Opera Recordings
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Favourite Recordings

When I sat down to write this section, I realised that I really couldn't come up with a favourite recording - I just couldn't decide. I have many recordings that are special to me, but even to decide on a short list seems terribly difficult to me.

When I first started to explore the world of opera it was through recordings - library recordings at first...very scratchy library LPs. I checked out many recordings and many were listened to and taken right back. There were, however, a few recordings that spoke to me almost immediately, and remain very special to me now.

***

At least one of them actually seems to be generally admired - at least for the male singers and the conducting. I had purchased a recording of excerpts of Die Zauberflöte (I had heard "Der hölle Rache" somewhere and thought it was pretty amazing) but decided that I would like to hear the whole work, and so off to the Bozeman Public Library I went. The recording they had was with Fritz Wunderlich, Evelyn Lear, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Roberta Peters, Franz Crass and conducted by Karl Böhm. Unfortunately, this recording was so scratchy that parts of it wouldn't even play. So I decided to construct a cassette recording of the work by combining the excerpts recording with the playable parts of the complete recording, and it was with this strange hybrid recording that I first got to know and love a Mozart opera.

None of the recordings of Zauberflöte which I have heard since can match certain magic moments in the Böhm recording:

• the quintet in Act I in which Tamino receives the flute (incredibly beautiful youthful singing from Wunderlich and Fischer-Dieskau - especially in the Andante conclusion - "Drei Knäbchen, jung, schön, hold, und weise", wonderful orchestral playing, tempos that seem so natural and correct)
• the sotto voce "Mann und Weib, und Weib und Mann" in the duet "Bei Männern, welche Liebe füllen" (in fact, the entire duet is wonderfully sung by Lear and Fischer-Dieskau)
• the delightful "Klinget, Glöckchen, klinget" and "Pa pa pa" duet
• the hushed, awe-struck "Dir, grosse Königin der Nacht" in the finale of Act II

Too many moments to list. And I like Roberta Peters Königin der Nacht!

***

The other two recordings which first struck me as wonderful are usually, if not necessarily panned by the critics, not exactly at the top of their list of great recordings: the Bumbry/Vickers Carmen and the Karajan Turandot (don't scoff!)

I brought home two recordings of Carmen from the library - the other was the Callas recording. From my web pages, you may find it surprising that I chose the Bumbry recording, but somehow Callas did not grab me from that first hearing - that would come when I saw some black and white concert footage (which included the Habanera and Séguidille) on TV, but don't let me get off the subject... There were a number of reasons which led me to choose the Bumbry recording despite the fact that I disliked Vickers on that first listen (I preferred Gedda): There was a bit of extra music, they used spoken dialogue rather than recitative, the LPs themselves were probably in slightly better shape, and the recording as whole just seemed to work better to me after one hearing. I did grow to love Vickers' Don José. It's perhaps a bit harder to single out moments in this recording:

• I love Moralès' extra music in Act I. It doesn't exactly speed the action along, but I'm willing to wait.
• Freni and Vickers are very moving in "Parle moi de ma mère" and their unison singing is thrilling.
• The conducting in "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" - truly wild by the end (for once)
• "Nous avons en tête une affaire" - sparkling
• Mercédès' joy at "Oui...il meurt! Ah! je suis veuve et j'hérite!" in "Melons! Coupons!"
• And it was from this recording that I learned and came to love the final duet "C'est toi...C'est moi"

I've heard quite a few recordings of Carmen since, and I've liked quite a few of them a great deal, but this one remains special, at least in my memory - who knows if the recording can live up to my memory of it?

***

Turandot is one of my favourite operas and the Karajan was the first recording I heard (I now have about seven recordings) and I think it shaped my conception of the opera in some ways. This recording seems to be the least liked of my early favourites list - "Ricciarelli is over parted, Karajan's mark on the score is too large", etc. I will admit that there are one or two places that I wish Karajan had picked up the tempo just a bit, but overall, I find his interpretation to be interesting and ultimately very moving.

