# Most Luxurious Casts



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

What recordings or live performances can you think of that had luxurious casting with brilliant singers in the main roles and smaller roles?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Just for starting


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

One which almost immediately sprang to mind was Antonio Pappano's recording of _Gianni Schicchi_ on EMI - not a bad batting line-up for a work lasting 50 minutes!

José van Dam - Gianni Schicchi
Angela Gheorghiu - Lauretta
Felicity Palmer - Zita
Roberto Alagna - Rinuccio
Paulo Barbacini - Gherardo
Patrizia Ciofi - Nella


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

The *Turandot* with Mehta is amazingly well cast - it has been mentioned above.

*La forza del destino* by Giuseppe Verdi performed in Italian
Conductor James Levine - 1976(STU)
Orchestra - London Symphony Orchestra
Chorus - John Alldis Choir
Il Marchese di Calatrava - Kurt Moll
Leonora di Vargas - Leontyne Price
Don Carlo - Sherrill Milnes
Don Alvaro - Plácido Domingo
Preziosilla - Fiorenza Cossotto
Fra Melitone - Gabriel Bacquier
Curra - Gillian Knight
Padre Guardiano - Bonaldo Giaiotti
Mastro Trabuco - Michel Sénéchal
Un Chirurgo - William Elvin
Un Alcalde - Malcolm King

*Aida* by Giuseppe Verdi performed in Italian
Conductor Herbert von Karajan - 1979(STU)
Orchestra - Wiener Philharmoniker
Chorus - Wiener Staatsoper
Aida - Mirella Freni
Radamès - José Carreras
Amneris - Agnes Baltsa
Amonasro - Piero Cappuccilli
Ramphis - Ruggero Raimondi
Il Re di Egitto - José van Dam
Una Sacerdotessa - Katia Ricciarelli
Un Messaggero - Thomas Moser

*Norma* by Vincenzo Bellini performed in Italian
Conductor Richard Bonynge - 1984(STU)
Orchestra - Welsh National Opera
Chorus - Welsh National Opera
Norma - Joan Sutherland
Adalgisa - Montserrat Caballé
Pollione - Luciano Pavarotti
Oroveso - Samuel Ramey
Clotilde - Diana Montague
Flavio - Kim Begley


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

*Die Frau Ohne Schatten*

Die Kaiserin - Leonie Rysanek
Die Farberin - Christa Ludwig
Die Amme - Grace Hoffman 
Der Kaiser- Jess Thomas
Der Farber - Walter Berry
Der Hüter - Lucia Popp
Der Jüngling - Fritz Wunderlich
Wiener Philharmoniker
Wiener Staatsoper Chor
Conductor - Herbert Von Karajan


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Verdi: *Aida*

Aida - Montserrat Caballé 
Amneris - Fiorenza Cossotto
Radames - Plácido Domigo
Amonasro - Pietro Cappuccilli
Ramfis - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Il Re - Luigi Roni
Un messaggero - Nicola MartinuccI
Una sacerdotessa - Esther Casas

Riccardo Muti
Chorus of the a Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
The New Philharmonia Orchestra


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Mozart: *Don Giovanni*

Don Giovanni - Eberhard Wächter
Donna Anna - Joan Sutherland
Donna Elvira - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Zerlina - Graziella Sciutti
Don Ottavio - Luigi Alva
Leporello - Giuseppe Taddei
Masetto - Pietro Cappuccilli
Il Commendattore - Gottlob Frick

Carlo Maria Giulini
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Mozart: *Die Zauberflöte *

Tamino - Nicolai Gedda
Pamina - Gundula Janowitz 
Die Königin der Nacht - Lucia Popp
Papageno - Walter Berry
Erste Dame - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Zweite Dame - Christa Ludwig
Dritte Dame - Martha Höffgen
Papagena - Ruth Margret Pütz
Monostatos - Gerhard Unger
Sarastro - Gottlob Frick
Erster Priester - Gerhard Unger
Zweiter Priester - Franz Crass
Erster Geharnischer - Karl Liebl
Zweiter Geharnischer - Franz Crass
Erster Knabe - Agnes Giebel
Zweiter Knabe - Anna Reynolds
Dritte Knabe - Josephine Veasey


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I would have thought that Solti's cast for the Decca Gotterdamerung was about as luxurious as they come.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Of course, *Der Ring des Nibelungen* has an enormous cast, in most cases with the best singers of the day, but *Solti* has the most prestigious cast, starting with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Georg Solti, conductor

*Das Rheingold*
George London, Wotan
Eberhard Wächter, Donner
Waldemar Kmentt, Froh
Set Svanholm, Loge
Gustav Neidlinger, Alberich
Paul Kuen, Mime
Walter Kreppel, Fasolt
Kurt Böhme, Fafner
Kirsten Flagstad, Fricka
Claire Watson, Freia
Jean Madeira, Erda
Oda Barsborg, Woglinde
Hetty Plümacher, Wellgunde
IRA Malaniuk, Flossilde

*Die Walküre*
James King, Siegmund
Gottlob Frick, Hunding
Hans Hotter, Wotan
Régine Crespin, Sieglinde
Birgit Nilsson, Brünhilde
Christa Ludwig, Fricka
Vera Schlosser, Gerhilde
Helga Dernesch, Ortlinde
Brigitte Fassbaender, Waltraute
Helen Watts, Schwertleite
Berit Lindholm, Helmwige
Vera Little, Siegrune
Marilyn Tyler, Grimgerde
Claudia Hellmann, Rossweisse

*Siegfried*
Wölfgang Windgassen, Siegfried
Gerhard Stolze, Mime
Hans Hotter, der Wanderer
Gustav Neidlinger, Alberich
Kurt Böhme, Fafner
Marga Höffgen, Erda
Birgit Nilsson, Brünhilde
Joan Sutherland, stimme eines Waldvogels

*Götterdämmerung*
Wolfgang Windgassen, Siegfried
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gunther
Gottlob Frick, Hagen
Gustav Neidlinger, Alberich
Birgit Nilsson, Brünhilde
Claire Watson, Gutrune
Christa Ludwig, Waltraute
Helen Watts, Erste Norn
Grace Hoffman, Zweite Norn
Anita Välkki, Dritte Norn
Lucia Popp, Woglinde
Gwyneth Jones, Wellgunde
Maureen Guy, Flossilde


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

DavidA said:


> I would have thought that Solti's cast for the Decca Gotterdamerung was about as luxurious as they come.


It took me a while to compile it, and you beat me to it!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

MAS said:


> It took me a while to compile it, and you beat me to it!


Thanks! Saved me printing it out! I can remember when the Gotterdamerung came out the Decca publicity announced 'The Greatest Cast Imaginable'. They weren't far wrong, really.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

DavidA said:


> Thanks! Saved me printing it out! I can remember when the Gotterdamerung came out the Decca publicity announced 'The Greatest Cast Imaginable'. They weren't far wrong, really.


Also in *Die Walkure* you have three future Brünhildes.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

MAS said:


> Also in *Die Walkure* you have three future Brünhildes.


