Verdi - La Traviata - Gheorghiu, Nucci, Lopardo - Solti (1994)

Verdi - La Traviata - Gheorghiu, Nucci, Lopardo - Solti (1994)

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1 - 134min.

Subtitles available in English / French / German / Spanish / Chinese

DECCA 2001

Performer: Gillian Knight, Leo Nucci, Frank Lopardo, Leah-Marian Jones, Angela Gheorghiu, Robin Leggate, Richard Van Allan, Roderick Earle, Mark Beesley
Conductor: Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus



"… the sets and staging are so superbly accomplished, the lighting so artful and the cast so perfect-looking, that this is the rare live performance that is a complete joy visually… It helps that they have the Violetta of one's dreams, Angela Gheorghiu… It is unlikely that we will ever see a finer Violetta on film or, for that matter, in the theater! The disc also serves as a wonderful memorial to the great Covent Garden performances given by Sir Georg Solti. The DVD transfer is crystal-clear… La Traviata [is] a must!" (James Camner, Fanfare, November/December 2001)

Placido Domingo in Concert - 3 DVD Box

Placido Domingo in Concert - 3 DVD Box

3*DVD5 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - Dolby Digital 2.0 & 5.1

Cascade 2005

* Placido Domingo Live in Miami
* Placido Grandissimo
* Placido Domingo meets Mstislav Rostropovich

Soloists: Mstislav Rostropovich, Julia Migenes, Ana Panagulias u.a.
Orchestras: Symphony Orchestra of Miami, Kirov Theatre Orchestra, National Symphonic Orchestra of Spain
Conductors: Eugene Kohn, Manuel Alejandro

In the sold-out Miami Arena, Domingo gives an evening of musical delight to the crowd. Joined by American soprano Ana Panagulias, he presents a bounty of favourite arias, duets and songs by Puccini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer and others. His talent sparks the Miami crowd to give an ecstatic ovation for one of the master entertainers of our time.
Officially opening the Seville World Expo in 1990, Placido Domingo gives a thrilling live concert performance to a capacity crowd at the Seville Stadium. He performs favourite arias by Puccini and Bizet, as well as a selection of popular Spanish songs and zarzuelas. Soprano Julia Migenes joins Domingo in a duet from “Carmen”, and also performs solos from Puccini and Gershwin. Domingo is accompanied by the National Symphonic Orchestra of Spain conducted by Eugene Kohn and Manuel Alejandro. Also joining him is soprano Guadalupe Sanchez and guitarist Ernesto Bitetti.
A concert from the Roman Theatre in Merida, Spain, recorded in 1991, shows Placido Domingo at his best.

Verdi - Giovanna d'Arco - Bruson, Dunn

Verdi - Giovanna d'Arco - Bruson, Dunn

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM - 124min.

Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese

Kultur Video 2006

Performer: Giovanna D'Arco: Susan Dunn, Carlo VII: Vincenzo La Scola, Delil: Pierre Lefebvre, Talbot: Pietro Spagnoli
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Bologa Teatro Comunale Chorus, Bologna Teatro Comunale Orchestra

Please watch the clip at YouTube.

Stage and television director Werner Herzog, one of the most highly acclaimed German film makers of all time, joins forces with the great Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly to effect a masterful rendition of this rarely-performed opera involving spectacular scenes of alternating light and dark, pageantry and intimacy. The production is further complemented by the great Italian baritone Renato Bruson as Giacomo, the American soprano Susan Dunn as Giovanna and the outstanding tenor Vincenzo La Scola as the Dauphin. The magnificent Teatro Comunale di Bologna provides an intimate yet ornate setting for this production of Verdi's seventh opera, the story of the Maid of Orleans. "Certainly the success of this production is due to Herzog … a marvellous and extraordinary production" CORRIERE DELLA SERA.

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - Hofmann, Armstrong, Weikl - Nelsson, Bayreuth 1982

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - Hofmann, Armstrong, Weikl - Nelsson, Bayreuth 1982

DVD9 & DVD5 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, Dolby Digital & DTS 5.1 - 200min.

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish

EuroArts / Unitel

Performer: Peter Hofmann (Lohengrin), Karan Armstrong (Elsa), Elisabeth Connell (Ortrud), Leif Roar (Telramund), Siegfried Vogel (King Henry), Bernd Weikl (Herald)
Conductor: Woldemar Nelsson
Orchestra/Ensemble: Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Bayreuth Festival Chorus
Directed for Stage by Gotz Friedrich
Recorded at the Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 1982

Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Bartoli, Kuebler - Ferro (1988)

Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Bartoli, Kuebler - Ferro (1988)

DVD9 - PAL - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM - 157min.

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian

Arthaus 100 090

Performer: Robert Lloyd, Carlos Feller, Gino Quilico, Cecilia Bartoli, David Kuebler
Conductor: Gabriele Ferro
Orchestra/Ensemble: Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra

Strauss - Salome - Malfitano, Rysanek, Estes - Sinopoli 1990

Strauss - Salome - Malfitano, Rysanek, Estes - Sinopoli 1990

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - Dolby Digital 2.0 - 108min.

Subtitles: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese

NVC

Performer: Clemens Bieber, Camille Capasso, Leonie Rysanek, Horst Hiestermann, Simon Estes, Catherine Malfitano
Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus, Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra

Puccini - Manon Lescaut - Scotto, Domingo - Levine 1980

Puccini - Manon Lescaut - Scotto, Domingo - Levine 1980

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, Dolby Digital & DTS 5.1 - 132min.

Subtitles: Italian/French/German/English/Spanish/Chinese

Deutsche Grammophon 07342411, released 2006

Performer: Mario Bertolino, Phillip Creech, Renato Capecchi, Pablo Elvira, Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo, Isola Jones
Conductor: James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Verdi - Il Trovatore - Corelli, Tucci - Schippers 1964

Verdi - Il Trovatore - Corelli, Tucci - Schippers 1964

2CDs - ADD - 66'01, 56'41

EMI

Performer: Gabriela Tucci, Giulietta Simionato, Robert Merrill, Franco Corelli
Conductor: Thomas Schippers
Orchestra/Ensemble: Rome Opera House Orchestra, Rome Opera House Chorus

This Trovatore is a delicious feast of unsubtle, hedonistic, and fast paced opera. High notes fling about, low notes are punched, middle notes are beautifully yelled. Everything is fat, rich, round, like a feast of BBQ ribs, Coca-Cola, sweet cole slaw, turnip greens, and chitterlings, with watermelon on hot summer day. Wow! I love it! It's got that International Southern feel to it; all sunshine, passion and romance. My kind of opera!

