What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Festat]

I haven't heard this one before... any comments?

Very nice, but cut. Sophie Daneman as Rodelinda is a little breathy, I think, but nonetheless good. Very much worth it, although the Curtis-Kermes set should be the one to have if you only want one.

But who would want only one Rodelinda anyway?

[Clayton]

...But who would want only one Rodelinda anyway?

can't imagine

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Don Giovanni isn't exactly good marching music because of the recits but I love this version so I hop skip and jump through those bits.

[Amfortas]

It's worth it to hear the voices recorded here, not just Melchior and Lawrence but Hofmann and the others too. Wonderful dramatic account.

And how about that super-fast tempo for the final destruction of Valhalla? They say Bodanzky used to rush through so he could go to his card game afterwards.

[Florestan]

Beethoven: Leonore
Edda Moser (Leonore), Richard Cassilly (Florestan), Helen Donath (Marzelline), Eberhard Büchner (Jaquino), Theo Adam (Pizarro), Hermann Christian Polster (Fernando), Karl Ridderbusch (Rocco)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt

Excellent Leonore. Actually the best Leonore recording out there.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Sometimes you just have to listen to something that you can sing along with.

[Povero Buoso]

Sometimes you just have to listen to something that you can sing along with.

One day I will watch Carmen all the way through. Recently on my trip up to Manchester I listened to an old favourite.


Recently I stated how I had begun to respect and like Il Trovatore and Un Ballo In Maschera to the same extent as Rigoletto. I now realize that while I do really love those operas they are tied in second place for me. Rigoletto has no obvious flaws that I can see. Story-wise I think it is probably the strongest of the Verdi Operas I have seen (Don Carlos runs it close though in that regard) musically it is fantastic with no bits that aren't Verdi at or near to his best and the characters are as a collective whole all somehow believable! Even the minor characters like the courtiers are developed in this regard and the moral ambiguity of most of the characters (everyone except Gilda really) aids the opera in being a excellent piece overall!

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

Recently I stated how I had begun to respect and like Il Trovatore and Un Ballo In Maschera to the same extent as Rigoletto. I now realize that while I do really love those operas they are tied in second place for me. Rigoletto has no obvious flaws that I can see. Story-wise I think it is probably the strongest of the Verdi Operas I have seen (Don Carlos runs it close though in that regard) musically it is fantastic with no bits that aren't Verdi at or near to his best and the characters are as a collective whole all somehow believable! Even the minor characters like the courtiers are developed in this regard and the moral ambiguity of most of the characters (everyone except Gilda really) aids the opera in being a excellent piece overall!

Even Sparafucile has scruples. "Listen Maddalena, the hunchback has paid me to kill someone, I won't kill him as well. What do you think I am? A robber? A bandit?"

[Povero Buoso]

Even Sparafucile has scruples. "Listen Maddalena, the hunchback has paid me to kill someone, I won't kill him as well. What do you think I am? A robber? A bandit?"

I have always argued that of the remaining characters Sparafucile may actually be the most moral never swerving fro his code. Reasons for this include :
1.Unwilling to rob from an easy victim
2.Also unwilling to kill anyone but the target his client has put forth
3. Demonstrates compassion unlike nearly any other character in the opera bar Gilda. (While he does refer to Rigoletto as the hunchback at no point does he mock him or deride him as the courtiers or the duke do instead treating him with significant respect in a client-contractor relationship).
4. Is unfailingly polite in his interactions with Rigoletto despite Rigoletto abrasiveness during their first meeting.
5. His offer to kill the next person to knock on the door before midnight can easily be presumed to have been a gambit Sparafucile expected to fail in an attempt to soothe Maddalena. The fact someone did and then said they were a beggar (a person unlikely to be missed to a character such as Sparafucile) was not something that a man of his word such as himself could or would pass up and he saw an easy way out of a predicament that was not otherwise an easy one to resolve in accordance with his moral compass.

A consummate professional who does his utmost to keep to his word and demonstrates empathy and respect even to those others actively shun. He just happens to be an assassin.

[Florestan]

[Festat]

[Clayton]

A fabulous gem in the Handel library:

Handel: Faramondo
Max Emanuel Cencic (Faramondo), Philippe Jaroussky (Adolfo), Sophie Karthäuser (Clotilde), Marina de Liso (Rosimonda), Xavier Sabata (Gernando), Terry Wey (Childerico), In-Sung Sin (Gustavo), Fulvio Bettini (Teobaldo)
Choeur de la Radio Suisse, Lugano & I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis 2008



There are some beautiful and wonderfully familiar sounding melodies in this gem sung by a superb cast. A strong recommendation for Handel fans!

- - - Updated - - -

The *wonderfully familiar* bit makes it sound like recycled material which is not what I meant. More that it's so wonderful that it's instantly likeable...

[Soave_Fanciulla]

The Fidelio from this:

[Povero Buoso]

Back to university for the masters the journey was a long one which led to an eclectic mix of opera listening. Firstly one of my favourite Verdi's


Always an enjoyable listen. Feeling like a change of pace from my usual verdi puccini listening I went to another opera that i enjoy but don't listen to as often as I should because I do enjoy it greatly.



I love Written on Skin a lot I must confess that although I like and find interesting the music for the Boy and Agnes my favourite character (in that he is to my mind one of the great opera villains) and my favourite music in the piece is that for the Protector which Christopher Purves sings brilliantly. As a piece overall it is fantastic though! It is amazing how well Written on Skin works just as a listen and not necessarily just as a watch. I hope I am in London for part of my masters research when it returns to Covent Garden this year as the opportunity to see Purves in the role (also Hannigan!) live is one that I am really hesitant to pass up.

Finally a full listen to a verismo piece that is not Puccini!


I do like Pagliacci a lot and I think it is superior to Cavalleria Rusticana. I wish that Tab and Pag (Il Tabarro and Pagliacci)was a more common occurrence than Cav and Pag because I think the former pairing complements each other more than the latter despite the longer distance between Il Tabarro and Pagliacci in terms of time composed.

[Florestan]

The Fidelio from this:

Excellent! That is the best and an excellent Leonore recording. I have a different one and did not realize you have Fidelio also on that set (back image here). I don't think I have that Fidelio in my couple dozen Fidelios.