# Not Another Access Post



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Access, access, blah, blah, blah ... so how have you "acquired" the operas you love? Perhaps "love" is the wrong word - there are operas I can reliably enjoy that I can't say I love. But I'll go every time if they're available, at least for one performance.

But each has one thing in common - there was one performance that got to me. Sometimes that one performance was live, sometimes it was in the movie theater, sometimes it was on DVD, and sometimes it was on CD.

The breakdown for me is this:

DVD: 12
Performance: 12
CD: 7
Movie Theater: 2

What about you?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I grew up listening to opera recordings (mom was a fan), so nearly all of the operas I love I first heard on recordings. And as I'm a baby boomer, those were all studio versions. However, watching the TV broadcast of the Vienna State Opera's _Fidelio_ in the late '70s didn't hurt (even if I thought Kollo looked a whole lot better than he sounded).


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

As I see more & more live opera, it's the live performance which usually becomes my bench mark, but not always. _Macbeth_ at ROH with Simon Keenlyside in the title role got to me in ways that I could never have imagined. I'm reluctant to see or listen to any other version now. My favourite _Falstaff_ now will always be the one I saw this year. Rehearsal + three performances + live free screening = not enough times! :lol:

But despite _Simon Boccanegra_ being my favourite opera, I prefer my CD to the live performance I saw with Domingo.

So in answer to your question Greg, I can't really say! The version which gets to me changes.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I would say 1 via TV broadcast (my first), 4 or 5 via cinemacast, and the rest live performances. But you left off one important category, at least for us pre-HD era United Statians: radio. My first hearing of so many operas were via the Met saturday afternoon radio broadcasts. I have a hard time sitting down to focus on an opera CD or DVD and usually use them only to prepare for an upcoming live performance with libretto in hand, and even then youtube is often more handy for that.

PS: Sospiro, ~2 weeks 'til the Simon Boccanegra here with Thomas Hampson and Ferruccio Furlanetto.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Cavaradossi said:


> I would say 1 via TV broadcast (my first), 4 or 5 via cinemacast, and the rest live performances. But you left off one important category, at least for us pre-HD era United Statians: radio. My first hearing of so many operas were via the Met saturday afternoon radio broadcasts. I have a hard time sitting down to focus on an opera CD or DVD and usually use them only to prepare for an upcoming live performance with libretto in hand, and even then youtube is often more handy for that.


95% of my listening is on earphones as I walk to and from work. Usually if I listen at home, like you, it's with the libretto & it's homework before a live performance. But I watch any DVD when I do the ironing.



Cavaradossi said:


> PS: Sospiro, ~2 weeks 'til the Simon Boccanegra here with Thomas Hampson and Ferruccio Furlanetto.


I'd like to see that cast!


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## principe (Sep 3, 2012)

There is n o particular "access" by any possible means. Anything can inspire me, but I prefer by far the best quality recordings (on CD or SACD), since I can concentrate on music (since even Operas are compositions, _malgre' tout_without any distraction from poor, bad or irrelevant staging, noises in the theater, etc.

Principe


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## sunandshadow (Sep 21, 2012)

I have all my life preferred studio music to live music, so I expect the same will hold true for opera performances, that I will generally prefer movie versions. Going to a live performance is an _experience_, like going to a medieval faire or an amusement park, which can be very exciting and memorable, but it's not the best way for art to be performed and communicated because there's no editing phase.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

sunandshadow said:


> I have all my life preferred studio music to live music, so I expect the same will hold true for opera performances, that I will generally prefer movie versions. Going to a live performance is an _experience_, like going to a medieval faire or an amusement park, which can be very exciting and memorable, but it's not the best way for art to be performed and communicated because there's no editing phase.


I agree with you about listening to CDs. Even though I know they're rehearsed & re-recorded until they're as perfect as possible, I much prefer studio recordings. I don't like the uneven sound & all the rustling & coughing on live recordings.

But seeing an opera live is a totally different experience. It's incredibly exciting & just wonderful to be there when _that note_ is played & _that aria_ is sung. Of course if the coughing etc is too intrusive it's not nice but usually I'm so engrossed & captivated I don't notice what's going on around me.

In a great interview with Giuseppe Filianoti, he says _I live with the knowledge that what I do is something intangible and at the same time indescribable. Opera is like the sound that the singer makes; as soon as it appears, it vanishes into the air. So the pleasure of singing brings with it the longing for the next time when you will be able express yourself in song_. I get that longing for the next time I'll be able to hear a singer produce a beautiful sound right in front of me.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

MAuer said:


> I grew up listening to opera recordings (mom was a fan), so nearly all of the operas I love I first heard on recordings. And as I'm a baby boomer, those were all studio versions. However, watching the TV broadcast of the Vienna State Opera's _Fidelio_ in the late '70s didn't hurt (even if I thought Kollo looked a whole lot better than he sounded).