Tucci is easy on the eye and the ear! The best Leonora imaginable! Corelli is just a devil! Merrill's voice never sounded more beautifully uncultivated, Simionato's tone is like a hot chicken, white wine and buttered cornbread all in drippy glory, with a voice so fat she must have thrown at least 11 other children in the fire....all of them natural born. --Amazon customer

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Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Siepi, Gueden, Della Casa - Kleiber 1955

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Siepi, Gueden, Della Casa - Kleiber 1955

3CDs - ADD

DECCA 1999

Performer: Hilde Gueden, Suzanne Danco, Hilde Rössl-Majdan, Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Murray Dickie, Hugo Meyer-Welfing, Anny Felbermayer, Harald Pröglhöf, Alfred Poell, Lisa Della Casa
Conductor: Erich Kleiber
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Date of Recording: 06/1955
Venue: Redoutensaal, Vienna, Austria

Erich Kleiber's 1955 Vienna Figaro marked the first complete recording of what is arguably Mozart's greatest opera. What a performance! Cesare Siepi and Alfred Poell bring Figaro and the Count, respectively, to life, and play off each other, as do the female principals. Hilde Gueden's sweet and straightforward Susanna stands out, along with Fernando Corena's deliciously idiomatic Bartolo (his is still the best Act I Vengeance aria on disc). Kleiber's well-drilled Viennese musicians are an integral part of the ensemble. The legendary conductor's sense of proportion, transition, and rightness of tempo still rings true after all these years. Though the sound may not match contemporary Figaro traversals on CD, musicmaking on this level will never grow old. In sum, a landmark in the annals of Mozart recordings and interpretation. --Jed Distle

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Mahler - Symphony 4 - 7 Early Songs (Berg) - Bonney - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Mahler / Chailly - Vol. 4

Mahler - Symphony 4 - 7 Early Songs (Berg) - Bonney - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

CD - DDD - 73'56

DECCA 2000

Performer: Barbara Bonney
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Symphony no 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler - Date of Recording: 09/1999
Early Songs (7) by Alban Berg - Date of Recording: 09/1999

The Concertgebouw sound is stunningly captured and the orchestra is stylish and full of color. Barbara Bonney is sensational in the last movement and is for me the highlight of this disk. The innocence is perfectly caught. I dare say that there has been too many dull American recordings of Mahler 4 - this is truly magical. The Berg coupling is more romantic than atonal and could hardly be played more persuasively. Guaranteed to give pleasure. --Amazon customer

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Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore - Pavarotti, Battle, Dara - Levine 1991

Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore - Pavarotti, Battle, Dara - Levine 1991

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, Dolby Digital & DTS 5.1 - 128'04

Subtitles: Italian/German/English/French/Spanish

Deutsche Grammophon 07340219, released 2005

Performer: Luciano Pavarotti, Enzo Dara, Juan Pons, Kathleen Battle, Korliss Uecker
Conductor: James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra



This wonderful performance, taken from the stage of the Met in 1992 (and probably with a fix-up session or two), is a grand remembrance of two great singers who have since collapsed in different ways. Pavarotti already was uncomfortably fat when this was taped, but neither his breath nor his physical movements had been badly affected--that happened a mere two or three years later. At 57, the voice was still beautiful and pliable, his phrasing exquisite. And he loved the role of Nemorino and always seemed happy with both its comedy and pathos--he steals every scene he's in, and no one minds.
Kathleen Battle sings Adina with perfect, pearl-like tone, absolute fluency and commitment, and a trill to die for. Just a few years later she imploded emotionally and was fired from the Met for "unprofessional actions ... profoundly detrimental to artistic collaboration." Oh well. Juan Pons is a suitably blustery Belcore, but he lacks the low notes for the part and smudges the few runs the role requires. Enzo Dara is an ideal Dulcamara, just the right combination of huckster and sentimentalist, with ease in every register and with fast music. Korliss Uecker's Gianetta is lovely, and the Met Orchestra and Chorus are terrific under James Levine's perky leadership. --Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

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Verdi - Ernani - Price, Bergonzi, Schippers (1967) (LP transfer)

The young Verdi - Vol. 6

Ernani - Price, Bergonzi, Schippers (1967) (LP transfer)

2CDs - ADD - 2h10'07

RCA 1967

Cast: Carlo Bergonzi - Ernani • Mario Sereni - Don Carlo • Ezio Flagello - Don RuyGomez de Silva • Leontyne Price - Elvira • Júlia Hamari - Giovanna • Fernando Iacopucci - Don Riccardo • Hartje Mueller - Jago
RCA Italiana Opera Chorus/Nino Antonellini
RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra/Thomas Schippers
Studio recording 1967, Roma

(RCA claimed it as a "complete" recording; in fact, Verdi's scholars have found later a few missing parts.)

Leontyne Price has moments when she sounds (as she could be) like the greatest Verdi soprano of the age (the phrases where, forlornly, she asks Ernani for a smile, "il riso del tuo volto", provide an example); she is at least Mirella Freni's equal. And Bergonzi is decidedly Domingo's superior here. His singing is, to my mind, the principal recommendation of the set, not that he is particularly subtle or intense, but that he never wrenches out of shape the melodic line for which his finely produced voice is an ideal instrument. The Muti recording gives very limited satisfaction in the arias, which are such an important part of the opera, the RCA issue (textually complete), while not rising to the standard of the famous old recordings of individual items, presents an attractive alternative. --Gramophone, 8/1998

Jussi Björling - The very best of

Jussi Björling - The very best of

2CDs - ADD - 78'19, 75'46

EMI Classics

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Amilcare Ponchielli, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilèa, Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Georges Bizet, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninov, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Eduardo Di Capua, Rudolf Friml, Henry Ernest Geehl, Jacques Offenbach, Karl Millöcker, Adolphe-Charles Adam, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Helen Guy, Gioachino Rossini
Performer: Jussi Björling, Harry Ebert
Conductor: Nils Grevillius, Sir Thomas Beecham, Renato Cellini
Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra, Royal Orchestra, Stockholm Concerts Associations Orchestra, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

But for one consideration, this would get a "run out and buy this" recommendation since Jussi Björling's name on the cover guarantees that the discs include some of the most glorious singing ever recorded. The problem is that Björling discs will be part of any self-respecting vocal collection. Therefore, such a collection already will include multiple versions of many, if not most, of the 44 selections here. Of course, this need not matter if you want his 1944 "Questo e quella" from Rigoletto or his 1945 "Ah, lève-toi soleil" from Roméo et Juliette, but only have his 1930 versions. They--and other repertoire duplications--are worth hearing, for the voice became more dense over time, the fullness not detracting from the lyric freshness at all. His artistry deepened as well, drama and emotion conveyed through the voice alone, never toying with words and phrases. Björling often recorded Cavaradossi's two big arias from Tosca and another pair from La Bohème, but the ones in this set come from his last years, the Tosca from 1960, and Bohème from the Beecham recording circa 1956.