Unfortunately by that time Hotter's Wotan was practically unlistenable to all but his devotees.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

MAS said:


> Also in *Die Walkure* you have three future Brünhildes.


And a couple more in Gotterdämmerung (Välkki and Jones).


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Gluck: *Orfeo ed Euridice*

Orfeo - Bernarda Fink
Euridice - Veronica Cangemi
Amore - Maria Cristina Kiehr

Freiburger Barockorchester
RIAS Kammerchor

René Jacobs


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Verdi: *La Traviata*

Violetta - Renata Scotto
Alfredo - Gianni Raimondi
Germont - Ettore Bastianini

Coro e orchestra del Teatro alla Scala

Antonino Votto


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

And this is a controversial one...









Wagner - *Der Fliegende Holländer*

Der Holländer - James Morris
Senta - Deborah Voigt
Erik - Ben Heppner
Daland - Jan-Hendrik Rootering
Steuermann - Paul Groves
Mary - Birgitta Svendén

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

James Levine


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Puccini Tosca

Callas / Gobbi / Di Stefano / De Sabata

What more do you want?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

*Lohengrin, Met 1935*

Elsa: Lehmann
Lohengrin: Melchior
Ortrud: Lawrence
Telramund: Schorr
Heinrich: List
Herald: Huehn

*Or 1940:*

Elsa: Rethberg
Lohengrin: Melchior
Ortrud: Thorborg
Telramund: Huehn
Heinrich: List
Herald: Leonard Warren


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I had a feeling Solti's _Ring _would be mentioned. You really couldn't have gotten much better at the time. Past prime Hans Hotter is usually considered the weakest link. Perhaps they could have gotten that part better by recording the operas in order so that by the time they got to Götterdammerung Hotter would be done and have had the best chance to get his part done before his voice was as far aged as it ended up being. Some may also prefer Jon Vickers as Siegmund, but I don't consider James King a weak aspect of the recording. The change that could have made the biggest difference for me would be to have Jean Madeira as Erda in both _Das Rheingold _and _Siegfried_. In my opinion, Madeira blows all other Erdas out of the water. But there's not really anything to complain about. I mean, Joan Sutherland was the woodbird!


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

It's always mentioned, but personally I think only Götterdämmerung deserves to be considered. There are more consistently cast (and better conducted) versions of the others.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Adriana Lecouvreur: Olivero/Corelli/Bastianini/Simionato
Tosca: Callas/Gobbi/Di Stefano
Rigoletto:Warren/Peters/Tucker/Elias/Tozzi/Votipka
La Fanciulla del West: Tebaldi/Konya/Colzani/Plishka
Romeo et Juliette: Netrebko/Villazon
Salome:Mattila/Begley/Uusitalo


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)




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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

adriesba said:


> I had a feeling Solti's _Ring _would be mentioned. You really couldn't have gotten much better at the time. Past prime Hans Hotter is usually considered the weakest link. Perhaps they could have gotten that part better by recording the operas in order so that by the time they got to Götterdammerung Hotter would be done and have had the best chance to get his part done before his voice was as far aged as it ended up being. Some may also prefer Jon Vickers as Siegmund, but I don't consider James King a weak aspect of the recording. The change that could have made the biggest difference for me would be to have Jean Madeira as Erda in both _Das Rheingold _and _Siegfried_. In my opinion, Madeira blows all other Erdas out of the water. But there's not really anything to complain about. I mean, Joan Sutherland was the woodbird!


The problem John Culshaw faced was that after a recorded Rheingold and its huge success he was going onto Walkure but RCA, who were linked with Decca, went ahead and recorded Walkure under Leinsdorf, which drove a horse and cart throughCulshaw's plans as his boss, Rosengarton, distributed RCA in Europe and didn't want to go into competition with himself. Rosengarten then suggested they should record Sigfried instead which of course they did with Hotter who was in poor voice I n Act 1 but got better as the work progressed. Then of course came Gotterdamerung. Unfortunately by the time Walkure came along for Decca hotter was passed his best by a long way


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Rogerx said:


> ]


If you're going to mention this, what about the Karajan set that (according to Andrew Porter) 'redefined how opera was recorded'?

Aida - Renata Tebaldi
Radames - Carlo Bergonzi
Amnerozo - Cornel McNeil


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

DavidA said:


> If you're going to mention this, what about the Karajan set that (according to Andrew Porter) 'redefined how opera was recorded'?
> 
> Aida - Renata Tebaldi
> Radames - Carlo Bergonzi
> Amnerozo - Cornel McNeil


I love both, but....if I can have only only one it would be this one.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)




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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Ulfilas said:


> And this is a controversial one...
> 
> View attachment 144105
> 
> ...


I thought we were looking for luxury casting?


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Barbebleu said:


> I thought we were looking for luxury casting?


In my view this cast is fantastic. Voigt in best voice, James Morris a little past his absolute prime but still the real thing (although Hermann Uhde will always be my favourite). Everyone else is just splendid.

I completely understand why some people find Levine's conducting to be leaden. I agree with Tommasini that his slow tempi are actually quite fascinating.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Barbebleu said:


> I thought we were looking for luxury casting?


There are quite a few recordings above that I don't think quite come into the category of luxury casting in both the major and minor roles. Scotto's first Traviata hardly fits the bill, nor does Sutherland's first Lucia (Cioni as Edgardo?), to name but two. I take luxury casting to mean when someone like Barbara Hendricks sings The Voice from Heaven in *Don Carlo* or Ricciarelli sings the Priestess in *Aida*, a role taken by Sutherland in the 1953 Covent Garden performances of the opera with Callas and Simionato and Barbirolli conducting. Unfortunately the presence of Baum as Radames rather precludes that being considered a luxury cast.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

John Steane considered Renata Scotto's earlier Violetta the most fully realized on records, so I'm in good company! I think Raimondi was a very good singer, much better than Cioni or Poggi. I enjoy it, and having the La Scala company as well as Votto conducting, are all plusses.

I never liked Ricciarelli, so I wouldn't consider her priestess a treat. 

My favourite Aida is actually Leontyne Price's other recording, with Leinsdorf conducting. Bumbry, Domingo, Milnes and Raimondi.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Ulfilas said:


> I never liked Ricciarelli, so I wouldn't consider her priestess a treat.


Whether you like her or not, you have to admit that she was in the top echelon of sopranos during her time and played major roles in most of the major opera houses in the world. That makes her luxury casting for the very small role of the Priestess.

The post is not about recordings we like, but recordings or perfomances that have luxury casting from top to bottom. Many of my favourite recordings don't quite fit that bill.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

I see your point. I was more going for what I consider opera recordings for which no allowances need to be made for the cast. There aren't a lot of them, but those are some that in my opinion fit the bill. I also think they are overlooked, which is more interesting to me than trotting out the De Sabata Tosca or the Solti Ring again.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

*Le Nozze di Figaro (Decca)*

Susanna: Popp
Countess: Te Kanawa
Count: Thomas Allen
Figaro: Ramey
Cherubino: von Stade
Bartolo: Moll


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

This was a performance I attended:

Metropolitan Opera House
October 10, 1998 Matinee


LOHENGRIN {609}
Wagner-Wagner

Lohengrin...............Ben Heppner
Elsa....................Karita Mattila
Ortrud..................Deborah Polaski
Telramund...............Richard Paul Fink
King Heinrich...........René Pape
Herald..................Eike Wilm Schulte
Gottfried...............Sebastian Uriarte
Noble...................Thomas Studebaker
Noble...................Tim Willson
Noble...................Gary Martin
Noble...................Richard Vernon
Page....................Alexander Waldron

Conductor...............James Levine


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I found this picture here: http://www.isoldes-liebestod.net/Saengerinnen/SchroederFeinen_Ursula.htm










What a cast!

