Nothing makes me feel better than <em>Hänsel und Gretel</em> Nothing makes me feel better than <em>Hänsel und Gretel</em>

I was first exposed to Hänsel und Gretel as a child, likely via The Metropolitan Opera’s 1982 PBS telecast.

The twilight saga The twilight saga

Chris’s Cache offers ten more sopranos singing Strauss‘s Vier letzte Lieder: Sena Jurinac, Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman, Roberta Alexander, Edith Mathis, Helen Donath, Malin Byström, Christiane Karg, Jacquelyn Wagner, and Corinne Winters. 

It’ll all be Auger It’ll all be Auger

A perfect meeting of voice with composer occurred when Arleen Auger took part in the rediscovery of early works by Mozart.

Jailhouse Roccos Jailhouse Roccos

Chris’s Cache wraps up November with Régine Crespin’s Chicago Leonore; two rare Met Fidelios headed by Christa Ludwig and Hildegard Behrens; and a concert performance with Birgit Nilsson led by Leonard Bernstein, plus a final twist: excerpts of Carol Vaness in Leonore.

Desperate housewife Desperate housewife

As New Yorkers swelter in the Fahrenheit 90s. Trove Thursday escapes to wintry Vienna 1920s for Richard Strauss’s Intermezzo (in English) sumptuously conducted by Julius Rudel and starring the incomparable Elisabeth Söderström as the delicious, exasperating wife of Alan Titus.

Vierzig Letzte Lieder Vierzig Letzte Lieder

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

Idol gossip Idol gossip

During the 70s, Kiri Te Kanawa, particularly singing Mozart, became one of my favorite singers.

Have yourself a merry little widow Have yourself a merry little widow

Trove Thursday follows tradition and bids farewell to 2020 with an operetta: Lehár’s Die Lustige Witwe starring Edda Moser as a most commanding Hanna Glawari!

The art of the steel The art of the steel

This Sony Classical set of live performances covers a golden quarter century in the singing and staging of Wagner. Birgit Nilsson shared it with many other legends, and many of them appear on these discs.

Grand tourists Grand tourists

Soprano Ashley Marie Robillard and mezzo Siena Licht Miller evoke a journey to Paris, Venice, Berlin, and London.

These three These three

In the midst of Tosca month “Trove Thursday” assembles from the 60s to the 80s an Il Trittico in which each opera features an important Italian star.

Over the garden wall Over the garden wall

Renée Fleming makes her belated “Trove Thursday” debut as Sandrina in a rare early performance of Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera.

While you were sheeping While you were sheeping

To mark Mozart’s 260th birthday tomorrow, “Trove Thursday” offers his infrequently performed bucolic opera Il Re Pastore with the sublime Arleen Augér as its heroine and Edith Mathis as her shepherd-lover.

All about my stepmother All about my stepmother

“Trove Thursday” presents Sena Jurinac‘s radiant portrayal of Janacek’s Jenufa opposite the implacable Kostelnicka of Martha Mödl.

Breaking Baden Breaking Baden

Baden-Baden 1927 is the title Gotham Chamber Opera has given to its evening of four brief operas that premiered together at a festival in, yes, Baden-Baden on July 17, 1927.