Tír Na HiFi

Just a small one to last until midnight so I can watch for Father Christmas. Last year as he passed my window he gave me a rude sign. Only a few yards further his reindeer did an emergency stop....

well, I've been saving this one for a special evening, and have just watched all 3 1/2 hours of it... some beautiful arias in this, in a loving production which appears to have tried to be as authentic to the original as possible...

Jared wrote:

well, I've been saving this one for a special evening, and have just watched all 3 1/2 hours of it... some beautiful arias in this, in a loving production which appears to have tried to be as authentic to the original as possible...

That is really lovely Jared. Let´s not forget that Pergolesi died at 26, a huge loss certainly, but he had many even more talented contemporaries in Naples and Rome like Leonardo Vinci, Domenec Terradellas and Francesco Durante who also deserve rescue.
Pergolesi´s fame is mostly thanks to his Stabat Mater, which was hugely popular during all the XVIII Century, and his brief intermezzo La Serva Padrona that the French adored. He would be surprised though, that his many large scale operas are mostly forgotten now, like Adriano in Siria, so thanks to the wonderful harpsichordist and conductor Ottavio Dantone for bringing it back.

dhyantyke wrote:

I really hope you're enjoying that bargain we recently found.... ;-)

My Xmas night viewing was really surprisingly good... the first time this was performed at Covent Garden since 1906, apparently; the production being the express wish of Gheorghiu herself...

If Gardiner´s Monteverdi Choir is the finest in the World, surely the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks comes next. It´s unbelievable how good they are, they can sing an awesome Gurrelieder one night and super stylish Bach the next.
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin has recorded the Christmas Oratorio before for the Harmonia Mundi label under René Jacobs. That is probably the best modern recording of the oratorio, with a superb quartet of soloists that includes Dorothea Röschmann, Andreas Scholl and Werner Güra. This newer, live recording from Bavarian Radio doesn´t have such a starry vocal quartet but it´s very good too. It comes on 4 cds because it includes lectures on the Oratorio.

Jose Echenique wrote:

This year I am listening to the Herreweghe version Pepe....





....the appropriate part on the relevant day of course LOL!!!

The one that you have listed above sounds interesting!

Sibelius - Symphony No.4 (Anthony Collins, London Symphony Orchestra, Decca Eloquence)

1st listen...

^^^ goodness me, this 'Procession and Third Mass of Christmas according to the Sarum Rite' is absolutely magnificent...

... it's now on the 2nd spin!