What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[ritter]

Buona sera, vossignoria illustrissima!

I listened to A te, o cara from this box just yesterday and my reaction was: WTF! Too nazalised, as if he's either ironic or drunk. Am I mad?

The answer to your question is, most probably, "yes!". 

TBH, I listened to Act I when I first bought this at the end of December, and today it was Act II, with Mrs. Oropesa's wonderful "Qui la voce..." that I found superb. I don't recall finding anything objectionable  in Brownlee's "A te, o cara", but must admit I pat much more attention to the soprano part in I puritani, compared to the other roles. I'll re-listen to the famous tenor aria and revert.

[Tsaraslondon]

I think Eugene Onegin is one of the most perfect operas ever written, its musical language absolutely right for what it depicts in every scene.

This is a great modern alternative to the Khaikin recording which is still my favourite. Schicoff is a bit overwrought as Lensky, but the rest of the cast is, especially the young Hovrostovsky, is excellent and Bychkov's conducting is unobtrusively right.

[Lisztianwagner]

Richard Wagner
Die Walküre

Jessy Norman (Siegliende), Gary Lakes (Siegmund), Kurt Moll (Hunding), James Morris (Wotan), Hildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), Christa Ludwig (Fricka)
James Levine & Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

[Wendell_E]

I've actually got the Ponto release of this recording, but this image gives casting details.

[Florestan]

Orquestra Elizabethan, de Sydney.
Ballet de l'Òpera Austràlia.
Cor de l'Òpera Austràlia.
Director del cor: Gordon Kember.
Producció: Òpera Austràlia, des del Sydney Opera House.

Lucia ............. Joan Sutherland
Edgardo ............. Richard Greager
Enrico ............. Malcolm Donnelly
Raimondo ............. Clifford Grant
Normanno ............. Robin Donald
Alisa ............. Patricia Price
Arturo ............. Sergei Baigildin 
Escenografia ............. Henry Bardon
Il·luminació ............. Don Byrnes
Vestuari ............. Michael Stennet
Coreografia ............. Lois Strike
Direcció d'escena ............. Brad Jarrett
Direcció musical ............. Richard Bonynge

[Tsaraslondon]

I just got the urge to listen to this great opera again.  It's not perfect by any means, but, on balance, this, its first complete recording, is still the best.

[Wendell_E]

Yesterday was a "snow day" off from work, so I thought I'd watch something appropriate. I've had the Blu-ray for some time but hadn't gotten around to watching it. I've only seen/heard the opera once before, a 1977 Indiana University English-language production shown on PBS. Wonderful music, and more dramatically coherent than many R-K operas.

[André]

First, lets' get straight to the unimportant: the absurd star billing given Hildegard Behrens on the cover. She has only a small role in the first act, never appears in the long second act, and has a leading part for about 12 minutes in the third act. Her singing hovers between effortful and plain ugly. The main character is of course Guercoeur, a bass (the admirable José van Dam).

Second, Guercoeur rivals Pelléas et Mélisande for non-action dullness. I'm talking about the non-plot only (the music is lovely). Guercoeur has died in battle. He's in Heaven but longs for his wife so he gets a furlough to get back to earth. Unfortunately for him his wife Giselle is now paired with his best friend, Heurtal. Betrayal, remorse, forgiveness, general wringing of hands. Disillusioned, Guercoeur goes back to heaven, where he is treated to a lengthy preach from the goddess Truth.

It's a symbolist text concocted by Magnard himself. Apart from Guercoeur, Giselle and Heurtal, all the characters are immaterial: Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Suffering, Ghost of a Woman, Ghost of a Virgin, Spirit of a Poet (soloists), Illusions (chorus). Magnard titled it a « Tragédie (drama) en musique ». It lasts a little over 3 hours.

The music is beautiful, but in the first two acts it's all slowish, slow or slower. There's a modicum of turmoil at the beginning of Act 3 when the town's folks and Heurtal blame Guercoeur for the war that has brought famine and devastation to his city. Guercoeur is killed (again). He goes back up to meet the goddess Truth, who prophesies that «  Work will enable Man to conquer poverty, science will enable him to conquer pain and he will combine Reason and Faith. Behold the dawn of a new age (...) which will liberate you from hunger, in which your awareness, suffused with light, will develop in an atmosphere of goodness, in which your victorious spirit, the limit of matter, will comprehend with ease the Laws of the Universe. Then Earth will have completed its circle, Man his destiny ». Amen (yawn).

  There really should be an orchestral arrangement of the best bits. The opera has many superb orchestral preludes and interludes. Paris' Opéra Comique wouldn't stage it because there were too many of them (among other things). A Guercoeur suite or symphony would be nice to have.

[Roasted Swan]

First, lets' get straight to the unimportant: the absurd star billing given Hildegard Behrens on the cover. She has only a small role in the first act, never appears in the long second act, and has a leading part for about 12 minutes in the third act. Her singing hovers between effortful and plain ugly. The main character is of course Guercoeur, a bass (the admirable José van Dam).

Second, Guercoeur rivals Pelléas et Mélisande for non-action dullness. I'm talking about the non-plot only (the music is lovely). Guercoeur has died in battle. He's in Heaven but longs for his wife so he gets a furlough to get back to earth. Unfortunately for him his wife Giselle is now paired with his best friend, Heurtal. Betrayal, remorse, forgiveness, general wringing of hands. Disillusioned, Guercoeur goes back to heaven, where he is treated to a lengthy preach from the goddess Truth.