Yeah, it did occur to me that there's not much I'm going to learn from this post, no matter how many people respond. Circumstances are so different and have been changing so much, there's no way to really learn anything - except about the people! which is why we're here anyway, right? I wonder sometimes how different my life might be if my own parents had had any interest in opera. Ah well, that's all blood over the dam ...


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> As I see more & more live opera, it's the live performance which usually becomes my bench mark, but not always. _Macbeth_ at ROH with Simon Keenlyside in the title role got to me in ways that I could never have imagined. I'm reluctant to see or listen to any other version now. My favourite _Falstaff_ now will always be the one I saw this year. Rehearsal + three performances + live free screening = not enough times! :lol:
> 
> But despite _Simon Boccanegra_ being my favourite opera, I prefer my CD to the live performance I saw with Domingo.
> 
> So in answer to your question Greg, I can't really say! The version which gets to me changes.


I think you've put your finger on something there. The operas I've acquired through performance all seem to have something deeper to them, something in recalling the experience that kind of drags me onto the stage even when I'm nowhere near it.

And I definitely can relate to not getting enough performances of a great show. The happiest times of my life were when I had tickets to EVERY performance. Hasn't happened a lot, but when it did, that was something.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> I would say 1 via TV broadcast (my first), 4 or 5 via cinemacast, and the rest live performances. But you left off one important category, at least for us pre-HD era United Statians: radio. My first hearing of so many operas were via the Met saturday afternoon radio broadcasts. I have a hard time sitting down to focus on an opera CD or DVD and usually use them only to prepare for an upcoming live performance with libretto in hand, and even then youtube is often more handy for that.


My god, you're right! Opera on radio is a BIG deal. I should do a poll and add that to the list. Thanks.



> PS: Sospiro, ~2 weeks 'til the Simon Boccanegra here with Thomas Hampson and Ferruccio Furlanetto.


I sure hope you will post about it afterwards!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

principe said:


> There is n o particular "access" by any possible means. Anything can inspire me, but I prefer by far the best quality recordings (on CD or SACD), since I can concentrate on music (since even Operas are compositions, _malgre' tout_without any distraction from poor, bad or irrelevant staging, noises in the theater, etc.
> 
> Principe


I see. Thanks.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sunandshadow said:


> I have all my life preferred studio music to live music, so I expect the same will hold true for opera performances, that I will generally prefer movie versions. Going to a live performance is an _experience_, like going to a medieval faire or an amusement park, which can be very exciting and memorable, but it's not the best way for art to be performed and communicated because there's no editing phase.


Well, I think I see where you're coming from - the studio recordings I have are in general vastly preferable to the live recordings. But the live recordings I have - ohmygod. I have a Lucia with Anna Moffo and she sings HORRIBLY. Horribly. Scoopamento from hell. But this performance is ALSO the Met debut for Renato Bruson and (?? not sure??) I think also for the tenor (temporarily forgot his name, sorry) - and the two of them, the tenor and Bruson, just went wild. They were there to bounce it off the back wall of standing room in Family Circle, five hundred feet from the stage, and they did. AMAZING performance. Electricity.

And in addition, what sospiro said was important - the live performances I've been to have something extra, a LOT extra. It's not something you can put into words, I don't think - but it's very engaging.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> I think you've put your finger on something there. The operas I've acquired through performance all seem to have something deeper to them, something in recalling the experience that kind of drags me onto the stage even when I'm nowhere near it.


Oh my goodness yes!!!! I know that being 'dragged back onto the stage' feeling so well.



guythegreg said:


> And I definitely can relate to not getting enough performances of a great show. *The happiest times of my life were when I had tickets to EVERY performance*. Hasn't happened a lot, but when it did, that was something.


How fantastic - what was the opera? I've promised myself I'll do that one day. It's so fabulous when you come out of the opera house & there's that delicious feeling that in a couple of day's time, you're going to be seeing it _*all over again*_.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> what was the opera? I've promised myself I'll do that one day. It's so fabulous when you come out of the opera house & there's that delicious feeling that in a couple of day's time, you're going to be seeing it _*all over again*_.


