# Opera recordings: The orchestral gems vs. perfect singing



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Just general talk, as I know people are often into various interpretations of works. I generally have one and stick with it, but I'm sure as time goes on I may be curious to try new versions, especially if I eventually sign up to a music streaming site.

So I'd like to talk a bit of an opera dichotomy. What's key for you: Great, balanced singing all around? Wonderful singing from the principles with a little less concern for the lesser characters/chorus? Or is the orchestra the bigger key for you. Or do you take the best all around package?

Discuss various operas in which you may listen to one recording for one of the elements, but what brings you to listen to another every now and again. Any operas welcome, though I'm in particular kind of obsessed with Mozart opera . I listen to others and will continue to explore, but if I'm going for multiple versions, I kind of think it's going to be his that are going to keep me going back enough to check out the variety.


----------



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Hmm ... well I only have one Mozart opera that I listen to with any frequency, and that's Cosi. My first purchase was the classic Boehm recording, which I love to death; somewhat later I noticed that everything Alessandro Corbelli was in appeared to be really great, and got his Guglielmo on DVD with Muti directing, and as a bonus the fantastic performance of Claudio Desderi as Don Alfonsetto. Probably watch the DVD more than I listen to the CD, actually. I listened to the highly recommended Fleming CD once or twice and couldn't tell why anybody liked it - it just seemed to have no character at all. But Desderi is another one that, if he's in it, you're pretty sure to have a good time. His Dandini is just a classic, on the DVD with von Stade, Araiza, Plishka et al.

But in general, if I have multiple recordings of an opera, it's because I really wanted to see how THIS singer would sing THAT role. I first heard Scandiuzzi, for example, in a Puritani DVD and thought wow, that voice ... and got his Don Carlo and his Boccanegra. Wasn't blown away with either of those, wasn't deeply disappointed, still kind of evaluating them ... but that's typical of how I come to buy new versions of something.

As far as what recordings I play most ... the orchestra probably doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. The performances of the principals, basically, and the recording standard. The Cotrubas-Domingo Elisir just was engineered out the wazoo and I love it. If I could get that standard of engineering on every recording I'd be in hog heaven. Well, no, I wouldn't, I'd find something else to complain about ... but it would definitely be a higher circle of hell.

Hope that makes a start on answering your question, anyway


----------



## suteetat (Feb 25, 2013)

I generally buy multiple versions of the same versions mainly for the singers. I want to hear Te Kanawa as contessa in Marriage of Figaro but I would not do without Schwarzkopf, Magaret Price, Arleen Auger, etc etc .

Conductors seemed a bit more secondary but not always. There is a good reason to get Furtwaengler's Don Diovanni or Tristan or Ring Cycle. Sinopoli also is always interesting to hear, whether you like his approach or not but his Tannhauser, Madame Butterfly and Cavalleria Rusticana offer a different way of approaching the work that is well worth listening to.

As a whole, there is always a good reason to get more recordings of the same work.


----------



## AndyS (Dec 2, 2011)

As a rule of thumb, i would say I would go for the singers - if there's someone I like in the recording then I will want to check them out. If none of the singers interest me, I may sometimes check out a recording if the conductor does, but that's rare

With recorded opera I find more often than not there are compromises to be made. For example, if you want Sutherland in pretty much anything, you're not going to get first class accopaniment


----------



## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I'd say my position is like AndyS - there are singers I avoid (ironically, Sutherland) and singers whose name on a recording pretty much sell it to me (eg Peter Mattei, Ian Bostridge, John Mark Ainsley, Simon Keenlyside, Jonas Kaufman, Ileana Cotrubas, Placido Domingo)


----------



## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

It is the overall performance, as well as the recording quality that is the deciding factor for me. I don't really want to listen to several hours of a weak and bloodless orchestra, boring engaged singing, bangs and thumps of stage noises or laryngital punctuation from the audience. The abilities of the principal singer is just the icing on that cake. It would be good if there was such a thing as a definitive performance but i've never found one, just definitive in the sense of "only listenable version". There isn't even one ideal orchestra or singer for me, they all have their off days, or their repertoire that they would have been better off not tackling.


----------



## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

quack said:


> It is the overall performance, as well as the recording quality that is the deciding factor for me. I don't really want to listen to several hours of a weak and bloodless orchestra, boring engaged singing, bangs and thumps of stage noises or laryngital punctuation from the audience. The abilities of the principal singer is just the icing on that cake. It would be good if there was such a thing as a definitive performance but i've never found one, just definitive in the sense of "only listenable version". There isn't even one ideal orchestra or singer for me, *they all have their off days, or their repertoire that they would have been better off not tackling*.


mostly in agreement with you (especially the bolded bit - having seen Cotrubas mentioned, I love her Susanna and her Adina is by far my favourite; I was just thinking I really need to get around to her Violetta BUT I really disliked her Ilia - might be me, I still have a hard time with Idomeneo), however I actually enjoy thumping on the stage; somehow it makes it more real if there's no DVD. To sum it up, I could settle for fantastic principals but things do really improve with a conductor who "gets" the opera. Unless it happens during my favourite arias, I don't mind coughing all that much.


----------



## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

The singers are also what will motivate me to purchase multiple recordings of the same operas. I have at least two versions of most of Mozart's standard rep operas, including three of _Don __Giovanni_ and _Idomeneo_. I purchased one of the Giovannis because Sherrill Milnes is singing the title role, another because Sena Jurinac is singing Donna Anna, and a third because Gundula Janowitz and Alfredo Kraus are singing Donna Anna and Don Ottavio (and Jurinac sings Donna Elvira). In the case of the two Glyndebourne Idomeneos, I couldn't choose between the Jurinac-Simoneau version and the Janowitz-Pavarotti one (Richard Lewis sings the title role on both), and so bought them both. Then I discovered a Vienna recording with Werner Krenn as Idamante and Jurinac as Elettra (she sang Ilia at Glyndebourne), and had to have it.
Singers who can "sell" a recording to me, in addition to those named above, are Jonas Kaufmann, Camilla Nylund, and Siegfried Jerusalem. (And I'm quite partial to Cotrubas and Katia Ricciarelli as well.)


----------

