Classical Music

Puccini: La Bohème

� A 2011 concert performance by Italian mezzosoprano Sonia Ganassi singing French arias of Bizet, Gounod, Massenet, and others. � Conductor Carla Delfrate leads the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana. � Recipient of the Italian Abbiati prize in 1999, Ms. Ganassi has appeared in many of the world's major opera houses, and is scheduled to appear with the Vienna State Opera as Jane Seymour in Donizetti's Anna Bolena during the 2013/14 season.

MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES

Note: The Blu-ray version is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

"For its first staging of a Rameau opera, the Glyndebourne Festival in England went big: a riotous yet sophisticated production, by Jonathan Kent, that captures both the frigidity and the passions of human relations, and that has the leadership of the French Baroque master William Christie, conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Ed Lyon, Christiane Karg, Sarah Connolly, and Stéphane Degout all give standout performances." – Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times

In Glyndebourne's first-ever staging of a opera by Rameau, director Jonathan Kent presents a production which, in his own words, strives to appeal to every sense and show audiences how engrossing and musically ravishing French Baroque opera can be. Rameau's inventive take on Racine's great tragedy Phèdre is brought to life by Paul Browns colourful and elegant designs and Ashley Pages playful choreography. Ed Lyon and Christiane Karg give captivating performances as the titular young lovers, while Sarah Connolly, making a welcome return to Glyndebourne, invests Phaedra with both grandeur and a desperately human vulnerability (The Independent). Leading exponent of early music William Christie sets an exhilarating pace, galvanising the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to playing of tremendous panache (The DailyTelegraph).

Jonathan Kent, stage director
Paul Brown, set and costume designer
Mark Henderson, lighting designer

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lewes, June 2013

Bonus: -
An opera to surprise and delight
- Cast gallery

• Picture format: NTSC 16:9
• Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
• Region code: 0 (worldwide)
• Subtitles: English, French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Korean
• Running time: 187 mins
• of DVDs: 2
• of Blu-ray discs: 1

REVIEW:

It could be argued that the loose-limbed structure of Hippolyte et Aricie strays too widely from Phèdre, though its major excursions are drawn from the mythological variants Racine himself discusses in the play’s preface. Its controlled extravagance makes it one of the great French Baroque entertainments, though Rameau’s insights into Phèdre’s emotional and moral torment form a real heart of darkness. Christie conducted a superb Glyndebourne cast in 2013.

-- Gramophone

Musica ad Rhenum has earned a special place in the early music world, with critics describing the ensemble's performances as "cutting edge" and "exhilarating." the group are joined by a fantastic set of vocal soloists, with Johanette Zomer assuming the role of Aminta and Alexe Gregoriev playing Alexander the Great.

Themes of love and passion dominate these orchestral excerpts from Wagner's music dramas. The legend of Tannhauser contrasts the sensual allure of Venus with the ideals of courtly love and religious devotion. Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg pits an inspired but rash young singer against the traditions of the old masters in a song competition, with a beautiful girl as the prize. Tristan und Isolde, based on one of the world's great love stories, is considered Wagner's most revolutionary work, seamlessly blending themes of love and death into a shattering apotheosis. Gerard Schwarz's other selections of Wagner excerpts can be found on 8.572767 and 8.572768.

The great writer Stendahl wrote of Il viaggio a Reims that “this opera is a feast”. The plot is a contemporary farce tailor-made for a particular occasion – the coronation festivities of Charles X – though Rossini valued the music so highly that he preserved at least part of the score three years later in the opera Comte Ory. This sparkling work is heard complete for the first time and in accordance with the critical edition.

Review:

Wildbad’s Antonino Fogliani leads a staging that doesn’t hang fire for a moment. The piano-accompanied recitatives are vividly delivered; the performance has a vividness and theatrical ‘carry’ that confirm that Il viaggio is indeed ‘a feast’.

– Gramophone

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Appearing here in her début solo album, Italian lyric soprano Maria Luigia Borsi has been acclaimed for her ‘grace, beauty, animation and variety’ (The Sunday Times). Her Willow Song from Verdi’s Otello has been described as ‘gorgeously sung’ (Opera News) and her rôle in Puccini’s Turandot as demonstrating ‘extraordinary communicative skills’ (Opera Magazine). This program includes some of the most moving and dramatic arias from Italian opera, including the tragic heartbreak of Madama Butterfly and the shimmering beauty of Catalani’s Ebben? Ne andrò lontana from La Wally.