Three times: Tales of Hoffmann (the second Met run with their latest production, with I think Giuseppe Filianoti as Hoffmann), Cosi fan tutte (Daniele de Niese as Despina - we had Miah Persson as Fiordiligi, Nathan Gunn as Guglielmo, and Isabel Leonard as Dorabella, but it was de Niese I remember. She just took over. Fantastico. William Christie conducting!), and Lucia with Natalie Dessay. Ah, those were the days.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

guythegreg said:


> Three times: Tales of Hoffmann (the second Met run with their latest production, with I think Giuseppe Filianoti as Hoffmann), Cosi fan tutte (Daniele de Niese as Despina - we had Miah Persson as Fiordiligi, Nathan Gunn as Guglielmo, and Isabel Leonard as Dorabella, but it was de Niese I remember. She just took over. Fantastico. William Christie conducting!), and Lucia with Natalie Dessay. Ah, those were the days.


:tiphat:

How fabulous!


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> Three times: Tales of Hoffmann (the second Met run with their latest production, with I think Giuseppe Filianoti as Hoffmann), Cosi fan tutte (Daniele de Niese as Despina - we had Miah Persson as Fiordiligi, Nathan Gunn as Guglielmo, and Isabel Leonard as Dorabella, but it was de Niese I remember. She just took over. Fantastico. William Christie conducting!), and Lucia with Natalie Dessay. Ah, those were the days.


I saw de Niese's _Giulio Cesare_ Cleopatra twice here in Chicago in the Glyndebourne/McVicar production. It was an absolute star vehicle for her and she ran with it. Yep, she owned the stage: it's quite a feat to make a Handel opera as thrilling as a Madonna concert. The Met is presenting the same production this spring with Natalie Dessay. As much as I loved McVicar's take and love Natalie (saw her Lucia here too: OMG), I'm not sure I want to see it without de Niese. (Maybe David Daniels got tired of being upstaged every night and insisted on a cast change. :devil

What's not to love?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Cavaradossi said:


> I saw de Niese's _Giulio Cesare_ Cleopatra twice here in Chicago in the Glyndebourne/McVicar production. It was an absolute star vehicle for her and she ran with it. Yep, she owned the stage: it's quite a feat to make a Handel opera as thrilling as a Madonna concert. The Met is presenting the same production this spring with Natalie Dessay. As much as I loved McVicar's take and love Natalie (saw her Lucia here too: OMG), I'm not sure I want to see it without de Niese. (Maybe David Daniels got tired of being upstaged every night and insisted on a cast change. :devil
> 
> What's not to love?
> View attachment 8597


Actually, although I think she is extremely multi-talented and charming (although a little too winsome for me sometimes), I don't like her singing all that much, I often find it screechy, especially in the upper register. You could say, not surprising, with all that physical activity on-stage, but I find the same in her Handel arias recital CD.

She's one to watch rather than listen to. I do agree that no-one could replace her in the McVicar Giulio Cesare (but then, David Daniels will be a let-down after Sarah Connolly too).


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Actually, although I think she is extremely multi-talented and charming (although a little too winsome for me sometimes), I don't like her singing all that much, I often find it screechy, especially in the upper register. You could say, not surprising, with all that physical activity on-stage, but I find the same in her Handel arias recital CD.
> 
> She's one to watch rather than listen to. I do agree that no-one could replace her in the McVicar Giulio Cesare (but then, David Daniels will be a let-down after Sarah Connolly too).


I still want Rosemary Joshua. Rosemary Joshua, I say!

And I seriously doubt anyone sings Cesare better these days than Sarah Connolly, although I kind of want to hear Bejun Mehta. And David Daniels is not what he once was.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> I saw de Niese's _Giulio Cesare_ I'm not sure I want to see it without de Niese. (Maybe David Daniels got tired of being upstaged every night and insisted on a cast change. :devil


I know what you mean - once I've been blown away by one performer, it's hard to imagine enjoying anyone else in the same role. But we'll see.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Actually, although I think she is extremely multi-talented and charming (although a little too winsome for me sometimes), I don't like her singing all that much, I often find it screechy, especially in the upper register. You could say, not surprising, with all that physical activity on-stage, but I find the same in her Handel arias recital CD.
> 
> She's one to watch rather than listen to. I do agree that no-one could replace her in the McVicar Giulio Cesare (but then, David Daniels will be a let-down after Sarah Connolly too).


Yeah, she's a little lazy. Needs a stern conductor to bring out her best.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I know what you mean - once I've been blown away by one performer, it's hard to imagine enjoying anyone else in the same role. But we'll see.


Well I'm keen to see Dessay's Cleopatra, I just wish it were a different production. I just can't see her filling out those costumes the same way de Niese did, much less the dance moves. But then Dessay is a total stage animal too, so, like you say, we shall see indeed.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Cavaradossi said:


> Well I'm keen to see Dessay's Cleopatra, I just wish it were a different production. I just can't see her filling out those costumes the same way de Niese did, much less the dance moves. But then Dessay is a total stage animal too, so, like you say, we shall see indeed.


She's very fit and she trains with a circus.....


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