[Itullian]

 

[Monsalvat]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni
Daniel Barenboim: Berliner Philharmoniker, RIAS Kammerchor (1991)
Ferruccio Furlanetto, John Tomlinson, Lella Cuberli, Waltraud Meier, Uwe Heilmann, Michele Pertusi, Joan Rodgers, Matti Salminen

Also listened to the 1955 Karajan Die Fledermaus earlier.

After listening to most of Act I, I think this fits rather neatly with my earlier assessment of Barenboim's Le nozze di Figaro: it is conceived on the heavy side, but not as extremely as Klemperer's recording. The reverberation I noted in Figaro is more welcome here in this darker opera. Meier and Tomlinson caught my eye, as Wagnerian singers who worked frequently with Barenboim; Meier's Elvira is unfortunately not to my liking. As with Klemperer, who cast Christa Ludwig as Elvira, I think the role might not be well-suited to that kind of dramatic mezzo-soprano (even Zwischenfach) voice, but better to a true soprano. I'm finding that I am slowly warming up to it. That said, casting someone better known as Kundry than Elvira does make sense for the heavy, dark conception Barenboim obviously has of this opera. His conducting is not nearly as dark, slow, or weighty as Klemperer's, although the voices of both Don Giovanni and Leporello here are on the dark side. And as with that Figaro recording, I'm enjoying this but I wouldn't favor it over Giulini or Fricsay, for example. I think Klemperer is the easiest point of comparison to this recording but this is more balanced and moderate than Klemperer's take.

 

[Op.123]

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, having not listened to it for a fair while. Freni is a gorgeous Butterfly, sensitive to the text and very moving. Pavarotti does very well in a role which doesn’t require too much more than to be well sung and Ludwig is as touching a Suzuki as any. Kerns isn’t quite so successful compared to Gobbi or Taddei but isn’t unpleasant. Karajan’s conducting is obviously the controversial factor here and while it works I wish it was a little quicker. Interestingly the tempos are only a little slower than his recording with Callas, most tracks only 5-10 or so seconds longer and the whole thing only about 7 minutes longer, but you feel those extra seconds. He succeeds in making it work, or rather the cast does and with such beautiful sound and such a good cast I won’t complain too much.

 

[SixFootScowl]

 

[Monsalvat]

Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Simon Rattle: London Symphony Orchestra (2016)
Magdalena Kožená, Christian Gerhaher, Gerald Finley, Franz-Joseph Selig, Bernarda Fink, Joshua Bloom, Elias Mädler

 

[Itullian]

 

[SixFootScowl]

Der fliegende Holländer (original Paris version, 1841)

 

[Itullian]

Der fliegende Holländer (original Paris version, 1841)

Period Instruments?

 

[SixFootScowl]

Period Instruments?

Yes, here is part of a review:

This recording is of Wagner’s first version of Dutchman, the version that was finished in Paris in 1841 in which the action is set in Scotland and some of the characters are differently named (Erik is Georg; Daland is Donald). The overture and final moments do not include the “redemption” music, and at various points throughout the score there are bits of orchestration and word-setting that are different. But most urgently, the performances in Cologne from June, 2004, from which this recording was put together, used period instruments, so the textures as we know them are very different indeed. Both valved and natural trumpets and horns are used, and the effect is fascinating.

Wagner: Dutchman, period instruments/Weil - Classics Today

www.classicstoday.com

 

[Amara]

Two recent opera purchases, one a hit and one a miss.

The hit: Bayerische Staatsoper's Die Tote Stadt, starring Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen, recorded Dec. 2019.

This was my first time seeing Die Tote Stadt, and I don't think it can get better than this. Simon Stone is the most exciting new opera director working today, as this production and his recent Lucia at the Met prove. Jonas Kaufmann gives his best dramatic performance since perhaps Werther. He really excels at these depressed lovesick roles. And Korngold's music itself proves Die Tote Stadt is rightfully getting a resurgence. Hope the Met will put this on in the next few years.

