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L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA

(THE CORONATION OF POPPEA)

By Claudio Monteverdi

VIDEO: Rachel Yakar, Schmidt, Eric Tappy, Matti Salminen; Harnoncourt, conducting (English subtitles); Zurich Opera House, Monteverdi Ensemble, 1979; PGD 071 506; The director of this made-for-TV production was Jean-Pierre Ponnelle; televised in tandem with one or two other Monteverdi operas for TV; quite good in most respects, but the production did make a number of cuts in Monteverdi's score--these cuts can sometimes grate, but one can at least start to appreciate just how stageworthy Monteverdi's operas are--and the cast is quite exciting, though one might question the transposing of the soprano castrato role of Nerone for a tenor (Tappy); (not only questionable musicologically--after all, how often in opera is the tenor the villain??!!) [G.R.]

AUDIO: TELDEC: Helen Donath, Elisabeth Söderström, Harnoncourt conducting; Harnoncourt made this much more complete recording strictly for the audio listener, with a less star-studded and less dramatically involved cast, not based on any stage or TV production; though not so strongly sung over all, it boasts an even stronger Poppea/Nerone duo in Helen Donath as Poppea and the soprano Elisabeth Söderström as Nerone--a soprano of this calibre in place of a tenor for the original castrato role of Nerone makes all the difference; be warned, the price of the CD reissue is frankly quite steep(!!), but, at the least, the fuller, more accurate performing edition in this AUDIO set, along with a more authentic and keener Nerone, is a potent inducement; stereo [G.R.]

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