What opera have you been listening to, lately?

[Florestan]

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[Florestan]

[Clayton]

I've been spending some time with Artaserse and Artaxerxes.





As the time to ship out to the mountains gets ever closer, I need to decide which operas to carry on the portable device. The CDs will be shipped by sea freight so may take about eighty or ninety days. The recordings copied to the i-pod will be the only ones available for that period.

This was not a good start. They are three quite different treatments of the same opera by three different composers and I like them all and can't choose between them.

[MAuer]

That's a very long time to go without one's recording collection. How many operas can you fit on your i-pod?

[Clayton]

I have forty-seven at the moment with the memory full. Actually if I think I will be busy for the first few weeks setting up home, maybe it should just about be enough to stop me going in to complete withdrawl!

[Clayton]

At some point, I imagine I will also have to say good bye to the Marantz system as this one is set up for the almost unique British 240v power supply. So at a volume where very electronic component is singing fortissimo,

[Florestan]

I have forty-seven at the moment with the memory full. Actually if I think I will be busy for the first few weeks setting up home, maybe it should just about be enough to stop me going in to complete withdrawl!

Let's see now. 47 recordings for me would be 25 La Sonnambula, 10 La Traviata, 6 Martha, 4 L'amico Fritz, a Fidelio and a Hollander!

[Florestan]

Got this somewhere last year as a digital download for $10. Just listened to Norma starring Caballe. They have a second Norma recording in the box featuring Theodossiou.

Torino della RAI Sinfonica Orchestra, Torino della RAI Choir
Georges Prêtre
Montserrat Caballé (soprano), Ivo Vinco (bass), Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo-soprano), Robleto Merolla (tenor), Anna Maria Balboni (soprano), Mino Venturini (tenor)

[Florestan]

Listening to the live version (DVD) of this, which has Hans Helm instead of DFD.

[Clayton]

I was in London a couple of weeks ago and wanted to go to Handel's house. Unfortunately I had lunch in a pub that left me feeling completely outraged that in the twenty-first century we still have these tourist rip-off's in central London. I decided it would be insulting to Handel if I visited his house in such a foul mood and thought I would go on a different occasion.

In the meantime, I have been having a little Handel festival in my house.

[Florestan]

^ Awesome assortment Clayton!

Now I am listing to this multiple times as it just arrived at my door yesterday:

[Ann Lander (sospiro)]

I was in London a couple of weeks ago and wanted to go to Handel's house. Unfortunately I had lunch in a pub that left me feeling completely outraged that in the twenty-first century we still have these tourist rip-off's in central London. I decided it would be insulting to Handel if I visited his house in such a foul mood and thought I would go on a different occasion.

Well that pub has shot itself in the foot (sorry for the mangled metaphor) because you're unlikely to go there again. I hope it goes out of business.

Hope you can visit Handel's house before you depart these shores.

In the meantime, I have been having a little Handel festival in my house.

Nice!!

[MAuer]

One of my favorite tear-jerkers! (Seriously, I'm always close to tears when poor Butterfly speaks with Kate Pinkerton.)

[Florestan]

[Florestan]