Classical Corner Classical Music Corner (thread #60)

I don't post much about opera here because of the general disinterest. Nevertheless, in terms of live performance my guess is that opera will outlast orchestral music in general availability simply because audiences always love a show. Recordings of operas do suffer from not only the absence of the visual element but also generally poor sonics. Some of that is caused by excessively spotlit vocals. When attending live opera, the voices project without sounding needle-like and blend with the orchestra better. Many musical passages therein make sense when seeing the part they play in conveying the drama portrayed on stage. Whether coloratura voices today are a pale shadow of those in yesteryear is unanswerable since the latter predate Edison. I will say that modern productions are Much better at realizing the drama in the static forms of Baroque opera. Fortunately I enjoy opera on DVD as well as live so I can get my fill throughout the year.

 

I have all the major operas from Bizet to Wagner on LP and have never listened to any of them more than once. However, I only have Wagner and Handel operas on CD and the collection will stay this way since opera is a less important classical musical form to me. At any rate, I am heavily into vocal/choral works, from the medieval to Renaissance to Baroque ...

 

I can't remember the last time I listened to an opera. My Mom tried like heck to get me interested but no such luck. I got all of her opera CDs when she passed and after 10 years I still have not listened to them.

 

For me, one of the things that made classical music alluring was the fact that there was a lot of music written without the human voice. After 23 or so years of listening to music with singing (and listening to other people talk), it was so nice to find music that not involve the human voice. I find it soothing and calming. Plus, it makes for great listening when I am with other people, as I find music with singing tends to clash with any kind of conversation going on in the room.

 

Same here. I am a major opera fan and I have a sizable collection of records and cds but I don't post much for the same reason.

I just played this fantastic sounding LP of Shostakovich. This, I had bought almost 6 months ago from a fellow forum member, but I did not get the chance to listen to it till now.
There is so much power and energy in the first movement of No5 that the whole movement feels more like a symphony and less like a quartet. The coordination between the players and their technique is astounding.
Recorded by John Dunkerley in 1978, this is yet another Decca record that stood the test of time.

 

People don't realize today how late was the development of purely instrumental music and how difficult it is to write extended instrumental compositions that hold the attention.

 

Some fiery stuff in here…

 

She was ahead of the time. Given the very high price of the early CD's, a Bizet Carmen would have cost over $40 in 1985 dollar ...

 

I look at the voice in opera as just another instrument. Even if they're singing in English, you can't understand what they're singing and the still put the surtitles up.

I subscribe to both the DC National Opera and the National Symphony. The DC opera has very mixed performances, especially if they hire a star for a lead. They did Carmen a couple of years ago and got Denyce Graves to sing the lead. They had to skimp on the other parts and hired a Broadway singer for the toreador. He struggled to be heard over the orchestra. The two parts of Carmen's companions that provide some comic relief were played by two of the opera's young artists program sings. They got a bigger applause at the curtain call than the toreador.

They also hire Samuel Ramey a lot and I can't stand his singing.

I don't post about opera that much for the same reason I don't post about other things either. I'm lousy at analyzing unless something so obvious you can't miss it like the Broadway singer or Ramey's excessive vibrato. When I post something it's usually because I just listened to something that really moved me. I probably post as much about late 20th century music as much anything else and there's maybe a little more interest in that then there is for opera.

 

listening to other people talk = RAP ???

 

Shosty was supposed to be inspired by JS Bach's Art of the Fugue when he composed these works. Unfortunately, I could not find much evidence of that when I listened to this CD the second time around ...

 

I hated opera for years because mediocre opera is pretty bad in my book. Very full of itself like mediocre Shakespeare.

It wasn't until British Airways started using The Flower Duet from Lakme in their ads in the early 90s that I got interested. At the same time, I moved to Arlington and the library had a bequest in the 80s to build a collection of opera recordings so I was able to find out what I like. What really hooked me though was The Flower Duet, the flower maiden scene in Act 2 of Parsifal and the trios and duets in the finale of Der Rosenkavalier, all multiple sopranos singing together.

 

What I read (in a post here?) was he was inspired by a live performance by Tatiana Nikolayevaof The Well-Tempered Klavier. I had typed Richter but looked it up on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Preludes_and_Fugues_(Shostakovich)

 

Thanks for the link and it is very interesting. Nikolayeva's WTC is better than Richter's IMO. It may be in the same league as Feinberg's ...

 

PBS used to broadcast many operas over the years. The one opera that got me glued to the tube was Sir Colin Davis conducting Wagner Tannhauser at Beyreuth with Gwyneth Jones singing both Venus and Elisabeth. The DVD only became available a few years ago and I bought it. Unfortunately, no 5.1 surround for me since I do not have a surround setup ...

 

Ordered the following ULN CD from an Amazon seller today. I bought the Suites 1-2 back in the mid 80's but never had any luck locating Suites 3-4. Some of the early Erato recordings by John Eliot Gardiner are actually quite nice sonically ...

 

Our local station still does. I have 5 Great Performances at the Met on my Tivo from the last couple of months. I don't know that I'll ever be able to watch them though. We have one TV and won't want to watch them.

 

I watched the Tannhauser DVD on my computer. It is 2.1 alright ... LOL

 

Well, you know what they say about that word "assumed", don't you?

 

I mentioned it.

 

I enjoy opera on disc (audio and video); as I mentioned not long ago the Janacek operas are my musical discovery of the year, and on Collector Man's recommendation I bought the EMI Verdi box last year.

I have to admit I do not attend opera very often these days. The Met is expensive, and overall I prefer theatre, concerts and ballet (which latter has really replaced opera on my calendar over the last decade).

 

I knew someone here had posted it. I couldn't think of anywhere else I would have read it.

 

Have had this for awhile, but finally listened to all four SACD discs. I liked the sound on some things but not others. It probably has to do with different recording sessions. Overall, I would rather listen to Debussy interpretations from a lot of other pianists.

I have the EMI release not the Warner rebranded one.

 

Is there a recommended vinyl version of Bach's St Matthew's Passion out there?