[VitellioScarpia]

Agree on the singing in the Klemperer. I like the Bernstein, too.

You guys are going to contribute to my poverty as I have to get the Bernstein now...

 

[SixFootScowl]

You guys are going to contribute to my poverty as I have to get the Bernstein now...

You can't beat the addition so long as you frequent this site. :lol:

 

[VitellioScarpia]

You can't beat the addition so long as you frequent this site. :lol:

Are you recommending that I quit the site to get over my compulsions? Why? As I have already said in another thread, the best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Are you recommending that I quit the site to get over my compulsions? Why? As I have already said in another thread, the best way to deal with temptation is to yield to it.

Well, as someone said, buying lots of music is a pretty good addiction compared to some things one can be addicted to, and it's good for your health too!

 

[gellio]

You guys are going to contribute to my poverty as I have to get the Bernstein now...

No, your first purchase should be the Jacobs Leonore. I think it is the single best recording of Leonore/Fidelio.

 

[vincula]

I would like to invest in one of the Furtwängler recordings of Fidelio, but I'd like one that includes the libretto, even though I have to pay a bit more for it. Anyone can recommend some?

Regards,

Vincula

 

[SixFootScowl]

I would like to invest in one of the Furtwängler recordings of Fidelio, but I'd like one that includes the libretto, even though I have to pay a bit more for it. Anyone can recommend some?

Regards,

Vincula

I am not sure which ones have the libretto and in English. Budget labels may not have a libretto. Reissues may not have a libretto. If you don't need the exact libretto for the recording at hand, you can purchase one separately, such as the English National Opera Guide to Fidelio, which includes a libretto (English and german side-by-side).

 

[Rogerx]

Well, as someone said, buying lots of music is a pretty good addiction compared to some things one can be addicted to, and it's good for your health too!

I like to saying: Amen........................

 

[vincula]

I am not sure which ones have the libretto and in English. Budget labels may not have a libretto. Reissues may not have a libretto. If you don't need the exact libretto for the recording at hand, you can purchase one separately, such as the English National Opera Guide to Fidelio, which includes a libretto (English and german side-by-side).

Thanks a lot for the link :tiphat:

Regards,

Vincula

 

[Rogerx]

You guys are going to contribute to my poverty as I have to get the Bernstein now...

It's marvelous, hurry.....

 

[wkasimer]

If you don't need the exact libretto for the recording at hand, you can purchase one separately, such as the English National Opera Guide to Fidelio, which includes a libretto (English and german side-by-side).

The ENO guides are terrific - I have all of them.

 

[adriesba]

Warning. I'm listening to this Fidelio on Spotify and the Introduction music in Act II is also cut. The mp3 tracklist that Spotify has for all the versions of this recording has this cut.

The problem with the cut is most likely faulty files, not a cut made when it was recorded. Others in this thread say there is no cut. This is a frequent problem with Warner downloads. The Gardelli Guillaume Tell download for instance is missing half the overture. If you get the CD, there should be no problem. Personally, I would avoid getting the downloads of any EMI release that has eventually come under Warner, particularly if they have that style of cover shown here with the fancy tan background with the original cover in the corner. That is, unless the CD is absolutely unavailable.

 

[adriesba]

What does anyone think of the Maazel recording on Decca with Birgit Nilsson?

 

[bobleflaneur]

What does anyone think of the Maazel recording on Decca with Birgit Nilsson?

Superb, exciting conducting -- some of Maazel's best work.

I'm not as taken with the singers, but perhaps you like Nilsson better than I do.

 

[SenaJurinac]

Klemperer's with Jurinac can be listened here:

I have also "burnt" my own CD from it, as the original is not available anymore

 

[mparta]

Klemperer's with Jurinac can be listened here:

I have also "burnt" my own CD from it, as the original is not available anymore

A little self-serving, Sena Jurinac, but if this has been discussed already, I'll vote for this Jurinac versus the EMI Ludwig ( I guess), I have this testament and do like it.

