Vierzig Letzte Lieder Vierzig Letzte Lieder

Quarantining during COVID dramatically increased my compulsion to collect and compare interpretations.

By May 20, 2021 at 10:21 AM
157 comments
Attila Attila

Today’s offering is an electric performance of Verdi’s early potboiler Attila conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli with Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero Cappuccilli and the weirdly exciting (or is it the other way around?) Mara Zampieri.

By August 26, 2020 at 12:41 PM
18 comments
Storm of the century Storm of the century

A sense of celebration was definitely in the air last Thursday at the Vienna State Opera.

By October 16, 2019 at 12:24 PM
5 comments
The other woman The other woman

I can’t think of an opera this year that I’ve enjoyed as much as Tuesday’s Met Macbeth, thanks especially to the smashing house debut of Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi as its blazing Madame M.

By October 02, 2019 at 9:54 AM
15 comments
“I am finding my way as I go” “I am finding my way as I go”

The musical director of the Opera Royal de Wallonie at Liege is currently experiencing the early phase of a promising international career in music.

By September 16, 2019 at 9:30 AM
62 comments
Bolder sister Bolder sister

Brigitte Fassbaender‘s sound is piquant and, I’d hazard to guess, instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with her work.

By June 20, 2019 at 9:00 AM
15 comments
Z to A Z to A

Today’s offering is an electric performance of Verdi’s early potboiler Attila conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli.

By September 07, 2017 at 10:18 AM
14 comments
Leonie on the Nile Leonie on the Nile

Leonie Rysanek, would have turned 90 today.

By November 14, 2016 at 10:20 AM
3 comments
The hill is greener The hill is greener

Live recordings of Hans Knappertsbusch conducting Parsifal seem to proliferate like stairways in M.C. Escher prints.

By February 01, 2016 at 9:30 AM
42 comments