# Recommendations for a relative new listener



## talder (Jul 12, 2011)

HI everyone,

Just found this site today and didn't immediately see any similar threads. Can you please recommend a few titles to a relatively new listener? In the past, I've enjoyed 'The Barber of Seville', 'Flight' by Jonathan Dove, 'Porgy and Bess', and several others. The only thing that really hasn't caught my ear is along the lines of Wagner. I've actually sung a bit and done Handel's Messiah and lots of musical theatre, but looking to branch out.

I'm very open to new operas/operettas (i.e. 'Flight') and American work and additionally I love hearing pieces sung in German.

I appreciate any recommendations.

- Tom.


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

In my opinion, the absolute ideal work for an opera neophyte is the Offenbach operetta 'Orphee aux Enfers', specifically the dvd featuring Natalie Dessay. Every song is fantastic, Dessay et al are hilarious,, I literally can't imagine anyone with any interest at all in opera not loving this production wholeheartedly.
I'd link you to some youtube clips but I'm posting from my phone and my YT applet doesn't give me the URLs for vids


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Aditionally, Mozart always makes for a good entry point; since you like German you might try The Magic Flute. Search youtube for ' diana damrau der holle rache' - this is the aria and performance that got me interested in opera.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

rgz said:


> Aditionally, Mozart always makes for a good entry point; since you like German you might try The Magic Flute. Search youtube for ' diana damrau der holle rache' - this is the aria and performance that got me interested in opera.


I'd agree with this - in that its a good starter opera and one of the arias that also got me interested.






Aria starts at 2:10


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

hello Tom, and welcome to operaland 

since you said that you enjoyed the Barber of Seville... how about giving Mozarts sequel to that plot, a shot? (Nozze di Figaro)... some argue that Nozze is the most perfect of operas...

there are so many different DVD and CD versions... 

... there is hardly one that is altogether bad, so I suppose let yourself be guided by your budget...


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Also, since you like _Barbiere_, try some other of Rossini's comedies, like _La cenerentola_ or_ L'italiana in Algeri_. Also, the Mozart/Da Ponte operas (maybe especially _Figaro_) and _Die Zauberflöte_. Also, give _Die Fledermaus_ by Johann Strauss Jr. a go. It's like champagne, only musical.

Also, another Offenbach operetta you should try is_ La vie parisienne_. A thoroughly funny operetta with some delicious music.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Welcome to TC, welcome on this operastage! When you're new to almost everything, I would advise to first check out of a DVD or CD, whether it is any good. You know the Messiah, you may know John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Messiah, and when you like what he did there, you can follow his track on operas... But there is also a lot of rubbish and there are a lot of uneven recordings (with one star singer surrounded by dodos) on the market. Don't let your taste get spoiled by a big Mac!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Hi Tom & welcome to TC from another opera fan. Maybe try a collection as well as a complete opera? This is beautiful.










Link.

I'd agree with all of the recommendations from the other members & my one piece of advice is - be open to any composer and any opera, as until you hear/watch you'll never know if you like it or not.

Enjoy your opera journey.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

sospiro said:


> Hi Tom & welcome to TC from another opera fan. Maybe try a collection as well as a complete opera? This is beautiful.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes. Get this. It's is gorgeous. I know you said you didn't like the anti-semitic German, but JK's Wagner is amazing.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Welcome to the forum, Tom.
We have a whole thread with our 100 most recommended operas, backed by another thread with our most recommended DVDs for those same 100 operas. You can find the first one as a "sticky" (meaning, it will be on top of every page that you browse on this forum) in our Opera forum, and the second one also as a "sticky" in our Opera on DVD and Blu-ray subforum. You will find plenty of recommendations there.

If you like Handel, you might want to get the Giulio Cesare DVD or Blu-ray from Glyndebourne.
If you like opera in German except for Wagner, like others said here you'll certainly enjoy Mozart, and I would also recommend Richard Strauss. Der Rosenkavalier, for example, is wonderful. Since you like both German-language works and operettas, another one to try is Johan Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, or Lehár's Die Lustige Wetwe.

