Can I get some Opera recommendations?

schw06 · « **on:** 4 Jan 2009, 12:22 am »

I've never been exposed to much opera but just listened to some Puccini and was blown away...can someone point me in the direction of some of their favorite opera pieces that a novice might be able to appreciate? Thank you!
Dave

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Jan 2009, 12:54 am »

I'll hang a couple on ya:

Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci- Von Karajan conducting the house band at La Scala (Deutsche Grammophon)

Orfeo ed Euridice- Kuijken, La Petite Band, Collegium Vocale (Accent)

The latter has ideal perspective from where I would likely be sitting (lots of air) and maybe you (in the general admission section). These are both very fine productions. Don't know if they are available on disc. Haven't looked. Enjoy.

sabes · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Jan 2009, 01:41 am »

i found this to be pretty useful: http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R29VK5GEU9X2PF

rockadanny · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Jan 2009, 08:26 pm »

Hey Dave,
I only have two, but I think they are fabulous:
Mozart - Don Giovanni - Nikolaus Harnoncourt - on Teldec (3 CDs) - my favorite musically; and
Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Rene Jacobs - on harmonia mundi (3 CDs) - This one (I believe) was recorded with period instruments and was ranked tops in sound quality.
You may borrow them if you'd like. I work near Perimeter Mall.
PM me if interested in arranging pick up.

cornhulio · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 Jan 2009, 08:43 pm »

I'm not big on opera but I enjoy Paul Potts - One Chance and not opera but it should be: Handel - Water Music, Trevor Pinnock conducting, period instruments, out of print I think but available used on ebay or amazon.

woodsyi · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 Jan 2009, 09:03 pm »

Welcome to the wonderful world of Opera.

What Puccini opera or arias did you like? Who were the singers?

If you liked the melodic pieces, start with Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Bizet, Donizetti and Bellini highlights. They are the most accessible. The list on the Amazon link is a good one. Operas with Pavarotti or Domingo as tenors usually have good cast and are available on CD. You will have to find the Divas you like which is the fun part.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #6 on:** 31 May 2009, 02:50 pm »

Puccini had a little trick with his strings adding a little dissonance in there. He can sure pull your heart strings. When it is appropriate he will lift his singers with his strings in a very emotional way. Butterfly is as good an example I can think of. On the London recording of Karajan conducting The Vienna Philharmonic that I have, Mirella Freni is a very sensuous Butterfly.

goldlizsts · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Jun 2009, 01:16 am »

Quote from: woodsyi on 4 Jan 2009, 09:03 pm

Welcome to the wonderful world of Opera. What Puccini opera or arias did you like? Who were the singers?

If you liked the melodic pieces, start with Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Bizet, Donizetti and Bellini highlights. They are the most accessible. The list on the Amazon link is a good one. Operas with Pavarotti or Domingo as tenors usually have good cast and are available on CD. You will have to find the Divas you like which is the fun part.

Now that you've mentioned Puccini, that rang my bell a little. Way back, when I took voice lessons, the teacher forced Puccini arias on us, so I became familiar with some Puccini operas, since I had to practice on his inventions. The first one was Calaf's soothing song "Non piangere Liu!" from Turandot. So, I started to like Puccini's operas, not because I had fun with them, because he has his way with dramatics, especially with those "main" attractions, those arias. My first favorite actually was Boheme, with Jussi Bjorling and I think De Los Angeles. The teacher raved about Bjorling, the beautiful tenor voice, tho he's a stiff on stage. Pavarotti also has that beautiful lyric tenor. That's why he's so popular. Modern promotion really made him the best tenor in history in terms of records sold (not because he's the best singer!). The Three Tenors concerts helped them tremendously because of the power of the modern media. Domingo is by far the better technician. Because he's a lyric spinto kind of tenor, his repertoire would be far wider than anyone else. He's also so much more talented, so he's quite popular too, but paled somewhat compared to Pavarotti (again, in terms of following perhaps!). However, Domingo has turned out to be more enduring now that he spend more of his later years in conducting. Carrera? Never liked him that much.

woodsyi · « **Reply #8 on:** 9 Jun 2009, 02:57 am »

I like Jussi Bjorling's voice too. I think the days of the three tenors are gone. Pavarotti is dead and both Domingo and Carreras have essentially stopped singing operas as they only appear in concerts. Of the new generation singers, I like early Roberto Alagna (can you believe his best days are already over) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNSyvPN7EPQ and Juan Diego Florez who has such a pretty voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=352JMHx0RG0&feature=related

geezer · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Jun 2009, 08:01 pm »

Tastes in opera recordings vary all over the map, as you'll see if you look at the reviews on Amazon. There you'll see a number of versions of one of my favorites: Verdi's Nabucco.

