus scenes) and the glorious melodies mean it's now tying with Un Ballo in Maschera and Rigoletto in a three way duel for favourite Verdi (I still love La Traviata though. Its just the third act never grabs me... )

[Florestan]

[Hoffmann]

I typically do most of my listening while walking. I arrived back in DC to blast furnace-like conditions from 6 weeks of temperatures in the low to mid 70s (and in the low 60s or high 50s at night) in Berlin. Thus, no walking likely in the near future.

[Clayton]

absent for a bit, I had been stacking the operas that I wanted to tell you that I had been listening to but unable to report, it started to look like a very busy library and it's unmanaged *to return to shelves* section and I had to clear it away...

[Clayton]

I had a bit of a battle with the telecommunication companies but I won't bore you with the details...

I have been listening to the usual suspects, amongst them the parts that I can report is the ring cycle (I hear a few yawns); I have been listening to Solti, Keilberth, Krauss and Böhm. This is not very interesting news but I can say that this work is still growing on me the more I listen to it and there are more and more I am finding to the drama each time I listen to it. The appreciation for the different interpretations are changing too.

[Clayton]

I have also been listening to some Vivaldi. Knocked off the top spot are L'Incoronazione di Dario and La Verità in cimento, to be replaced by

Vivaldi: Griselda, RV718
Griselda: Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto), Costanza: Veronica Cangemi (soprano), Ottone: Simone Kermes (soprano), Roberto: Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Gualtiero: Stefano Ferrari (tenor) & Corrado: Iestyn Davies (countertenor)
Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi



and

Vivaldi: La Fida Ninfa
Lorenzo Regazzo, Veronica Cangemi, Philippe Jaroussky, Sandrine Piau, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Topi Lehtipuu & Sara Mingardo
Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi

[Amfortas]

I had a bit of a battle with the telecommunication companies but I won't bore you with the details...

I have been listening to the usual suspects, amongst them the parts that I can report is the ring cycle (I hear a few yawns); I have been listening to Solti, Keilberth, Krauss and Böhm. This is not very interesting news but I can say that this work is still growing on me the more I listen to it and there are more and more I am finding to the drama each time I listen to it. The appreciation for the different interpretations are changing too.

Good to see you again, Clayton! And no yawns at all; it's great you're exploring the Ring in so much depth. Please share some reactions with us when you get a chance.

[Florestan]

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Wow! Have a great trip! Are you just visiting Poland, or are you planning other stops? Any other performances?

Just Warsaw this time but I'll be looking to see what's on in Kraków and Wrocław next season. The cost of living is much lower in Poland that in UK and everything is cheaper. Top price tickets in Warsaw Opera House are £40.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Me too! It's on right now. Great music.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Have been busy holidaying and graduating so have not had a day to watch any new opera yet. Hope to rectify this come next week. However, more journey time = more opera time and a few days ago travelling meant I listened to some operas I possess which are comparatively underplayed.
Still like this a lot but it tends to be one that needs a full listen rather than dipping in hence its lack of play


This one has been listened to even less (much to my shame I think it's only my second time listening to it in full I think?)

.
I like Simon Boccanegra. I like it a lot more than Aida for certain (need to re-listen to Nabucco but probably more than that as well. I know for a fact I like Don Carlos more even though I have yet to carve out the time to listen to my recording of that in full). Well worth a listen for a change from the usual.

Throughout the holiday on various drives I have listened to excerpts of this again...


Much like Un Ballo In Maschera repeat listenings of Il Trovatore are warranted as there are lots of jewels hidden throughout the opera and very few dull or lifeless passages like my favourite other two Verdi. It took me nearly a year to come close to thinking I might know what Trovatore can offer and it is perhaps not as instantly likable as La Traviata was for me but its balance of voices (good parts for all four main voice types, a great opening led by the bass plus awesome chorus scenes) and the glorious melodies mean it's now tying with Un Ballo in Maschera and Rigoletto in a three way duel for favourite Verdi (I still love La Traviata though. Its just the third act never grabs me... )

Travelling is a great opportunity to listen to opera.

Hope you're enjoying your free time.

[Florestan]

Me too! It's on right now. Great music.

Seems like the only readily available recording of Le Cid. Fortunately it is a great recording. Such a beautiful opera! I have a DVD also, with Placido, but the leading lady in that does not look the part. (In the Charleton Heston El Cid movie, the leading lady definitely looks the part.)

[Luiz Gazzola (Almaviva)]

Seems like the only readily available recording of Le Cid. Fortunately it is a great recording. Such a beautiful opera! I have a DVD also, with Placido, but the leading lady in that does not look the part. (In the Charleton Heston El Cid movie, the leading lady definitely looks the part.)

That's an opera I don't know. From Massenet I know Manon, Thaïs, Werther, Cléopâtre, Le Roi de Lahore, Don Quichotte, and Cendrillon but not El Cid. I look forward to discovering it.

[Povero Buoso]

How strange Le Cid seems to have been very popular in Paris before disappearing and falling into relative obscurity. Anyway today was the long drive back from Dublin with my family (i wasn't driving). I decided to continue my recent Verdi Splurge and listen to this again.


Not heard it in full for a while I still love it as much. A great balance of voice types with even the minor bass roles of Tom and Sam having some real meat to dig their teeth into during the end of act 2 and throughout act three. Then because the drive was a very long one I though I might have time for this



I timed listening to the two exactly right as with the combined journey to the port and from the port the two operas slotted in perfectly with no time for another. Don Carlo is not among my favorite of favourites but is miles ahead of Aida and Nabucco as well as a more captivating listen than Boccanegra (I might be being unfair to poor Nabucco so will try and re-listen to that as well and I also might try banging my head against the wall again and see if Aida can be salvaged as it seems to be so popular yet fails to click with me so utterly in comparison to the others I have seen which were are all in a similar period of development). I must agree in some part with what was said somewhere else on the site by Luiz about the Fontainebleau act 1. Its music is nice enough and an enjoyable listen but in comparison to what follows pales slightly and is a lot more meandering and sentimental. What makes Don Carlo such great fun in the other four acts is not only is the music excellent but the libretto and plot are one of the strongest and deal with much deeper themes than a lot of other Verdi operas. The false doomed romance of the original act one just doesn't quite gel as much. I also really think that the opening for act two works much better as starting a drama. Act two feels like the proper start with the great chorus and the monks opening piece. That being said I loved my second full listen through and remember why I gave such high marks when I first saw it over half a year ago (has it been that long time really flies!)