Tír Na HiFi

jaybee wrote:

mine arrived( was collected from depot due to skinny letterbox...)

can't wait, perhaps we should have a race... see who can listen to whole thing first!

I estimate 3years till I get through it all...

Diapason wrote:So I finally had the opportunity to dip my toe into this massive box set last night:



I started with the Marriage of Figaro having discussed it on the other thread, and while I stuck mainly to "highlights", I have to say I really enjoyed it. I don't know much about opera at all, but I really admired the sense of life and urgency about the performance, I thought the singing had real character, and I really felt like I was listening to a stage drama with singing rather than a concert.

HOWEVER, I found myself deeply disappointed by the "Shawshank Redemption" aria. (Yes yes, I know I'm a philistine, but that's the only reason I know that particular movement.) For me, the stripped down, faster-tempo approach just robbed this particular aria of nearly all its beauty. Then I got to thinking: is this the way things always are for those regular HIP-bashers? Dear God, I hope I'm not starting to understand them... :)

Jose Echenique wrote: A word about René Jacobs´Le Nozze di Figaro. What´s really fascinating about his recording, even more than other HIP recordings like Kuijken´s or Gardiner´s, is the sheer prominence that he gives the woodwinds over the strings. This balance is certainly correct, since the "stars" of the orchestra in Mozart´s time were the winds. If I´m not mistaken what was played in the Shawshank Redemption was the heavenly duet between the Countess and Susanna. In traditional recordings they over-romanticized it, beautiful? yes, but maybe Jacobs has the more stylish idea. The one member of the Jacobs´cast that I didn´t like was the mezzo who sings Cherubino, her voice doesn´t have the warmth and beauty of a Teresa Berganza or even the young Cecilia Bartoli who recorded the role with Baremboim, but otherwise it´s a lovely recording. The playing of the orchestra alone is worth the price of the 30 cd box.