And there's material here that even seasoned collectors may not have--the Swedish "Silent Night" from 1959 or some American operetta songs sung in English. Some of the great tenor's familiar "hits", such as the Swedish national anthem or the duet from Don Carlo with Robert Merrill, aren't included, but other "very best" items like Beethoven's song, "Adelaide", and the incomparable "Au Mont Ida" from Offenbach's La Belle Helêne are. --Dan Davis, ClassicsToday.com

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Berlioz - Les Troyens - Lakes, Voigt, Pollet - Dutoit 1993

Berlioz - Les Troyens - Lakes, Voigt, Pollet - Dutoit 1993

4CDs - DDD - 237'46

DECCA 1994

Performer: Françoise Pollet, Deborah Voigt, Gino Quilico, Jean-Phillipe Courtis, Jean-Luc Maurette, Michel Beauchemin, Martina Brehmer, Celine Chaput, Gary Lakes, Hélène Perraguin, Gregory Cross, René Schirrer, Marc Belleau, Catherine Dubosc, Michel Philippe, John Mark Ainsley, Claudine Carlson, Lucie Mayer, Joanne Fillion
Conductor: Charles Dutoit
Orchestra/Ensemble: Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Chorus
Date of Recording: 10/1993
Venue: St. Eustache, Montreal

This is a thrilling set to have one marvelling afresh at the electric vitality of Berlioz's inspiration, and marvelling too that the formidable problems of recording so massive a work have been accomplished so confidently. It is a tribute to the performance and the beauty of the recording, as well as to Berlioz, that this massive four hours of music seems so short, with no longueurs whatsoever. This is a historic set that takes its place among the great Berlioz recordings and it is good news that Dutoit will now be tackling more major Berlioz works, including other operas.

Find a long review at Arkivmusic

In the absence of Colin Davis's pioneering Les Troyens recording on Philips (temporary, one hopes), Charles Dutoit's more recent 1993 outing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gives a vital, idiomatically French account of the opera, despite mixed success with the singers. Few operas are as nightmarish to cast as this epic about the Trojan War and its aftermath, and it would have been better made either a few years earlier when Plácido Domingo and Jessye Norman were still performing it, or a few years later, when Ben Heppner and Renée Fleming might be recruited. In the central role of Aeneas, Gary Lakes has been unfairly compared to Jon Vickers on the Davis set, though Lakes came to the recording having done a number of stage performances of Les Troyens, and it shows. As Cassandra, Deborah Voigt delivers magnificent vocalism but is still finding her way into the role. The big disappointment is Françoise Pollet, who is a vocally underpowered, score-bound Dido. Still, Dutoit generates sparks, thanks to his attempted use of Berlioz's fast metronome markings. --David Patrick Stearns

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Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Moffo, Valletti - Leinsdorf 1957

Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Moffo, Valletti - Leinsdorf 1957

2CDs - ADD - 56'58, 64'07

RCA/BMG 1990

Performer: Cesare Valletti, Rosalind Elias, Fernando Corena, Renato Cesari, Mario Carlin, Nestore Catalani, Leonardo Monreale, Andrea Mineo, Maria Luisa Zeri, Renata Mattioli, Mitì Truccato Pace, Maria Grazia Ciferri, Anna Moffo
Conductor: Erich Leinsdorf
Orchestra/Ensemble: Rome Opera House Orchestra, Rome Opera House Chorus
Date of Recording: 07/1957
Venue: Rome Opera House, Italy

This is and interesting recording of Madama Butterfly. Anna Moffo and Cesare Valletti have lighter voices than we usually hear in these roles and the result is very refreshing. Moffo sings very sweetly, her interpretation is girlish but not coy. She brings considerable warmth and tenderness to the role and is quite touching in her desperation and tragic end - a very beautiful and moving performance. Valletti is seductive more carefree than truly callous. Rosalind Elias is a fine Suzuki and her voice blends beautifully with Moffo in the flower duet. Renato Cesari portrays a compassionate Sharpless. Chorus and orchestra lack a bit of polish but are generally good and the sound quite good and atmospheric for its age (1957). --Amazon customer

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Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos - Rysanek, Jurinac, Peerce - Leinsdorf 1958

Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos - Rysanek, Jurinac, Peerce - Leinsdorf 1958

2CDs - ADD - 119'57

DECCA

Ariadne (Primadonna): Leonie Rysanek, Bacchus: Jan Peerce, Brighella: Murray Dickie, Der Komponist: Sena Jurinac, Dryade: Hilde Rössl-Majdan, Echo: Lieselotte Maikl, Ein Musiklehrer: Walter Berry, Harlekin: Walter Berry, Haushofmeister: Kurt Preger, Lakai: Ljubomir Pantscheff, Najade: Mimi Coertse, Offizier: Kurt Equiluz, Perückenmacher: Harald Pröglhoff, Scaramuccio: Kurt Equiluz, Tanzmeister: Murray Dickie, Truffaldino: Günther Adam, Zerbinetta: Roberta Peters
Wiener Philharmoniker & Erich Leinsdorf

Leinsdorf's Ariande auf Naxos is one of the great recordings of the work. The singers are among the finest of the 1950s-1960s, and the Decca transfer is far superior to the RCA vinyl incarnation. Rysanek's huge voice still occasionally overwhelms the microphones, particularly in the closing scene, but she is thrilling to hear. Jurinac, along with Seefried, is one of the great interpreters of the Composer. I once considered Jan Peerce a weak link in the cast, but on hearing him again after several years, I have changed my mind; he is wonderful! Leinsdorf's view of the score is much faster than Karajan, but in the end, he grasps you with his insight and deep love of the music. The Vienna Philharmonic is outstanding. --Amazon customer

Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana - Björling, Tebaldi, Bastianini - Erede 1957

Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana - Björling, Tebaldi, Bastianini - Erede 1957

CD - ADD - 73'10

DECCA 1991

Performers: Jussi Björling, Renata Tebaldi, Ettore Bastianini, Rina Corsi, Lucia Dani
Conductor: Alberto Erede
Orchestra/Ensemble: Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Jussi Bjorling's second "Cavalleria," here with Renata Tebaldi and Ettore Bastianini, briskly and efficiently led by Alberto Erede. A terrific performance indeed!! This is a forthright, lusty account of this blood and thunder piece. Tebaldi is most moving, and the firm richness of Bastianini's baritone is beautifully caught. As always, Bjorling shows himself the most intelligent of tenors. The choristers are enthusiastic and accurate, especially when accompanying Bjorling's superb account of the drinking scene. This is well worth considering!! --Amazon

Bruckner - Symphony No. 9 - Harnoncourt (With The Documentation of The Finale Fragment) 2002

Bruckner - Symphony No. 9 - Harnoncourt (With The Documentation of The Finale Fragment) 2002