The miss: Theater an der Wien's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, starring Bejun Mehta as Cesare, Louise Alder as Cleopatra, and Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo, recorded Dec. 2021.

Giulio Cesare is my favorite opera and the one I've seen the most times. David McVicar's 2005 Glyndebourne production, later transferred to the Met, is my favorite Met HD. Sadly, Keith Warner's production, set in the Egyptian Theatre, cannot compare. Worst of all, this version is cut down to 3 hours, leaving out beautiful arias like "Belle dee di questo core." Louise Alder, however, made a great Cleopatra and has a lovely voice.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Edit: Horrible cover (^) but that is the one I have. Much preferred is this cover.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Hollander off this. Another 1841 version.

 

[Monsalvat]

Alban Berg: Wozzeck
Daniel Barenboim: Staatskapelle Berlin (1994)
Franz Grundheber, Waltraud Meier, Graham Clark, Mark Baker, Günter von Kannen, Endrik Wottrich, Dalia Schaechter

I haven't heard this opera in a few months but it is certainly among my favorite twentieth century operas. I think @Neo Romanza's thread got me thinking about it again. I haven't ever heard this particular recording, though I have Abbado's recording which also features Franz Grundheber in the title role. The sound is good; I can't help but wish it was done in the studio. I think the fact that it was live does help some of the singers add urgency here, and while there aren't all that many stage noises or coughs, there aren't zero. There is no applause, however. The orchestra is in fine form here, with Barenboim adding (or subtracting) color to paint quite a grim picture.

 

[Monsalvat]

Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff
Georg Solti: RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra (1963)
Geraint Evans, Giulietta Simionato, Ilva Ligabue, Robert Merrill, Mirella Freni, Alfredo Kraus, Rosalind Elias

Though Solti was firmly Decca property, this recording was made for RCA under their partnership with Decca (this partnership was also responsible for the Leinsdorf Die Walküre, and Karajan’s Carmen with Leontyne Price, for example). There is some distortion in places such as the very beginning; Solti is energetic as ever and the beginning chords are evidence of that fact. However this is in good sound and as long as you can handle the extreme vitality of Solti here, it is an enjoyable, theatrical experience. The humor and life in Verdi’s score really comes through in this recording, I find. Anyway, this is an opera I always like to return to. Funny how at the end of a long career writing tragedies, Verdi’s swan song was one of the great comedic masterpieces of opera.

 

[starthrower]

Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina

I'm listening to this one on YouTube. I'd never heard of it before. Starting with Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin 1986; Staatskapelle Berlin, Dirigent: Otmar Suitner. Will try the Kubelik next.

 

[SixFootScowl]

 

[SixFootScowl]

This one very good!

 

[SixFootScowl]

There are several different packagings of this set, but this one, and as far as I know only this one, has three disks with one act per disk.

 

[Op.123]

I wanted to listen to a good stereo recording of Nabucco, and having found both the Gardelli and Sinopoli recordings a little disappointing I wasn’t hoping for much here.

The best part of this recording is undoubtedly the conducting of Riccardo Muti. It’s incisive and well driven and suitably exciting. Manuguerra is a very good Nabucco, if not as interesting as Gobbi, but he has a solid voice if not one to rival the pre-war baritones who sadly never recorded the full role. I would say I marginally prefer him to Gobbi and Cappuccilli. Ghiaurov is good, although his voice is past it’s best here and he audibly struggles with some of the higher lines. Obraztsova is a guilty pleasure of mine and I like her here very much even if she isn’t the most subtle. Between Prevedi, Domingo and Luchetti I have no problem saying I prefer Luchetti who seems unjustly forgotten. Which leaves Scotto… well, the technique is horrible, harsh, often disturbing in the upper reaches, and very variable as if she’s changing her method of production measure by measure. The role is too big for her and I don’t particularly like her, even in the light repertoire she recorded ten years before this. But compared to Dimitrova and Suoliotis she makes the role far more interesting if being totally eclipsed by Callas. All in all I actually enjoyed this and I will give Muti most of the credit for that.

 

[SixFootScowl]