Ricciarelli is not a Turandot in the mode of Eva Turner at Covent Garden in 1937 or Callas in Buenos Aires in 1949 (and if I were in the theatre, that is what I would want to hear - fat chance! (I shouldn't complain Kathleen Broderick was very good in the rôle in the only live production I've seen so far)), but I think that Ricciarelli does some wonderful things in this recording and shows the character in a very different and believable light. This Turandot is not a cruel, icy princess, but vulnerable, frightened, and trying desperately to keep Calaf (and everyone else) from seeing through her deception. Ricciarelli brings some incredibly beautiful lyrical singing to the rôle; I understand Calaf falling in love at first sight and I'm ready to accept her transformation in Act III (maybe I just liked a character who struggled against it, but finally had to admit being attracted to a man). Her "In questa reggia" and "Del primo pianto" are incredibly moving - I have Turner and Callas for the thrills (not that they don't have their own wonderful insights), but I wouldn't want to be without what Ricciarelli has to offer in the rôle. Granted, not every note is rock solid but even some of her less ideal singing really seems no worse than some of the wretched sounds I've heard come from more illustrious modern Turandots. In addition, some of the other singers in this recording are truly wonderful. Ruggiero Raimondi's interpretation of Timur remains the standard for me. The three masks are well cast - their scene remains a favourite part of the opera for me in part because of this recording. The timbre/vibrato of Barbara Hendrick's voice may not be everyone's ideal, but she too has some very special moments. Little things mean a lot in this recording:

• Timur's " 'Vien con me, sarò tua guida...' Era Liù", in fact, I would have to list almost everything Raimondi sings here.
• Liù's exquisite "mi hai sorriso"
• Ping's "due braccia, e due gambe, sì, belle, imperiali, sì, sì"
• The whole of Act II, scene i - ("Ho una casa nell' Honan" might sound slightly strained (don't nit-pick!), but otherwise the whole section is wonderful)
• "In questa reggia" the quiet beginning and Ricciarelli's attention to the text
• Ricciarelli's singing of the riddles...

Ah well, I won't go on...I won't convince anyone, and why should I try? I will say that I still go back to this recording even though I have a number of the more popular options.

***

I wrote this without going back to listen to these recordings (although I still listen to them on occasion, and my affection has not dimmed). In the end, it truly does not matter if they are as good as they seemed then. I wouldn't claim that any of these recordings is the "best" recording of the opera, by any means. However, they spoke to me, and perhaps the fact that they seemed to only speak to me may have added to their appeal. So this isn't really a recommendation for these recordings, but they will certainly remain among my favourites...

...And then there are the early recordings of Callas (and I love quite a few of the later ones too), and Moffo in La Rondine, and Gedda and Blanc in The Pearl Fishers, and Gedda, Bacquier, Caballé and Mesplé in Guillaume Tell, and von Stade in the video Cenerentola, and Janowitz in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Troyanos and Nimsgern in the Boulez Bluebeard's Castle, and the recording of Barber's Vanessa, and Crespin in Rosenkavalier, and Sills and Gedda in Manon, and...

Recent Purchases

 

Most recent:

Britten, Benjamin - Our Hunting Fathers, etc. - Ian Bostridge, Britten Sinfonia, Daniel Harding - EMI - CDC 5 56534 2

I saw this recording while I was in England for Christmas and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it here, so I had to buy it. I'm certainly not sorry. I love Bostridge's voice and I'm very glad he's gotten around to recording Britten again (check out The Red Cockatoo, a great CD, for more Bostridge singing Britten). This is my first recording of Our Hunting Fathers and I'm not sure if I entirely "get" the piece yet, but I like the recording.

 

Puccini, Giacomo - Turandot - Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Renata Scotto, Angelo Mercuriali, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Guido Mazzini, Franco Ricciardi, Piero de Palma, Giuseppe Morresi, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro dell' Opera di Roma, Francesco Molinari Pradelli - HMV Classics - HMVD 5 72889 2

It's about time I got this one, I suppose, although it brings the total recordings of the opera up to 8 which might be considered excessive by some. Not my favourite recording, but I do like Scotto and this was quite cheap in England (which is very unusual).

