La Cieca has just noticed that Decca is about to release a 33-disc collection comprising all the standard Wagner works. (You’ll have to look elsewhere for Das Liebesverbot.) The amazing news here is that this complete traversal of the standard Wagnerian canon is on sale for only $66.99 — yes, that’s right, barely two dollars…
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Well, in fact your doyenne just warbles a few bars of a dear old Jerry Herman tune, but the real news is the second part of Montserrat Caballé‘s legendary New York debut as Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia Act 1
“La Diva Turca” died this morning in Milan. In tribute to the art of Leyla Gencer, here is the soprano in the final scenes of Bellini’s Norma at La Scala on January 13, 1965. She is joined in this performance by Bruno Prevedi (Pollione) and Nicola Zaccaria (Oroveso); Gianandrea Gavazzeni is the conductor. UPDATE: The…
La Cieca offers her own personal salute to a very special holiday with an edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera featuring Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia. In this legendary April 20, 1965 performance, the eponymous antiheroine is Montserrat Caballé. Lucrezia Borgia (Prologue)
At very long last, the final act of Tristan und Isolde. Act Three Tristan – Spas Wenkoff, Isolde – Catarina Ligendza, Brangaene – Yvonne Minton, Marke – Karl Ridderbusch, Kurwenal – Donald McIntyre, Melot – Heribert Steinbach, Steuermann – Heinz Feldhoff, Hirte – Heinz Zednik. Carlos Kleiber; Bayreuther Festspiele, 30 July 1976.
La Cieca sheepishly announces the long-overdue return of Unnatural Acts of Opera and a very belated birthday greeting. Tristan und Isolde, Act 2
La Cieca wants to reassure her cher public that she has neither fallen off the face of the earth nor succumbed to that mysterious illness that’s killing all the bloggers. The last few days have been something of a slow news period for opera gossip and your doyenne has taken advantage of that fact by…
La Cieca just can’t get enough of the old Love-Death. So this week’s edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera begins a classic performance of Wagner’s music drama from the 1976 Bayreuth Festival under the magical guidance of Carlos Kleiber. Tristan und Isolde (Act 1) UPDATE: Well, you can spank La Cieca’s butt and call her…
Edipo Re (Leoncavallo) Creon – Keith Lewis Oedipus – Alan Titus Jocasta – Yvonne Naef Messenger – Roland Bracht Shepherd – Johannes Chum Teiresias – Cheyne Davidson Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Dennis Russell Davies. 1998.
Dashing Donald Collup has expanded into yet another media niche with a series of podcasts featuring audio highlights from his acclaimed Astrid Varnay documentary DVD “Never Before.” Here la Varnay recalls her legendary colleague Zinka Milanov. More Astridiana (along with lots of other goodies from the Collup collection) may be found at the official “Never…
With his usual impeccable taste, Ed Rosen has posted five selections of prime Giuseppe di Stefano on his Premiere Opera Podcast page. Investigative Operachic follows reactions in the Italian media. Opera News has republished a profile of the tenor from 2000 with some representative di Stefano anecdotes. And here di Stefano appears on Il Musichiere,…
From the Vienna State Opera in January 1988, the first part of the Rossini opera you, cher public, chose: Il viaggio a Reims. Among the all-star cast in this episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera:
The cher public have spoken, and their chosen Rossini oeuvre, to be featured on the next Unnatural Acts of Opera, is…
Electric Elaine Eliane Coelho chews the scenery, leaves blood on the stage, and if there are any pregnant women in the audience, probably turns their fetuses gay right on the spot, all in just one scene from the gloriously gory melodrama from Carlos Gomes, Maria Tudor. Since YouTube embedding is acting a little odd this morning,…
Here’s a snapshot of the current Unnatural Acts of Opera poll:
La Cieca is delighted to note that her old, old, old friend Charlie Handelman has picked up the podcasting microphone again after a hiatus earlier this winter. Recent episodes of The Handelmania Podcast include surveys of recordings of Ernani and Lohengrin recordings and tributes to Claudia Muzio, Caterina Mancini and Leopold Stokowski. And don’t miss…
Faust (Gounod) Acts 4 and 5 Since our this podcast completes our series of Faust episodes, La Cieca needs to decide which work should be featured next on “Unnatural Acts of Opera.” Your doyenne has narrowed the selection down to five works of maestro Rossini, and now it’s up to you, cher public, to tell…
La Cieca muses at some length on the audience’s relationship with the audience, but then Diana Soviero demonstrates the point in only a few seconds of singing in the third act of Faust. (Neil Shicoff and Samuel Ramey aren’t exactly slouching either in this 1986 performance.) Faust (Gounod) Act 3
Another “Return of Villazón” sound clip from Ed Rosen‘s Premiere Opera Podcast, featuring Rolando Villazón and Sophie Koch in this extended scene from Act 3 of Werther. (Performance on January 28 in Vienna.) Werther
A new page via WordPress for Unnatural Acts of Opera, as well as archive pages you can reach through the sidebar menu (look to your left, darling!)
As part of the “new look” of parterre.com, La Cieca is going to try inserting a player for each new episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera. And this Act is perhaps a little more Unnatural than most, since it’s the beginning of a multipart tribute to parterre box icon Diana Soviero. Faust (Gounod) Acts 1…
Or, to put it another way, could this soprano be what the Met needs for Roberto Devereux? While you ponder the future, you can enjoy the past: the final act of Verdi’s Macbeth is now on Unnatural Acts of Opera.
The fascinating and unconventional artist Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died yesterday at her home in Santa Fe. We in New York heard her only infrequently in opera, most recently in Serse and La clemenza di Tito at the NYCO and Les Troyens at the Met. She was scheduled to sing Orfeo in a new production of…
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