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What opera are you currently listening to / watching? CD/DVD

2M views 19K replies 410 participants last post by  Malx 
#1 ·
Share your current cd or dvds here.......................
 
#142 ·
Lately listening to some of the lesser-known pieces for me from "99 Most Essential Opera Highlights"

I'm considering starting up on La Traviata with Joan Sutherland tomorrow if the mood strikes me. I listened twice through and read the libretto once about two years ago, but haven't touched it since.
 
#144 ·
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - the Metropolitan opera/James Levine, for the umpteenth time lately. I love it soooo much!

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#147 ·
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - the Metropolitan opera/James Levine, for the umpteenth time lately. I love it soooo much!

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And I'm watching this one:



Overall I like the Met one better but I like Jerusalem and Prey as Walther and Beckmesser in this production.

My favourite is the Glyndebourne production although the Walther is a bit sub-par vocally.
 
#148 ·
Onto the third act of La Traviata (it takes me a few days to get through a full opera as I have limited "focused listening" time)
I really like the music in this one! The highlights don't QUITE hit me as hard as my favorite Mozart or Puccini bits, or "song to the moon", one of my top arias.

That said, it is one of the most "musically complete" of operas that I've listened to, if that makes sense. It is consistently melodic throughout. Being primarily an opera LISTENER rather than viewer (though I really want to see a live opera) It's wonderful to have fine orchestration throughout, and rarely do I feel bogged down by long reciciatives! The first act I especially enjoyed!

This is why it's good to take "spending freezes" periodically. I forgot what I was missing in my own collection!!
 
#150 ·
The highlights don't QUITE hit me as hard as my favorite Mozart or Puccini bits
you know, that's interesting; I was talking to my mum about La Traviata vs. La Boheme and she mentioned she liked the music of La Boheme better, which surprised me, as I feel exactly the opposite of what you are saying. La Traviata's music has more punch for me, whereas with Puccini the music sort of never stops, it just continues on from aria to aria, without breaks. I like breaks, even recitatives (if they aren't overly long).
 
#149 ·
Tristan und Isolde - with Siegfried Jerusalem and Waltraud Meier in the main roles, performed by the Berliner Philarmoniker and Daniel Barenboim.
 
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#151 ·
That is interesting. :) I may be a rarity in that La Boheme is not my top Puccini opera. I prefer Madama Butterfly, Turandot, and Suor Angelica! I prefer Traviata over La Boheme as well. Though to be fair, I've listened through only once or twice, so that position may not be solidified yet.
 
#153 ·
My favourite Puccini is La Fanciulla del West. It's through-composed and very evocative. I think the music of Turandot is wonderful but I hate the characters. Il Tabarro is pretty good too. I've been over-exposed to Boheme and Butterfly but I thought they were good when I first heard them.
 
#156 · (Edited)
I think the music of Turandot is wonderful but I hate the characters.
The stroy takes place in China but there is a mistake since Turandot (originally pronounced Turan-dokht a combination of two words Turan and Dokht) means the duaghter (in persia Dokhtar or in old persia Dokht) of Turan, not China. Wikipedia has described Turan as a part of the ancient persian empire but it needs perhaps a little more clarification: Turan which means the land of Tur was a place in central asia. Tur was the elder son of Fereydoun, the king of persia (Iran) in ancient myths. Fereydoun had three sons Tur, Salm and Iraj and divided the land between the three of them, but Turanian people later migrated into central asia, built their own kingdom and began a very long time war with Iranians as described by Ferdowsi in his famous epic masterwork The Shahnameh (the book of kings). Later historians and scholars reffered to China and Tibet and even the Turkish areas in asia all as the ancient land of Tur (and so Turan) but this is not true since the origins of the Turanian people is from persia and of course totally different from the Chinese or Tibet people.

Liù is a character added by the librettists I think as a resembling of an innocent woman such as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly and a model for the sacrificing love, not existed in this way in the original Carlo Gozzi's commedia dell'arte and Schiller's adaptation.

The music is superb anyway. I love it!
 
