This is DG’s famous studio recording of Fanciulla, which was made following a successful run in Covent Garden with the same principals except Milnes. The recording was originally made in analogue multichannel, which allowed Pentatone to do a remaster in DSD multichannel.
I’m listening to the SACD stereo layer. It sounds terrific, with a bit more definition and depth than the original CDs (which still sound great as well). In whatever edition, essential listening!
Cheers EJ
Although I can’t easily find this recording, I have found another of La Fanciulla Del West … and am enjoying this opera … not having heard it before… and I do find Puccini rather accessible
Thanks for the tip…
Hi Simon, there aren’t many commercial recordings of Fanciulla, and they’re all good - glad you enjoy. The Pentatone is the exact same recording as this one:
Cheers EJ
Karajan could be excellent in Mozart, such as in his 80s recording of Don Giovanni. Slightly overproduced, but really good.
Cheers
EJ
Two of the very finest opera recordings from Karajan, in my opinion, are his Puccini Madama Butterfly and La Boheme, the first with the Vienna Phil, the second, surprisingly, with the Berliners. Karajan’s way with Puccini was very special.
Hello Chris,
Don’t forget VonK’s Turandot (provided you agree with Ricciarelli’s princess) and two Toscas. I especially enjoy his second Tosca with Carreras in amazingly beautiful voice.
Cheers
EJ
Hi EJ,
Yes, I have HvK’s Turandot, it’s immensely powerful, but it’s not a work I enjoy as much as Boheme and Butterfly. I don’t have either of his Tosca recordings, perhaps a gap in my collection I need to fill.
Don Giovanni was one of the first operas i went to see, Die Zauberflöte was the first.
This is a rather enjoyable recording of Don Giovanni, and is available to stream 96/24 from Qobuz.
I’ve been going over all recordings of Walküre on my shelves recently - Karajan, Haitink, Keilberth, Solti and Levine. If only Behrens had been allowed to join EMI’s lineup for Haitink, we may have had the perfect Ring, but she was under contract with DG and Haitink”s Brünnhilde went to Eva Marton. James Levine’s recording benefits greatly from Behrens’ and James Morris’ chemistry. For the first act, however, he has Gary Lakes and Jessye Norman, who are good but not in the league of Reiner Goldberg and Cheryl Studer. Levine’s conducting is very expressive throughout, and the recording has never been surpassed sound-wise.
Overall, I’d give the nod to Levine over Karajan, who at times sounds undercharacterised by comparison; I prefer both to Solti and Keilberth, both of whom fail to make much of Act II, for different reasons.
Cheers
EJ
Continuing the Levine Ring with Siegfried. The title role is known as one of opera’s heaviest roles, and Reiner Goldberg was, by and large, dismissed as merely serviceable, or less than that. Unfairly, I feel - he’s challenged for sure, and at times sounds too much like the other tenor here, Mime. But he rations well and is quite enjoyable throughout. Levine’s conducting and the Met’s superb playing are, again, first class.
Cheers
EJ
An Otello about which I was quite enthusiastic when it appeared a few years ago, but which hasn’t aged very well. Nikolai Schukoff and especially Lester Lynch lack the presence and projection required to truly impress, and the performance frequently fails to lift off as a great performance can. Fairly good, just not excellent.
Cheers
EJ
After Schukoff, for some reason I really felt like hearing Calleja as Otello. Calleja doesn’t have the baritonal tenor that we normally associate with an Otello, but neither did Francesco Tamagno, who first sang the role in 1887 and who later made several recordings providing us a glimpse. Closely recorded as here, Calleja’s bright voice cuts through the orchestra, and he is well partnered by Angela Gheorghiu as Desdemona. The recital disc is a mixed bag overall, but the four scenes from Otello are great.
Cheers
EJ
First spin. The Dutch Opera has staged Wagner’s Ring in Pierre Audi’s magnificent staging a number of times since the late 90s. The first run was captured on DVD, the second on SACD multichannel. I’m listening to the SACD stereo layer, and it all sounds fantastic.
Cheers
EJ
Janowski’s new Freischütz is a total success, despite, or thanks to, the dialogues having been replaced by brief texts that explain the action from the point of view of Samiel and the hermit. Samiel is here a cackling witch straight from a Brs Grimm tale, but she sounds surprisingly fun on the big set (based on sampling on eclassical I expected much worse). The singers, Lise Davidsen and Andreas Schager in particular, are experienced but freshed voiced Wagner singers and give this opera a wonderful dramatic thrust. Janowski does a good job moving things along, and the studio recording is demonstration class. Warmly recommended and a surprising new first choice for this superb opera.
Cheers
EJ
Bernstein’s Carmen. I burned the hires download files to a DVD. As my Accuphase player doesn’t support gapless, I combined entire acts to a single track. A lot of work for files I could easily play via the Lumïn, but this gives me the best of two worlds: 24 bit files on a disc. Each DVD holds approx 4 hours of 24/96 flac files.
Cheers EJ
I hadn’t played this for a long while. Superb as the singers are in this, the star, to my mind, is the incredible conducting of Carlos Kleiber. A tragedy that he made so few recordings. IMHO this is a wonderful set.
I found this set for 99p in my local Oxfam so clearly worth a listen. I’m afraid it did nothing for me and I got rather frustrated at the constant breaks/chatter etc so back it goes! Ah well!
I really like this one.
The music and the singing is top class. Not least Tucker.
Claus
Another favourite of mine
Freni and Pavarotti are superb.
A glorious recording of Walküre, on balance possibly the best I’ve ever heard. In James Rutherford we finally have a Wotan with the right voice and charisma, and it’s good to have Eva-Maria Westbroek’s radiant Sieglinde preserved in such a good production. Rattle’s conducting is sensational, too, and it’s all supported by demonstration quality sound.
In short, if you’re OK with a standalone Walkure recording, this is a strong contender, and if you’re looking for the best recording to represent today’s emotionally probing Wagner singing style, this must be it.
Cheers
EJ
