What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Festat]

Every sound engineer makes choices. This was certainly a choice...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

[Clayton]

Every sound engineer makes choices. This was certainly a choice...

What's happened to the recording?

[Festat]

What's happened to the recording?

Microphones are really far away from the singers. Higher voices can handle it better but Plishka, Zancanaro and Bruscantini sometimes sound like they didn't bother to stand up and recorded from the waiting room. Singers occasionally drown under the orchestra. Also super dry, little to no decay time. Makes me wonder what the sound engineer was after.

[Clayton]

...Makes me wonder what the sound engineer was after.

ah, by the sound of it (excuse the pun), work experience.

[Clayton]

a mini heat wave (28 C in August is a heat wave for me) and was tossing and turning last night

I thought to start the day with A Midsummer Night's Dream but completely missed the target and ended up with



very powerful Verrett

[Clayton]

followed by a favourite that I've not listened to for um... maybe a few weeks. or maybe a few months. I don't know. Time charting seems to be going downhill recently.



Cavalli: L’Ormindo
Sandrine Piau (L'Armonia), Martín Oro (Ormindo), Howard Crook (Amida), Dominique Visse (Nerillo), Magali Léger (Siele), Jean-François Lombard (Erice), Stépanie Révidat (Erisbe), Karine Deshayes (Mirinda), Jacques Bona (Hariadeno), Benoît Arnould (Osmano)
Les Paladins, Jerôme Correas

[Amfortas]

I thought to start the day with A Midsummer Night's Dream but completely missed the target and ended up with

Well . . . not that far off the mark. Just another cheery Shakespearean comedy.

[Hoffmann]

Microphones are really far away from the singers. Higher voices can handle it better but Plishka, Zancanaro and Bruscantini sometimes sound like they didn't bother to stand up and recorded from the waiting room. Singers occasionally drown under the orchestra. Also super dry, little to no decay time. Makes me wonder what the sound engineer was after.

What a waste of a good cast - shame!

[Festat]

Not all is lost, though! It is not unlistenable, just annoying. Domingo is pretty good in it.

[Festat]

Not the best shape from Pavarotti — it is 1989 — or Nucci. This Rigoletto is June Anderson's Rigoletto.

[Hoffmann]

After enduring week after week of summer heat, this morning was rather pleasant, so able to get out for a walk.

My listening selection was one of my new purchases:



Love Arleen Auger!

[Festat]

This deserves the yas gif.

[Clayton]

maybe inspired by Amfortas' big recent buying spree, this morning I listened to the other Ernani



Verdi: Ernani
Luciano Pavarotti (Ernani), Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Leo Nucci (Carlo), Paata Burchuladze (Silva), Linda McLeod (Giovanna), Richard Morton (Riccardo) & Alastair Miles (Jago)
Orchestra & Chorus of Welsh National Opera, Richard Bonynge
Studio recording, May 1987

La Stupenda is a bit wahwah (technical term for err... well you know what) but still impresses, Pav is fab and Burchuladze is evil!

[Festat]

I went back to that Rigoletto today just because of June Anderson's Caro nome.