I think that despite being Beethoven, it gives up its treasures unwillingly. I've seen it in the theatre 3 times, Mattila at the Met, Pieczonka in Salzburg and last spring, Nina Stemme in Paris. I have several DVDs and they all have something. The oldest with Richard Cassilly, Anja Silja and Lucia Popp\ has a very gentle and much more singspiel-ish feel to it. The Bohm with Jones I think is pretty good and when James King opens his mouth he hardly sounds starved, but that is some gorgeous singing.

It's been a long time since I've thought about Bernstein. Maybe to give it a try.

The Nina Stemme performance I heard was with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Semi-staged. Stemme has a big voice, I was front row and it was impressive. I heard her Elektra in Vienna, a singer who does not tire and has the technique, breath support (and comfortable shoes) to just go on.

 

[mparta]

After I finish my big Wagner challenge with 13 Rings, I've decided to do a Fidelio challenge to serve as a 'bridge' between Wagner operas and Beethoven symphonies. This is the list I've made in Spotify:

Mono:
Furtwängler Salz 48
Furtwängler WPO 53
Karajan WStO 53
Böhm WStO 55
Fricsay BaySO 57
Jochum RAI 57
Karajan WStO 60
Karajan WStO 62

Stereo:
Klemperer PO
Knappertsbusch BaySO
Maazel WPO
Bernstein WPO
Böhm SKD
Karajan BPO
Masur LGO
Haitink SKD
Barenboim SKB
Solti CSO
Abbado Luc

One of these evenings I'll watch the Bernstein DVD that is uploaded on Youtube.

Did I leave any historical recording out?

Leopold Ludwig with Cassilly, Silja and Popp.

 

[mparta]

Since I don't see this otherwise mentioned. I like it, a little light but I will watch it again.

 

[Andante Cantabile]

A little self-serving, Sena Jurinac, but if this has been discussed already, I'll vote for this Jurinac versus the EMI Ludwig ( I guess), I have this testament and do like it.

Renowned vocal teacher and consultant Vera Rosza had singled out Jurinac's Leonore as the most memorable she had heard:

I have heard five or six very good Leonores, but I think there is one who should be mentioned by name. That is Sena Jurinac, a singer who had me in tears when she appeared in the opera at Covent Garden. Despite lacking dramatic power and even experiencing a little trouble at the top (Klemperer was conducting and his slow tempos did not help) she was the one who made Leonore's struggle the most convincing, in part precisely because she did not have the raw power of some other singers. She was so human and so sincere. One felt for her as an ordinary woman and that made her suffering all the more believable.

I fully agree with this view. Unfortunately in her two extant complete recordings in the role, for Westminster in studio in 1961 conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch and off-air live recording of the 1962 ROH Covent Garden performance conducted by Klemperer, mentioned here, she was severely saddled by the slow (and in Kna's case excruciatingly so) tempo adopted by these conductors she worked with. In the case with Klemperer, she found negotiating his slow tempo a trial and recalled (as I remember having read somewhere) that Klemperer 'drove her up the wall'.

 

[Handelian]

Renowned vocal teacher and consultant Vera Rosza had singled out Jurinac's Leonore as the most memorable she had heard:

I fully agree with this view. Unfortunately in her two extant complete recordings in the role, for Westminster in studio in 1961 conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch and off-air live recording of the 1962 ROH Covent Garden performance conducted by Klemperer, mentioned here, she was severely saddled by the slow (and in Kna's case excruciatingly so) tempo adopted by these conductors she worked with. In the case with Klemperer, she found negotiating his slow tempo a trial and recalled (as I remember having read somewhere) that Klemperer 'drove her up the wall'.

I'm not surprised that Klemperer drove her up the wall because by all accounts he was a particularly loathsome individual, taken to bouts of manic depression. I have both Klempers recordings both the studio and the live and frankly I can never quite see what people go on about them for despite the excellence of the casting. Klemperer is just too slow in his tempi