Performance of works from the age of Henry Purcell have changed considerably since this 1960 live recording from Aix en Provence given the exponential growth in all things historically-informed, but there is still enormous pleasure to be gotten from listening to great singers sing the great stage works of any age, even if they fall on today's ears as at least somewhat dated in style. Conductor Pierre Dervaux leads a cast featuring Teresa Berganza as Dido, Hanny Steffek and the great Gerard Souzay as Aeneas in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, in good sound, 24bit/96kHz remastered.

Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) was known primarily for his art songs and song cycles. His one-act opera Penthesilea is his most well-known opera. The work was inspired by Heinrich von Kleist’s tragic play of the same name. Schoeck also wrote the libretto for the work. This production was recorded in Stuttgart in 1957, and features Martha Modl in the title role.

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Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri

The Italian composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) isn’t much remembered today, though a not inconsiderable number of recordings are making known his instrumental, vocal and, most significantly, his operatic works that, historically, carry the most weight and are his most significant contribution to music. Long before re-discovery however, came this 1960 Elisa, a two-act opéra comique that had its premiere in Paris in 1794, a time of much turmoil in that city. An all-Italian cast, conductor, orchestra and locale feature here, with Gabriela Tucci and Gianni Raimondi assuming the lead roles.

In early 2012, the Frankfurt Opera completed its cycle of the “Ring des Nibelungen” with Götterdämmerung. OehmsClassics is proud to now be releasing Siegfried from October 2011; Götterdämmerung will follow in June 2012. Both the audience and press were thoroughly impressed by the outstanding musical performance of the orchestra and singers under conductor Sebastian Weigle. This box set includes extensive texts by the Frankfurt dramatic advisors as well as the complete libretto in German and English.

REVIEWS:

The highlight of the drama is Susan Bullock’s Brünnhilde. The immolation scene is superb…[and she] sings with great assurance, control, and emotional power.

-- Classical Net

Sebastian Weigle’s sensitive grasp of the mammoth score’s multivalent moods ensures that the performance retains a powerful grip on the listener and the vividly characterised orchestral playing is well recorded in a restricted but not excessively dry acoustic. In addition, the tirelessly heroic Ryan is well complemented by the other singers, perhaps most strikingly Jochen Schmeckenbecher, whose Alberich initially sounds more like the soulful Wolfram in Tannhaüser than one of Wagner’s more malevolent villains. Schmeckenbecher proves far from lightweight in the role, however, and his vivid encounters with Wotan (Terje Stensvold) and Mime—the excellent Peter Marsh—show the Frankfurt ensemble working at its best.

-- Gramophone (Arnold Whittall)

Production values for the product itself are…of the first order, including full libretto and English translation, plus synopsis, interesting commentary…and the strangest, most wonderful genogram I have ever seen…

The set begins as it means to go on: purposefully. The opening is fast, but Weigle maintains tension, thanks to the orchestra’s tremendous rhythmic spring. That is not to imply he is relentless, though. He relaxes well into Siegfried’s “Vieles lehrtest du, Mime”…for example, and he sets up the dark atmosphere at the outset of the second act well. The recording ensures there is much to delight the ear. The lower strings at Mime’s “Mein Kind das lehrt dich kennen” are truly gorgeous…Weigle’s identification of the variety of textures available in Siegfried and his musical invocation of them is one of the set’s triumphs. Try his handling of the sparse scoring at the critical structural juncture of Mime’s recounting of Siegfried’s mother’s “death” (where Peter Marsh is himself excellent), or the way he delineates the different scorings for Mime and Wotan in their exchanges. He ensures proper dramatic thrust through the Wanderer/Siegfried scene of the final act. The result: gripping Wagner.

Peter Marsh has a typical Mime voice, and is blessed with great diction. When he opens out his voice, he reveals what a powerful singer he really is. Lance Ryan sounds like a proper Helden-Siegfried right from the start.

The Alberich of Jochen Schmeckenbecher is superb…The Brünnhilde is fresh and sounds young…Kateryna Kasper is a superbly light Woodbird. There is so much to enjoy here…Recommended.

-- Fanfare

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Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

"His technique is superb, and the lyric quality of his voice is so beautiful!" Praise from Placido Domingo for Albanian lyric tenor Saimir Pirgu, who’s continued winning plaudits on operatic stages the world over. Recorded with one of the world’s finest orchestras, this recital goes from strength to strength showcasing his affinity for the Verdi roles and the "silken touch" (New York Times) he brings to both the verismo repertoire and the French and Italian bel canto.

