greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (10/16/84)
I can recommend highly the following CD presentations: Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Ramey/Te Kanawa/Popp/Allen/London Philharmonic/Solti) London (or Decca) Rossini: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (Allen/Baltsa/Araiza/Marriner) Philips Janacek: Jenufa (Soederstrom/Randova/Dvorsky/Vienna Philharmonic/Mackerras) London (or Decca) All three are good enough in sound to allow concentration on the performances. All three of these performances (although radically different from each other in the musical styles employed) are outstanding in that they are well and powerfully shaped by a conductor who is able to integrate beautiful (and, in the case of the "Jenufa", highly dramatic) singing by the vocal soloists with excellent orchestral playing into an effective and coherent statement of the work at hand. I found it necessary on all three of these to reduce treble in order to get a realistic semblance of violins and wind instruments. More problematic in sound (the problems I've complained about before about many digital recordings and CD issues) but also compellingly shaped and, for the most part, sung are: Verdi: Nabucco (Cappuccilli/Dhimitrova/Domingo/Sinopoli) DGG Verdi: Aida (Ricciarelli/Domingo/Obratsova/Abbado) DGG Of these the "Aida" is superbly conducted by Abbado with excellent singing by Domingo, but suffers from a persistent lack of steadiness in the singing of the female leads. I recommend avoiding, on the basis of performance rather than sound: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Behrens/Hofmann/Minton/ Bayerische Rundfunksorchester/Bernstein) Philips Wagner: Ring (Rheingold/Walkuere/Siegfried/Goetterdaem- merung) (Altemeyer/Kollo/Jerusalem/Adam/Janowski) The "Tristan" suffers from Bernstein's exaggerations, the lack of power and amplitude in Behrens' singing of Isolde, and Hofmann's interpretive blandness as Tristan. I would wait for a CD issue of either the Goodall or Kleiber recordings. The East German "Ring" recording suffers from the general inadequacies of the singers and conductor, as well as the serious lack of clarity and impact in the recorded sound. The Solti set, from analogue masters made in the late 50's and early 60's, has been issued in CD format and would be a better bet. - Greg Paley