2SACDs - DDD - 71'40, 58'54

BMG 2003

This very interesting and worthwhile disc offers an excellent reason to acquire yet another Bruckner Ninth. As usual, Harnoncourt offers a "concept", and as with his recent Smetana Ma Vlast, this one works extremely well. First, he presents a lecture concert (a synopsis of his remarks is translated into English in the booklet) consisting of all the music for the finale that Bruckner actually put into performable shape. This strikes me as a much better solution than to play one of the conjectural completions, none of which makes a very convincing case for this movement. Apparently pages were removed from the composer's manuscript after his death by the nefarious Schalk brothers (or some equally dastardly culprit) and given away as souvenirs. Even today some are coming to light, so if you have any loose papers in your attic or basement and any of your relatives was hanging around Vienna around the turn of the last century, take a close look before you toss them out.
Then comes the main item: the symphony itself in the form of yet another "new critical edition" that sounds identical in all significant ways to what we have heard before. It's Harnoncourt who makes all the difference. This is the most savage performance since Jochum's Dresden recording, and we all know how wonderful that one is. There are moments in the first movement and scherzo where it sounds as though Bruckner was writing a sort of proto-Austrian Rite of Spring. Tempos are generally swift, the playing outstanding. In the first movement Harnoncourt is particularly adept at "getting" from one place to the next. All of those typically Brucknerian passages consisting of sequences repeated millions of times leading, say, from the mysterious opening gestures to the big unison tune, or from there to the songful second subject, never outstay their welcome. The impression of inexorable forward momentum never flags, not even during the long lead back to the recapitulation, and the first movement coda sounds terrifying, as if etched in stone. --Classics Today : [10/11/2003] David Hurwitz

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Mahler - Symphony 3 - Orchestral Suite (Bach) - Lang - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Mahler / Chailly - Vol. 3

Mahler - Symphony 3 - Orchestral Suite (Bach) - Lang - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

2CDs - DDD - 117'35

DECCA 2004

Performer: Petra Lang, Annelie De Man
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Netherlands Children's Choir

Petra Lang sings Nietzsche's "Midnight Song" affectingly, though her tone is brighter than some might prefer and she makes a meal out of the "sch" in the word "Mensch"--but again the playing is just gorgeous (with the oboe glissandos nicely touched in but not exaggerated) and Chailly's pacing is perfect. The fifth movement has the requisite picture-postcard brightness, with excellent choral contributions and a grippingly menacing central interlude (though no one clarifies the percussion exchanges here as well as Bernstein in his first recording for Sony). Once again the woodwinds really shine, as they simply must in a movement with no heavy brass and no violins!

I have no qualms in ranking Chailly's account of the concluding Adagio as one of the two or three finest on disc. The timing (just under 23 minutes) strikes me as just right, and the orchestra simply outdoes itself in the eloquence and poetry of its response--strings and solo oboe to die for. Careful observance of Mahler's dynamics, with burnished brass and timpani at a bell-like forte rather than a vulgar fortissimo, allows Chailly to render the closing pages as convincingly as anyone ever has. You've got to love the way he hangs on to the final fermata, exactly as Mahler demands. This very last chord, with its glowing, organ-like sonority, was the crowning glory of Haitink's performance, and Chailly fully matches him.

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Janacek - The Cunning Little Vixen - Allen, Jenis - MacKerras

Janacek - The Cunning Little Vixen - Allen, Jenis - MacKerras

DVD9 - PAL - 16:9 - All Regions - PCM - Czech - 98min.

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish

Arthaus 2001

Cast: Thomas Allen, Eva Jenis, Hana Minutillo, Libuse Márová, Ivan Kusnjer
Choer du Châtelet, Orchestre de Paris
Conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras
From the Châtelet Théâtre Musical de Paris 1995



There is no other opera quite like The Cunning Little Vixen, which was inspired by a comic strip and presents episodes in the life of a female fox, Sharp-Ears, from her childhood through captivity, escape, maturity, childbearing, old age, and violent death, making way for a new generation. There is a fine balance of cute and funny elements and hard-edged realism in the story, which combines human and animal characters, with several singers doubling animal and human roles. Under a Walt Disneyish surface, the opera reflects deeply on the continuity of life, its beauty and conflicts. The music is bright, energetic, and endowed with an often ethereal beauty. Sir Charles Mackerras, generally recognized as the ultimate Janácek conductor of our time, gives his usual first-class performance, aided by a well-selected cast and important contributions by director Nicholas Hytner and designer Bob Crowley. --Amazon

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Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - King, Janowitz, Jones, Stewart - Kubelik

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - King, Janowitz, Jones, Stewart - Kubelik 1971

3CDs - ADD

Deutsche Grammophon 1996

Performer: Heinrich der Vogler - Karl Ridderbusch, Lohengrin - James King, Elsa von Brabant - Gundula Janowitz, Friedrich von Telramund - Thomas Stewart, Ortrud - Gwyneth Jones, Der Heerrufer des Königs - Gerd Nienstedt, Vier brabantische Edle - Friedrich Lenz, Willi Brokmeier, Raimund Grumbach, Richard Kogel
Orch.: Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Cond.: Rafael Kubelik
Recorded in Munich, Herkulessaal 4/1971

This is the Lohengrin of all time. After having listened to this performance for many years on LP, I am thrilled to have it on CD as well. James King has a voice of bronze and Janowitz is an angel as Elsa. The supporting cast is wonderful as is the orchestral playing. --Amazon customer

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Richard Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen - Karajan, 1966-1970

Richard Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen - Stewart, Vickers, Fischer-Dieskau - Karajan, 1966-1970

14CDs - ADD - German - 14h 58min.

Deutsche Grammophon 2008

Performers
* Edda Moser (Soprano)
* Karl Ridderbusch (Bass)
* Thomas Stewart (Baritone)
* Jon Vickers (Tenor)
* Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano)
* Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone)

Conductor
* Herbert Karajan

Ensembles
* Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus
* Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

DG's 20-bit transfer reveals more tape hiss than before, while the orchestral image is better focused, with more definition at the bottom end. Some have likened Herbert von Karajan's "chamber-music approach" to Wagner's Ring cycle in terms of his scaling down or deconstructing the heroic roles. This approach has less to do with dynamics per se than it does with von Karajan's masterful balancing of voices and instruments. He achieves revelations of horizontal clarity, allowing no contrapuntal strand to emerge with an unwanted accent or a miscalibrated dynamic. The texts are unusually pinpointed and distinct, although the singers don't convey the experience and dimension of Sir Georg Solti's cast on London. There are exceptions. Jon Vickers's probing, complex Siegmund, for instance, is paired with Gundula Janowitz's radiant SIeglinde. Martti Talvela is arguably the most sympathetic, touching Fasolt on record, and Gerhard Stolz's Mime is less caricatured and more direct here than for Solti. I similarly prefer Christa Ludwig's Waltraute for von Karajan. The underrated Helge Brilioth's warmly ringing and musically solid Götterdämmerung Siegfried will be a welcome surprise. Smaller roles benefit from strong casting, notably the well-tuned Rheinmaidens and Valkyries. When all is said and done, however, it's von Karajan's show, and the glorious Berlin Philharmonic are the stars. --Jed Distler

See details at Deutsche Grammophon

Giuseppe Verdi - I Lombardi - Lamberti, Sass, Kovats - Gardelli 1984 (Hungaroton)

The young Verdi - Vol. 4

I Lombardi - Lamberti, Sass, Kovats - Gardelli 1984 (Hungaroton)

3CDs - DDD - 50'19, 45'39, 38'14

Hungaroton

Ezio di Cesare - Arvino, Kolos Kováts - Pagano, Sylvia Sass - Giselda, Zsuzsa Misura - Viclinda, József Gregor - Acciano, Klára Jász - Sofia, Giorgio Lamberti - Oronte, Péter Jánosi - Pirro, Ferenc Gerdesits - A Prior of Milan
Hungarian Radio and Television Chorus/Ferenc Sapszon
Hungarian State Opera Orchestra/Lamberto Gardelli
Recorded in 1984 in Hungary (DDD)


Listen to the whole performance by clicking the white arrow in the red circle!