Siegfried - Jess Thomas
Brünnhilde - Ursula Schröder-Feinen
Mime - Gerhard Stolze
Wotan - Thomas Stewart
Alberich - Gustav Neidlinger
Fafner - John Macurdy
Forest bird - Judith Blegen
Erda - Lili Chookasian

No wonder it was sold out!


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Another Nozze (RCA):

Figaro: Tozzi
Susanna: Peters
Countess: Della Casa
Count: London
Cherubino: Elias
Bartolo: Corena
Conductor: Leinsdorf

And a Don Giovanni (Salzburg 1956, issued by RCA):

Don Giovanni: Siepi
Leporello: Corena
Donna Anna: Grümmer
Donna Elvira: Della Casa
Ottavio: Simoneau
Zerlina: Streich
Masetto: Berry
Commendatore: Frick
Conductor: Mitropoulos


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

*Le Nozze di Figaro*









Susanna - Barbara Bonney
Figaro - Petteri Salomaa
Countess - Arleen Auger
Count - Håkan Hagegård
Cherubino - Alicia Nafe
Marcellina - Della Jones 
Bartolo - Carlos Feller

Drottningholm Theatre Chorus and Orchestra

Arnold Östman

And my favourite *Don Giovanni*:









Don Giovanni - Ezio Pinza
Leporello - Alexander Kipnis
Donna Anna - Rose Bampton
Donna Elvira - Jarmila Novotna
Zerlina - Bidu Sayao
Don Ottavio - Charles Kullman

Metropolitan Opera

Bruno Walter


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

wkasimer said:


> This was a performance I attended:
> 
> Metropolitan Opera House
> October 10, 1998 Matinee
> ...


That's quite a cast.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

adriesba said:


> I found this picture here: http://www.isoldes-liebestod.net/Saengerinnen/SchroederFeinen_Ursula.htm
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I actually think the best late-80s Met cast was an improvement on this one (Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried Jerusalem, James Morris, Heinz Zednik, Ekkehard Wlaschiha).


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

But speaking of Ursula Schröder-Feinen, here's something amusing.

Turandot meets South Pacific.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro

Simon Keenlyside (Count), 
Véronique Gens (Countess), 
Patrizia Ciofi (Susanna),
Lorenzo Regazzo (Figaro), 
Angelika Kirchschlager (Cherubino),
Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina)
Collegium Vocale Gent, Concerto Köln, René Jacobs

The best Figaro on disc imo


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Ulfilas said:


> That's quite a cast.


It was quite a performance - a shame it wasn't broadcast. There was a broadcast in 2006 with virtually the same cast, with Philippe Auguin conducting, but Heppner wasn't as fresh vocally.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Ulfilas said:


> View attachment 144148
> 
> 
> Don Giovanni - Ezio Pinza
> ...


Speaking of old Met recordings:









Now there's a hell of a cast!


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Ulfilas said:


> I actually think the best late-80s Met cast was an improvement on this one (Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried Jerusalem, James Morris, Heinz Zednik, Ekkehard Wlaschiha).


Well, I will politely but completely disagree. 
Many of the singers from that picture (probably from the mid or late 70s) are some of the best ever for those roles. 



Ulfilas said:


> But speaking of Ursula Schröder-Feinen, here's something amusing.
> 
> Turandot meets South Pacific.


Indeed that is hilarious! And it makes me with I could hear her sing the whole role!


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Compared to some of the stuff we get foisted on us nowadays practically any cast from the fifties to the seventies would be “luxury casting”.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

DavidA said:


> The problem John Culshaw faced was that after a recorded Rheingold and its huge success he was going onto Walkure but RCA, who were linked with Decca, went ahead and recorded Walkure under Leinsdorf, which drove a horse and cart throughCulshaw's plans as his boss, Rosengarton, distributed RCA in Europe and didn't want to go into competition with himself. Rosengarten then suggested they should record Sigfried instead which of course they did with Hotter who was in poor voice I n Act 1 but got better as the work progressed. Then of course came Gotterdamerung. Unfortunately by the time Walkure came along for Decca hotter was passed his best by a long way


I've always preferred that RCA _Walkure_ under Leinsdorf to Solti's, despite a sonic balance less flattering to the singers. Engineers had not yet figured out how to convey the power of Nilsson's voice, which they did fairly well by the time she recorded _Gotterdammerung_ and _Elektra._ George London is a firmer-voiced Wotan than Hotter and very good dramatically, Vickers' Siegmund is ideal, the best since Melchior's, the rest of the cast is solid, and Leinsdorf sustains the momentum better than Solti.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

If you can take mono, I think the Furtwängler on EMI is even better. Ludwig Suthaus is my kind of ideal, and the rest of the cast is superb. It's very well recorded, too.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Woodduck said:


> I've always preferred that RCA _Walkure_ under Leinsdorf to Solti's, despite a sonic balance less flattering to the singers. Engineers had not yet figured out how to convey the power of Nilsson's voice, which they did fairly well by the time she recorded _Gotterdammerung_ and _Elektra._ George London is a firmer-voiced Wotan than Hotter and very good dramatically, Vickers' Siegmund is ideal, the best since Melchior's, the rest of the cast is solid, and Leinsdorf sustains the momentum better than Solti.


I think it was quite in the beginning when I had just got into Wagner and was reading about different _Die Walküre_ recordings. It was one of your posts which inspired me to listen to it and it and since then I've held it in a very high esteem.

Vickers is my favourite post-Melchior Siegmund as well (although I'm weirdly fond of Suthaus's Siegmund as well) and, although the 50s Hotter is my favourite Wotan, he was already wobbly by the time Solti recorded his Ring and thus London is preferable in my opinion as well. No one can compete with Hotter's interpretative skills and attention to the text though.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

The critic Jon Alan Conrad summed it up quite well I thought:

Do you want....

a great Wotan?
-- James Morris (Haitink/EMI or Levine/DG)

a great Brunnhilde?
-- Birgit Nilsson (Solti/London)

a great Sieglinde?
-- Regine Crespin (Solti) or Cheryl Studer (Haitink)

a great Siegmund?
-- Lauritz Melchior (various conductors on various reissues incl.
EMI and Danacord, but he did record the whole role); next best,
Siegfried Jerusalem (Janowski/Eurodisc)

a great Fricka?
-- Yvonne Minton (Janowski)

a great Hunding?
-- Kurt Moll (Janowski or Levine)

great conducting?
-- Wilhelm Furtwangler (with Vienna, EMI)

a great orchestra?
-- Vienna Phil (Furtwangler or Solti) or Berlin Phil (Karajan/DG)
or Dresden (Janowski) or Met (Levine)

great sound?
-- Solti or Janowski

a splendid octet of Valkyries?
-- for house teams, Covent Garden (Leinsdorf/London) or ENO (Goodall/
EMI); for hand-picked groups, Solti or Levine

a Helmwige and Ortlinde who can do the required trills?
-- Cheryl Studer and Ruth Falcon (Janowski)

a fine performance in English?
-- Goodall

And on it goes.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

I think Simone Young's recording on Oehms is worth a listen, surprisingly well sung for a modern recording, and she's a fine conductor of Wagner:


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Ulfilas said:


> If you can take mono, I think the Furtwängler on EMI is even better. Ludwig Suthaus is my kind of ideal, and the rest of the cast is superb. It's very well recorded, too.