It's a symbolist text concocted by Magnard himself. Apart from Guercoeur, Giselle and Heurtal, all the characters are immaterial: Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Suffering, Ghost of a Woman, Ghost of a Virgin, Spirit of a Poet (soloists), Illusions (chorus). Magnard titled it a « Tragédie (drama) en musique ». It lasts a little over 3 hours.

The music is beautiful, but in the first two acts it's all slowish, slow or slower. There's a modicum of turmoil at the beginning of Act 3 when the town's folks and Heurtal blame Guercoeur for the war that has brought famine and devastation to his city. Guercoeur is killed (again). He goes back up to meet the goddess Truth, who prophesies that «  Work will enable Man to conquer poverty, science will enable him to conquer pain and he will combine Reason and Faith. Behold the dawn of a new age (...) which will liberate you from hunger, in which your awareness, suffused with light, will develop in an atmosphere of goodness, in which your victorious spirit, the limit of matter, will comprehend with ease the Laws of the Universe. Then Earth will have completed its circle, Man his destiny ». Amen (yawn).

  There really should be an orchestral arrangement of the best bits. The opera has many superb orchestral preludes and interludes. Paris' Opéra Comique wouldn't stage it because there were too many of them (among other things). A Guercoeur suite or symphony would be nice to have.

Great review - I have this set but have never been brave enough to listen to it.  Not sure if you have scared me off or intrigued me!!!

[ritter]

Great review - I have this set but have never been brave enough to listen to it.  Not sure if you have scared me off or intrigued me!!!

My feelings are similar  . I think I listened to it when I bought it upon its initial release, but IIRC have never returned to it and have zero recollection what it's like... 

[Florestan]

Behold the dawn of a new age (...) which will liberate you from hunger, in which your awareness, suffused with light, will develop in an atmosphere of goodness, in which your victorious spirit, the limit of matter, will comprehend with ease the Laws of the Universe

Sounds like AS... 

[André]

Great review - I have this set but have never been brave enough to listen to it.  Not sure if you have scared me off or intrigued me!!!

   Do give it a try. The orchestral interludes are banded separately. You can always start there. Or give the whole thing a listen (reading just a synopsis is okay) while doing something else (on-line scrabble was my getaway).

[JBS]

First fruits of the Puccini Warner box


I don't ever remember hearing this opera, except perhaps via a Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcast. But while looking through Amazon's listings I realized I have one on CD--Callas no less--and one on DVD (with Domingo), but never played either. I'll take that as a signal that I need to actually listen to all the stuff in the Callas set that's been sitting on my shelf for years that I've never listened to.

[San Antone]

First fruits of the Puccini Warner box


I don't ever remember hearing this opera, except perhaps via a Metropolitan Opera Saturday broadcast. But while looking through Amazon's listings I realized I have one on CD--Callas no less--and one on DVD (with Domingo), but never played either. I'll take that as a signal that I need to actually listen to all the stuff in the Callas set that's been sitting on my shelf for years that I've never listened to.

Manon Lescaut was one of the first operas which got me hooked.  I didn't realize at the time that it was considered one of Puccini's "minor" works - I thought it was fantastic and still hold it in high regard.

Caballe/Domingo (1972) is excellent, but so are Freni/Pavarotti (1993) and Te Kanwa/Carreras (1988).

[JBS]

Manon Lescaut was one of the first operas which got me hooked.  I didn't realize at the time that it was considered one of Puccini's "minor" works - I thought it was fantastic and still hold it in high regard.

Caballe/Domingo (1972) is excellent, but so are Freni/Pavarotti (1993) and Te Kanwa/Carreras (1988).

I think I avoided it because of the storyline--it's more of a shabby little shocker than Tosca ever was--and of course the improbability of the Louisiana desert.

[San Antone]

I think I avoided it because of the storyline--it's more of a shabby little shocker than Tosca ever was--and of course the improbability of the Louisiana desert.

Funny. I am from Louisiana and laughed out loud when I saw that in the libretto.  But came to understand it as a bad translation.  There is some flat land a little north west of New Orleans, and figured that was what it was referring to.

[Lisztianwagner]

Richard Wagner
Tristan und Isolde

Jon Vickers, Helga Dernesch, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier, Karl Ridderbusch
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Herbert von Karajan & Berliner Philharmoniker



Although provably Furtwängler's recording remains unparalleled for me both for the quality of the vocal interpreters and for the mastery of the orchestral playing, the Karajan can absolutely bear comparison; its sublime and passionate atmospheres, the profoundness and the emotional power it conveys are deeply overwhelming.

[nico1616]

There is certainly not a lack of outstanding Entführung recordings, and this one is one of them. The reason is at first Fritz Wunderlich, the best Belmonte of them all. I also like Rothenberger's Konstanze, very noble indeed. I knew Reri Grist from Verdi's Ballo, where she is a bit shrill at times but not here, Blondchen suits her perfectly. Unger and Corena are a luxury casting for the other male roles, and the young Mehta proves himself to be a promising conductor in 1965.

[Florestan]

I think I avoided it because of the storyline--it's more of a shabby little shocker than Tosca ever was--and of course the improbability of the Louisiana desert.

Nothing at all improbable about it. When Abbe Prevost wrote his novel, Louisiana was to France what Australia was to become to England later: THE place to send away unrepentant, multiply convicted criminals.

[JBS]

Nothing at all improbable about it. When Abbe Prevost wrote his novel, Louisiana was to France what Australia was to become to England later: THE place to send away unrepentant, multiply convicted criminals.

That's not the improbability. The improbability is that somewhere in Louisiana there's a desert in which it was impossible to find water. It's true that French-owned Louisiana covered an immense area that included much of the Great Plains, but the closest area with almost no water would be the desert Southwest, which in Prevost's era was Spanish territory.