Review: Gramophone 7/1985, Alan Blyth:
"I Lombardi, Verdi's fourth opera, is a curate's egg. Just when you are inclined to write it off as one of the most obvious and empty of the operas in the galley years, an aria or an ensemble (usually the latter) reminds you that this is really the work of a burgeoning master. For that reason, the earlier and shorter Oberto recently recorded by Orfeo/Harmonia Mundi... [already uploaded] is the more satisfying work as a whole, less inspired in its moments but more consistent as an entirety. The fault in Lombardi lies in its desultory, poorly written libretto (by Solera). Yet, the best of the work — Giselda's solos, the duet for her and Oronte, the baptismal trio (once famously recorded by Rethberg, Gigli and Pinza on a 78rpm disc) and the fourth-part chorus — are indeed noble Verdi. Gardelli knows how to make the most of them — as he showed on his 1972 Philips LP set (still in the catalogue but not available on CD yet) and when he brought the work to Covent Garden in the Budapest Opera staging in 1976, which also had Sass as Giselda.

And Sass' singing is a cogent reason for acquiring this new version. A slightly less exciting singer than she was ten years ago, she is now far more disciplined. Tender in her two beautiful prayers, vibrant in her duet with her beloved Oronte, exciting in the fioriture of the fourth-part's "Non fu sogno", she encompasses almost every aspect of a role that lies uncomfortably between coloratura and spinto. She wants only that extra weight and absolute steadiness called for by the trio. She also conveys more than adequately Giselda's distress and passion with truly Verdian attack and involvement. She is every way superior to Philips's Deutekom.

Giuseppe Verdi - I Lombardi - Deutekom, Domingo, Raimondi - Gardelli 1971 (Philips)

The young Verdi - Vol. 4

I Lombardi - Deutekom, Domingo, Raimondi - Gardelli 1971 (Philips)

2CDs - AAD - 2:15'59

Philipps 1989

Cristina Deutekom - Giselda, Placido Domingo - Oronte, Ruggero Raimondi - Pagano, Jerome Lo Monaco - Arvino, Desdemona Malvisi - Viclinda, Stafford Dean - Pirro, Clifford Grant - Acciano, Montserrat Aparici - Sofia, Keith Erwen - A Prior of Milan
Ambrosian Singers/John McCarthy
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Lamberto Gardelli
recorded 7, 1971, London (Philips)

I lombardi. being early Verdi, is (almost of course) rum-tum-tum Verdi and also big chorus Verdi. Gardelli succeeds in keeping the run-tum-tum to a minimum and the Ambrosian Singers come through with some magnificent singing. To complement these attributes, the soloists are in fine fettle. Cristina Deutekom is not your standard soprano, but she captures the role with a fierce intensity that makes it her own. I, for one, very much like the outcome. While Domingo may not have had the best voice for the role, as always his intelligent musicality, even this early in his career, shines through. Raimondi is more than adequate. I have enjoyed listening to this production on numerous occasions and recommend it highly. --Amazon customer

Mozart - Don Giovanni - Siepi, Price, Nilsson - Leinsdorf 1960

Mozart - Don Giovanni - Siepi, Price, Nilsson - Leinsdorf 1960

3CDs - ADD - Scans - 174'39

DECCA 1996

Performer: Arnold Van Mill, Cesare Siepi, Birgit Nilsson, Fernando Corena, Eugenia Ratti, Leontyne Price, Cesare Valletti, Heinz Blankenburg
Conductor: Erich Leinsdorf
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Nothing, NOTHING compares with this version of Don Giovanni. Corena and Siepi play each other off perfectly. I even have the LP's (which the program notes and drawings are something else!). These two, along with Nillson, Price, Valetti, etc. might result in "ego" bruising and result in a terrible performance. Thankfully, it doesn't. A true recording. --Amazon customer

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Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin - Weikl, Kubiak - Solti 1974

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin - Weikl, Kubiak - Solti 1974

2CDs - ADRM - 70'49, 72'30

DECCA 1987

Performers: Teresa Kubiak, Bernd Weikl, Stuart Burrows, Julia Hamari, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Michel Sénéchal
Conductor: Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestra of The R.O.H, Covent Garden & John Alldis Choir

Which is the star part in this opera? Some might say, Onegin, some Tatyana. Lenski's aria probably gets the most applause. The team of singers here is entirely strong and convincing. As Onegin, Bernd Weikl skillfully suggests a range of feeling: scorn, vindictiveness, regret and desolation. Teresa Kubiak is an endearing Tatyana, especially strong in the last scene. Stuart Burrows is unexcelled as Lenski. Almost stealing the show, is the Gremin of Nicolai Ghiaurov, whose solitary appearance in Act 3 is well worth the wait. --Amazon customer

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Giuseppe Di Stefano - Neapolitan Songs - Vol. I - Mono Recordings 1953 & 57

Giuseppe Di Stefano - Neapolitan Songs - Vol. I - Mono Recordings 1953 & 57

CD - ADD - 78'23

Testament SBT 1097

Composer: Eduardo Di Capua, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Rodolfo Falvo, Ernesto De Curtis, Salvatore Cardillo, Gaetano Lama, Evemero Nardella, Vincenzo D'Annibale, E. A. Mario, Mario Persico, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Cioffi, Teodoro Cottrau, Ernesto Tagliaferri, Salvatore Gambardella
Performer: Giuseppe Di Stefano
Conductor: Dino Olivieri

Some tenors you admire, others you like, but Giuseppe DiStefano you simply have to adore. Here is the most golden of tenor voices tied with the warmest of personalities, God was certainly in a very good mood when He created Pippo --Amazon customer

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Thomas - Mignon - Horne, Vanzo, Welting, Zaccaria, von Stade - Almeida 1977

Thomas - Mignon - Horne, Vanzo, Welting, Zaccaria, von Stade - Almeida 1977

3CDs - ADD - 75'38, 64'18, 54'59

Sony 1998

Performer: Nicola Zaccaria, Ruth Welting, Frederica Von Stade, Marilyn Horne, Alain Vanzo
Conductor: Antonio de Almeida
Orchestra/Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