 

Various - I Want Magic! - Renée Fleming, New York Voices, Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine - LONDON - 289 460 567-2

Quite disappointing on the whole. I found the aria from Vanessa to be the most successful and I would love to hear her sing the whole rôle, but there are other numbers which are far from wonderful. I don't think the first 2 arias are great music, so it's hard to judge them. She sings the Wuthering Heights aria beautifully, but at least out of context it's merely pretty. There is some strange writing in the Baby Doe aria which she doesn't quite pull off. "Summertime" ranges from fussy to quite good. "My Man's Gone Now" is quite good but doesn't have the impact that it should (Quivar is much better on a highlights CD I have on Philips) and Fleming's not very good at the upward glissando, glide, or whatever at the end - not very smooth. The two Susannah arias are good, but... I don't know. The less said about "Glitter and Be Gay", the better. "No Word from Tom" has some good moments, but she overdoes things a bit here and there too (fussy staccato accents on "though it be shunned" and way too much on the held (and crescendoed beyond reasonable expectations) high note at the end of the slow section. The title track didn't do much for me, but I'm still looking forward to hearing the whole opera.

 

Verdi, Giuseppe - Macbeth - Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Italo Tajo, Gino Penno, Luciano Della Pergola, Angela Vercelli, Attilio Barbesi, Dario Caselli, Mario Tommasini, Ivo Vinco, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano, Victor de Sabata - G.O.P. - 750

Wonderful! I'm glad I finally got around to buying this set.

 

Various - White Moon - Dawn Upshaw, Various - Nonesuch - 79364-2

 

Arne, Thomas and George Frideric Handel - Emma Kirkby Sings Mrs Arne - Emma Kirkby, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood - L'Oiseau-Lyre - 436 132-2

 

Others:

Britten, Benjamin - Billy Budd - Theodor Uppman, Peter Pears, Frederick Dalberg, Hervey Alan, Geraint Evans, Michael Langdon, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Benjamin Britten - VAI - VAIA 1034-3

This was the world premiere performance, and it certainly falls into the historical recording category (some of it is in very good sound, but there are also missing sections and a bit of tape wobble here and there). It's very interesting to hear a recording of the first performance, and, although it's not incredibly polished, it is worth hearing.

 

Various - Maria Callas: The Unknown Recordings Volume 1 - Divina Records DVN-1

Various - Maria Callas: The Masterclasses Volume 1 - Divina Records DVN-P3

These two recordings are probably for the real Callas fan; being "historical", the sound is variable (from very good to good enough to get the general idea depending on the state of the original tapes). I wouldn't be without the Proch variations and Io son Titania (Callas in sparkling form from 1951 - the CD transfer is as good as can be expected considering the original tape recording), and it's interesting to hear the Nina Foresti tape which is fairly convincing (quite good sound here and also on the 1957 Casta Diva). It's interesting to hear Callas in the rôle of teacher on the second CD, and her voice at times sounds in better condition than I would expect at the time.

 

Korngold, Erich - Die tote Stadt - Naxos - 8.660060-1

See review of Strauss' Friedenstag below...

 

Donizetti, Gaetano - La Fille du Régiment - Lily Pons, Salvatore Baccaloni, Raoul Jobin, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, Gennaro Papi - Naxos Historical - 8.110018-9

This is a Met broadcast from 28 December, 1940, and quite a fun performance it was - some wonderful musical moments as well.

 

Cherubini, Luigi - Medea - Maria Callas, Mirto Picchi, Renata Scotto, Miriam Pirazzini, Giuseppe Modesti, Lidia Marimpietri, Elvira Galassi, Alfredo Giacomotti, La Scala, Tullio Serafin - EMI - 7 63625 2

Another Medea recording?!?! Well, this was a Valentine's Day present, but I really wanted this one anyway, so I would have bought it myself sooner or later. I especially wanted it to hear the Glauce of the young Renata Scotto. Her voice sounds very little like the sound I had filed away in my head under Scotto - very pure, a beautiful sound (for the record, I like the later Scotto sound too), and she sings her aria well. On the whole, this is quite a curious recording: Serafin makes some incredibly odd tempo choices and Callas is probably not as into this performance as some of the live performances (even so, her singing is well worth hearing). Anyway, I'm glad to have the recording and it does have some wonderful moments.

 

Cherubini, Luigi - Médée - Phyllis Treigle, Carl Halvorson, D'Anna Fortunato, David Arnold, Thaïs St. Julien, Jayne West, Andrea Matthews, John Ostendorf, Chorus Quotannis, Brewer Chamber Orchestra, Bart Folse - Newport Classic - NPD 85622/2

I already had 2 Callas recordings of the Lachner version of Medea, as well as the other recording of the original Médée, but I was very curious about this recording. In the end, I broke down and bought it. I love period instruments, and this recording does have it's moments, but for the original version of this opera, I would have to recommend the Nuova Era CD (7253/4) which is only missing a bit of the spoken dialogue. I'm not sorry I bought this recording, but if you're only going to have one of the French recordings...

