# Research for Next Season



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

So it's amazing how many operas the Met is showing next season that I have no knowledge of. And I need your help, please. If any of you has a treasured recording, a recording you feel no collection is complete without (audio only please, no DVDs), of one of these operas please let me know what it is so I can check it out.

Eugene Onegin

Midsummer Night's Dream

Die Frau ohne Schatten

Der Rosenkavalier

Die Fledermaus

Rusalka

Prince Igor

Werther

Wozzeck

Andrea Chenier

Arabella

................. thank you SO MUCH!!!!!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

ps: BALLET IS OPERA FOR THE INARTICULATE


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Can only recommend three

Being a fan of Carreras I love these

Andrea Chénier










Werther










and would recommend this Eugene Onegin


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Wozzeck:









I'm not familiar with Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream, but Britten's recordings of his own operas were great, so I think I can safely recommend:


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

sospiro said:


> Can only recommend three
> 
> Being a fan of Carreras I love these
> 
> ...


I have actually been thinking a lot about Carreras lately - I always go to his Don Carlo first - been thinking of doing a Best of Carreras post as I did for Domingo and Pavarotti. Thanks for recommending two I hadn't heard of him in.

And wouldn't it be nice if Amazon had a good search tool? By good search tool, I mean if you put in a title you get only responses that have that title. It's so infuriating to get twenty million responses of which 99% have little or nothing to do with what you're looking for. Grr. I mention it because the Eugene Onegin you recommended was the top responder on Amazon, which I'm not sure if that's good news or not. But we'll see.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> Wozzeck:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I appreciate it. I'll have a lot of listening to do before next season, hopefully I'll learn to love most of that music before I get to the opera house ...


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I appreciate it. I'll have a lot of listening to do before next season, hopefully I'll learn to love most of that music before I get to the opera house ...


Some people find Wozzeck tough going...but it packs a real dramatic punch, and that's why it's entered the repertoire.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Good luck with your research & homework Greg & let us know your progress. I find that even a small amount of effort put in is rewarding. 

I might be seeing Wozzeck later this year & it's a work I know nothing about. Time for me to start learning I think.


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## suteetat (Feb 25, 2013)

I was never a big fan of Wozzeck listening to it on CD. However, seeing it live was a completely different story. It was a lot more like watching a dramatic play but with music. Probably I have to give a lot of credit to Franz Grundheber for his stage portrayal
of the role as well.

Andrea Chenier, I would pick Tebaldi/Del Monaco/Gavazzeni set. Listening to that, I don't know if I would ever have a chance to hear to any couple nowaday sings the final duet the way Tebaldi and Del Monaco did. Only a clip of Tebaldi/Tucker I found on youtube would be a good alternative.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

suteetat said:


> I was never a big fan of Wozzeck listening to it on CD. However, seeing it live was a completely different story. It was a lot more like watching a dramatic play but with music. Probably I have to give a lot of credit to Franz Grundheber for his stage portrayal
> of the role as well.
> 
> Andrea Chenier, I would pick Tebaldi/Del Monaco/Gavazzeni set. Listening to that, I don't know if I would ever have a chance to hear to any couple nowaday sings the final duet the way Tebaldi and Del Monaco did. Only a clip of Tebaldi/Tucker I found on youtube would be a good alternative.


A lot of what I listen to is just what's available at the used CD shop, so much will depend on what I find there ... but they usually have a lot of stuff you can't get anywhere else, so I have high hopes. Wasn't Andrea Chenier the opera Tom Hanks' character was listening to in Philadelphia? I wonder what version he was using ...


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## AndyS (Dec 2, 2011)

For Den Rosenkavalier there are two choices I can recommend:

The Solti with Regine Crespin as the Marschallin (and I think Yvonne Minton as Octavian but can't remember off the top of my head) or the Karajan with Schwarzkopf and Ludwig... I'm not normally a fan of Schwarzkopf but I think she is absolutely wonderful here

For Die Frau you can't go wrong with the Bohm - great cast in James King, Leonie Rysanek, birgit Nilsson and Walter Berry, and it's live too

Also, I would second Sospiros Werther recommendation. Lovely stuff


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

suteetat said:


> I was never a big fan of Wozzeck listening to it on CD. However, seeing it live was a completely different story. It was a lot more like watching a dramatic play but with music. Probably I have to give a lot of credit to Franz Grundheber for his stage portrayal
> of the role as well.


Well, it was in fact adapted from a stage play (like Debussy's Pelleas or Strauss's Salome), with some scenes cut and others rearranged. There's a lot of clever technique behind the music that makes it stand well on its own, but none of it would matter in the theater if it weren't a powerful dramatic experience, which is the reason why it's made the repertoire despite its relative "difficulty".


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I can recommend this recording of _Rusalka_:


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## suteetat (Feb 25, 2013)

guythegreg said:


> A lot of what I listen to is just what's available at the used CD shop, so much will depend on what I find there ... but they usually have a lot of stuff you can't get anywhere else, so I have high hopes. Wasn't Andrea Chenier the opera Tom Hanks' character was listening to in Philadelphia? I wonder what version he was using ...


