Curioser and curioser
Three more months of The Talk of the Town means that we need your most sizzling takes!
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Kevin Ng
Boris Christoff‘s sound is justly famous, and his vocal splendor is on full display here.
A favorite bass performance from Carmen Paddock
Christopher Purves in Saul – the clarity, the range, the expression, the drama!
A favorite bass performance from Bel Raggio
No one in my experience both live and on records could swagger, spin out roulades, and ripple through Rossini and Handel like Samuel Ramey.
By Bel Raggio
110 comments
A favorite bass performance from Mr. Fabulous
Before hearing Samuel Ramey as Zaccaria in Nabucco, I had always been more interested in higher voices.
By Mr. Fabulous
1 comment
A favorite bass performance from William Guanbo Su
This performance features Samuel Ramey in what I consider one of the most powerful deliveries of this aria on record.
By William Guanbo Su
22 comments
A favorite bass performance from Peter Russell
Nobody in my experience has come close to rivaling Samuel Ramey as the shy, lovelorn Englishman Lord Sidney from that first cast.
A favorite bass performance from Mister Snow
The great bass Len Dresslar became famous (if unknown) as the voice of the Jolly Green Giant on all those ads that those of us (of a certain age) grew up on
By Mister Snow
35 comments
A favorite bass performance from Moe Rear
Fyodor Chaliapin, the very great Russian basso, to this day owns the role of Massenet’s Don Quichotte.
By Moe Rear
131 comments
A favorite bass performance from Ben Miller
The one, the only Fyodor Chaliapin, singing Massenet’s “Elegie” (with, I believe, a young Piatigorsky on the cello part).
A favorite bass performance from Leyla Gender-Bender
Fyodor Chaliapin is considered one of the greatest basses ever because he combined a dark, flexible, and instantly recognizable bass voice with extraordinary musical intelligence and nuance.
By Leyla Gender-Bender
76 comments
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
By CKurwenal
59 comments
She speaks!
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
By Peter Russell
194 comments
The 1957 Anna Bolena is so overrated
While the three leads do sing the material well, there has been a glut of recordings since then which are more complete and at least as well sung.
By Leyla Gender-Bender
212 comments
The Solti Ring Cycle is so overrated
It was many decades ago that I first listened to the Solti Ring Cycle.
By Mister Snow
281 comments
The 1959 Aïda is so overrated
Karajan’s 1959 Aïda was once treated like gospel, a wall of plush Vienna Philharmonic sound and star power that critics dutifully genuflected before.
The 1973 La bohème is so overrated
The Solti recording of Bohème is completely miscast.
By Mr. Fabulous
222 comments
The 2023 Turandot is so overrated
The recent highly hyped studio recording of Puccini’s Turandot left me greatly disappointed.
By Moe Rear
153 comments
The 1965 Les contes d’Hoffmann is so overrated
All in all, an ill-advised venture.
By La Grunowa
36 comments
Any recording of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny is so overrated
It’s always surprised me how so many performances of the major Brecht/Weill collaborations seem to have zero clue of how to handle either Weill’s music.
By Cornelia
6 comments
The 2018 Macbeth is so overrated
I don’t know if it’s overrated because I don’t think anyone rates it, but for pure party disc joy not much beats this 2018 recording of the original 1847 version of Verdi‘s Macbeth.
By Ben Miller
4 comments
This 1955 Eugene Onegin is so overrated
This is the classic Onegin and there’s much to love, especially from Khaikin‘s sensitive conducting and Lemeshev‘s ideal Lensky.
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!
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).
