parterre box

70 comments

• 41
  justanothertenor says:

  July 3, 2009 at 6:01 AM

  How about Cristina Deutekom? I don’t why I thought of her, but it reminds me of that style of singing (when she wasn’t yodelling coloratura)
• 42
  J. G. Pastorkyna says:

  July 3, 2009 at 8:54 AM

  I vote for Miricioiu too.
• 43
  Joe Conda says:

  July 3, 2009 at 9:16 AM

  Lisa della Casa? I can’t believe someone thought it was Marc or Vaness.
• 44
  Hippolyte says:

  July 3, 2009 at 9:45 AM

  Only the MET broadcasts? Jeez, that’s reductive.

  As I said way back in #11, it’s surely Jurinac–who could mistake that voice?
• 45
  operacat says:

  July 3, 2009 at 10:59 AM

  Susan Boyle? Michael Bolton? Katherine Jenkins? A terrible horrible deep dark existential part of me just whispered to me that the last mentioned might be possible.
• 46
  La Cieca says:

  July 3, 2009 at 11:02 AM

  Our lieber Hippolyte is very wise indeed. The singer is in fact the lady he names, in a live performance of Tosca at the Vienna State Opera in 1966.
• 47
  operacat says:

  July 3, 2009 at 11:05 AM

  whew!
• 48
  ellerveira says:

  July 3, 2009 at 11:39 AM

  Sena Jurinac, still living in retirement, 87 years old. Born 1921. (Wikipedia)
• 49
  Hippolyte says:

  July 3, 2009 at 12:00 PM

  There are 2 Jurinac Toscas on CD (both from Vienna on MYTO) but since Tosca is one of my least favorite operas I never own nor have heard either. Essential Jurinac (for me) include the EMI anthology with a live VLL (not one of my favorite Jurinac recordings) along with a selection of her early Glyndebourne Mozart and her superb Tchaikovsky and Smetana arias; a cheap but excellent 2-CD collection on Gala with extensive excerpts from a great Vienna Butterfly; the Glyndebourne Idomeneo; the E. Kleiber Rosenkavalier; the Leinsdorf Ariadne (impossible to find on CD); and well worth seeking out is an EMI anthology dedicated to tenor Peter Anders. It’s mostly arias by him (he’s OK, I guess) but it also includes 4 duets (Bartered Bride, Otello, Butterfly, Boheme) all in German with Jurinac in her absolute prime and she’s sensational.
• 50
  iltenoredigrazia says:

  July 3, 2009 at 12:28 PM

  Hildegard Behrens came to mind very soon and stayed there through the end.

  Funny how very different voices share some tonalities now and then. Some heard shades of Steber, Moffo, Jurinac, et al. To me a couple of notes, but just a couple, reminded me of Milanov.
• 51
  Hugo Santos says:

  July 3, 2009 at 1:54 PM

  Being Jurinac at the Wiener Staatsoper, it must be either Carlo Cossutta, Hans Hotter, Andre Cluytens (1966) or Juan Oncina, Cesare Bardelli, Josef Krips (1967). I have the first one but it’s a long time since I last listened to it.
• 52
  Baritenor says:

  July 3, 2009 at 2:14 PM

  Hans Hotter as Scarpia? Now THAT sounds scary.
• 53
  MontyNostry says:

  July 3, 2009 at 2:53 PM

  How about Hans Hotter as the Sacristan?
• 54
  mrmyster says:

  July 3, 2009 at 3:13 PM

  Well, now that we know it’s Jurinac — Of course it is! The rich middle and strong lower register tell us it is not Steber, for sure, also Steber’s broadcast of Tosca came way too late to find her in such healthy voice. I still think the Bb is pushed — but over all, it is simply gorgeous. Sena J. is finest Marschallin I ever heard (San Francisco, Silvio Varviso), and it was precisely because of what she could do with her middle and lower middle voice — strength there is absolutely defining for the M. and Steber never had it in that rep., or any other. Early on, Steber sang some heavenly Mimis (!), but her strength was in high-lyng floating tone — Elsa, Countess, Anna, Fiordiligi…..esp. Sophie von Faninal.
• 55
  ellerveira says:

  July 3, 2009 at 3:14 PM

  She was famous for her Mozart and for her Butterfly. I don’t think she did Tosca very often.
• 56
  La Marchesa Attavanti says:

  July 3, 2009 at 4:34 PM

  Ellerveira, Mozart made up much of her 50’s diet and she took on Butterfly and Elisabetta toward the end of the decade. Going into the 60’s, she expanded her repertoire, doing Tosca, Jenufa, Tatyana, Marina and Marie in Wozzeck. At the end of the 60’s and into the 70’s she was a superb Marschallin and then a searing Kostelnicka.
• 57
  kashania says:

  July 3, 2009 at 4:55 PM

  Can anyone recommend a CD of Jurinac arias?
• 58
  La Marchesa Attavanti says:

  July 3, 2009 at 5:04 PM

  Hippolyte made excellent recommendations in his earlier post.

  She made very few recordings relative to her fame and activity level and virtually none past the 1950’s. I think the last studio recording she made might have been the rather leaden Knappertsbusch “Fidelio” from Munich.

  I would heartily recommend the Orfeo d’Or 2-CD set of selections from live performances that spanned much of her career in addition to the EMI set that had the radio broadcast of the “Viet Letzte Lieder” along with arias from Cosi, Fidelio, Bartered Bride, etc.

  In the mid 50’s she recorded particularly lovely performances of the Schumann Op. 39 Liederkreis and “Frauenliebe und Leben” cycles along with Respighi pieces for Westminster.

  Elisabeth Soderstrom tried desperately to use her clout with Decca in their Janacek series to get them to cast Jurinac as the Kostelnicka for their studio “Jenufa” but to no avail; after a couple of years of arguing, she agreed to record it with Randova (who was excellent also).
• 59
  kashania says:

  July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM

  Thanks, La Marchesa Attavanti. I’ve found the Orfeo 2-CD set of live performances. I’m also going to check out the Idomeneo that Hippolyte recommended.
• 60
  richard says:

  July 3, 2009 at 6:50 PM

  I bought this many years ago and don’t know if it’s still available in this form but there is a wonderful EMI compilation. It includes the Idomeneo arias (from the 1950 sessions, not the later complete recording…these earlier recordings are the standards for me.) Also arias from Cosi,
  Bartered Bride, Smetana’s the Kiss, Jeanne D’Arc, Queen of Spades and a 1951 air check of the Four Last Songs. It’s a WONDERFUL disc
• 61
  NYCOQ says:

  July 3, 2009 at 8:00 PM

  OMG – Inverterate Gossip. That is indeed a hideous perforamance by Angela Brown. She already had a big fluttery sound with no solid core to began with, but now with the weight loss it seems like she getting a very pronounced wobble.
• 62
  hab mirs gelobt says:

  July 3, 2009 at 8:42 PM

  ah yeah … sena! lovely lovely lovely. so much ‘innigkeit’!

  further to the recordings of her that were already mentioned there is also a jenufa (in german) on myto where she is singing the title role – with martha moedl (’i dont have the hight notes for the part of kostelnicka so i either leave them out or scream them’ … but its intense) as her step mother. and on orfeo there is a complete butterfly from vienna, which i have only heard in excerpts, but sena in the italian repertoire is always intriguing.

  her elisabetta in don carlo live in salzburg under karajan 1958 i think (it used to be on deutsche gramophon) is also a marvel, although karajan makes a very unwarranted cut in tu che le vanita. god knows why?!

  being on a bit of a della casa phase at the moment so jurinac fits right in! a propos lisa, on walhall they recently released a live lohengrin from the met with della casa as elsa and my god its wonderful. only snag is that the sound is really strange in the ‘remastering’ …
• 63
  marshiemarkII says:

  July 3, 2009 at 9:32 PM

  What a pleasure to be back in parterre and see such nice things said about the sublime Hildegard Behrens, mein long-lost gehmal and ITDG, grazie! In the meantime this is what the divine Joyce diDonato has to say about the eternelle Hildegard, from her Yankeediva website:
  “I have to say that from day one of my career, I have always felt incredibly privileged to be in the presence of greatness and to not just see the finished product of that greatness, but to actually see the PROCESS. I’m a firm believer that greatness is achieved in the process, in the journey – not just in the ovation. (My first example of that was in my first season in the Houston Grand Opera Studio – my first production was “Salome” with the astonishing Hildegard Behrens pouring her way through the score as if it was her first time. What an example to start with!)”

