expanding my opera "collection"
- Thread starter Thomas K
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
I agree. Just listening to the record / CD is kind of like watching a movie with screen off - it's bloody hard work and only represents part of the content anyway. Opera is musical theatre - the original multimedia event - it was never intended to be merely sound. I'd go and see as much as possible, and failing that buy DVDs, watch it on TV etc (plenty on Sky Arts 2).
Modern productions tend to have live subtitles too, i.e. a screen above or below the stage with English translations of the words appearing in real time, which makes it a lot easier to figure out what's occurring. It's good fun.
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
vuk
\o/ choose anarchy
impressive.
tony.
a film, with all its close-ups, zoom-outs and mobility (you're not stuck on a puny stage or real time), is totally different. most plays can be read to be fully understood. there is no need to witness actors carry it out, though it can be superior.
of all the ring operas i have seen live or filmed, none are even close to the magnificence of what i imagine. the reason i would go hear it live is for the wonderful sound of the music, not for what's happening on stage or the get an extra level of understanding. that said, something like la boheme works very well as theatre. the ring seems incredibly diminished by it: imagine unleashing hollywood on the concept of warrior babes on flying horses? (not that i want hollywood anywhere near it)
vuk.
herb
brain's right hemisphere
Live opera is great fun, though I have never managed to get through a complete Verdi one, always having to leave at half time. Audiences can be a bit strange and easily wound up, but that is part of the occasion.
I saw Wagner's Flying Dutchman recently and really enjoyed it. The plot was silly but strangely modern (?), the music was OK, the acting not too good but the chorus was great. It really is a good night out, not to be taken too seriously.
I saw Wagner's Flying Dutchman recently and really enjoyed it. The plot was silly but strangely modern (?), the music was OK, the acting not too good but the chorus was great. It really is a good night out, not to be taken too seriously.
They also show them here in New Zealand, not live but a MET' production. Our local boutique cinema are showing, Maria Stuarda, Rigoletto, and Parsifal in May. I'm not a great opera enthusiast but I do get along to a live performance when my daughter or son in law are playing in the orchestra (free tickets!)
My favourite is Tosca, it has passion
Errol.
Paul R
pfm Member
This Ring production from Valencia, http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/re...04&pageTitle=Wagner+-+Der+Ring+des+Nibelungen turns up on Sky Arts from time to time.
It's visually very striking and looks intended to be seen on a screen. Obviously I've no idea whether it would approach the vuk test bar.
Paul
It's visually very striking and looks intended to be seen on a screen. Obviously I've no idea whether it would approach the vuk test bar.
Paul
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
perhaps it's because of my ever-willing imagination and lack of aesthetic forgiveness, but i would rather just listen to it and invent the visuals than suffer through certain avant-garde stage designs and sopranos with voracious appetites--why can't they all be like this:
the luckiest dude ever is walter legge, who not only got to sleep with her, but fiddle in the recording studio with the likes of klemperer.
vuk.
.
She's the only prominent member of the Nazi Party I've actually met. She lived up to her reputation and was every bit as scary in the flesh.
Stunsworth
pfm Member
There's an inexpensive sampler of the Valencia ring...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00430EQK8/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00430EQK8/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
Vuk have you seen Parsifal? I saw this live for the first time from the Met in March this year and I'm still suffering. Act 1 is a haunting 2 hour stream of wonderful music and act 2 rather horrific with blood all over the stage and the bed!
I escaped after just under 6 hours. Apparently the conductor worked the complete score just from his memory! Amazing.
Tonight I'm off to see Nabucco from the Royal Opera House. Much lighter and easy going.
Cheers,
DV
I escaped after just under 6 hours. Apparently the conductor worked the complete score just from his memory! Amazing.
Tonight I'm off to see Nabucco from the Royal Opera House. Much lighter and easy going.
Cheers,
DV
duncan
...
In an unusual deviation from protocol, I’ll attempt to answer the original question before going off on far more interesting (to me) digressions.
