What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Florestan]

[Florestan]

Sonnambula is almost all I have been listening to for 10 days now.

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

This afternoon's listen:


Attachment 11751

Oooh. I have that. It's superb.

[Florestan]

I really like this recording. The soloists come through very clear and are more prominent than the orchestra or choral parts compared to other recordings.

[Florestan]

[Hoffmann]

I haven't listened to La Sonnambula in a while, but was in a mood for Bellini, so cued up an old favorite:





This Norma set - recorded at Walthamstow Assembly Hall in 1964, sounds live and captures the voices of Sutherland and Horne truly at their peaks, not to mention Yvonne Minton's lovely singing in the small role of Clothilde. The guys here don't much impress me - John Alexander's Pollione sounds stressed and Richard Cross' Oroveso not very profundo - but Sutherland and Horne together, this early on? Fabulous!

[Florestan]

This arrived today and is absolutely wonderful! Singers include Sutherland as Amina and Gedda as Elvino. I didn't realize I had purchased the deluxe edition so when ebay said it was delivered, I came home to find a giant box. Opening it, I found what I thought was an LP set because that is the exact size of the box. But it was sold as CDs and at the lower right corner it says "compact disks." So, what the box includes is two single jewel cases in a plastic holder with two full album sized booklets on top, one a libretto with English translation, the other a lengthy discussion book on La Sonnambula, about 3/16-inch thick! The recording, is awesome and the sound quality quite good for the year of the production. The soloists come through very clear. Highly recommended, but beware, some listings are only the CDs in jewel cases (from the images), so be sure to get the whole package.

[Hoffmann]

Another gem from the ULP. This recording, from 1977, has a great cast (albeit no countertenors in this period) including a marvelous Marilyn Horne at her peak, Victoria de los Angeles.

[Florestan]

A little break from La Sonnambula.

[Florestan]

[Itullian]

A beautiful recording of an underrated, imo, Strauss opera.
Buy it, you'll love it.

[Hoffmann]

I like this set. Beautifully conducted by Simon Rattle. Angela Denoke does a nice job as Leonore and I love Alan Held. I've seen him sing Wotan here in DC maybe 1/2 dozen times - he does not have a heroic stature, but sings very expressively and is a great Pizarro. Jon Villars' Florestan does well, but his voice seems a bit light for the tough role.

[Hoffmann]

And, inspired by Florestan:




Nice, but I like the Muti with Gruberova/Baltsa and the Luisi with Netrebko/Garanca better.

[Florestan]

I like this set. Beautifully conducted by Simon Rattle. Angela Denoke does a nice job as Leonore and I love Alan Held. I've seen him sing Wotan here in DC maybe 1/2 dozen times - he does not have a heroic stature, but sings very expressively and is a great Pizarro. Jon Villars' Florestan does well, but his voice seems a bit light for the tough role.

Awesome Leonore on this. I think I have to get a copy. I have 2 dozen or so Fidelios, but somehow not this one.

[MAuer]

I like this set. Beautifully conducted by Simon Rattle. Angela Denoke does a nice job as Leonore and I love Alan Held. I've seen him sing Wotan here in DC maybe 1/2 dozen times - he does not have a heroic stature, but sings very expressively and is a great Pizarro. Jon Villars' Florestan does well, but his voice seems a bit light for the tough role.

I've been tempted to buy this from time to time, primarily for Villars' Florestan. (I do prefer the lighter voices in this part, and enjoyed KFV in the Met Fidelio broadcast a couple of years ago.) I also like Alan Held, whom I've heard live and who sings the Water Sprite on the recording of Rusalka I have.