  What a gloriously generous diva Joyce!, brava, you have a new adoring fan.
• 64
  iltenoredigrazia says:

  July 3, 2009 at 9:50 PM

  marshie, hate to disappoint you but my comment in no way suggested that Behrens is or was “sublime.” I only said that to me it sounded like the young Behrens. For what is worth, I wasn’t that turned on by the performance as La Cieca and others here were. In any case, Behrens, and even Studer, gave some decent performances early in their careers.
• 65
  CerquettiFarrell says:

  July 3, 2009 at 11:40 PM

  The EMI References compilation is really wonderful. If only they’d re-release it (along with some other things, like the Nazi Welitsch Salome Schlussgesang – her best recording)!

  Jurinac’s Fiordiligi is probably the ultimate incarnation on record, alas only in excerpts (the Busch solo CD on Testament or the arias and 1st duet on that EMI References album). But there’s also her complete Ilia for Pritchard, still the best there is (although Siurina runs her close), her Contessa for Gui (ravishing and more honest than Evil Incarnate), her Elvira for Moralt (not available) and her Anna for Fricsay (though the voice HAS changed from 1959 onwards). These are all complete. Particularly classic are her Octavian (THE Rosenkavalier under Kleiber pere, or the live Karajan on DGG) and Komponist (Leinsdorf, with Peters and Rysanek). There’s also the Rosenkavalier film under Karajan). For a taste of late Jurinac, there’s Everding’s film of Hansel under Solti – she does a delightful witch. There’s also a very interesting german Otello film with Windgassen, where she portrays a Desdemona with much more backbone than usual, closer to Shakespeare rather than Boito.
  I particularly adore this warmhearted, warm-voiced and humble artist. Thanks for the clip!
• 66
  Hippolyte says:

  July 4, 2009 at 6:59 AM

  Actually C-F, there is a complete Jurinac Cosi available on CD, a 1951 Glyndebourne performance has been issued on Guild and is still available on Amazon, etc. There is also a 56 Cosi from Glyndebourne “around” but not commercially available. A live Idomeneo (also Glyndebourne/Busch) was released by Symposium; it’s technically out of print but copies are available (also on Amazon); it features, of course, Birgit Nilsson in her first break-out international performance as Elettra but I believe the source lacks some or all of “D’oreste d’ajace.”

  Myto also has a gorgeous Jurinac Manon (in German of course) with Anton Dermota; there’s a Pique Dame conducted by Rodzinski with Bastianini as Yeletsky (in Italian) “around”; and Youtube has excerpts from a film of “Sour Anglica” (as one of the excerpts describes it) that also features Elisabeth Hoengen as the Principessa.
• 67
  armerjacquino says:

  July 4, 2009 at 9:43 AM

  Don’t forget, too, that our own zinkaposter has highlights of the wonderful Salzburg Don Carlo with Resnik, Fernandi, Bastianini, Christoff and Jurinac on his podcast.
• 68
  Harry says:

  July 4, 2009 at 10:28 AM

  Now we are talking about the era when real essential recordings were either made or live captured. What a contrast with the quality of today’s current output. If someone says we need this or that recording from Lasagne, Rumanian Rumble Balls, Snot, Nettie or some past live capture of Hilly (fractured) BallBearings, I will die laughing.
• 69
  zinka says:

  July 4, 2009 at 9:55 PM

  I found the Jurinac Tosca aria rather bland…..and a few straight tones (Can I say “straight” here?? It is my all-time favorite opera aria…so I admit to being fussy..CH
• 70
  Camille says:

  July 9, 2009 at 1:51 PM

  Don’t know if anyone mentioned — there exists a delightful ‘Countess Maritza’ of Jurinac on the Gala label. Like champagne. Brut, not flat.