Opera lovers who buy this 3 CD set will receive very good value indeed. There's three and a quarter hours of delight. Arias for the four or five principal characters in the opera are frequently heard in extract; here they can be heard in context. There's a lullaby, a styrienne, a polonaise and - of course - Mignon's "Connais-tu le pays?". Thomas, the composer, somehow managed to express homesickness much more successfully in this aria than Schubert, Hugo Wolf, or any other composer who attempted settings of Goethe's text. --Amazon customer

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Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Studer, McLaughlin, Raimondi - Abbado - Vienna 1991

Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Studer, McLaughlin, Raimondi - Abbado - Vienna 1991

ARD Eins Festival

Antonio: István Gáti, Barbarina: Yvetta Tannenbergerova, Cherubino: Gabriele Sima, Contadina: Renate Hasler, Elisa Zurman, Conte d'Almaviva: Ruggero Raimondi, Contessa: Cheryl Studer, Don Bartolo: Rudolf Mazzola, Don Basilio: Heinz Zednik, Don Curzio: Franz Kasemann, Figaro: Lucio Gallo, Marcellina: Margarita Lilowa, Susanna: Marie McLaughlin
Wiener Philharmoniker, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Con.: Claudio Abbado
Theater an der Wien, 1991

Ambroise Thomas - Mignon - Koch, Claycomb, Beuron - Ossonce - Toulouse 2005 (FM broadcast)

only in the forum

Smetana - Die verkaufte Braut (The bartered Bride) - Popp, Jerusalem, Ridderbusch - Fischer 1982

Smetana - Die verkaufte Braut (The bartered Bride) - Popp, Jerusalem, Ridderbusch - Fischer 1982

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, DTS 5.1 - German - 155min.

Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese

Deutsche Grammophon 07343609, released 2007

Performer: Lucia Popp (Marie); Siegfried Jerusalem (Hans); Karl Ridderbusch (Kezal); Heinz Zednik (Wenzel); Alfred Šramek (Kruschina); Gertrude Jahn (Katinka); Walter Fink (Micha); Czeslawa Slania (Agnes); Erich Kunz (Circus Master); Gabriele Sima (Esmeralda); Hans Christian (Muff)
Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper
Cond.: Adam Fischer



This Bartered Bride’s acting and singing is generally of a high level. Lucia Popp was caught at a perfect time for this role. She’d gradually been developing her voice into a larger, more dramatic instrument, and here displays a lyric’s warmth with the power of a spinto. She clearly enjoys the challenge of the only serious aria in the entire work (in act III; performed in German as “Wie fremd und tot”), providing many fine interpretative points and a great deal of tonal variety. The audience goes wild, as well they might. I’ve heard nothing elsewhere to match it, even from Pilar Lorengar in the celebrated 1962 recording.

Siegfried Jerusalem is nearly as good, his voice bright and soaring, if not quite as beautiful in tone as Wunderlich or Dvorský. Heinz Zednik plays up Wenzel’s stuttering, as usual, but sings decently and tones down the simpleton a bit. Karl Ridderbusch’s Kezal is sonorous and always busy, a large, fully conceived character that skirts hamming without quite going over the line. (Your mileage may vary on this one.) Another treat is the appearance of Erich Kunz as the Circus Master. He joined the Vienna State Opera in 1940, and quickly became one of its most internationally famous singing actors, as well as a great local favorite. Of course, he departs almost entirely from the written dialogue in his address to the stage audience, with some scripted and some ad-libbed humor. His impeccable timing, precision of gesture, and comic sense are a delight. --FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

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Mascagni - L'Amico Fritz - Bros, Theodossiou - Tolomelli 2002

Mascagni - L'Amico Fritz - Bros, Theodossiou - Tolomelli 2002

DVD5 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - Dolby Digital 2.0 - 100min.

Subtitles: English

Kicco Music 2004

José Bros (Fritz); Dimitra Theodossiou (Suzel); Sandra Pacheco-Quintero (Beppe); Alessandro Paliaga (David); Emanuele Giannino (Federico); Antonio Taschini (Hanezó); Corinna Justian Schmidt (Caterina)
Città Lirica Orchestra
Con.: Roberto Tolomelli



This production from Livorno in 2002 was staged by Simona Marchini and is conventional and faithful to the creators’ intentions. The two sets are stylish and give an excellent representation of Tuscan country life.

Roberto Tolomelli’s conducting keeps the score moving and is on the whole very good. José Bros’s acting is somewhat stiff, but vocally he is always musical and therefore quite acceptable. Dimitra Theodossiou is a fine Suzel; she has the ability to produce beautiful soft tones and acts well. Sandra Pacheco-Quintero is a lively presence in the trouser role of the gypsy Beppe. Alessandro Paliaga is a strong and vivid Rabbi David and gives a good performance. The minor roles of Federico and Hanezó are well done.

The picture quality is excellent and the sound fine. There are neither notes nor a libretto provided; however, subtitles are available. Although there are three excellent recordings available on CD, since I am unaware of any other version of this charming work on DVD, I recommend it to all Mascagni enthusiasts. --Bob Rose, FANFARE

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Alfredo Catalani - La Wally- Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Cappuccilli - Cleva 1968

Alfredo Catalani - La Wally- Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Cappuccilli - Cleva 1968

2CDs - ADD - Scans - 71:13, 53:17

Decca 1968

Renata Tebaldi - Wally, Justino Diaz - Stromminger, Stefania Malagù - Afra, Lydia Marimpietri - Walter, Mario del Monaco - Giuseppe Hagenbach di Sölden, Piero Cappuccilli - Vincenzo Gellner dell'Hochstoff, Alfredo Mariotti - Il Pedone di Schnals

Turin Lyric Chorus; Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra
Cond. : Fausto Cleva
Recorded in June 1968, Alcazar Hall, Monte Carlo, remastered in 2007

The opera is best known for its aria Ebben? Ne andrò lontana, (Act I, CD1 track 9), sung when Wally decides to leave her home forever. Catalani had composed that aria independently as Chanson Groënlandaise in 1878 and later incorporated into his opera. There is even in this work (CD1 track 2) a song which is supposed to be a yodelling song, but which sounds more Spanish than Alpine!
The opera also features one of the most memorable of operatic deaths, in which the heroine throws herself into a passing avalanche. It is seldom performed as such, but arias are sung frequently.

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Mary Burchell - A Song Begins - Warrender Saga Book 1

Mary Burchell - A Song Begins - Warrender Saga Book 1

197S. - English

Harlequin Books, Toronto

Her dreams were coming true at last! When an unknown benefactor arranged for Anthea to train under Oscar Warrender, the celebrated opera conductor, she was ecstatic. But her joy was short-lived when she came face to face with the great man. Cold and forbidding, he proved to be a hard taskmaster. Anthea, however, proved to be a brilliant student....and to Oscar, much , much more!

