What are you listening to?

[Jared]

I've noticed you've been listening to a number of TS disks recently Fergus, all of them look decidedly interesting, it must be said!

[Jared]

The Walton takes a bit of getting used to!!

Litton is a very good Walton interpreter, and did a great deal 10-20 years ago to promote his music to a wider public. If you see it around, I would highly recommend this orchestral starter to his work:

[DaveF]

Remembering Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau this morning. Disc's 5 & 6 from this mammoth 12 LP boxset.

[fergus]

I heard that CD many years ago but I do not have it.

It's the only classical guitar performance I still own, so I can't make any direct comparisons, but it sounds lovely, I can only compare from memory but I would say that it is a slightly more deliberate performance than say John Williams ....

Cheers for that and that is how I remembered it....being an assertive performance.

[fergus]

I've noticed you've been listening to a number of TS disks recently Fergus, all of them look decidedly interesting, it must be said!

As you know Jared these things come and go in cycles and no doubt it will be something else soon!! I am also a big fan of Christophers and The Sixteen.

[Seán]

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 8
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Claudio Abbado - conducting.



Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 8
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein - conducting.

[fergus]

There is a coincidence, more Schubert....

[Jared]

predictably fine performances...

[DaveF]

Mahler: Dad Lied von der Erde
Christa Ludwig, Rene Kollo, Herbert von Karajan and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

[Jose Echenique]

I am Jared, good for you!
Now it´s easy to take La Traviata for granted, and we tend to forget what a striking piece of musical theater it was for it´s first audience. A well to do young man living together with a whore? That was beyond shocking in the mid XIX Century.

Thank you Pepe. I went into a charity shop recently, and to my surprise found 6 opera DVDs on the shelf for £1 each, which I couldn't believe. Even then, I was in two minds purchasing them because I have long struggled with the medium (as you know!). I bought them all however determined that if ever there was an opportunity to try and get into it, this had to be it. I was tempted by the above because I was always a fan of Franco Zeffirelli's 'Romeo & Juliet', and I must admit the production itself is very well presented. I have always found the story of La Traviata to be simple yet a powerful one and for the most part, the music is compelling.

With that in mind, which of Verdi's Operas would you recommend the complete novice to attempt next? Falstaff? I'm a great admirer of Falstaff's antics in Henry IV Parts I & II & The Merry Wives Of Windsor, leadfing to his emotionally charged 'betrayal/ disassociation' by Hal at the start of Henry V. Would this chime with me? I don't mean to ask a leading question, and I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

Next up, is one I approach with trepidation and might watch it tonight:



... hey, I didn't choose which 6 operas should be in the charity shop!

I remember attempting to watch the Proms performance of this (sans setting, naturally) a couple of years ago and was frankly quite bored. That said, I know and adore LvB, so I'm hoping that some degree of concentration on my part may yield fruit.

Falstaff, composed when Verdi was well over 80 is one of the supreme masterpieces of musical theatre and crowning achievement glory of the great old man. The libretto by Arrigo Boito is one of the finest opera libretti of all time. No wonder Richard Stauss chose it for an imaginary museum-like opera house he wanted to build were only the greatest operas will be performed.