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Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:37 pm
by Adrian
Currently listening to ....

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Operatic Arias Jussi Bjorling in mono...

Orchestra conducted by Nils Grevillius

To Jussi Bjorling belongs the distinction, rare for a Scandinavian artist, of having gained his international reputation entirely in French and Italian opera. Northern lands have long yielded a rich crop of singers particularly suited to Wagnerian roles, but Bjorling's lyrical timbre, warm tone -colour and easy ranging compass won for him a place apart among tenor stylists in opera of a Latin idiom. Eight complete opera recordings in recent years have testified to his exceptional qualities, but his fame first spread far and wide through numerous operatic arias he recorded between 1936 and 1948. It is a selection from these which are now collected and presented in LP form.

Even then, Bjorling was an artist of veteran experience, having first appeared in public at the age of six and made many concert tours as a member of the Bjorling Quartet with his fater, Karl David, and his brothers, Karl Johan Olof (Olle) and Karl Gustaf (Gosta). The Quartet was obliged to break up when Jussi ceased to be their treble star and showed signs of becoming a budding tenor. He was born johan Jonaton Bjorling at Stora Tuna in Sweden on 2nd February 1911. After studying with his father, and later at the Stockholm Conservatoire and Royal Opera School, he made his opera debut in 1930 at the age of 19 singing Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Royal Theatre Stockholm.

Jussi Bjorling was a regular member of the Stockholm Royal Opera until 1939. He first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1938 as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme, and at Convent Garden, London, on 12th May 1939 as Manrico in Verdi's Ll Trovatore. Since 1945 he has remained one of the leading tenors at the Metropolitan Opera, and has been a guest artist at many other opera houses in Europe and America, but his London appearances have regrettably been confined only to concert hall recitals.


EMI Records Limited,

RIP 6th September 1960.

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Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:11 pm
by fergus
On vinyl....


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I particularly enjoyed Mozart's Symphony No. 41.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:32 pm
by Seán
fergus wrote:On vinyl....


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I particularly enjoyed Mozart's Symphony No. 41.
Spoken like a true Toscanini fan.

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What do you make of those performances? I do like Hans Rosbaud.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:47 pm
by fergus
Seán wrote:
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What do you make of those performances? I do like Hans Rosbaud.
I enjoyed them Seán; they were "warm" performances which is not an adjective that one would always associate with the music of Sibelius.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:14 pm
by fergus
On vinyl....


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Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:17 pm
by fergus
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This set contains music that I have been relatively unfamiliar with. The music is beautiful and very engaging and comes in a number of different forms. The performances are strong and assertive yet devotional. Some of the soloists that I immediately recognised were Helen Donath, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Robert Tear and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau among others that I personally do not know. They all sing wonderfully well individually and collectively. The solo and orchestral accompaniments are very sympathetic and the overall performances are very well held together and directed resulting in performances that are very rewarding, enjoyable and inspiring and which made a big impression on me.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:35 pm
by Ciaran
Jose Echenique wrote:Image

In spite of Kermes´shortcomings "Dramma" is valuable for many never before recorded arias by De Majo, Porpora, Hasse, Leo and Pergolesi.
"Kermes singing Hasse" is all I need to hear!

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:42 pm
by Seán
fergus wrote:Image


This set contains music that I have been relatively unfamiliar with. The music is beautiful and very engaging and comes in a number of different forms. The performances are strong and assertive yet devotional. Some of the soloists that I immediately recognised were Helen Donath, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Robert Tear and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau among others that I personally do not know. They all sing wonderfully well individually and collectively. The solo and orchestral accompaniments are very sympathetic and the overall performances are very well held together and directed resulting in performances that are very rewarding, enjoyable and inspiring and which made a big impression on me.
Lovely Fergus, thanks for that.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:49 pm
by Seán
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concertos 3 & 4

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Murray Perahia - piano
Bernard Haitink - conducting.


I love these performances. Perahia's playing is gorgeous, the Concergebouw are a terrific orchestra but Perahia is the real star on these recordings and not in an intrusive way either. I have seven different Beethoven cycles and this set leaves them all in the shade, Perahia is, well, magnificent, elegance personified.

Re: What are you listening to?

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:48 pm
by Jose Echenique
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La Serenissima is a good group, I heard it live a couple of years ago, and although the Gramophone would like us to believe it´s in the Europa Galante or Giardino Armonico class, (it is not), one is thankful that they sensibly record offbeat programs instead of another 4 Seasons.
Here the theme is Venetian Music, and though the music chosen is not specifically night music, it makes for very pleasant late night hearing. Concertos and instrumental music by Vivaldi (inevitable), Albinoni and Veracini alternate with some less well known names like Porta and Pollarolo. We also get a few vocal items sung prettily by Mhairi Lawson, including a Lotti motet.