No Puccini suggestions since he is a personal blind spot; I quite like Tosca since the best bits are ripped off from Mussorgsky. Verdi is much safer ground. Rigoletto and Il Trovatore are the obvious follow-ups to La Traviata followed, after a suitable period of singing the tunes whilst you whisk up a quick spaghetti carbonara, by Otello and Falstaff. Other random thoughts: Handel: Guillo Cesare, Mozart: Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Figaro; Rossini: Figaro - the prequel (Barber of Seville). If I were to recommend any Wagner it would probably be Die Walkure, but I wont. No need to start with Rheingold since Wotan conveniently reminds us of the story so far in Act 2!
I can only fifth the recommendation to see opera live. It is much better still when you see a well-directed bunch of singing actors telling the story.
Munich opera is world-class but your country is also blessed with numerous very decent smaller houses which don’t attract the starriest casts but will have a repertory company used to rehearsing and singing together which has many advantages in putting on a convincing show. These also have the advantage of reasonable ticket prices and smaller theatres so singers don't have to strain to fill the space. I went to see The Ring in Weimar a few years ago and in many ways it was the most enjoyable of the 6 different cycles I've seen. This from an opera company of a town the size of Chesterfield or Shrewsbury.
Films/DVDs should be the answer if you don’t fancy or can’t make it to the real thing. I’ve never quite fully bought into opera on DVD though. I think I am too used to film being ‘realistic’ whereas opera is obviously highly artificial.
I can strongly recommend the Kaufmann CD palpnorte mentions. I saw him at the Festival Hall the other week. Fabulous. It may be heretical, but the Verdi items were even more convincing than the Wagner. Kaufmann has recorded Sigmund already, unfortunately for <spit> Gergiev. What’s worse, it gets excellent reviews. I’m not sure if he wants to play Siegfried though.
I’ve rarely spent more that £35. £70 for Tristan at Glyndebourne was the absolute tops. As a citizen of a land where culture is valued, Thomas should not have to spend anything like this much.
No Puccini suggestions since he is a personal blind spot; I quite like Tosca since the best bits are ripped off from Mussorgsky. Verdi is much safer ground. Rigoletto and Il Trovatore are the obvious follow-ups to La Traviata followed, after a suitable period of singing the tunes whilst you whisk up a quick spaghetti carbonara, by Otello and Falstaff. Other random thoughts: Handel: Guillo Cesare, Mozart: Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Figaro; Rossini: Figaro - the prequel (Barber of Seville). If I were to recommend any Wagner it would probably be Die Walkure, but I wont. No need to start with Rheingold since Wotan conveniently reminds us of the story so far in Act 2!
I can only fifth the recommendation to see opera live. It is much better still when you see a well-directed bunch of singing actors telling the story.
Munich opera is world-class but your country is also blessed with numerous very decent smaller houses which don’t attract the starriest casts but will have a repertory company used to rehearsing and singing together which has many advantages in putting on a convincing show. These also have the advantage of reasonable ticket prices and smaller theatres so singers don't have to strain to fill the space. I went to see The Ring in Weimar a few years ago and in many ways it was the most enjoyable of the 6 different cycles I've seen. This from an opera company of a town the size of Chesterfield or Shrewsbury.
Films/DVDs should be the answer if you don’t fancy or can’t make it to the real thing. I’ve never quite fully bought into opera on DVD though. I think I am too used to film being ‘realistic’ whereas opera is obviously highly artificial.
I can strongly recommend the Kaufmann CD palpnorte mentions. I saw him at the Festival Hall the other week. Fabulous. It may be heretical, but the Verdi items were even more convincing than the Wagner. Kaufmann has recorded Sigmund already, unfortunately for <spit> Gergiev. What’s worse, it gets excellent reviews. I’m not sure if he wants to play Siegfried though.
I’ve rarely spent more that £35. £70 for Tristan at Glyndebourne was the absolute tops. As a citizen of a land where culture is valued, Thomas should not have to spend anything like this much.
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
herb
brain's right hemisphere
There are of course more modern operas if the old ones get boring.
My favourites at the moment are:
Schoenberg Moses und Aron
Glass Einstein on the Beach, Akhnaten, Satyagraha
Adams Nixon in China, Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic
Tippett King Priam and a few others
Birtwistle Punch and Judy
My favourites at the moment are:
Schoenberg Moses und Aron
Glass Einstein on the Beach, Akhnaten, Satyagraha
Adams Nixon in China, Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic
Tippett King Priam and a few others
Birtwistle Punch and Judy