What are you listening to?

[Jared]

I wonder if Hyperion will record the rest of the Anthems. It would be a good idea since The Sixteen version is almost 30 years old.

Pepe, I really am mystified why there are no other complete recordings... but that Hyperion is now 5 years old, so a completion is highly unlikely.... I have these three Anthems and 10 & 6 by Christophers, which I think will have to do for the time being..

[Jose Echenique]

did Cabelle actually break a leg on stage, or elsewhere, during the time she was performing the role??

It was during rehearsals, and considering her weight...I can only pity her leg!

[bombasticDarren]

^^^ read some very good reviews of that disk Darren, but I'm not at all familiar with Falla's music as yet... can you give me a quick description of his style and whether you also find the performance persuasive?

To be honest and to rather simplify the argument, he sounds like Debussy and Ravel (particularly in his Spanish escapades). I am sort of aware that those guys music does little for you Jared. That said, I like de Falla and this disc is a handy sampler for his music. Mena is quite a recent appointment, but this shows great promise for him and the BBC Philharmonic as a team. The sound is predictably good from Chandos.

[bombasticDarren]

de Falla - Noches en los jardines de Espana & Homenajes (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet/Juanjo Mena, BBC Philharmonic, Chandos)

[Jared]

^^ thank you Darren.... I was aware of his recent appointment; IIRC, that was his first disk for Chandos and BBC Music made it Recording of the Month, about a year back with very positive reviews. Falla is simply not someone I really know anything about as yet, so I was curious.

Pepe: thanks for the info; that really does sound quite tragic. I would like to ask you a leading question if I may... what is your opinion on the Met doing a version of 'Rigoletto' set in 1960's Las Vegas? I am due to see the performance on Feb 16th, which I am told has packed the Courtyard out.... in the light of the comments made on the other forum, I'd be interested to know what you feel about the modernisation of traditional operas in general, and this production in particular??

[bombasticDarren]

Beethoven - Violin Concerto (Monica Huggett/Charles Mackerras, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, CfP)

[Jared]

Beethoven:
Violin Concerto
Yehudi Menuhin
BBC Scottish Orch
Ian Whyte
(Edinburgh Festival, 1948)

[Jose Echenique]

^^ thank you Darren.... I was aware of his recent appointment; IIRC, that was his first disk for Chandos and BBC Music made it Recording of the Month, about a year back with very positive reviews. Falla is simply not someone I really know anything about as yet, so I was curious.

Pepe: thanks for the info; that really does sound quite tragic. I would like to ask you a leading question if I may... what is your opinion on the Met doing a version of 'Rigoletto' set in 1960's Las Vegas? I am due to see the performance on Feb 16th, which I am told has packed the Courtyard out.... in the light of the comments made on the other forum, I'd be interested to know what you feel about the modernisation of traditional operas in general, and this production in particular??

I also read the Tommasini review. Frankly I don´t know. Some operas work in a contemporary context, others don´t. Rigoletto is supposed to happen in XVI Century Mantua, it´s a long way from there to Las Vegas in the 1960´s, but at least it´s not about an historic figure like Elizabeth I or Philippe II when it really makes no sense to put it in a different era. Rigoletto is a about a complicated father/daughter relationship, that was a constant in Verdi´s operas, probably because he lost all his children when still very young. I saw the famous ENO Jonathan Miller production some 2 decades ago. I liked it. Probably the big problem for the MET´s new production is that inevitably it´s going to be compared to that, so many will feel something of a dejá vu.

Still, vocally the Met´s is as good a Rigoletto as you are likely to hear these days. The Croatian baritone Zeljico Lucic has one of the very few true Verdian voices of our time. I heard him 2 years ago singing Nabucco at the MET and he was awesome. Diana Damrau is also a very good choice for Gilda, she is a superb actress too. There is an excellent DVD from the Dresden Opera where she and Lucic sing those roles. I think you are going to enjoy the performance.

[fergus]

[Jose Echenique]

Did anyone here saw the Tim Burton film?

Well, the music is far better than what was on offer there. In this live Munich recording, with real opera singers and a fine symphony orchestra, Sweeney Todd becomes an important and innovative score.
( I still have nightmares of Johnny Depp singing the title role).