 

Wagner, Richard - Parsifal, Act II - Giuseppe Modesti, Maria Callas, Africo Baldelli, Lina Pagliughi, Renata Broilo, Anna Maria Canali, Lilliane Rossi, Silvana Tenti, Miti Truccato Pace, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della RAI, Vittorio Gui plus Ludwig van Beethoven - Ah! perfido - Maria Callas, Geoffrey Tate - Gala - GL 320

Various composers - Maria Callas: Hamburg 1962 & The Rarest Material - Gala - GL 322

Two very inexpensive CDs that were certainly worth buying for me. The "Ah perfido" on the first CD was recorded in 1976 (!) and Callas is in surprisingly good voice (for some reason the CD claims that Callas herself is playing the piano, which I find highly unlikely). The main interest on the second CD for me was the material Callas sings with the piano accompaniment of Malcolm Sargent

 

Poulenc, Francis - Dialogues des Carmélites - Catherine Dubosc, Brigitte Fournier, Rita Gorr, Rachel Yakar, Martine Dupuy, José Van Dam, Jean-Luc Viala, Michel Sénéchal, François Le Roux, Choeur et Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lyon, Kent Nagano - Virgin Classics - 7 59227

I bought this recording because my video of the Met production just won't play anymore (and unfortunately the Met hasn't ever released the tape commercially!?). I asked for recommendations/comparisons of the two recordings I knew about: the Nagano and the original Paris cast on EMI. I got strong recommendations for both, but was leaning towards the earlier recording, which I had heard before, because of the presence of Crespin. However, the decision was made for me when I found that the Nagano was the only version available locally. There is some wonderful singing on this recording, and I would recommend it fully if it weren't for the fact that I think the final scene lets the whole recording down. In the prelude to the "Salve, regina", the chord before the grand pause is thrown away. Then instead of individual voices of the nuns, we get a beautifully blended but impersonal and somewhat distant choral sound. That is until only there are the only two or three nuns left to go to the guillotine ("Et Jesum benedictum"). Then their individual voices (Constance and, I think, mère Jeanne) suddenly jump out. It's quite disconcerting and mars an otherwise fine recording.

 

Strauss, Richard - Friedenstag, opus 81 (TFV 271) - Alessandra Marc, Roger Roloff, William Wildermann, George Shirley, Ruben Broitman, Max Wittges, Paul Schmidt, Stephen Lusmann, Richard Cassilly, James Wood, Karen Williams, Terry Cook, NYC Gay Men's Chorus, Collegiate Chorale and Orchestra, Robert Bass - KOCH - 3-7111-2

Not a work which immediately appealed to me, but I will come back to it later.

 

Donizetti, Gaetano - Lucia di Lammermoor - 4 Mad Scenes - Maria Callas, Orchestra del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Guido Picco - MEMORIES - HR 4581

These four mad scenes were recorded in Mexico City in June 1952. The first two come from the performance of the 10th (the entire scene was encored!), the other two from the 14th and 26th. John Ardoin does not seem to have known about the last of these recordings which isn't mentioned in the 1995 edition of The Callas Legacy. The sound is decent at best, the prompter is loud, but it's wonderful to be able to hear these performances at all.

 

Verdi, Giuseppe - Ernani - Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, Mario Sereni, Cesare Siepi, Charles Anthony, Carlotta Ordassy, Christopher Russell, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, Thomas Schippers - G.O.P - 702

 

Beethoven, Ludwig van - Fidelio, opus 72 - Birgit Nilsson, James McCracken, Kurt Böhme, Tom Krause, Graziella Sciutti, Donald Grobe, Hermann Prey, Kurt Equiluz, Günther Adam, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Philharmoniker, Lorin Maazel - DECCA - 448 104-2

 

Donizetti, Gaetano - Poliuto - Franco Corelli, Maria Callas, Ettore Bastianini, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma, Rinaldo Pelizzoni, Vitgildo Carbonari, Giuseppe Morresi, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano, Antonino Votto - Verona - 28003/4

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