Classical Music

DELIBES Lakmé • Richard Bonynge, cond; Joan Sutherland ( Lakmé ); Isobel Buchanan ( Ellen ); Jennifer Berminghan ( Rose ); Huguette Tourangeau ( Mallika ); Rosina Raisbeck ( Miss Bentson ); Henri Wilden ( Gérald ); Graeme Ewer ( Hadji ); John Pringle ( Frédérick ); Clifford Grant ( Nilakantha ); Australian Op Ch; Elizabethan Sydney O • OPERA AUSTRALIA OPOZ56012 (2 CDs: 149:05) Live: Sydney 8/18/1976


In 1976, Australian Opera (now known as Opera Australia), with the help of the Australian Broadcasting Company, began filming operas and concerts for broadcast on television and radio. Many of these productions were eventually released for home video. It was believed that three productions featuring Joan Sutherland, Lakmé, Lucrezia Borgia , and Norma , were lost. They were eventually found after a six-year search but, according to the accompanying CD booklet, were in terrible shape because of poor storage. The booklet recounts the difficult process of preserving and restoring these tapes.


Had Opera Australia not recounted the history of this recording, I would not have known that there ever was a problem of any kind. The sound is excellent for a live recording, though somewhat boxy, lacking in atmosphere. The notes refer to “blank gaps resulting from countless audio drop-outs” for which matching material had to be found and spliced in. The restoration, as far as I am concerned, is completely successful.


The question then arises, was all that effort worthwhile? If we lacked a recorded memorial of Sutherland’s Lakmé, or if we had only an inferior recording of Sutherland in the role, then this recording would be an invaluable addition to the catalog.


Opera Australia’s production is generally a very good one. It has two outstanding portrayals. Sutherland is very good as Lakmé, coping easily with the difficult Bell Song in act II, as one would expect. It must be admitted, however, that she neither sounds nor looks (as the booklet picture shows) like a girl of the age she is portraying. Clifford Grant is excellent as Nilakantha, his dark, steady voice making a perfect fit for the role. Henri Wilden is an ardent and believable Gérald, although his voice lacks the elegance and ease of his recorded competition. John Pringle is a sympathetic, steady Frédérick, and the minor roles are taken adequately (Rosina Raisbeck) or better (everyone else).


Sutherland recorded Lakmé for Decca in 1967. She was in steadier voice at the time of the Decca recording than she was nine years later for Opera Australia, though the difference is not substantial and much of it could be the difference between studio and live recordings. In almost every other role, I prefer the Decca cast to the Opera Australia one. Alain Vanzo sings with great beauty of tone and fervor in a totally successful portrayal of Gérald. I prefer Jane Berbié (Decca) as Mallika, where she sounds more youthful and fresher of voice than Opera Australia’s Huguette Tourangeau, familiar from many Sutherland recordings. Honors are evenly split between Gabriel Bacquier (Decca) and Clifford Grant as Nilakantha and between Claud Calès (Decca) and John Pringle as Frédérick. Monica Sinclair is a definite improvement over Rosina Raisbeck as Miss Bentson.


There is little evidence that Richard Bonynge’s conception of the opera had changed over the nine years between recordings, although he does seem a bit surer in his handling of the orchestra in the Opera Australia performance. Orchestra and chorus perform very well. The sonic balance of the present recording places the orchestra front and center though in no way overpowering the singers, while the Decca recording has a more-balanced perspective.


In both recordings, Bonynge uses an edition of the score in which some dialogue is set as recitative. Joel Kasow discussed a similar edition used by Michel Plasson in his recording ( Fanfare 22:4). The live recording contains some cuts; perhaps these are the result of damage to the original tape that could not be restored. The audience is generally quiet except for applause at all the expected places.


In a bit of sloppy editing, the CD booklet omits the track list and timings for act III. There is no libretto, just track list and timings for the first two acts, along with a synopsis of the action and an article on the restoration process in English, French, and German.


This is unlikely to be anyone’s first choice for a recording of Lakmé . However, for those who enjoy live-performance recordings, this set can be a valuable supplement to one of the studio recordings.


FANFARE: Ron Salemi

BELLINI: LA SONNAMBULA - HLTS

Massenet: Werther