Disagree completely. I bought it cheap but was really disappointed. The casting is weak. Both the women are out of form and Franz is hopeless. Suthaus sings the notes well but that's about all.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

annaw said:


> I think it was quite in the beginning when I had just got into Wagner and was reading about different _Die Walküre_ recordings. It was one of your posts which inspired me to listen to it and it and since then I've held it in a very high esteem.
> 
> Vickers is my favourite post-Melchior Siegmund as well (although I'm weirdly fond of Suthaus's Siegmund as well) and, although the 50s Hotter is my favourite Wotan, he was already wobbly by the time Solti recorded his Ring and thus London is preferable in my opinion as well. No one can compete with Hotter's interpretative skills and attention to the text though.


If you want Vickers the version with Karajan is better conducted with a better cast but I know the anti-Karajan lobby who like stentorian voices will disagree. I was listening to Melchior in Walküre the other day and outside of the glory of the voice itself he doesn't do a lot with the text.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Barbebleu said:


> Compared to some of the stuff we get foisted on us nowadays practically any cast from the fifties to the seventies would be "luxury casting".


'The old is gold'


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

DavidA said:


> If you want Vickers the version with Karajan is better conducted with a better cast but I know the anti-Karajan lobby who like stentorian voices will disagree. I was listening to Melchior in Walküre the other day and outside of the glory of the voice itself he doesn't do a lot with the text.


Agree about Karajan vs Leinsdorf, I'd take Karajan too, I think that's the best part of his Ring actually.

But yeah, can't really follow you on Suthaus (supremely passionate), Frantz (one of the best Act II monologues) or Rysanek (she warms up). I would agree that Martha Mödl is more controversial.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Tsaraslondon said:


> There are quite a few recordings above that I don't think quite come into the category of luxury casting in both the major and minor roles. Scotto's first Traviata hardly fits the bill, nor does Sutherland's first Lucia (Cioni as Edgardo?), to name but two. I take luxury casting to mean when someone like Barbara Hendricks sings The Voice from Heaven in *Don Carlo* or Ricciarelli sings the Priestess in *Aida*, a role taken by Sutherland in the 1953 Covent Garden performances of the opera with Callas and Simionato and Barbirolli conducting. Unfortunately the presence of Baum as Radames rather precludes that being considered a luxury cast.


Yes, good explanation.

...

Just felt I should clarify... When I say "luxurious cast", I don't mean simply that there are good singers in the performance, but rather that the cast is heavily "star-studded" so to say. In other words, the roles are filled with great singers, perhaps even having a big name in a small role. Often, this means that cast looks really good on paper.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Tsaraslondon said:


> There are quite a few recordings above that I don't think quite come into the category of luxury casting in both the major and minor roles. Scotto's first Traviata hardly fits the bill, nor does Sutherland's first Lucia (Cioni as Edgardo?), to name but two. I take luxury casting to mean when someone like Barbara Hendricks sings The Voice from Heaven in *Don Carlo* or Ricciarelli sings the Priestess in *Aida*, a role taken by Sutherland in the 1953 Covent Garden performances of the opera with Callas and Simionato and Barbirolli conducting. Unfortunately the presence of Baum as Radames rather precludes that being considered a luxury cast.


The other problem with the Callas Aida from Covent Garden is the recording is so limited it sounds as if it has been made by an off-shore radio


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Solti - Mahler Eigtht Symphony


Heather Harper, Lucia Popp, Arleen Auger (soprano)
Yvonne Minton, Helen Watts (alto)
René Kollo (tenor)
Joh Shirley-Quirk (baritone)
Martti Talvela (bass)
Solti, Georg (conductor)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Wiener Sängerknaben
Wiener Singverein

Not exactly an opera, but what a cast! Not the kind you can now assemble on any given day....


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Never mind. Source is too vague to make statement.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I remember a 1973 Peter Hall production of *Le nozze di Figaro* which, if it doesn't quite fit the bill for the whole cast, catapulted its three leading ladies to stardom. The three ladies were Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess, Ileana Cotrubas as Susanna and Frederica Von Stade as Cherubino. Admttedly Cotrubas was already known to Glyndeboure audiences, having sung Mélisande, Calisto and Pamina there, but the other two were debuting there and the television broadcast introduced them all to a much larger audience.

Talking of Mozart, I'd say both Giulini's Mozart opera recordings have pretty luxury casts.

*Le Nozze di Figaro
*
Figaro - Giuseppe Taddei
Susanna - Anna Moffo
Il Conte Almaviva - Eberhard Wächter
La Contessa Almaviva - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Cherubino - Fiorenza Cossotto
Antonio - Piero Cappuccilli

But his *Don Giovanni* tops even that.

Don Giovanni - Eberhard Wächter
Donna Anna - Joan Sutherland
Leporello - Giuseppe Taddei
Commendatore - Gottlob Frick
Donna Elviara - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Don Ottavio - Luigi Alva
Masetto - Piero Cappuccilli
Zerlina - Graziella Sciutti

Top to bottom this is a fabulous cast.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Another one I've thought of is Sawallisch's *Capriccio* (Anna Moffo as the Italian Singer)










But then the Böhm is pretty starry too.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Talking of Mozart, I'd say both Giulini's Mozart opera recordings have pretty luxury casts.
> 
> *Le Nozze di Figaro
> *
> ...


Only if you like Schwarzkopf and Waechter....


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> I've always preferred that RCA _Walkure_ under Leinsdorf to Solti's, despite a sonic balance less flattering to the singers.


I also prefer it, but the sonics are actually one of the reasons. The balance between pit and stage is a lot more like the "real thing", and I think that a bit of sonic distance makes Nilsson's voice sound a bit less strident and more attractive.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Ulfilas said:


> If you can take mono, I think the Furtwängler on EMI is even better. Ludwig Suthaus is my kind of ideal, and the rest of the cast is superb. It's very well recorded, too.


This was my first Walküre, and still one of my favorites. I recognize its deficiencies, but Furtwangler's direction and the playing of the orchestra are fabulous, and I'm a huge fan of Suthaus's Siegmund.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> Only if you like Schwarzkopf and Waechter....


