What are you listening to?

[fergus]

[mcq]

Gardiner's version is undeniably a great one, Jose, but I have a very personal attachment to Schafer's voice (I also love her Cherubino for Harnoncourt in his excellent 2006 Le nozze di Figaro - I wish they would do some more work together).  And yes, she is a very powerful actress as well as singer. I remember you were very passionate about Orgonasova's performance for Harnoncourt in his barely-released performance of Dvorak's Stabat Mater (which will hopefully be re-released one day).

OK, I confess: I am a die HARD fan of Luba Orgonasova. I think her voice unique, one of the wonders of the age, and fortunately I´m not alone Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Brüggen, Jansons, Whun-Chung, etc., worked extensively with her. She is the nearest we have had to Margaret Price, a large lyric voice with coloratura.
Before the Gardiner recording appeared, Margaret Price was the one soprano I thought 100% convincing as Constanze. There were the light coloraturas of course, like Edita Gruberova or Arleen Auger, but their voices were too thin in the middle and the bottom notes, Constanze has a huge range, it´s very difficult to find a voice that is equal to all it´s demands. Margaret Price sang the role in the early 70´s, both at Salzburg and Glyndebourne, unfortunately she never recorded the role complete but EMI did release a highlights record from Glyndebourne. She was...stunning.
And then came Luba Orgonasova, a voice large enough to sing Verdi´s Requiem (she is fabulous in the Gardiner recording), but with elegant and accurate coloratura.
Christine Schäfer, a lyric soprano ideal for Susanna and Zerlina has had some strange role choices. She´s been singing Gilda in Rigoletto, surely too heavy for her, and she is particularly famous in Berg´s Lulu, not my cup of tea, but I understand she is very good in that role.

I agree, Jose, Orgonasova's is a magnificent voice.  Personally, I am very fond of her Agathe in Harnoncourt's version of Weber's Der Freischutz (probably the best performance of this opera since Carlos Kleiber's) and I also remember her Armida in Hogwood's superb (and star-studded) version of Handel's Rinaldo), but everything I have heard from this lady has been touched with greatness.  

Arleen Auger's Constanze for Karl Bohm was also superb, I feel.  I sometimes feel that Die Entfuhring aus dem Serail is the most comparatively neglected of all of Mozart's seven great mature operas and we are just  lucky so have Gardiner's and Christie's wonderful versions to enjoy at will.  (Last week I was listening to Minkowski's and Christie's magnificent versions of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie on successive nights and I was thinking exactly the same thing.) I am also greatly looking forward to Rene Jacobs' thoughts on this opera as well  (his upcoming St. Matthew Passion should be a treat, though).

On the subject of Schafer, I feel that she is just a wonderful singing actress.  Her version of Lulu under the direction of Andrew Davis in a DVD performance from Glyndebourne in 1996 was only seriously challenged, I feel, in recent years by Patricia Petibon.  I also enjoy her performance of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto in a DVD performance from Covent Garden in 2001 under the direction of Edward Downes.  I agree, it is a role that shouldn't work for her, but it is testament to her gifts as a singing actress that you believe absolutely in her portrayal (her scenes with Paolo Gavenelli are particularly moving).  I also love her reading of Schubert's Winterreise (I find it deeply rewarding to listen to Fassbaender's version back-to-back with Schafer's).  She has had some very fruitful relationships working with Harnoncourt and Boulez but I think she prefers live performances nowadays to studio work (which is a shame - from what I've heard, her portrayal of the Angel in Messaien's Saint Francois d'Assise is a performance that demands release - there was a pirate release of a performance of this work from Paris in 2004 alongside Jose van Dam in the title role but nothing official aside from a single aria in a recent release for Sony).  

[Jared]

music really doesn't get much more beautiful that this, does it??

[fergus]

music really doesn't get much more beautiful that this, does it??

Magnificent music Jared! Have you seen the Gardiner DVD recorded in Basilico San Marco Jared?

[fergus]

[Jared]

Magnificent music Jared! Have you seen the Gardiner DVD recorded in Basilico San Marco Jared?

I haven't my friend, but will bear it in mind..

[Jared]

[Jose Echenique]

L´Allegro is one of Handel´s most unique works. It´s neither an opera nor an oratorio, so it may be described as an Ode, like Alexander´s Feast, or at any rate as a cantata. And it´s gorgeous.
There have been too few recordings, the first I can remember was a late 70´s Gardiner recording for ERATO. It was one of Gardiner´s first recordings, and unfortunately it´s heavily cut because it had to fit on 2 LP´s, so it´s really no longer competitive.
So it´s moslty up to the King´s Consort recording on Hyperion and this new one from Cologne,
The Robert King was one of his finest efforts, beautifully played and sung, it is a great pity that that was one of his last recordings before he went to jail. Peter Neumann, an excellent conductor, has already many Handel recordings to his credit, and this L´ Allegro is just beautiful too. The Anglo singers Julia Doyle and Benjamin Hulett are of course excellent, but Swedish soprano Maria Keohane and German basso Andreas Wolf sing flawless English so every Milton word comes crystal clear. The soloists of the Collegium Cartusianum play splendidly, and it is very well recorded, so...a must have.

[Jose Echenique]

Orlando, certainly one of Handel´s top 5 operas, has been lucky on disc, all 4 recordings are excellent.
My own favourite is probably Nicholas McGegan´s live Göttingen recording. It has a superlative performance from English alto William Towers, manly, regal and beautifully sung (he can also be heard in several Bach cantatas in Gardiner´s Pilgrimage). The Angelica is Canadian soprano Dominique Labelle, a gorgeous voice and superb Handel soprano. Caught live in the Handel Göttingen Festival it has an extra frisson that makes it quite unique. The bad news is that this recording is only sold to members of the Handel Göttingen Society, but it´s worth to join just to get their private recordings of live performances.
The Hogwood and the William Christie are great too. Hogwood has James Bowman, less vocally secure and easy on the ear than Towers, but if you like him he gives a confident performance. Christie opts for a mezzosoprano and a very good one in Patricia Bardon, with good enough low notes to be called almost a contralto.
Christie predictably gives the more dramatic and theatrical reading, but overall both are excellent.
And the tiny little image is the reason for this post. Unfortunately I couldn´t find a bigger image, but it´s a brand new Orlando from West Canada, and it has enough good things in it to be taken seriously. The title role is taken by Owen Willetts, an up and coming English countertenor with a fine voice. Originally the recording was meant for Tim Mead, but fell ill and Willetts came to the rescue. His voice is lower than most altos discussed here recently, so he can´t be compared to Fagioli or Jaroussky, but the range is fine for Orlando, and he is musical and pleasing, if only missing the more vibrant and opulent performance of Towers. The recording´s main star is inevitably Karina Gauvin, the reigning Handel soprano of our time, and she is formidable as Angelica, her arias are just exquisite, for her alone I would buy the recording, but the rest of the cast is more than competent. Bass baritone Nathan Berg, well known from Christie´s Messiah is a superb Zoroastro, and Allyson McHardy and Amanda Forsythe are all really good.
The Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and conductor Alexander Weimann, new to me, do a very respectable job, no mean accomplishment when you have to compete with the likes of William Christie and Nicholas McGegan. And there´s more Handel coming soon!

[Jared]

I'll shortly be leaving for my Uncle's 80th birthday lunch (he's getting Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Mozart's 'Great' Mass in C from me... ) so I won't be here for most of the day, but I'm continuing my Vivaldi/ Alessandrini journey before I go: