# Opinions wanted!



## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

Hello to all!

I am considering purchasing the Karl Böhm/Deutsche Grammophon recording of _Le Nozze di Figaro_ with this cast:

Edith Mathis, Gundula Janowitz, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Tatiana Troyanos, Herman Prey, Chor Der Deutschen Oper Berlin , and the Orchester Der Deutschen Oper Berlin. I do not know the date of the recording.

This is a *VINYL* re-release and is priced at $255.00 *NEW*. There are no reviews on Amazon for this item.

If any of you are familiar with this recording I would appreciate your opinions of the overall performance. From this recording I know only the ACT III duet _Canzonetta sull'aria_ sung by Mathis and Janowitz, which was used in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. This duet alone is so perfectly realized in my opinion that it makes me extremely interested in the very expensive vinyl only Amazon offer.

I will appreciate any responses or other performance suggestions - I have only the Solti recording. Thanks and best to all. NH


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

i love Bohm's Mozart and that recording as well.
So thumbs up from me.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

It's a great recording of _Nozze_, however it wouldn't be my favourite. I would rank my top five recordings of the opera as follows:

1) Decca - Ramey/Popp/Allen/Te Kanawa (Solti)
2) EMI (Now Warner) - Bruscantini/Sciutti/Calabrese/Jurinac (Gui)
3) Orfeo - Kunz/Seefried/Fischer-Dieskau/Schwarzkopf (Boehm) [This is a live recording and has the same Count as on Boehm's studio recording, it also has Christa Ludwig as Cherubino and as you might expect the cast is superb.]
4) HM - Regazzo/Ciofi/Keenlyside/Gens (Jacobs) [This would be my period choice.]
5) I would place the DG Boehm set you are thinking of getting here.

It partly depends on whether you think you might get more recordings of the opera and what your priorities are. If you need good stereo, studio sound then discount options 2) and 3) on my list.

In other words it is one of the great recordings of _Nozze_ and worth having in your collection. I imagine you will be able to find it on YouTube and so you could probably sample it there (along with other recordings of the opera).

N.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

I'm not sure what your relationship with vinyl is, but I would not spend that on a set I had not heard, even if that one duet is lovely.

There are a couple issues of that set on CD; checking Amazon I see used copies starting at below $6, new ones below $16. The recording is also available to stream via Amazon Music, Spotify, and likely other sources. There are also used copies on vinyl available from Amazon and eBay (and likely other sources) starting around $20.

That price also doesn't make any sense to me. I also can't find the listing at Amazon; if it's issued on solid gold discs know that they age poorly. It's several times more than I would expect. It's five times the cost of this _Don Giovanni_ conducted by Currentzis. It's double the cost of this _Lohengrin_ conducted by Bychkov. Both of those are newer recordings but they provide some price comparisons.

I like vinyl, and have quite a bit of opera on vinyl. I rarely pay more than a few dollars for a set, and rarely wish to pay even reasonable "new" prices for a copy of anything, even a favorite recording. For me they're mostly just another thing that is just going to be pretty on a shelf.


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