Regarding American operas, here is a list:

Amahl and the Night Visitors​ Amelia Goes to the Ball​ Antony and Cleopatra​ The Aspern Papers​ The Ballad of Baby Doe​ The Boor​ The Canterbury Pilgrims​ The Consul​ The Cradle Will Rock​ Cyrano​ David Rizzio​ The Death of Klinghoffer​ Doctor Atomic​ Evangeline​ A Full Moon in March​ Gallantry​ The Ghosts of Versailles​ Goya​ The Greenfield Christmas Tree​ A Hand Of Bridge​ Harvey Milk​ I Was Looking At the Ceiling And Then I Saw the Sky​ Introductions and Good-Byes​ Judith​ The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County​ The King's Henchman​ Little Women​ Lord Byron​ The Medium​ Merry Mount​ Miss Havisham's Fire​ Miss Havisham's Wedding Night​ Nixon in China​ Peter Ibbetson​ The Picture of Dorian Gray​ The Pipe of Desire​ Porgy and Bess​ Postcard from Morocco​ A Quiet Place​ Robin Hood​ The Ruby​ The Sacrifice​ The Saint of Bleecker Street​ Six Characters In Search of an Author​ Solomon and Balkis​ The Stoned Guest​ The Stronger​ Susannah​ The Tender Land​ Treemonisha​ Trouble in Tahiti​ Vanessa​ A View From The Bridge​ The Visitation​ A Water Bird Talk
Will You Marry Me?​
In addition to these (many of them are contemporary operas, it may take a while to get used to contemporary classical music) a work like Candide may combine your love for operettas and American works.

Good luck in your explorations, and come back to tell us what you think of the ones you see.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

sospiro said:


> Hi Tom & welcome to TC from another opera fan. Maybe try a collection as well as a complete opera? This is beautiful.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi Tom and welcome! I am pretty new on here as well. I would just suggest that if you buy a CD, DON'T buy it from iTunes. I did this twice and got burned because there are no liner notes/libretto/etc. that really are essential for opera/vocal recordings. And I third the suggestion above.

No one has suggested Carmen? I have showed this version to *counts* seven friends and they have all loved it!


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## talder (Jul 12, 2011)

Hi everyone,

Thank you for taking the time and efforts to show me some wonderful suggestions. I immediately loved the linked youtube to Ms. Damrau. 

Great community. I'm off to find some nice headphones and enjoy as many of the great recommendations as I can.

Again, thank you.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

talder said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Thank you for taking the time and efforts to show me some wonderful suggestions. I immediately loved the linked youtube to Ms. Damrau.
> 
> ...


You're welcome - looking forward to you sharing your findings with us


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

If you're new to opera, I think it's best to start with the most popular ones, on CD and DVD,such audience favorites as Verdi's La Traviata,TRigoletto,Il Trovatore, and Aida,Puccini's La Boheme, Tosca,Madama Butterfly and Turandot, the famous operatic twins Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni and Pagliacci by Leoncavallo, Bizet's Carmen, Manon by Jules Massenet, Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia, Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale and L'Elisir D'Amore(the elixir of love), Mozart's Don Giovanni,The Marriage of Figaro and the Magic Flute, Beethoven's only opera Fidelio, Hansel& Gretel by Engelbert Humperdick(the real one not the pop singer who appropriated his name), Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky,
Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky, the Bartred Bride by Bedrich Smetana, Jenufa by Janacek,
Rusalka by Dvorak, Faust by Gounod, Norma by Bellini, Orfeo &Euridice by Gluck,for starters.
For DVDs, you can't go wrong with performances from the Metropolitan opera, or CDs with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Placido Domingo,
Montserrat Caballe, Mirella Freni, Sherill Milnes, Tito Gobbi, and other great opera singers. 
It's best to wait a while until you've heard the ones I mentioned before you plunge into Wagner, who is not easy to get into for opera newbies, but a must later. 
Then you should try 20thcentury operas by Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, Prokofiev,Shostakovich , etc. Welcome to the intoxicating world of opera ! There's nothing like it !