I do, but I don't really think that's the point. I thought it had more to do with how stellar the casts were. I know you don't like Schwarzkopf (everyone probably does by now) but you have to admit that she was a big star with a large following.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

wkasimer said:


> I recognize its deficiencies, but Furtwangler's direction and the playing of the orchestra are fabulous, and I'm a huge fan of Suthaus's Siegmund.


I totally agree with this!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

wkasimer said:


> This was my first Walküre, and still one of my favorites. I recognize its deficiencies, but Furtwangler's direction and the playing of the orchestra are fabulous, and I'm a huge fan of Suthaus's Siegmund.


Furtwangler's direction is worth hearing but the cast to my mind is not up to standard. The two leading ladies do not appear to have been at their best which is a shame. But as we are discussing 'luxurious casts' I don't think this cast can be so described.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I do, but I don't really think that's the point. I thought it had more to do with how stellar the casts were. I know you don't like Schwarzkopf (everyone probably does by now) but you have to admit that she was a big star with a large following.


Having Walter Legge as her husband probably didn't hurt...


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

wkasimer said:


> Having Walter Legge as her husband probably didn't hurt...


Until Legge left EMI by which time he had made himself so unpopular with everyone that no-one wanted to work with him.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Another one I've thought of is Sawallisch's *Capriccio* (Anna Moffo as the Italian Singer)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


One of my favourite operas which is woefully under-represented on disc.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Barbebleu said:


> One of my favourite operas which is woefully under-represented on disc.


True, but the recordings that do exist are exceptionally well cast.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

wkasimer said:


> True, but the recordings that do exist are exceptionally well cast.


True that! Has there been a decent studio recording since 1972?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Barbebleu said:


> One of my favourite operas which is woefully under-represented on disc.


True, but there are two superb recordings as already pointed out. I am more disappointed at the lack of a perfect Arabella (and I know it's an opera that seems to get little love these days, but I'm quite fond of it). Possibly the best recording is the film with Janowitz, but no great CD of the complete opera exists.

N.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Ulfilas said:


> But speaking of Ursula Schröder-Feinen, here's something amusing.
> 
> Turandot meets South Pacific.


I love the singing, but the juxtaposition of aria and staging is the kind of discordant nightmare that might have inspired Strauss's _Ariadne auf Naxos_.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I quite like this one








i also like the Te Kanawa version, mostly because I saw her on stage in the role, though with a different cast (Wixell as Mandryka).


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

The Conte said:


> True, but there are two superb recordings as already pointed out. I am more disappointed at the lack of a perfect Arabella (and I know it's an opera that seems to get little love these days, but I'm quite fond of it). Possibly the best recording is the film with Janowitz, but no great CD of the complete opera exists.


I see I was beaten to the punch, but I'll concur that the Solti has long been highly regarded. Not that you're required to share that view.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Barbebleu said:


> True that! Has there been a decent studio recording since 1972?


The Decca recording conducted by Ulf Schirmer is pretty good.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> Having Walter Legge as her husband probably didn't hurt...


Oh come on. Enough now. You've had your fun. But it really is pushing it a bit to imply that her success was only down to Walter Legge. I doubt Legge's name was enough t make all those great conductors and instrumentaists want to work with her. No doubt she owed him a great deal but, as Callas once said, "We all owe something to someone."


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Oh come on. Enough now. You've had your fun. But it really is pushing it a bit to imply that her success was only down to Walter Legge. I doubt Legge's name was enough t make all those great conductors and instrumentaists want to work with her. No doubt she owed him a great deal but, as Callas once said, "We all owe something to someone."


It's also possible he owed *her* as well . . .


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

amfortas said:


> I see I was beaten to the punch, but I'll concur that the Solti has long been highly regarded. Not that you're required to share that view.


I'm not a fan of Della Casa and so that pretty much rules two recordings out. My favourite is the Sawallisch with Varady and an (ageing) Fischer-Dieskau.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> I quite like this one
> View attachment 144181
> 
> 
> i also like the Te Kanawa version, mostly because I saw her on stage in the role, though with a different cast (Wixell as Mandryka).


Even those who are Solti fans (I'm not) would aver that it's not one of his best sets and not up to the standard of his other Strauss operas. It's very fast, for one, and somehwat perfunctory.

It's a great pity (_pace_ Wkasimer) that this one wasn't recorded complete.










Though, on reflection, maybe this is all I need of the opera. At least I don't have to suffer all the Fiakersilly stuff.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> It's a great pity (_pace_ Wkasimer) that this one wasn't recorded complete.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hence my saying there isn't a perfect recording of the _complete_ opera.

N.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

amfortas said:


> I love the singing, but the juxtaposition of aria and staging is the kind of discordant nightmare that might have inspired Strauss's _Ariadne auf Naxos_.


Indeed she was amazing! The clip is apparently from some show where the audience was to guess the opera the music was from and what opera the staging was for. Turandot was in Schröder-Feinen's repertoire. There is supposedly a live recording of her singing the role for real, but I can't find it unfortunately.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

adriesba said:


> Indeed she was amazing! The clip is apparently from some show where the audience was to guess the opera the music was from and what opera the staging was for.


It would have been even better if she'd been dressed in some kind of outlandish costume and you had to guess the singer.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Ulfilas said:


> If you can take mono, I think the Furtwängler on EMI is even better. Ludwig Suthaus is my kind of ideal, and the rest of the cast is superb. It's very well recorded, too.


I've never been able to enjoy that recording. I can't take Modl for more than five or ten minutes. Her odd, chesty vocal production reminds me of the tense, pressurized squeal of a balloon being slowly deflated, or of something being squeezed out of a tube. I just don't consider it good singing. Suthaus is a fine Siegmund, though I find his very dark sound rather dull and occluded. Rysanek is not at her best, and both Frantz and Klose are past theirs, though Klose's artistry is still potent. For me she's the most satisfying member of the the cast, but she can be heard in her superb prime, sparring with Hotter in his, on the 1930s Act 2 under Seidler-Winkler. Now that was a luxurious cast!


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Woodduck said:


> I've never been able to enjoy that recording. I can't take Modl for more than five or ten minutes. Her odd, chesty vocal production reminds me of the tense, pressurized squeal of a balloon being slowly deflated, or of something being squeezed out of a tube. I just don't consider it good singing. Suthaus is a fine Siegmund, though I find his very dark sound rather dull and occluded. Rysanek is not at her best, and both Frantz and Klose are past theirs, though Klose's artistry is still potent. For me she's the most satisfying member of the the cast, but she can be heard in her superb prime, sparring with Hotter in his, on the 1930s Act 2 under Seidler-Winkler. Now that was a luxurious cast!


I would definitely have preferred Varnay. Rysanek is still Rysanek! I can't think of another singer I'd have preferred to Frantz, Suthaus or Klose in 1954.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Ulfilas said:


> I would definitely have preferred Varnay. Rysanek is still Rysanek! I can't think of another singer I'd have preferred to Frantz, Suthaus or Klose in 1954.


Varnay... Big, cutting, heavy voice with a harsh top. Good for villains. Ortrud. I'd rather hear her as Fricka than Brunnhilde or Sieglinde.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Woodduck said:


> Varnay... Big, cutting, heavy voice with a harsh top. Good for villains. Ortrud. I'd rather hear her as Fricka than Brunnhilde or Sieglinde.


