Cast

Don Giovanni: Mariusz Kwiecien

Leporello: Kevin Burdette

Donna Anna: Carmela Remigio Read the rest of this entry »

Cast

Mimí: Ailyn Pérez

Rodolfo: Stephen Costello

Musetta: Janai Brugger Read the rest of this entry »

Orfeo ed Euridice

1967, Deutsche Grammophon

(Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gundula Janowitz, Edda Moser; Münchener Bach-Chor; Münchener Bach-Orchester, cond. Karl Richter)

I first approached this recording out of curiosity, featuring as it does a star baritone in the originally-contralto role of Orfeo. But what draws me back to it again and again isn’t its novelty, but its high quality.  Using the original Vienna edition of the score, with only the Dance of the Read the rest of this entry »

I remember the first time I ever heard Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s voice. It was as Papageno in Karl Böhm’s classic recording of The Magic Flute, which someone gave me for Christmas when I was fourteen. I remember being instantly struck by the sound of that bright, golden baritone. Read the rest of this entry »

La Cenerentola

1963, Decca

(Giulietta Simionato, Ugo Benelli, Paolo Montarsolo, Sesto Bruscantini, Giovanni Foiani, Dora Carral, Miti Truccato Pace; Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, cond. Oliviero di Fabritiis)

Of the few Cenerentola recordings that predate Zedda’s critical edition of the score, this one probably most resembles the opera that we know today. All the music is heard in the order that Rossini intended, the recitatives, though heavily cut, are otherwise unaltered, and all the musical “numbers” are more-or-less intact. The only aria missing is Alidoro’s “Lá del ciel;” the simpler yet charming Agolini aria “Vasto teatro é Read the rest of this entry »

Modern retellings of opera stories are always interesting to explore. A few weeks ago, at a library, I discovered a 1990 graphic novel retelling of The Magic Flute, by the famous comic book creator Read the rest of this entry »

How strange it feels to repeatedly read an interpretation of an aria, yet always disagree with it! I’ve read three different books now that discuss Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and in particular the famous aria “Che faró senza Euridice?” that Orpheus sings after losing Read the rest of this entry »