May have to check that one out, haven't really seen much opera of the modern variety. Really enjoyed the clip on Youtube, real element of suspense. Although one comment on it says that this aria is the only palletable one in the whole opera...I take it you'd disagree with this?

Saz
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“Opera is an 18th- and 19th-century art that must find a 20th-century audience.”

I've just bought my first Blu-ray opera:

Les Troyens (Gardiner).jpg

What a performance! Although Susan Graham is great as Dido, I thought Anna Caterina Antonacci simply stole the show as Cassandra. She has tremendous stage presence and her acting is just as good as her singing. I must investigate her other opera recordings, although sadly they are few in number.

The conducting of John Eliot Gardiner is superb - dramatic and sensitive - and his orchestra perform wonders for him.

Although I still enjoy the Met/Levine DVD set with Domingo and Norman, not forgetting Colin Davis on CD, this Blu-ray set is now definitely my favourite version.

It's certainly whetted my appetite for getting more operas on Blu-ray with the lossless audio. Incidentally, I understand that, on Blu-ray discs, technically, the full 5.1 surround track has just as much "resolution" (if that's the correct term) as the stereo track. Apparently that is not true on DVDs. Can anyone confirm that as I'm not really a techie in these things!

You are right about the audio, although it's a bit of a marketing thing. While there is true lossless surround on the pcm bitstream track (which requires support from a receiver with this feature; i.e., a halfway decent one made in the last 4 or 5 years or so), imo it's a moot point. Even the lossy track is encoded at extremely high bit rates that for the vast, vast majority of the population (per blind abx tests) are indistinguishable from lossless.

By all means if your receiver supports pcm bitstream decoding, use that track. If it doesn't, I wouldn't rush out and spend $500 on a new receiver just for that feature.

That said, I really don't want this to turn into an audiophile "I can hear the difference between 320 vbr and lossless, I don't need an abx to prove it to myself" thread, so I'll leave it at that.

My favourites are all by Ponnelle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dietrich-Fis...5&sr=8-2-Nozze, my favourite of the three. It is also available on YouTube in it's entirety

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rossini-Cene...2977&sr=8-3-La Cenerentola

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rossini-Barb...3034&sr=1-2-Il Barbiere

Clips are on Youtube, sorry I can't post pictures

After looking through this thread, it occurs to me that reading this site could be dangerous to my bank account

Very true. For what it's worth, though, you can be sure it's money well-spent.

This was my first ever opera DVD



and I was disappointed mainly because I didn't like Karita Mattila's Amelia. Makes me sound shallow but I didn't like her clothes, makeup or hair! And Lucio Gallo's Paolo wasn't evil at all he was just a pantomime villain.

Then I got this one



and I was disappointed again. In this production, before Boccanegra discovers that Amelia is his daughter he lusts after her which I found unpleasant. I know in the story there's the scene where Paolo is goading Adorno to kill Boccanegra & he hints that the Doge wants Amelia for himself & refers to Boccanegra's infamous pleasures. (presumably referring to his unmarried love affair with Maria 25 years earlier which would brand him a lech in 1339 but there's nothing elsewhere to suggest he's a lecherous old man now).

Anyway, undaunted I got this one



and it's wonderful! I love it all but especially the scene where Boccanegra discovers Amelia is his daughter and the Council Chamber scene ending with Paolo being forced to curse himself. Te Kanawa, Agache & Scandiuzzi for me are perfect.

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Annie

Did everyone (anyone?) hear that James Levine is out for the season at the Met?
His health problems continue...sorry he's unwell...
Drat! I was so looking forward to his Lulu on the 8 May matinee live broadcast!...

Did anyone see the PBS TV broadcast of Les Contes du Hoffmann? It was wonderful! They will next show this season's Carmen (the pace of which I found rather brisk) and Der Rosenkavelier (with my favourite Christine Schäfer).

I just ordered these:


(I realized the youtube videos won't last in the long run since a lot of the recitatives have been cut leaving a lot of the scenes incomplete)



I had seen some clips of this from youtube too but probably transferred from VHS; the quality is horrible and the music is off pitch.. so I needed the real thing

Both of these feature Richard Croft - I admit his voice has that special something. The fact that I love Händel and have a growing interest in Rossini (after I bought the great DVD of La Pietra Del Paragone) doesn't exactly make it less worth the money.

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****Karen Patricia****
http://www.karen-patricia.com

Just ordered

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...A300_SH20_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...A300_SH20_.jpg

Just arrived


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...A300_SH20_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...A300_SH20_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...A300_SH20_.jpg

Stop me before I buy again

How do I post pictures?
I tried this from another thread
We didn't scan those images. We used the [img] code to display them in the thread. Just find a picture online, right click it, go to properties, and you'll see its URL Address. Copy that and paste it in between [img] and [/img]. It would look like this without the asterisks: *[img]*http://www.beethoven.com/gif.html*[/img]*

@karenpat Despite still being faithful to old Joe Green I am trying to get into Rossini a bit more.

I've just got this



it's the one where Joyce DiDonato appears in a wheelchair after breaking her leg. It's delightful.

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Annie

You are in for a great treat, I've got all of those apart from the Barbiere and enjoyed them all immensely. When you've seen the two Don Giovannis, tell us what you think of them.

By the way if you post the pictures between [img] they will display as above - you can access this by clicking on the icon of a mountain against a yellow background.

My sentiments exactly.

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Natalie

I watched this wonderful opera twice in the last week:



The cast of young singers was gorgeous, particularly Ruth Ann Swenson as Constanze, the Osmin was suitably swaggering although quite touching when he realised he was going to loose his Blonde, and the non-singing part of the self-renouncing Pasha Selim was a revelation in terms of committed stage acting. Just watch his face when he realises he has the son of his greatest enemy in his power.

The staging and costumes are traditional, in the intimate setting of the Schwetzingen Festival house. Add to that Mozart's music, rollicking and lyrical in turns, and it's a winner.

@GrossFugue: Sorry about your bank account, but if you like the others you mentioned above, you'll probably want this one.

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Natalie

This is a test

I do have this DVD and I am a little obsessed with it