Anthea is at the point in her training where she needs more intensive work and better teachers, but there is no money. So she enters a talent contest to win the necessary money. Oscar Warrender is a judge and he is the one that decides she will not win the prize. Anthea thinks that her father's boss is her secret benefactor, but of course, it is Oscar Warrender. She goes to London to train with Warrender and other teachers. An opera diva refuses to appear at a performance so Warrender gives Anthea the part at the last minute and she is , of course, great.

I know nothing about Opera but I found this book very interesting. Anthea has to work extremely hard and Warrender keeps pushing her. There is a serious family illness and Anthea wants to go home, but Warrender will not allow it. She is an artist and has to keep working. Anthea and Oscar appear in several more books. I believe this was the first title series in Harlequins. (vintageromances.com)

Jeannette Pilou - Les chemins de l'amour

Jeannette Pilou - Les chemins de l'amour

4CDs

Sirius / Lyrikon 1996

CD1 - French Opera
CD2 - French Opera
CD3 - Mozart and Italian Opera
CD4 - French melodies and Italian songs

"The boxset was prepared under the supervision of the Megaron Athens Concert Hall and is a rare (greek) production."

You can find some infos about this wonderful lady here

A Tribute to George London, 1984

A Tribute to George London, 1984

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - Dolby Digital 2.0 119'02 + 24'24

Subtitles: English

VAI 2005

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jacques Offenbach, Modest Mussorgsky, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Richard Wagner
Performer: George London, Nicolai Gedda, Lucia Popp, Tatiana Troyanos, Edita Gruberova, Catherine Malfitano, Francisco Araiza, Sona Ghazarian, Thomas Moser, James King, Leonie Rysanek
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna State Opera Chorus

Gala 1984 operatic concert organized by the George London Foundation for Singers. Performances by Leonie Rysanek, Tatiana Troyanos, Nicolai Gedda, Edita Gruberova, Lucia Popp, James King, Catherine Malfitano, Francisco Araiza, Simon Estes, and Sona Ghazarian. Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna; Heinrich Hollreiser, Erich Binder, Hans Graf, and Lothar Zagrosek, conductors. Arias and Scenes from Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, Fidelio, Les Contes d’ Hoffmann, Boris Godunov, Eugene Onegin, Arabella, Tosca, Der Fliegende Holländer, and Die Walküre.

Bonus material includes excerpts from London's Bell Telephone and CBC telecast appearances, as well as excerpts of his role as Scarpia in VAI's Tosca, with Renata Tebaldi.

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Schönberg - Gurre-Lieder - Heppner, Meier, Schulte, Voigt - Levine 2001

Schönberg - Gurre-Lieder - Heppner, Meier, Schulte, Voigt - Levine 2001

2CDs - DDD - 63'43, 52'06

Oehms 2004

Performer: Ben Heppner, Deborah Voigt, Waltraud Meier, Matthew Polenzani, Eike Wilm Schulte, Ernst Haefliger;
Orch.: Philharmonischer Chor München, Herrenchor der Bamberger Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker
Cond.: James Levine

Then the soloists. Heppner is wonderfully heroic, ardent, but always lyrical. No barking, here. Definitely the most satisfying Waldemar I've heard. Deborah Voigt's Tove surpasses the work she did under Sinopoli. Her sound is more golden, more womanly and how she nails that final "kuss"! It shouldn't sound so easy but it does! Waltraud Meier simply astounds. I prefer Tatyana Troyanos's voice in the Ozawa set but few can come close to Meier in terms of creating a sense of drama through the music, and in communicating the inner meaning of text. If only they could get this trio to do Walkure! --Amazon customer

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Giuseppe Di Stefano - Neapolitan & other songs - Vol II - Stereo Recordings 1961

Giuseppe Di Stefano - Neapolitan & other songs - Vol II - Stereo Recordings 1961

CD - ADD - 79'06

Testament 1997

Composer: Luigi Denza, Pasquale Mario Costa, Emanuele Nutile, Nicola Valente, Ernesto De Curtis, Rodolfo Falvo, Ernesto Tagliaferri, Joseph Giuseppe Gioè, Gaetano Errico Pennino, Salvatore d' Esposito, Furio Rendine, Arturo Buzzi-Peccia, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Stanislas Gastaldon
Performer: Giuseppe Di Stefano
Conductor: G. M. Guarino

Now this is what I would call one beautiful CD.It shows that Pippo was the greatest tenor in the world during his reign.His voice is extremely beautiful and the warmth and emotionalism are incredible.I listen to his " Non T'amo Piu " endlessly.You just can't find singing like Pippo at his best even going back to Gigli.This CD is a must have for anyone even remotely interested in classical tenor voices.They don't meke them like Pippo anymore and fortunately his voice and style of singing will live forever with his many recordings. --Amazon customer

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Bruckner - The Masses - Te Deum, Psalm 150, D minor, E minor, F minor, ... - Corydon Singers - Best 1985 - 1992

Bruckner - The Masses - Te Deum, Psalm 150, D minor, E minor, F minor, ... - Corydon Singers - Best 1985 - 1992

3CDs - DDD - 67'25, 53'12, 67'55

Hyperion 1996

Performer: Joan Rodgers, Alastair Miles, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Keith Lewis, James O'Donnell, Juliet Booth, Gwynne Howell, John Mark Ainsley, Jean Rigby, Phillip Brown, Roger Brenner, Colin Sheen, Olga Hegedus, John Scott, Thomas [Double Bass] Martin
Conductor: Matthew Best
Orchestra/Ensemble: Corydon Singers, Corydon Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra Winds

Te Deum in C major, WAB 45
Mass no 1 in D minor, WAB 26
Mass no 2 in E minor, WAB 27 - Date of Recording: 1985
Mass no 3 in F minor, WAB 28 - Date of Recording: 02/1992
Aequale no 1 for 3 Trombones in C minor, WAB 114 - Date of Recording: 1985
Libera me Domine in F minor, WAB 22 - Date of Recording: 1985
Aequale no 2 for 3 Trombones in C minor, WAB 149 - Date of Recording: 1985
Psalm 150 in C major, WAB 38 - Date of Recording: 02/1992

I must thank the folks at the Rough Guide for their recommendation of this recording because of all the extras as well at the committed performances from all involved. Even though I have not heard the other recordings, I cannot imagine that they could be any better than this. Bruckner's music is imbued with religious mysticism. Bruckner believed that even his symphonies were celebrating his Roman Catholic God and so one might expect him to compose masses.
This set begins with the Te Deum a song praising God which Bruckner believed was his finest composition and in my opinion it is strong enough to stand with the sacred vocal works of all time. Scored for four soloist , choir, organ and orchestra using mostly homophonic choral writing but later develops into a vast double final fugue. The Te Deum is compelling from beginning to end. --Amazon customer

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Mahler - Symphony 2 - Totenfeier - Diener, Lang - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 1999/2001

Mahler / Chailly - Vol. 1

Mahler - Symphony 2 - Totenfeier - Diener, Lang - Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 1999/2001

2CDs - DDD

DECCA 2002

Performer: Petra Lang, Melanie Diener
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic Chorus

Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" - Date of Recording: 11/2001 - 88 Minutes 1 Secs.
Totenfeier, symphonic poem in C minor - Date of Recording: 01/1999 - 23 Minutes 10 Secs.

