gam@proper.UUCP (Gordon Moffett) (02/03/84)
Though I enjoy classical music, I have not yet gotten into opera.
However, I saw Mozart's `The Marriage of Figaro' on PBS a few years
ago and really enjoyed it! I beleive it was produced for TV rather
than a broadcast of a stage performance.
The most helpful things were: between acts, the announcer would synopsize
the action thus far and for the next act; the opera (in Italian) had sub-
titles.
(I would rather hear a work in its native tongue -- I would have
Beethoven's 9th no other way! -- but concurrent translation is helpful).
So there's hope! I CAN enjoy opera. (I did watch parts of `The Magic
Flute' a few weeks ago, but it was not as interesting, and I was put-
off by the black-face characters, which seemed racist to me).
I enjoy Mozart and those guys (Baroque thru early Romantic periods)
very much -- I would be interested is recommendations for introduction
to opera, specifically record sets of good performances with printed
translations in them.
--
Gordon A. Moffett
{ allegra, decvax!decwrl } !amd70!proper
hplabs!intelca!proper!gamgreg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (02/07/84)
The televised "Marriage of Figaro" was one of the specifically
made-for-TV productions that I feel come off better than the
live telecasts. The producer was Jean-Pierre Ponelle whose
work I've often disliked in the theater but find interesting
and enlivening on TV. Other TV productions he's been responsible
for were Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" (Freni/Domingo), Mozart's
"Clemenza di Tito" (Neblett/Tappy/Troyanos), Rossini's "Barber
of Seville" (Prey/Berganza/Alva) and "Cenerentola" (Von Stade/
Araiza) and the Monteverdi trilogy ("Poppea"/"Return of Ulysses"/
"Orfeo").
It's hard to make recommendations for newcomers. Some of
the great works take time to appreciate, whereas others seem
to be immediately accessible. Some of the conventional starting
points are the very works which I hated when I first got into
opera. One thing I clearly remember is that when I first
was listening to opera, I had a very low tolerance for voices
that "wobbled". I also hated voices, particularly female,
which were shrieky or strident. Other people might hear the
same voices, however, and find them bright and exciting.
Another problem for opera newcomers, as far as recordings are
concerned, is sound quality. If you really get into opera,
you'll find that much of the greatest singing is to be heard
on old mono records, often transfers from 78's. For someone
"uninitiated", those can be hard to take. I personally prefer
to hear the greatest performance, regardless of the sound.
The following is my suggested "starting list." In all cases,
they are recordings which are not necessarily what I consider
the greatest performance, but which represent the best
performance I know of in good sound. All are currently
packaged with a full libretto and translation.
(1) Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro (Te Kanawa/Allen/Popp/Ramey,
Solti, cond.) London (digital)
(2) Beethoven: Fidelio (Behrens/Hofmann/Sotin, Solti, cond.)
London (digital)
(3) Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Prey/Berganza/Alva,
Abbado, cond.) DGG
(4) Verdi: Aida (Caballe/Cossotto/Domingo/Ghiaurov, Muti, cond.)
Angel
(5) Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Dernesch/Vickers/Ludwig,
Karajan, cond.) Angel
(6) Bizet: Carmen (Bumbry/Vickers/Freni, Fruhbeck de Burgos, cond.)
Angel
(7) Puccini: La Boheme (Freni/Pavarotti/Hardwood, Karajan, cond.)
London
(8) Strauss: Salome (Nilsson/Waechter/Stolze, Solti, cond.) London
This is a starting point. A lot of people are likely to disagree
with just about any item on the list (opera performances in general
are controversial - one man's "incomparable performance" is another
man's piece of s--t). I've tried to give an overall spectrum and
have surely left out someone's favorite piece in the world.
I've spent a lot of time over the past 15 years listening to
classical music and making comparisons with available recordings.
Anyone who's interested in my highly subjective opinions on
any given work and the available recordings will be more than
welcome to them.
Greg Paley