It's 1954, and you're looking for a Brünnhilde, who do you choose?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Ulfilas said:


> It's 1954, and you're looking for a Brünnhilde, who do you choose?


Heh heh. Ya got me there. Guess I just suffer for a few years.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Woodduck said:


> Heh heh. Ya got me there. Guess I just suffer for a few years.


The names that came to my mind are Gertrude Grob-Prandl, and Helena Braun (incidentally, married to Frantz).


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Ulfilas said:


> It's 1954, and you're looking for a Brünnhilde, who do you choose?


Maria Callas of course!

(Although she probably would only have sung it in Italian.)

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Maria Callas of course!
> 
> (Although she probably would only have sung it in Italian.)
> 
> N.


True, but she hadn't sung a Wagner role since 1950, though she was scheduled to sing Kundry at La Scala in 1956 under Enrich Kleiber. The project floundered when Kleiber died in January 1956 and, weirdly, La Scala substituted Giordano's *Fedora*.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> True, but she hadn't sung a Wagner role since 1950, though she was scheduled to sing Kundry at La Scala in 1956 under Enrich Kleiber. The project floundered when Kleiber died in January 1956 and, weirdly, La Scala substituted Giordano's *Fedora*.


Which leads us on to another cancelled Callas opera. She was due to sing Fedora with the GNO, but she left Athens for America first. (I can't remember whether her leaving meant she didn't end up singing it or if it were cancelled sooner due to the civil war and so she left because she didn't have work.

N.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

An opera which pretty much demands a luxurious cast is Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots/Gli Ugonotti

At La Scala in 1962 the cast was:

Les Huguenots by Giacomo Meyerbeer performed in Italian
Conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni - 1962(LI)
Orchestra - Teatro alla Scala
Chorus - Teatro alla Scala
Marguerite de Valois - Joan Sutherland
Valentine de Saint-Bris - Giulietta Simionato
Urbain - Fiorenza Cossotto
Raoul de Nangis - Franco Corelli
Compte de Nevers - Wladimiro Ganzarolli
Compte de Saint-Bris - Giorgio Tozzi
Marcel - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Bois-Rosé - Walter Gullino
De Tavannes - Piero De Palma
De Cossé - Giuseppe Bertinazzo
De Thoré - Manuel Spatafora
De Retz - Antonio Cassinelli
De Meru - Alfredo Giacomotti
Maurevert - Silvio Maionica

I notice that Giuseppe Taddei sang Nevers on the 1955 radio recording, he might have been a starrier choice that Ganzarolli.

The singers filling out Bonynge's 1969 studio set went on to sing principal roles in the next thirty years 
Dame d'Honneur 1 - Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame d'Honneur 2 - Josephte Clement
Girl 1 - Kiri Te Kanawa
Girl 2 - Josephte Clement
Night Watchman - John Noble
Monk 1 - John Wakefield
Monk 2 - Alan Opie
Monk 3 - Clifford Grant


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Which leads us on to another cancelled Callas opera. She was due to sing Fedora with the GNO, but she left Athens for America first. (I can't remember whether her leaving meant she didn't end up singing it or if it were cancelled sooner due to the civil war and so she left because she didn't have work.
> 
> N.


According to Frank Hamilton's Callas performance annals, she sailed to New York just a couple of days after her final performance in *Der Bettelstudent* with the GNO in September 1945. The civil war started after she had left in 1946, so the approaching storm might have been part of her decision to go to the US, but the GNO, like so many organisations, was struggling to rebuild after the German occupation and she decided she needed to leave Greece in order to further her career. De Hidalgo thought she should go to Italy, but she chose the USA because her father lived there and because the American Embassy in Athens advertised that American citizens would be granted passage on the first boat out of Piraeus. She didn't relinquish her Amercian citizenship until after she met Onassis.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I've just come across a Covent Garden *Carmen* from Covent Garden in 1973, which has a pretty fabulous cast

Carmen - Shirley Verrett
Don José - Placido Domingo
Micaëla - Kiri Te Kanawa
Escamillo - José Van Dam
Morales - Thomas Allen
Frasquita - Teresa Cahill
Mercedes - Anne Pashley
Zuniga - Richard Van Allan
Conductor - Georg Solti

Seems pretty starry to me.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Decca is releasing a 1978 recording of *Die Zauberflöte* that qualifies for this thread:









The controversial choice of Tamino might put some off, but Peter Hoffmann was, at the time, a big star - though I'm not sure if he ever sang Tamino on stage.

Kiri Te Kanawa, Pamina
Peter Hoffmann, Tamino
Edita Gruberova, Queen of the Night
Kurt Moll, Sarastro
Kathleen Battle, Papagena
Philippe Huttenlocker, Priest
Helena Döse, First Lady
Jose Van Dam, Speaker
Ann Murray, Second Lady
Naoko Ihara, Third Lady
Zürcher Sängerknaben, Three Boys

Chorus of the Opera du Rhin 
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg
Alain Lombard


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Decca is releasing a 1978 recording of *Die Zauberflöte* that qualifies for this thread:
> 
> View attachment 144226
> 
> ...


This was originally on the Barclay label








. Not sure if it was ever issued in the UK.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I wonder if this Lombard *Die Zauberflöte* was recorded for Erato, who issued most of his recordings in the 1970s and 1980s.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> I wonder if this Lombard *Die Zauberflöte* was recorded for Erato, who issued most of his recordings in the 1970s and 1980s.


I can't find an Erato listing on Discogs though his *Cosi* with Kiri was on Erato.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

MAS said:


> I wonder if this Lombard *Die Zauberflöte* was recorded for Erato, who issued most of his recordings in the 1970s and 1980s.


It was I am pretty sure.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Recorded for Erato, released on Barclay, and re-released on Decca - I'm confused.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

adriesba said:


> Recorded for Erato, released on Barclay, and re-released on Decca - I'm confused.


Just a question of money, that's it. Buy the original tape and it's yours, Joan Sutherland's two first recordings where also made by RCA now they are Decca property .


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Comes down to whether one likes Mödl and Vinay but Karajan's 1952 Bayreuth _Tristan_ is undoubtedly exceptionally well cast:

Tristan - Ramon Vinay
Isolde - Martha Mödl
Kurnewal - Hans Hotter
Brangäne - Ira Malaniuk
King Marke - Ludwig Weber
Melot - Hermann Uhde


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Many of La Scala's casts from the 1950s were pretty stunning too. Take the 1957 *Un Ballo in Maschera*

Amelia - Maria Callas
Ulrica - Giulietta Simionato
Riccardo - Giuseppe Di Stefano
Renato - Ettore Bastianini
Oscar - Eugenia Ratti
Conductor - Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Producer - Margarita Wallman
Designer - Nicola Benois

I'd have preferred someone like Graziella Sciutti as Oscar, but you can't have everything.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Wagner's *Lohengrin*
Jess Thomas, Lohengrin
Elisabeth Grümmer. Elsa 
Christa Ludwig. Ortrud
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Telramund
Gottlob Frick, König
Otto Wiener, Heerrüfer

Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker 
Rudolf Kempe


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

This ain't too bad:









Medea: Maria Callas
Giasone: Jon Vickers
Glauce: Joan Carlyle
Neris: Fiorenza Cossotto
Creonte: Nicola Zaccaria

Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 
Nicola Rescigno


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> This ain't too bad:
> 
> View attachment 144246
> 
> ...