It was Callas' rendition of la Mamma morta in the movie.

Forgot to mention Thill/Vallin's Werther if you can find it. The sound is actually quite good for 1931 recording and you will get a true authentic French singing rather than the internaionalized French singing by everybody including French singers nowaday.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

AndyS said:


> For Den Rosenkavalier there are two choices I can recommend:
> 
> The Solti with Regine Crespin as the Marschallin (and I think Yvonne Minton as Octavian but can't remember off the top of my head) or the Karajan with Schwarzkopf and Ludwig... I'm not normally a fan of Schwarzkopf but I think she is absolutely wonderful here
> 
> ...


That Die frau recommendation sounds awfully good. Thanks to you and all the other wonderful responders here I'm gradually building my list - music buying splurge scheduled for Sunday. Wish me luck. Thanks again!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

suteetat said:


> It was Callas' rendition of la Mamma morta in the movie.
> 
> Forgot to mention Thill/Vallin's Werther if you can find it. The sound is actually quite good for 1931 recording and you will get a true authentic French singing rather than the internaionalized French singing by everybody including French singers nowaday.


huh - AUTHENTIC French singing - what a concept! I know when Natalie Dessay turns a phrase in a French tune she brings a little extra oomph to it, compared to others I've heard, but I never thought it was her pronunciation that made the difference, but rather her use of the words based on her much more intimate understanding of them, much as Alagna sings Elisir d'Amore so much more stylishly than Villazon. Please understand, I'm not arguing that his performance is overall better than Villazon's, just that his understanding and use of the language is much more assured and confident. But anyway, I will look for that Thill Vallin Werther and see what the price looks like - if it fits, I'll give it a try. Thanks.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

MAuer said:


> I can recommend this recording of _Rusalka_:


Thanks, I really appreciate it. It's not a comedy, is it? The photo looks like they're trying to be amusing. Like that Woody Allen movie where everyone kept telling the playwright, "Don't speak." lol


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

guythegreg said:


> Thanks, I really appreciate it. It's not a comedy, is it? The photo looks like they're trying to be amusing. Like that Woody Allen movie where everyone kept telling the playwright, "Don't speak." lol


No, this is very definitely not a comedy. The photo is from a Regietheater production at the Salzburg Festival. It's actually the water sprite, Rusalka, who is unable to speak after she is transformed into a human by the witch, Jezibaba. Needless to say, this causes some complications in her relationship with the Prince who wants to marry her.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Although Alagna is not my tenor of choice, I simply love hearing him sing French. He sounds so natural (I think it's because I prefer the French guttural "r" rather than the rolled more italianate one in French song).


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## suteetat (Feb 25, 2013)

guythegreg said:


> huh - AUTHENTIC French singing - what a concept! I know when Natalie Dessay turns a phrase in a French tune she brings a little extra oomph to it, compared to others I've heard, but I never thought it was her pronunciation that made the difference, but rather her use of the words based on her much more intimate understanding of them, much as Alagna sings Elisir d'Amore so much more stylishly than Villazon. Please understand, I'm not arguing that his performance is overall better than Villazon's, just that his understanding and use of the language is much more assured and confident. But anyway, I will look for that Thill Vallin Werther and see what the price looks like - if it fits, I'll give it a try. Thanks.


If you have a chance, try to listen to it. There are certainly many singers who can pronounce French very well and can definitely use the language to their advantage when they sing. Thill and to a certain extent, Vallin went beyond just good French pronounciation though. It is like say, listening to Heppner's Turandot, his Italian is easy enough to understand but he does not sound Italianated in comparison to Pavarotti, Corelli etc. Dessay certainly has no problem with French diction and her use of the language is a big plus but her singing is not particularly French for lack of a better term. Not sure how I can explain it better. May be someone else may think of his singing as more traditional, old fashion or whatever but definitely well worth listening to. The sound is not quite as good as Carreras or Kasarova set but is much better than most other 1930's-1940's recording that I have and certainly more idiomatic than the Werther's recording that came out in the last 20-30 years.

PS there are plenty of Thill's Werther's excerpts on youtube that you can listen to as well.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Although Alagna is not my tenor of choice, I simply love hearing him sing French. He sounds so natural (I think it's because I prefer the French guttural "r" rather than the rolled more italianate one in French song).


How interesting! You love him for his French, me for his Italian - maybe he's just a really good singer with not such wonderful tone!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

suteetat said:


> ... her singing is not particularly French for lack of a better term. Not sure how I can explain it better. May be someone else may think of his singing as more traditional, old fashion or whatever but definitely well worth listening to.
> 
> PS there are plenty of Thill's Werther's excerpts on youtube that you can listen to as well.


Very interesting. I'll be sure and pick it up if I can find it. And you know what, I hate Youtube. As wonderful as it is to be able to find stuff for free, it just seems like such a violation not to have to pay for such brilliant work. I know, I'm strange. lol


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Well I listened to some Thill on YouTube and was VERY impressed. Such a natural way of singing, lovely tone, and of course beautiful French. 

I'd have to check out any sopranos singing with him - the one in the Manon extract I listened to was truly atrocious in a winsomely dated kind of way.


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