Nothing makes me feel better than the 1966 Salzburg Festival Nozze
This performance truly “never fails to lift my mood.”
By DC K
Comment
Karl Böhm
63 pieces since 2007 — at 8 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
63
pieces
8
companies
20
years
Nothing makes me feel better than Roberta Peters in Die Zauberflöte
Other queens have been richer of voice or more dramatically compelling, but none I have ever heard succeeds in sounding something other than human.
By Jon Taylor/Armerjacquino
Comment
A favorite Wagner performance from Darby Fegan
The 1966 Bayreuth Festival production of Tristan and Isolde, conducted by Karl Böhm provides Nilsson with the cast she truly deserved, including Wolfgang Windgassen, Christa Ludwig, Martti Talvela, and Eberhard Waechter.
By Darby Fegan
58 comments
Duet to me one more time
Patrick Mack reviews yet another Puccini album from Jonas Kaufmann
Decadent genealogies
Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot are, in their different ways, the final decadent flowering of a musical tradition at its twilight.
Hoppscotch
On this day in 1959 Alban Berg‘s Wozzeck had its Metropolitan Opera premiere (in English)
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.
Miss Nilsson did all the right things
On this day in 1965 the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Salome.
Silent treatment
It is perhaps a misperception to suggest that Die Schweigsame Frau is stronger in the uncut version.
Everyone’s gone to the moon
The Met’s recent Ariadne auf Naxos and Elektra combo left me wanting more and more Richard Strauss, so Trove Thursday offers a complete Capriccio with Jonas Kaufmann (his one-and-only Flamand) and Christopher Maltman vying for Soile Isokoski.
Late bloomer
Teresa Zylis-Gara died in late August at 91 and Trove Thursday offers the Polish soprano in a wide-ranging collection of live material showcasing her great versatility.
Let’s twist again
In San Francisco Opera’s new Così fan tutte, the elements that most visibly read as “American” were a penchant for slapstick humor, overcooked blocking, and an abundance of cartoonish period costumes that hobbled the opera’s first act.
Quicksilver princess
Trove Thursday remembers Edita Gruberová with live recordings of two of the three operas I heard her perform at the Met: a 1985 Munich La Traviata with Neil Shicoff and Wolfgang Brendel conducted by Carlos Kleiber and an I Puritani from Vienna 1994 featuring two other artists who recently left us too soon: Marcello Giordani and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
Vierzig Letzte Lieder
Quarantining during COVID dramatically increased my compulsion to collect and compare interpretations.
Shining through
Trove Thursday celebrates Christa Ludwig with live excerpts from 1955 through 1982.
Dies irae, dies illa
Trove Thursday offers Mozart’s Requiem with Lucia Popp, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier and Walter Berry conducted by James Levine from the 1981 Salzburg Festival.
From Lear to eternity
Ninety-five years ago, Evelyn Lear was born on January 8 in Brooklyn, and Trove Thursday remembers the soprano with one of her earliest successes: Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten co-starring her husband Thomas Stewart, Helmut Krebs and Franz Crass.
‘Tristan’ minus one
Imagine my surprise then when I discovered a new recording of Tristan und Isolde released by Navona Records, a small label based in New Hampshire that primarily focuses on recitals of chamber music, solo works, and smaller ensemble pieces.
Tusk to tusk
Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana has always been a particular favorite, although I’ve only seen it staged once (and that by an amateur company the details of which I share spare you all, save to note that dinner was served during the performance.)
A soldier’s play
On this day in 1959 Alban Berg‘s Wozzeck had its Metropolitan Opera premiere.
Storm of the century
A sense of celebration was definitely in the air last Thursday at the Vienna State Opera.
Killer queen
Rossini’s Semiramide is a highly original and imaginative work of theater that impresses for its creative and beautifully scored orchestration, incisive recitatives and ensembles, and theatrically intriguing characters.
Wien disposition
Following classic recordings documenting the work of Karl Böhm and Herbert von Karajan. Orfeo’s 150 Years Wiener Staatsoper box moves on to new releases that are seeing their first incarnation on an officially available disc.
Wien to me
Orfeo’s 150 Years box chronologically documents some of the finest nights of live opera from the Wiener Staatsoper in the years following its restoration in 1955.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
