The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal. Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms do occur.
Among the recent recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Valery Gergiev’s release on the LSO Live label is an excellent addition to the discography of this work.
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2008 and 17 and 18 January 2009 at the Lisztzentrum (Raiding, Austria), this recent Bridge release makes available the piano-vocal versions of three song cycles by Gustav Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselböck, accompanied by Russell Ryan.
Contraltos rarely achieve the acclaim and renown of sopranos. Assigned few leading roles in opera, they are condemned to playing the villain or the grandmother, or to stealing the castrati’s trousers in en travesti roles.
Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, with this collection of world-premiere recordings, ‘reconstructions’ and ‘reconstitutions’ of music by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and their less well-known compatriots Viadana, Barbarino and Soriano.
Eternal Echoes is an album of khazones [Jewish cantorial music] for cantorial soloist, solo violin and a blended instrumental ensemble comprising a small orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen burst into British music with an unprecedented flourish. In 1967, the London Symphony Orchestra premiered Knussen’s First Symphony, with István Kertész scheduled to conduct.
Based on performances given in Summer 2010 at the Lucerne Festival, this recording of Beethoven’s Fidelio is an admirable recording that captures the vitality of the work as conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was one of the most popular composers of his day in Poland, and of the many works he wrote for the stage, two are performed from time to time, Halka (1848) and Strazny dwór [The Haunted Manor] (1865).
The Polish alto Jadwiga Rappé is a familiar voice in various stage and concert works, and the recent release of a selection of songs by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) is an opportunity to hear her performing artsongs.
Originally released on multiple discs in 1981 this reissue on two CDs is a comprehensive collection of art songs by Italian and French composers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
An exciting contribution to the discography of this popular opera, the live performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome from the Festspielhaus at Baden-Baden is a compelling DVD.
Released in late 2011, Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD of the new staging of Berg’s Lulu at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona is an excellent contribution to the discography of this fascinating opera.
A recent release by the Metropolitan Opera, this two-disc set makes available on DVD the famous performance of Berg’s Lulu that was broadcast on 20 December 1980 as part of the PBS series “Live from the Met.”
The novels of Sinclair Lewis once shot across the American literary skies like comets, alarming and fascinating readers of that era, but their tails didn’t extend far behind them.
Once the province of only the most dedicated opera fanatics, mid-20th century recordings of privately taped live performances have become more widely available.
Flute players in opera orchestra around the world must look forward to the frequent appearances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, knowing that while the stage spotlight in the mad scene will be on the soprano, the orchestral spotlight will be on their instrument.
Since his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1971, conductor James Levine has come to represent the house’s commitment to artistic excellence — reliable, professional, and immaculately presented.
One sign that a media market has really come into its own, economically speaking, is the appearance of items previously released in other formats, items that one struggles to imagine a wide market for. DVDs must be doing fairly well, then, in the classical market.
Here we have a release from a company called "Fabula Classics" of a 60 minute recital from 1983, with Renato Bruson singing 6 arias (mostly Verdi, with 2 by Donizetti) and the Swiss-Italian Radio orchestra performing the Barbieri di Siviglia sinfonia and the intermezzos from Manon Lescaut and I Pagliacci.
Undoubtedly, Renato Bruson deserves to have a record of his singing at the peak of his career preserved. He has been one of the sturdiest, most skilled of baritones, especially in the Italian repertory. This particular recital, as filmed, doesn't do him justice.
First, the source film hasn't been improved by the transfer to DVD. The
video comes across as washed out, except for the brilliant blue of the
hall's seats (and it doesn't seem to have been a sell-out, considering
the scattered empty seats). Second, the camera work can serve as a
standard for perfunctory direction. Bruson enters for an aria,
acknowledges the audience, which is shown applauding, then the
conductor waits for a nod from the singer before giving the downbeat.
The aria then features close-up of the singer, then a stage view,
alternating occasionally with a pan of the musicians. The crowd shows up again at aria's end, to applaud Bruson before he exits. Repeat 6 times.
With a singer of Bruson's talent, no recital would be without some distinction. He begins with a rarity from Donizetti's La Favorita, "Vien Leonora," and after "Di Provenza," features "Atanto amor" from the same opera. In this relatively unfamiliar music, Bruson offers style and masculine tone. However, by this third aria of the recital, a certain sameness of technique and approach also makes itself felt, and that sense lingers through Iago's credo, an aria from I Vespri Siciliani's Monforte ("In braccio alle dovizie") and Rodrigo's death scene.The hall's acoustic, or the placement of the microphones, also has the voice a bit too up front, with an unpleasant fuzziness to Bruson's louder singing, especially at high notes.
The booklet essay, by Arrigo Quattrocchi, has some insightful comments about Bruson's career. Not all those comments, unfortunately, are borne out by the recital. More of Bruson's "beautiful, burnished sound" would especially have been appreciated. That essay appears in four languages, and then the aria's texts are printed in Italian. The DVD does not offer subtitles in any language.
Conductor Bruno Amaducci leads the Swiss-Italian radio Orchestra in the effective, if not exciting, instrumental selections.
All singers have fans eager to own every produced featuring their favorites. Only for Bruson fans can this DVD be recommended.
Chris Mullins
Los Angeles Unified School District, Secondary Literacy