#154 ·
I know what you mean, mamaS. I have never been able to raise much enthusiasm for La Boheme...it's a bit of a La Bore, for me. I do enjoy a bit of Butterfly, though.....
Like you, I particularly enjoy the music and drama of Turandot ..and would always be happy to enjoy a bit of a Ping, Pang and Pong with you if you ever get up to North Yorkshire?!
 
#163 ·
I am very partial to Boheme, perhaps because it was the first opera I saw and the first opera CD I bought and as luck would have it, I randomly picked Karajan/Pavarotti/Freni set and felt in love with Freni ever since. I felt it to be very poignant, very introvert and the arias are just so beautiful. I also really love act II of la Fanciulla del West but found act I a bit boring until the tenor shows up.

Currently I am listening to Madame Butterfly with de los Angeles, di Stefano, Gobbi, love the singers but Gavanezzi really rushed through the whole opera and it is a bit upsetting. For de los Angeles, probably better to stick with her 2nd recording with Bjoerling.
 
#158 ·
With reference to the character of Liu, I remember reading at the time I became familiar with the work...about the Puccini's housemaid that was supposedly having an affair with the composer. When she was accused of this by Puccini's wife and it all became a matter of public conjecture and gossip, the maid committed suicide. I think that biological examination afterwards revealed that the lady in question was innocent, being still in an 'intact' state, as t'were and anyway, Puccini had been having his affair it seems with the maid's cousin! This real-life tragedy and drama naturally had a profound effect on the sensibilities of the composer and the character of Liu...the slave who commits suicide and dies in innocence and for Love, reflects this.
 
#160 ·
I only have listened to one. It's a budget MP3 on Amazon, when I first was getting my feet wet with opera. I believe some of the spoken bits are cut, but I'm not a purist by any means so it didn't trouble me.

It has Leonie Rysanek Ernst Haefliger and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra & Chorus.
 
#161 ·
Meistersinger, Knappertsbusch,1960
Myto
fantastic.
 
#164 ·
I've got so many Butterflies around, I've had to move into a Hot House....which in North Yorkshire, is costing me a 'bomb' to heat?! If I had to recommend a Flutterby...it would probably be Barbirolli/Scotto/Bergonzi. And for a cd of excerpts, I enjoy listening to Leinsdorf/Moffo.( I noticed a used cd of the latter available last week on Amazon.uk in vgc for 1 pence!...plus p&p)
 
#166 ·
New anniversary edition of the Krauss Ring.
4 beautifully done libretti enclosed along with a 5th book
on this Ring.
I think it sounds very good so far.
have listened to Rheingold so far.
great Ring.
 
#167 ·
Thanks to a post by 'andorra' & subsequent visit to a website that assesses the excellence of recordings, sonically....I've found an opera set that I purchased X years ago, that I have never ever listened-to. I saw that it had achieved a 4.3 rating in the listings & it suddenly twigged/lit up the one spare brain cell inside my mental cavity (there's plenty of cavity!..) & I've now collected it from out of storage, for an Easter listening. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone else is familiar with this work....

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It looks a bit 'saucy' from the box graphic....but I bet it won't be?!!
 
#176 ·
Thanks to a post by 'andorra' & subsequent visit to a website that assesses the excellence of recordings, sonically....I've found an opera set that I purchased X years ago, that I have never ever listened-to. I saw that it had achieved a 4.3 rating in the listings & it suddenly twigged/lit up the one spare brain cell inside my mental cavity (there's plenty of cavity!..) & I've now collected it from out of storage, for an Easter listening. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone else is familiar with this work....

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It looks a bit 'saucy' from the box graphic....but I bet it won't be?!!
how was it, then?
 
#168 ·
Walkure, Krauss

great singing with Hotter as Wotan
and Varnay as Brunhilde.
 
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#170 ·
I'm turning to Toscanini and listening to his 'Otello'.
Although I would suggest to any other to choose Placido Domingo in the title role, my first & preferred Otello recording was Toscanini's. I'm still very fond of it.

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Like the Moor of Venice, I'm off to the Isle of Cyprus for a lengthy stay in a friend's apartment. We'll have some sunshine but as for what else to expect in the now altered financial circumstances that Cyprus finds itself...time alone will tell.
But whatever....'Happy Listening' to all TC-ers!

Sorry about the extra graphic...obviously, I've got too much wind tonight?!
 

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