The two DVDs that get the best reviews are one recorded in 2005 at the Met with Levine, and one recorded at La Scala in 1985 with Muti. I've seen both and I'd give the Met production five stars, and the La Scala one. To me, the latter seems dead in virtually every respect. One reason is that recording is technically poor visually as well as sonically. The audio is muddy and short of bass, with not a good balance between the orchestra and the singers. The action and acting are non-existent, and the sets are boring.

In contrast, the Met production is visually and sonically superb. The singers are also able actors, right down to the members of the chorus, and the videography ably catches the body language and facial expressions that so beautifully mesh with the music. In my limited experience, Levine is THE opera conductor, expertly modulating the orchestra to support the vocals for maximum effect.

The main complaint with the Met production seems to be that Guleghina sometimes wanders a little from the written score. I'm not expert enough to have known that, and so I enjoyed her performance. (Ignorance is bliss?)
The highlight of the opera is va pensiero (the chorus of the Hebrew slaves). While this failed to touch me at all in the La Scala performance, in the Met production it had my hairs standing on end, and tears in my eyes. Here the visual aspect was hugely powerful as the cameras very effectively captured the facial expressiveness of the individuals of the chorus. The combination of the video and audio together was much more than the sum of the two parts. Appropriately, the enthusiastic audience response to this part brought an encore.

Nabucco was one of Verdi's early works. Apparently he was not entirely happy with it, so he decided to do it all again, writing Aida. The essential story of these two operas is the same, but he decided on a different ending. Instead of the happy ending for the two lovers in Nabucco, the lovers in Aida end up dead.

cubist · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 Jul 2009, 12:28 pm »

Find out what the next production at you local opera company is.
Find the best recording of that.
Listen.
Go to the performance.
Repeat.

hup_d_dup · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 Aug 2009, 12:18 pm »

Here's my recommendation: Lakm?, by Leo Delibes. I wasn't familiar with this work, but was just looking for a good recording of the "Flower Duet." I was amazed at the wonderful music, from beginning to end, in this opera.

The recording I have is with the Paris Op?ra-Comique conducted by Alain Lombard with Mady Mespl?, Danielle Millet, Charles Burles and Roger Soyer. Since this is my only recording I can't say it's the best, but I think it's excellent.

hup_d_dup · « **Reply #12 on:** 22 Aug 2009, 12:20 pm »

Sorry about the previous post ... each of the question marks is supposed to be the letter e with an accent above. It looks like the forum software cannot correctly render this character.

woodsyi · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 Aug 2009, 06:18 pm »

You are absolutely right. Lakme is a gorgeous melodic Opera that does not get enough play. We normally hear a couple of arias and that's it. I have always use the Bell Song as a test track whenever I am auditioning any new gear or system. Here is a collection of 10 Divas singing the end of the Bell song on YouTube. Pretty amazing performances really. I have the one you have with Mesple, the Dessay one and several featuring Sutherland. I like La Stupenda just fine on this opera and the Monte Carlo production featuring her on Decca/London, imho, is the best overall production when you add the supporting cast and orchestration. By the way, I really like Lily Pons and Galli-Curci singing the Bell song on records. Those were amazing voices and they had such virtuoso control. It's a shame I don't have the whole opera featuring either of them but it may be better that I don't since orchestral music just don't come though on these old recordings.

david12 · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Aug 2009, 03:48 pm »

