A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal

I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.

When her ship comes in When her ship comes in

Anticipating the titanic arrival of Lise Davidsen‘s Isolde in New York in March, Parterre Box is thrilled to share a bit of her debut opposite Clay Hilley recorded in Barcelona last week.

I’m still thinking about John Cox’s <em>The Rake’s Progress</em> I’m still thinking about John Cox’s <em>The Rake’s Progress</em>

I came to The Rake’s Progress with a huge “Show Me” chip on my shoulder.

A favorite Wagner performance from Carmen Paddock A favorite Wagner performance from Carmen Paddock

Recency bias is in full swing here, but Glyndebourne’s first ever staging of Parsifal – and my first Parsifal – takes top prize for me.

I shall be released I shall be released

Welcome, beloveds, to the Jessye Norman Memorial Museum. I’ll be the docent for your tour today.

Jessye, three ways Jessye, three ways

We have two reasons for celebrating Jessye Norman and the first is a release on the BBC / London Philharmonic Orchestra label of a Richard Strauss concert.

Selling the drama Selling the drama

Though the formal recorded aria recital is the ultimate calling card of an artist, the invitation to the spectator to receive, listen, and critically behold of the offerings (on fire or burnt), they are but a souvenir and there are a few drawbacks inherent with the presentation.

In Memoriam Raymond Leppard In Memoriam Raymond Leppard

Trove Thursday acknowledges the late Raymond Leppard‘s important influence with a live broadcast of his seminal “realisation” of Cavalli’s L’Ormindo plus some Cavalli and Monteverdi tidbits with Janet Baker.

Mr. Fabulous Mr. Fabulous

Michael Fabiano is a boss. This is a fact. 

Thousands cheer Thousands cheer

Although Gustav Mahler never wrote an opera, his colossal Eighth Symphony “The Symphony of a Thousand” may give us some glimpses of what a Mahler opera might have sounded like

You can’t hide your lion eyes You can’t hide your lion eyes

The UK’s first-ever production of Poliuto, now available from Opus Arte on DVD, set the lions of Rome among the lambs of Glyndebourne.

Sex please: we’re British Sex please: we’re British

The finer performances of Tristan und Isolde have a way of sounding like a four-hour improvisation, the fruit of a single moment of inspiration that makes one forget how emotionally manipulative and painstakingly crafted the music really is.

Billy’s club Billy’s club

When Winston Churchill was First Sea Lord, the story goes, an indignant admiral accused him of violating British naval tradition, to which Churchill replied that the only traditions of the British Navy were rum, sodomy and the lash.

The Roman stain The Roman stain

Gotham Chamber Opera stumbled so badly Friday night with Francesco Cavalli’s 1668 Eliogabalo at The Box, it was hard to know whether to feel sad or angry—or both.

What really happened at Bly?

Necrophiliac pedophilia?  Or a slow descent into madness?  What really happened at Bly?  After listening to Glyndebourne’s 2007 Production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, released in a live recording under the festival’s own label, one is still left in the dark as to what really transpired at that English estate.  Perhaps this…

Tarnished rose

Glyndebourne’s release of a live Rosenkavalier from 1965 longs to be loved and cherished by listeners.  Featuring a thrilling Traumcast composed of Montserrat Caballé, Otto Edelmann, Teresa Zylis-Gara, and Edith Mathis, one would certainly expect it to deserve much praise and admiration.  The sound quality is, however, a stunning disappointment.

Batter my disc

I have heard Gerald Finley live and enjoyed his singing immensely. He possesses a strong, resonant, lyric baritone, even of scale and beautiful of timbre. His biggest successes to date have been creating the roles of Oppenheimer in John Adams‘ Dr. Atomic and Harry in Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s The Silver Tassie. He includes selections from both…