What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Itullian]

[Florestan]

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Verdi: Ernani
Vincenzo La Scola (Ernani), Daniela Dessi (Elvira), Paolo Coni (Carlo), Michele Pertusi (Silva), Diego Cossu (Riccardo), Riccardo Ristori (Iago), Marina Giorgio (Giovanna)
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia, Giuliano Carella




Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Angela Denoke (Katerina), Misha Didyk (Sergey), Kurt Rydl (Boris), Marian Talaba (Zinovy), Michael Roider (Shabby peasant), Nadia Krasteva (Sonyetka), Donna Ellen (Aksinya), Janusz Monarcha (Priest), Dan Paul Dumitrescu (Old convict), Eijiro Kai (Sergeant) & Wolfram Igor Derntl (Teacher)
Chorus & Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Ingo Metzmacher

[Florestan]

[Florestan]

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Yet another attempt to get to like Strauss a bit better. I spent the time veering between "yes, this is pretty, Plac is sounding good, gorgeous orchestration" and (more often) "whoa whoa tone it down, my ears are going to explode, and someone turn off the soprano please".

Strauss, R: Die Frau ohne Schatten
Hildegard Behrens (Die Färberin), Julia Varady (Die Kaiserin), Plácido Domingo (Der Kaiser), José van Dam (Barak), Reinhild Runkel (Die Amme), Sumi Jo (Stimme des Falken)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

[Florestan]

Yet another attempt to get to like Strauss a bit better. I spent the time veering between "yes, this is pretty, Plac is sounding good, gorgeous orchestration" and (more often) "whoa whoa tone it down, my ears are going to explode, and someone turn off the soprano please".

Strauss, R: Die Frau ohne Schatten
Hildegard Behrens (Die Färberin), Julia Varady (Die Kaiserin), Plácido Domingo (Der Kaiser), José van Dam (Barak), Reinhild Runkel (Die Amme), Sumi Jo (Stimme des Falken)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti

I have that CD set. It is quite different musically than other operas in my collection, probably the most modern opera I own. I enjoyed it on DVD (Solti) and have a second DVD (Gergiev) yet to watch.

[MAuer]

Waiting for that DVD (I hope) with Kaufmann and Nylund.

[Itullian]

[Florestan]

[MAuer]

Conductor/orchestra: Christopher Franklin, Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra
Cast: Cinzia Rizzone (Zeliska/Malvino), Francescantonio Bille (Amorveno), Tatjana Charalgina (Floreska), Dariusz Machej (Peters), Giovanni Bellavia (Moroski), Bradley Trammell (Ardelao)

It had been quite a long time since I'd listened to Mayr's "Polish" adaptation of J.N. Bouilly's Léonore, ou l'Amour conjugal. The music is pretty, though the work itself is dramaturgically weak, having removed any political reason for Moroski's (i.e., Pizarro's) hatred of Amorveno (i.e., Florestan). The cast is good (Cinzia Rizzone) to adequate.

[Itullian]

For Annie

[Florestan]

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

For Annie

Still in my Verdi top 5!

[Itullian]

Still in my Verdi top 5!

Mine too.