Now that you've mentioned Puccini, that rang my bell a little. Way back, when I took voice lessons, the teacher forced Puccini arias on us, so I became familiar with some Puccini operas, since I had to practice on his inventions. The first one was Calaf's soothing song "Non piangere Liu!" from Turandot. So, I started to like Puccini's operas, not because I had fun with them, because he has his way with dramatics, especially with those "main" attractions, those arias. My first favorite actually was Boheme, with Jussi Bjorling and I think De Los Angeles. The teacher raved about Bjorling, the beautiful tenor voice, tho he's a stiff on stage. Pavarotti also has that beautiful lyric tenor. That's why he's so popular. Modern promotion really made him the best tenor in history in terms of records sold (not because he's the best singer!). The Three Tenors concerts helped them tremendously because of the power of the modern media. Domingo is by far the better technician. Because he's a lyric spinto kind of tenor, his repertoire would be far wider than anyone else. He's also so much more talented, so he's quite popular too, but paled somewhat compared to Pavarotti (again, in terms of following perhaps!). However, Domingo has turned out to be more enduring now that he spend more of his later years in conducting. Carrera? Never liked him that much.

[/quote]

Goldliszts That La Boheme is the first opera I ever bought. It was knocked out in an afternoon by Beeching for EMI in the late 50's. It is still my favourite though recording quality is'nt up to modern standards. The entrance of De Los Angeles as Mimi in Act 1, you think an angel has walked into the room. Other good starting points

Anything by Puccini, particularly Tosca, very dramatic, the Turandot with Pavarotti. Butterfly.
Other very melodic easy to access operas
Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin
Verdi Otello with Domingo Riccarelli on EMI
Don Carlos with Domingo again on EMI I think
Traviata
Mozart particularly Marriage of Figaro, Din Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tute(all I believe De Ponte operas, written by him, someone will say I am wrong.
Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier

Ther are many more of course, but these are were I would start, before tackling Schoenberg or Britten or Janacek, wonderful though they are

On LP, I would trust most on EMI/Decca or Deutsche Gramaphon, but of course, that is'nt 100% gaurantee

woodsyi · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Aug 2009, 04:36 pm »

I found a Boheme that may be the best of them all.

This La Boheme features young Di Stefano and Bidu Sayao. I heard this rendition and I had to get the complete opera. The NBC concert was recorded in 1950 but the opera was recorded in 1951. I could not find a vinyl copy though and ordered the CDs. I am eagerly anticipating listening to the whole opera.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #16 on:** 8 Sep 2009, 06:35 am »

Dude, I got a best of Di Stefano (an old album on Serifim, I think) on which he sings a famous aria from La Boheme (and other Puccini's) that I can't think of the name of that absolutely slays. Somebody should know which one that is. Happen to see Benjiman Britton's premier of The Turn of the Screw one night on a stay in London back when but this isn't tragic opera in the Italian sense. This thread has reminded me of it. At the time, I was waiting for intermission so I could down a couple of whiskeys. Having just heard some samples on A'zon, I've just ordered that bad boy. It is what it is but I'm not. Onward and upward.

no1maestro · « **Reply #17 on:** 8 Sep 2009, 09:55 pm »

It's no real surprise to me that this list of recommendations has turned to Puccini. He has to be the "Max Steiner" of opera; easy to identify with and always memorable. My own opera education began with Puccini and then drifted to Wagner and others. Never cared for much of Britten but it is an acquired taste to be sure.

I'm just glad to see so many folks still interested in opera. Please keep the questions and answers coming. Thanks!

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #18 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 05:25 am »

Turn of The Screw arrived. It's on the Naxos label. Dudes, the perspective of a large stage in a large house (high ceilings) is spot freakin on (given that yer willing to except the seat next to me in the space available seats tho this is largely controlled by the old volume knob if you know what I mean- but I recommend that you stick with me). The vocals are amazingly perfect, I shit you not. The orchestra is a little carmelized as compared to most London's and Mercury's, etc., but it isn't a deficit, not when you hear those vocals (!), dear heart.

This is not like sensuous and climatic Italian operas. It's more austere and intellectual for lack of a better description, and melancholic. A glass of wine, or two, may be required. I'm engrossed by it.

woodsyi · « **Reply #19 on:** 15 Sep 2009, 01:03 pm »

Have some more wine, Jim.

I admire Britten's music but I have to admit that I have a hard time "liking" it. I have not seen the Screw but I have seen Peter Grimes -- there were some nice passages but ultimately it was emotionally unengaging. One piece that I like from Britten is his War Requiem.