After hearing all of Chailly's Mahler recordings over the last decade, I am convinced that this distinguished conductor's cycle will eventually have its place in history as one of the finest ever. Certainly the caliber of the playing in the series is hard to match; the Concertgebouw Orchestra makes these terribly difficult symphonies sound easy. --Amazon customer

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Händel - Atalanta - Farkas, Bártfai-Barta, Lax - McGegan

Händel - Atalanta - Farkas, Bártfai-Barta, Lax - McGegan

3CDs - DDD - 133'53min.

Hungaroton 1985

Performer: Katalin Farkas, Eva Lax, János Bándi, József Gregor, László Polgár, Eva Bártfai-Barta
Conductor: Nicholas McGegan
Orchestra/Ensemble: Savaria Vocal Ensemble, Capella Savaria

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Mahler - Symphony 1, Piano Sonata (Berg) - Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Mahler / Chailly - Vol. 1

Mahler - Symphony 1, Piano Sonata (Berg) - Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

CD - DDD - 69'39

DECCA 1996

Amazon.com essential recording:
When Riccardo Chailly was appointed music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1986 (still only in his 30s), he became head of one of the world's greatest Mahler orchestras. Just about all the right elements would seem to be in place for yet another outstanding Mahler cycle, given the conductor's interpretive acumen and masterful molding of orchestral detail. Though the results of Chailly's traversal thus far (for example, the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies) have been uneven, his spectacular Mahler First holds its own and spotlights the unique qualities Chailly brings to the composer.

In the late '90s, roughly speaking, we witnessed a paradigm shift from an intensely subjective Mahler (epitomized by Leonard Bernstein, who recorded a magnificent Mahler First with this very orchestra) to a cooler, more "objective" image (check out Christoph von Dohnányi's recent Mahler Ninth). Here Chailly seems to find a convincing middle ground, with an architecturally coherent sense of tempo and symphonic design (especially in the large but often seemingly disconnected blocks of the finale) that keeps self-indulgence in check. At the same time--and with the orchestra in glorious form--Chailly brings a fresh eye to Mahler's painstakingly detailed dynamics, so that colors and relations between instrumental choirs seem refurbished, like a newly cleaned painting. This is above all noticeable in the preliminary "spring awakening" and generates a deeply moving effect when the birdcalls return in the finale. However saturated with Mahler recordings we've become, this performance makes you eager to hear Chailly's interpretations of the remaining symphonies. A fascinatingly thoughtful bonus is Theo Verbey's orchestration of Alban Berg's densely compact Piano Sonata Op. 1. --Thomas May

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Verdi - Messa da Requiem - Zadek, Roswaenge, Klose, Christoff - Karajan 1949

Verdi - Messa da Requiem - Zadek, Roswaenge, Klose, Christoff - Karajan 1949

2CDs - ADD - 89'53

Salzburger Festspiele 2008

Performer: Helge Rosvaenge (Tenor), Margarete Klose (Mezzo Soprano), Hilde Zadek (Soprano), Boris Christoff (Bass)
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Singverein
Date of Recording: 08/14/1949
Venue: Festival House, Salzburg, Austria

This live Verdi Requiem from the 1949 Salzburg Festival presents a wholly different Karajan than the conductor heard on his later, duller studio recordings. Here is the younger Karajan caught in the moment of performance with all its attendant spontaneity and excitement. There's an improvisatory air about the reading--the hesitant gestures in the opening Requiem, the blistering Dies irae, the ethereal Lux aeternam, the near manic Libera me--that Karajan all but banished from his Deustche Grammophon recordings (especially the last one). In those, the conductor's slow tempos and overall suffocating heaviness makes Verdi's piece sound like a prayer of the dead rather than for them. The Vienna Philharmonic is equally inspired on this occasion, though not especially in tune, as evidenced by the strings' embarrassing playing at the start of Offertorium.

The four soloists give impassioned if occasionally superheated performances. Tenor Helge Roswaenge's attempts at Italianate fervor in the Ingemisco sound almost buffoonish, while Margarete Klose and Hilde Zadek possess robust voices that, while both beautiful, don't always blend seamlessly (the Agnus Dei is a mite imprecise). The standout is Boris Christoff, who sounds completely in the service of the music (his Rex tremendae is marvelous). The Wiener Singverein sounds appropriately menacing and angelic as Verdi requires. --Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

Saint-Saëns - Samson et Dalila - Vickers & Verrett - Davis 1981

Saint-Saëns - Samson et Dalila - Vickers & Verrett - Davis 1981

DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - Dolby Digital 2.0 - 134min.

Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese

Kultur Video 2005

Performer: Samson: Jon Vickers, Abimelech: John Tomlinson, First Philistine: Maldwyn Davies, Second Philistine: Matthew Best, High Priest Of Dagon: Jonathan Summers, Messenger: John Dobson, Ancient Hebrew: Gwynne Howell, Dalila: Shirley Verrett
The Royal Opera Chorus and The Orchestra Of The Royal Opera House
Conductor: Sir Colin Davis



Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila has all the ingredients for popular success. The subject, based on Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges, is well known and lends itself to spectacular presentation, not least in the final scene as the blinded Samson summons his strength to bring down the pillars of the temple The title roles are equally rewarding, matching the voluptuous lines of Dalila's music with an essentially heroic tenor part for Samson. At the Royal Opera House, the roles have outstanding interpreters in Shirley Verrett and Jon Vickers.

Richard Wagner - Parsifal - Meier, Jerusalem - Levine 1992

Richard Wagner - Parsifal - Meier, Jerusalem - Levine 1992

2DVD9 - NTSC - 4:3 - All Regions - PCM, Dolby Digital & DTS 5.1 - 2h32min.

Subtitles: German/English/French/Spanish/Chinese

Deutsche Grammophon 07303290, released 2002

Meier · Jerusalem · Moll · Weikl · Mazura · Rootering
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus by James Levine
Set and Projection Design: Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Production: Otto Schenk



This video is of a March 1992 production at the MET. The sets are naturalistic and conservative but very impressive. Having seen the production live I can say that the video does a good job of capturing it. Audience noise is minimal but the crowd insists on clapping before the music stops at the end of Act II - a regular, if annoying, ritual at the MET. Some portions of the orchestral shots appear to have been made without an audience present - the spectacular camera angles taken from a boom hovering over the orchestra could never haven been filmed during an actual performance. A minor quibble - the offstage chorus at the end of Act I sounds off the beat and out of tune. They are better at the end of Act III. --Amazon customer

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