And directed by Alexis Minotis, the Greek classical theatre director, who was also the husband of classical acterss Katrina Paxinou, was lured into directing for the theatre by the prospect of working with Callas.

It was actually Berganza's debut in the USA and Callas took her under her wing. Berganza said Callas was extremely kind to her and virtually forced her to acknowledge the applause after her aria. She also said Callas was one of the most professional and hard working artists she had ever come across. So much for the capricious prima donna.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> And directed by Alexis Minotis, the Greek classical theatre director, who was also the husband of classical acterss Katrina Paxinou, was lured into directing for the theatre by the prospect of working with Callas.
> 
> It was actually Berganza's debut in the USA and Callas took her under her wing. Berganza said Callas was extremely kind to her and virtually forced her to acknowledge the applause after her aria. She also said Callas was one of the most professional and hard working artists she had ever come across. So much for the capricious prima donna.


I think you're mixing up your Medeas. Berganza was in the Dallas cast (1958), not the CG one.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> I think you're mixing up your Medeas. Berganza was in the Dallas cast (1958), not the CG one.


Oops, sorry. I misread your post.

Well I'll take Berganza over Cossotto in this role at least. Dallas was pretty starry too though, with Elizabeth Carron as Glauce and Judith Raskin (the Anne Trulove of Stravinsky's recording of his *The Rake's Progress*) as the First Handmaiden. Callas, Vickers and Zaccaria were all in Dallas as well of course.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

And surely Karajan's first *Der Rosenkavalier* qualifies. Aside from Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Stich-Randall and Edelmann, we have Eberhard Wächter as Faninal, Gedda as the Italian Singer and Kerstin Meyer as Anina.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Two recordings of *Il Viaggio a Reims* present an all-star cast of that time:

Katia Ricciarelli
Lúcia Valentini-Terrani
Lella Cuberli
Cecília Gasdia
Francisco Araiza
Edoardo Giménez
Léo Nucci
Ruggero Raimondi
Samuel Ramey
Enzo Dara

Cláudio Abbado
Prague Philharmonic Chorus
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Cheryl Studer
Lucia Valentini-Terrani
Luciana Serra
Sylvia McNair
William Matteuzzi 
Raul Giménez 
Lúcio Gallo
Ruggero Raimondi 
Samuel Ramey
Enzo Dara

Cláudio Abbado
Runfunkchor Berlin 
Berliner Philharmoniker


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

*Les Contes d'Hoffmann* Covent Garden 1980/1981

Hoffmann - Placido Domingo
Olympia - Luciana Serra
Giulietta - Agnes Baltsa
Antonia - Ileana Cotrubas
Niklausse/Muse - Claire Powell
Lindorf - Robert Lloyd
Dapertutto - Siegmund Nimsgern
Miracle - Nicola Ghiuselev
Spalanzani - Robert Tear
Coppélius - Geraint Evans
Crespel - Gwynne Howell
Stella - Deanne Bergsma (the ballet dancer)
ø
Conductor - Georges Prêtre
Producer - John Schlesinger
Designer - William Dudley
Costumes - Maria Bjørnson

Those were the days!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

annaw said:


> Comes down to whether one likes Mödl and Vinay but Karajan's 1952 Bayreuth _Tristan_ is undoubtedly exceptionally well cast:
> 
> Tristan - Ramon Vinay
> Isolde - Martha Mödl
> ...


I don't think this is 'luxury' casting simply because if you don't have voices of this calibration you cannot perform the work properly. But of course, attempts are made....


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Massenet: *Werther*

José Carreras
Frederica Von Stade
Isabel Buchanan
Thomas Allen
Robert Lloyd

Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Berlioz: *Les Troyens*









Jon Vickers, Enée 
Berit Lindholm, Cassandre
Josephine Veasey, Didon
Peter Glossop, Chorebe
Roger Soyer, Narbal
Anne Howells, Ascagne
Heather Begg, Anna
Ryland Davies, Hylas
Pierre Thau, Priam
Elizabeth Bainbridge, Hecube 
Ian Partridge, Iopas

Sir Colin Davis
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Berlioz: *Les Troyens*
> 
> View attachment 144258
> 
> ...


I love this opera and I have a special affection for this, its first recording, partly because it's the set by which I came to know and love the work. That said, I'm not sure if the cast represents luxury casting. Good though Veasey is, I'd have preferred Janet Baker as Didon and Berit Lindholm is problematic as Cassandre. When Baker sang Didon with Scottish Opera, the Cassandre was Helga Dernesch and Anja Silja played it in the Covent Garden performances this recording was based on.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Karajan's _Tristan und Isolde _has a rather luxurious cast:

Tristan - Jon Vickers 
Isolde - Helga Dernesch
Brangäne - Christa Ludwig 
Kurwenal - Walter Berry 
König Marke - Karl Riddersbusch
Melot - Bernd Weikl 
Sailor, Shepherd - Peter Schreier
Helmsman - Martin Vantin

All the main roles have a big name, and even the sailor and shepherd are sung by Peter Schreier. I think the only way it could have been better would be if Birgit Nilsson were Isolde, but Helga Dernesch is no weakness in my opinion.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

DavidA said:


> I don't think this is 'luxury' casting simply because if you don't have voices of this calibration you cannot perform the work properly. But of course, attempts are made....


Yeah, that's a fair point. In some other context it might strike more luxurious. At Bayreuth that seemed to be simply commonplace - the usual Bayreuth lot. Karajan probably could have got Uhde sing Melot just in "you mind singing a few lines this evening?" way :lol:.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I love this opera and I have a special affection for this, its first recording, partly because it's the set by which I came to know and love the work. That said, I'm not sure if the cast represents luxury casting. Good though Veasey is, I'd have preferred Janet Baker as Didon and Berit Lindholm is problematic as Cassandre. When Baker sang Didon with Scottish Opera, the Cassandre was Helga Dernesch and Anja Silja played it in the Covent Garden performances this recording was based on.


Like you, I grew up with this recording and no other recording will do. Most of the singers are internationally known and are not matched in toto by any other cast. I am not as keen on Baker as the English are.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

I love Les Troyens, I actually think both the first Davis and the Dutoit are superb. If pressed I might favour Dutoit overall, but Davis has a better tenor obviously. The new Nelsons for me isn't on the same level, and I think Davis II is weaker in terms of the casting.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Like you, I grew up with this recording and no other recording will do. Most of the singers are internationally known and are not matched in toto by any other cast. I am not as keen on Baker as the English are.


She was highly regarded in the US too and, though she never sang in opera there, or anywhere else outside London except from when the Royal Opera visited La Scala (her choice), her Carnegie Hall recitals would always sell out. Joyce DiDonato says it was hearing Baker (on recordes) that inspired her to become a singer.

