Goodall's patient pace gives rise to some of the most luxuriant, beautiful Brangane singing I've ever heard. Just listen to that legato in "Welcher Wahn! Welch eitles Zürnen!"; genuine bel canto Wagner (compare to the studio Kleiber recording of the same passage where Brigitte Fassbaender can barely catch her breath keeping up with Kleiber's frenetic pace). Anne Wilkens sounds very soprano-sih (or is Gray just very mezzo-ish?) and makes it hard to discern whether Isolde or Brangane is singing, which is a boon for Wilkens really. Recommended for Tristan fanatics with a thing for Brangane's music.
Natalie
This remastering is amazing. The mono is so spacious on some of these songs that it could easily be mistaken for stereo. DECCA was really... decades ahead of the curve.
I'm listening to the Jewel Song and Vissi d'arte, both recorded in 1949. You know that commercial, I can't believe it's not butter? I can't believe it's not stereo.
The old, fragmentary recordings of legends are often touted as mere "historical documents" due to the technological constraints of the day, but not these fragments.
I've listened to the uploaded versions on YouTube here and here; they must have been from bootleg editions or an earlier edition because my CD sounds much better, especially the Vissi d'arte, where the constant scratching is minimized and the sound is much more transparent and direct, no mono "smokescreen" or distance.
I due Foscari - Giuseppe Verdi
Carlo Maria Giulini (1951)
Francesco Foscari - Giangiacomo Guelfi
Jacopo Foscari - Carlo Bergonzi
Lucrezia Contarini - Maria Vitale
Orchestra: RAI, recorded live.
Last edited by Soave_Fanciulla; January 5th, 2018 at 08:04 AM.
On the new DVD of Humperdinck's Königskinder (Kaufmann, Rey), I've been unable to locate Act III. At the end of Act II, the video automatically returns to the opening screen. Trying to use the chapter listing doesn't seem to work, either. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem, or is my disk a dud?
Originally Posted by MAuer
You should have two discs. Look behind the booklet. If Act 3 is not there, you've got a dud.
Natalie
Or the other picture, if you're fan of the bad covers thread in other section:
http://www.freecodesource.com/album-...elo,-Gatti.jpg
A long long time ago Almaviva said that he doesn't need an iPhone... well, here I'll try to persuade him otherwise, if he hasn't changed his mind already and own five of them.
The iPhone/Ipod Touch is an ideal opera listening device. I'm listening to Aida on my iPod Touch; Adobe Acrobat reading app zoomed in on the two columns (Italian, English, French and German are on far left and right) in the EMI Aida libretto pdf (read from a Dropbox app, don't use iBooks, the reader is not as good as Adobe Acrobat; with Dropbox you basically have an Adobe library, you can separate your files into various folders, it's really convenient) while listening to Aida on the same device. The iPhone is a much better pdf libretto reader than the Kindle because it can keep your zoom in seamlessly when you change from page to page while on the Kindle when you change page. You have to re-zoom every time from page to page, which is incredibly awkward and time consuming when you're reading it horizontally. The zooming function on the Kindle is primitive relative to the iPhone. Paper librettos are a hassle even if you have them, you might lose them, pages might get crumpled, organize them, get them out of the case, etc, reading the libretto on your computer is torture since you can't change positions, walk around, etc (you have to sit, which is bad for your health), reading them on your Kindle is impossible and the Kindle is rather large relative to the iPhone.
I read libretti on my Kindle. Works very well indeed.
I've changed my mind. I'm the happy owner of a 4S iPhone (Siri rocks!) and two iPods. Sometimes I borrow my wife's iPad. I'm always in awe of my son's Mac Pro. Yep, we're now an Apple family.
Still, my laptop is an Acer Aspire.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
Here, bourgeois, two iPods? Give one to soldier freezing at the front. You have warm shoes? Stay at home. They'd be more useful to the worker.
But, but, but... you had recommended five iPhones! I was already shopping for the other four, feeling very inadequate for having just one. So, what do I do now? I'm confused! Should I send my second iPod to the freezing soldier but buy the four additional iPhones anyway? This might create four more envious soldiers, no? Help, I need advice! I want to be a cool geezer! What is the recommended number of iPhones and iPods for a cool geezer?
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
The first thing you do when you're confused is inviting your family and best friends to your house and singing with them about being confused, preferably with usage of striking hammer in your head as metaphore of how you feel.
After that, everything will come to resolution. Eventually.
What model and size of hammer should I use? How hard should I strike my head with it? If I knock myself down unconscious, I won't be able to sing. I find your instructions very imprecise and confusing, sir. Like this you'll increase my confusion instead of solving it. Please make sure you give me all the specifics, I don't want to botch this. With all those freezing soldiers out there, I must get it right, poor things.
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
I do not have any i-whatever-products. Never have. I'm getting on with matters without them just fine.
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