What are the Most Musically Compelling and Good/ Decent Sounding OPERA Recordings?

[caesar]

Opera fans, please chime in! Thank you

 

[LenWhite]

Telarc SACD 60661:
Four Last Songs
(Fruhling, September, Beim Schlafengehen, Im Abendrot)
Christine Brewer’s voice was one of the wonders of the vocal and opera worlds. Warm, big, voluptuous, yet precisely focused, it’s as close to a perfect vocal instrument as one can get.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

not sure this is the answer you want to hear; but lately i've been sampling various opera aria recordings on Qobuz and many have been really enjoyable. can't recall any specifc titles and can't check my history as i'm at work but it's way more 'hit' than 'miss'. and the 'hits' lead me to other like recordings.

i can get lost into these.

 

[astrotoy]

Lots of recommendations - start with these:
Great sound and performances, all vinyl, originally analogue. Also reissued digitally (CD, download, streaming, etc - but no experience with those)

Bizet Carmen - Marilyn Horne, Bernstein DGG
Puccini La Boheme - Pavarotti, Freni, Karajan Decca (London)
Puccini Turandot - Sutherland, Pavarotti, Mehta Decca (London)
Wagner Ring Cycle (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung) - Nilsson, Hotter, Solti, Vienna Phil Decca (London)
Puccini Tosca - Callas, Di Stefano, de Sabata (first recording, in mono 1953) EMI
Mozart Marriage of Figaro - Erich Kleiber Decca (London)
Mozart Don Giovanni Giulini EMI
Beethoven Fidelio Klemperer EMI

There are some fine later recordings from the digital era, but these are all from the golden era of analogue recording.

Larry

 

[tima]

I don't know if it is a musically complex opera, but Bohm knows his Mozart and the sound is fine:


LP
Speakers Corner/DG 136 440

Excerpts from The Magic Flute.

The 'pa pa pa' duet between Fischer-Dieskau (Papageno) and Lisa Otto (Papagena)- those madcap magpie birdcatchers - is sheer delight. The raging aria of the evil Queen of the Night (The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart ) is all it is meant to be.

Mozart is Mozart in all the genre he touched. To get a sense of his operas, watch 'Amadeus'.

 

[astrotoy]

I don't know if it is a musically complex opera, but Bohm knows his Mozart and the sound is fine:

View attachment 62848
LP
Speakers Corner/DG 136 440

Excerpts from The Magic Flute.

The 'pa pa pa' duet between Fischer-Dieskau (Papageno) and Lisa Otto (Papagena)- those madcap magpie birdcatchers - is sheer delight. The raging aria of the evil Queen of the Night (The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart ) is all it is meant to be.

Mozart is Mozart in all the genre he touched. To get a sense of his operas, watch 'Amadeus'.

That is a great Magic Flute. I got to know Evelyn Lear (at the top of the cast list as Pamina) toward the end of her life in the late '00's. She was very gracious and gave me several of her CD's (earlier recordings converted to CD) after I had gifted her with a rare vinyl of her and her late husband Thomas Stewart singing duets. Fritz Wunderlich is a great tenor singing Tamino. And the rest of the cast is top notch - along with Bohm as conductor. Sonics are good, not great, but the music and singing are wonderful.

Larry

 

[BruceD]

I'm looking (listening!) for the best recording of Von Flotow's Martha

BruceD

 

[sharik]

What are the Most Musically Compelling and Good/ Decent Sounding OPERA Recordings?

the notion of 'compelling' is understood here, but as to 'good sound' - views might vary.

how good is the sound where the singing is not so good while the recording being 'very good'?

(keep in mind the decline in vocalist abilities that began worldwide since the middle of 20th century).

i also note that stumbling upon a brilliant recording, in the both senses, comes by luck rather than by search.

and lest we forget conducting and orchestra performance; besides the required good singing, these still matter a lot.

 

[astrotoy]

I'm looking (listening!) for the best recording of Von Flotow's Martha

BruceD

This is my only copy of Martha. I haven't listened to it in years. The cast is absolutely top notch. Looks like you need four great singers and there they are. I looked through my essentially complete stereo Decca collection and I don't see a Martha. Looks like not too many companies have recorded it, at least in the stereo era. Larry

 

[BruceD]

Ah thank you Astro!-- I'll start the quest for that--although that vintage pressing may be elusive-- I have the Berlin Classics 1944LP but it was bin find
and badly scratched and almost unplayable.
Much appreciated !

BruceD

 

[GSOphile]

Telarc SACD 60661:
Four Last Songs
(Fruhling, September, Beim Schlafengehen, Im Abendrot)
Christine Brewer’s voice was one of the wonders of the vocal and opera worlds. Warm, big, voluptuous, yet precisely focused, it’s as close to a perfect vocal instrument as one can get.

This one is really good too: Strauss, Four Last Songs, Gundula Janowitz, Berlin Philomonic, Karajan, DG. Janowitz really lights this one up in Beim Schlafengehen.

 

[astrotoy]

Here is the most famous Strauss Four Last Songs with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and George Szell conducting from the mid '60's. This is my copy of the original pressing from British EMI Columbia SAX5258, but there have been many reissues. Of course, this is not an opera. Larry

 

[NorthStar]

Opera fans, please chime in! Thank you

Here, enjoy and stay safe Caesar.
? https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/top-10-operas-updated-2019

 

[astrotoy]

I have two of the digital recordings - Mozart -Marriage of Figaro - Jacobs and Verdi -Aida -Pappano, both excellent. The Figaro I have on SACD and enjoy it particularly in 5.1 if you have a multichannel system. Otherwise stereo is fine. I'll have to get the Magic Flute since it is conducted by my college classmate, Bill Christie. The 1953 Callas Tosca overlaps with my recommendations.

Larry

Here, enjoy and stay safe Caesar.
? https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/top-10-operas-updated-2019

 

[NorthStar]

Larry, I love Operas best. And Caesar picked the perfect time ...
St. Patrick's Day yesterday.
And tomorrow, First Day of Spring.

 

[sharik]

as for something to recommend, i once came across 1946 'La Traviata' conducted by Toscanini and sung by Albanese & Peerce cast in the roles of Violetta & Alfredo, respectively, which has revitalised my passion for this piece, it needs to be said.