Baker is one of my top three, along with Callas and Schwarzkopf. The only singer I've heard who comes close to her Didon is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who had many of the same qualities; inner intensity and a sincerity which came from complete identification with the composer, the text and its meaning.

Happily still with us, I honestly think Baker is te greatest _living_ singer in the world.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Ulfilas said:


> I love Les Troyens, I actually think both the first Davis and the Dutoit are superb. If pressed I might favour Dutoit overall, but Davis has a better tenor obviously. The new Nelsons for me isn't on the same level, and I think Davis II is weaker in terms of the casting.


I'd agree that Davis I has a stronger cast all round than Davis II (though I prefer Lang to Lindholm) but I'd call Dutoit the also ran.It seems to me that both Davis and Nelsons have a real grasp and understanding of Berlioz's unique soundworld, whereas Dutoit's response is more generalised. It's what lets down the Levine Met performance with Deborah Voigt, Ben Heppner and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, which is a shame because his cast would qualify for the luxury epithet.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

MAS said:


> View attachment 144100
> 
> 
> Mozart: *Die Zauberflöte *
> ...


This is PURE GOLD!

A W E S O M E cast


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## Saxman (Jun 11, 2019)

I would add: 

Aida conducted by Perlea
Aida - Milanov
Amneris - Barbieri
Radames - Bjoerling
Amonasro - Warren (leonard)
Ramfis - Boris Christoff
Orchestra sound is terrible - but a starry group of singers!

And I would think Hansel and Gretel would be a good choice too, because some of them use famous singers in small roles - for example Pritchard has Te Kanawa as the Sandman and Ruth Welting as the Dew Fairy and that's after a cast that already includes Von Stade, Cotrubas, and Ludwig. Starry indeed!


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

The Gigli _Andrea Chenier_ has a ridiculously starry cast:
Andrea Chenier: Beniamino Gigli
Maddalena: Maria Caniglia (pre vocal troubles)
Gerard: Gino Bechi
Contessa di Coigny: Giulietta Simionato
Madelon: Vittoria Palombini
Roucher: Italo Tajo
Fouquier-Tinville and Fleville: Giuseppe Taddei (!)

To have Tajo, Simionato, and Taddei in essentially bit parts is luxury indeed.

Gigli's _Cavalleria Rusticana_ has a similary deep cast, including the conductor.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

The Conte said:


> True, but there are two superb recordings as already pointed out. I am more disappointed at the lack of a perfect Arabella (and I know it's an opera that seems to get little love these days, but I'm quite fond of it). Possibly the best recording is the film with Janowitz, but no great CD of the complete opera exists.
> 
> N.


Starry casts, but only sometimes a starry yield. I do think the EMI Capriccio has Nicolai Gedda's best singing, really almost -- well, no really does ruin every other performance for me. He's really silky, the kind of thing that few tenors can do, Leopold Simoneau coming to mind.

The Arabella problem has a lot of its root in the work itself. But the recordings always seem to have something that I really don't like enough, one of the roles miscast and badly sung. What Kiri te Kanawa is doing on the same stage with that Fontana woman I will never know. Fischer-Dieskau, no, please. And the Janowitz film is wonderful for Janowitz and Weikel (yes, that is right?) is fine, but actually sitting through the clutter of the big scenes and the Fiakermilli-- just have to skip through for Janowitz. I haven't heard the Te Kanawa film with Thielemann, Brendel and McLaughlin at the MET.

I don't see a performance referenced about which I'm curious but never managed to hear, Monserrat Caballe and Siegmund Nimsgern. Has anyone heard it?

Still, I think a lot of the trouble falls at Strauss' feet.


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

adriesba said:


> When I say "luxurious cast", I don't mean simply that there are good singers in the performance, but rather that the cast is heavily "star-studded" so to say. In other words, the roles are filled with great singers, perhaps even having a big name in a small role. Often, this means that cast looks really good on paper.


By that criterion, the early 1980s Decca _Mefistofele_:

Mefistofele - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Faust - Luciano Pavarotti
Margherita - Mirella Freni
Elena - Montserrat Caballé
Martha - Nucci Condò
Wagner - Piero De Palma
Pantalis - Della Jones
Nereo - Robin Leggate

This might not be the most apt _Mefistofele_ cast on record, but it's surely the most luxurious!

... though the 1965 Lyric Opera of Chicago cast would make a good runner up:

Mefistofele - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Faust - Alfredo Kraus
Margherita - Renata Tebaldi
Elena - Elena Souliotis
Martha - Mary McKenzie
Wagner - Piero De Palma
Pantalis - Margaret Roggero
Nereo - Herbert Krauss

I wonder if Wagner was De Palma's favorite role. (He also does it on the EMI set with Christoff, the Decca set with Siepi, etc....)


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

gvn said:


> By that criterion, the early 1980s Decca _Mefistofele_:
> 
> Mefistofele - Nicolai Ghiaurov
> Faust - Luciano Pavarotti
> ...


Piero De Palma is a singer who has been in an insane number of Italian opera recordings but is almost never talked about.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Just a nice bottle of red to drink whilst listening to it.


DavidA said:


> Puccini Tosca
> 
> Callas / Gobbi / Di Stefano / De Sabata
> 
> What more do you want?


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I was more interested in this thread when I thought it was *The Most Luxurious Cats*.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

adriesba said:


> Piero De Palma is a singer who has been in an insane number of Italian opera recordings but is almost never talked about.


That's funny, I was just reading about him in a review of an Aida recording where he was referred to as the 'the world's greatest comprimario'.

N.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Norma:
Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano), Maria Callas (Soprano), Franco Corelli (Tenor), Nicola Zaccaria (Bass), Piero de Palma (Tenor), Edda Vincenzi (Soprano)

Hard to beat Ludwig, Callas, and Corelli.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

BachIsBest said:


> Norma:
> Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano), Maria Callas (Soprano), Franco Corelli (Tenor), Nicola Zaccaria (Bass), Piero de Palma (Tenor), Edda Vincenzi (Soprano)
> 
> Hard to beat Ludwig, Callas, and Corelli.


Oddly enough I'm listening to that same recording this morning.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Norma has been extremely fortunate when it comes to luxury casting. There's the Callas stereo studio set, but also the live La Scala one with Del Monaco, Simionato and Zaccaria.

Irrespective of what you think of the results, Sutherland, Caballe, Pavarotti and Ramey is certainly luxurious on paper (and I like the results).

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

How about Karajan's first recording of *Der Rosenkavalier*

Marschallin: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Octavian: Christa Ludwig
Sophie: Teresa Stich-Randall
Ochs: Otto Edelmann
Faninal: Eberhard Wächter
Duenna: Ljuba Welitsch
Italian Singer: Nicolai Gedda
Anina: Kerstin Meyer

And Giullini's *Don Giovanni* is pretty starry too.

Don Giovanni: Eberhard Wächter
Leporello: Giuseppe Taddei
Donna Anna: Joan Sutherland
Donna Elvira: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Zerlina: Graziella Sciutti
Masetto: Piero Cappuccilli
Commendatore: Gottlob Frick


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