parterre box

70 comments

• Hugo Santos says:

  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.

  on July 3, 2009 at 1:54 PM
• Baritenor says:

  Hans Hotter as Scarpia? Now THAT sounds scary.

  on July 3, 2009 at 2:14 PM
• MontyNostry says:

  How about Hans Hotter as the Sacristan?

  on July 3, 2009 at 2:53 PM
• mrmyster says:

  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.

  on July 3, 2009 at 3:13 PM
• ellerveira says:

  She was famous for her Mozart and for her Butterfly. I don’t think she did Tosca very often.

  on July 3, 2009 at 3:14 PM
• La Marchesa Attavanti says:

  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.

  on July 3, 2009 at 4:34 PM
• kashania says:

  Can anyone recommend a CD of Jurinac arias?

  on July 3, 2009 at 4:55 PM
• La Marchesa Attavanti says:

  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).

  on July 3, 2009 at 5:04 PM
• kashania says:

  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.

  on July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM
• richard says:

  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

  on July 3, 2009 at 6:50 PM