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

superhorn said:


> It's best to wait a while until you've heard the ones I mentioned before you plunge into Wagner, who is not easy to get into for opera newbies, but a must later.


Although for at least one oddball newbie who shall go nameless, Wagner proved easier to get into than many of the popular operas you mentioned. _De gustibus non disputandum est._


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

amfortas said:


> Although for at least one oddball newbie who shall go nameless, Wagner proved easier to get into than many of the popular operas you mentioned. _De gustibus non disputandum est._


Unless you WERE talking about me :tiphat:, that was the case with me too. Wagner was my entry into opera.  And Die Walküre remains my top favorite...

Naturally, I consider that normal, not oddball!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

FragendeFrau said:


> Unless you WERE talking about me :tiphat:, that was the case with me too. Wagner was my entry into opera.  And Die Walküre remains my top favorite...
> 
> Naturally, I consider that normal, not oddball!


Shhhhhh! I think it's normal, too. But don't tell anyone else--or they may come take us BOTH away! ut:


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

here comes the nutty wagon to take you both away

not really 



amfortas said:


> _De gustibus non disputandum est._


Well said!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

amfortas said:


> _De gustibus non disputandum est._





Bix said:


> Well said!


Thanks! Or, to translate for the benefit of those who don't know Latin:

"I'm a lumberjack, and I'm OK!"


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Thanks! Or, to translate for the benefit of those who don't know Latin:
> 
> "I'm a lumberjack, and I'm OK!"


:lol: :lol: :lol:

or perhaps a literal one - "you shouldn't argue about taste" and idiomatically "there's no accounting for taste"


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Bix said:


> :lol: :lol: :lol:
> 
> or perhaps a literal one - "you shouldn't argue about taste" and idiomatically "there's no accounting for taste"


Well . . . yeah . . . sure . . . if you want to go all literal on me and spoil my FUN!


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

amfortas said:


> Well . . . yeah . . . sure . . . if you want to go all literal on me and spoil my FUN!


im sorry - I made it up - i dunne speaki latino


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Wagner's "Der Fliegende Hollander"(The Flying Dutchman would be a good introduction to him. It's mercifully short,unlike the rest of Wagner,only about two and a half hours long,
and quite approachable.
In addition, before you experience Wagner whole, try the orchestral excerpts, the preludes and overtures to Lohengrin,Tristan&Isolde,Die Meistersinger, The Flying Dutchman,
etc, and excerpts from the Ring to get yourself primed. The CDs conducted by such great maestros as Solti,Karajan, Barenboim, Levine, etc will do fine..
Once you start with CDs and DVDs of complete Wagner, it might help if you listened and watched one act at a time, and gave yourself a breather in between. This will make them easier to digest,
Don;'t forget to use the English subtitles on the DVDs,which you can access through the menu. Most complete opera recordings on CD include the original libretto with an English translation next to it. If you get a XCD of an opera without these, you can download librwettos and English translations of many opera from the Naxos records website.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

For starters I'd suggest Bernstein's Candide on DVD...It's a bit like a musical comedy...but much better










Based on the fabulous Voltaire's novel....Extremely good to read as well.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I am just considering the title. A suggestion: listen with your ears..not with your ****.



Martin, smiling


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> A suggestion: listen with your ears..not with your ****.


Well, that rules *me* out.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I am just considering the title. A suggestion: listen with your ears..not with your ****.
> 
> Martin, smiling


Ahem! Martin, be nice!


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Ahem! Martin, be nice!


I'm pretty sure you understood it was a joke...and **** means more than one thing...(as far as I know)

Martin...qui plaisantait


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I'm pretty sure you understood it was a joke...and **** means more than one thing...(as far as I know)
> 
> Martin...qui plaisantait


No **** means one thing only.

*** on the other hand....


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> No **** means one thing only.
> 
> *** on the other hand....


I think you're right...I'm sorry for the joke then

Martin


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