What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Soave_Fanciulla]

wow... I can't imagine driving 500 miles.

If I drive 500 miles in England, I'll fall off the edge of the country and land in whatever's on the otherside of the edge long before I reach that number.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

I thought I would throw in a clip of Samuel Ramey singing Argante's entrance "Sibilar gli angui d'Aletto" from Rinaldo as a teaser:




The photo is Ramey in the Met production from the early 80s.

Much as I love Sam the Chest, this version is terribly heavy, slow and ponderous to my ears.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

^^^
Talking of Sam The Chest, I listened to this today



Nucci is just fabulous.

[Clayton]

Discworld... makes so much sense

[Sonata]

In the mood for some Russian opera, so I went with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. Lovely!

[Clayton]

In the mood for some Russian opera, so I went with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta. Lovely!

Absolutely fabulous (daaahling) and my charity shop find of the year. It's the finds like this one that happens occasionally that makes me pop in to the shop at least once a week!

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There's also the Anna Netrebko recording which is also very good

[Florestan]

Absolutely fabulous (daaahling) and my charity shop find of the year. It's the finds like this one that happens occasionally that makes me pop in to the shop at least once a week!

- - - Updated - - -

There's also the Anna Netrebko recording which is also very good

'fraid I cheaped out and got the Hans Rotman Iolanta set which can be had for a dollar. Perhaps I am missing out?

[Clayton]

...Perhaps I am missing out?

Armed with Florestan's attitude of "try anything that I think sounds interesting", I think surely not. I'm reading Florestan's posts to check I'm not missing out on something.

If you did like the Iolanta, then I will recommend either or both of the Gergiev and Villaume productions though. I'm sure Florestan will be able to find a free sample somewhere.

[Florestan]

Armed with Florestan's attitude of "try anything that I think sounds interesting", I think surely not. I'm reading Florestan's posts to check I'm not missing out on something.

If you did like the Iolanta, then I will recommend either or both of the Gergiev and Villaume productions though. I'm sure Florestan will be able to find a free sample somewhere.

Well I only listened to Iolanta a couple times. Need to give it another spin. Perhaps tonight. Scope out those other two recordings for deals. Actually, it is likely that what I need to get fired up over this opera is a DVD!

Oooh, ooooh,oooh! I found one to watch with subs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSn0qvYJsCs

[Florestan]

[Sonata]

My first listen to Rossini's comic romp Il Turco in Italia, with Cecelia Bartoli and Ramon Vargas. Conducted by Chailly

[Florestan]

My first listen to Rossini's comic romp Il Turco in Italia, with Cecelia Bartoli and Ramon Vargas. Conducted by Chailly

Now I know what I will listen to tonight. Have if from a library sale and only listened once. Worth another go.

EDIT: Well I only got partway in and gave up. Just wasn't interesting me, but then I went to it's counterpart (also a low buck library get) and really am liking it a lot. Larmore's voice here is awesome:

[Hoffmann]

I finished up Act III of Lohengrin from my walk the other day, because I couldn't stand not hearing "In fernem Land":




Every time I listen to this, I know why I love it so much: Jess Thomas' clarion singing, Elizabeth Grümmer's effortless and expressive Elsa and DFD's Telramund. Oh, and Rudolf Kempe's perfectly paced conducting.


Then, it was time for something completely different:

[Clayton]

I finished up Act III of Lohengrin from my walk the other day, because I couldn't stand not hearing "In fernem Land":




Every time I listen to this, I know why I love it so much: Jess Thomas' clarion singing, Elizabeth Grümmer's effortless and expressive Elsa and DFD's Telramund. Oh, and Rudolf Kempe's perfectly paced conducting...

One of those days I'm not following the cricket; I'm following Hoffmann here today.

[Sonata]

I'm hungry for some more Russian opera! From the depths of the unlistened-to-pile, I'm trying Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades for the first time. So far so good! I plan to collect more Tchaikovsky opera in the near future.