Listened to Verdi's Otello last night. One of my favorites. What an amazing work of art. Never forget when I saw it performed at the Met in NY. Puccini, Wagner, Strauss. Name some of your favorites. I'm sure there are some I've never heard before. I've got to pull out some of my old recordings and list a few that maybe some of you haven't heard before.
Rick
I used to loathe opera, but I've become a fan in the last five years or so. The only Verdi I listen to is Otello, and Falstaff. I like several Wagner works including Lohengrin, Tristan Und Isolde, Parsifal, and The Ring. Wagner wrote the most beautiful overtures I've ever heard. And operas like Lohengrin and Parsifal are loaded with beautiful music.
I'm a big fan of Britten. I bought the complete opera box on Decca. I'm not familiar with all of them but so far I like Peter Grimes, The Turn Of The Screw, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Albert Herring.
I'm also a fan of several Russian operas including Prince Igor by Borodin, and Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky. And I have Shostakovich's operas as well.
Berg's Lulu can be a tough one to get through due to the grim subject matter, but the music is superb. Another crazy one I enjoy is Life With An Idiot by Schnittke. And one of the most beautiful operas I've listened to is Oedipe by Enescu.
Other opera composers to explore are Janacek, Martinu, Ernst Krenek, Franz Schreker, Prokofiev, Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc. I'm always trying to find time to listen to the ones I've collected.
Rake’s Progress by Stravinsky. It’s that rarest of beasts, a “modern” opera that’s fun!
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
My current favorites are Carmen (I know, a chestnut, but a good one), the Ring, Appomattox, and Nixon in China. I have a strong preference for operas in English, because the story is an important part of the overall experience, and I don't speak German or Italian.
PS: Nixon is fun, too.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Opera and I have a tortured existence.
My wife loves opera and I have attended a few over the years.
Some have lived up to the reputations they have garnered, others not so much.
I prefer the classics and modern works over the romantic period stuff.
I saw Rigoletto this summer. It was ok.
Saw Tosca last year and didn't care for it at all.
We also saw some Bernstein 'best of' performances this summer that were good Candide.
I just don't care for a performance of vocal exercises, or at least how they sound to me.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
Speaking if Bernstein, I had the pleasure of attending a performance of the complete Candide operetta this past August. It was one of the finest musical performances I've experienced, ever! And the subject matter was hilarious!
I have the original 1956 recording, but it just doesn't have the same effect as experiencing it live.
"Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he
sings."
~Robert Benchley
Generally I cant connect with Opera. Lingers on endlessly. Too much overly spelled out. Said someone who loves Magma.
There are som beatifull and touching melodies out there.
Well, you can't say Magma exactly spells things out...Originally Posted by Zeuhlmate
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Der Ring des Nibelungen!!!
Robert Ashley.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Which was likely his point in saying that.
There are opera companies that now project subtitles so that the audience can follow the story/dialogue as it happens. I love this idea and it has greatly enhanced my appreciation of opera and I plan to attend more such events in the future.
In my book, one can never go wrong with Wagner. In most opera, musical creativity necessarily takes a back seat to the libretto. Wagner, on the other hand, kept the underlying music interesting throughout.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
Boris Godunov
Pelleas et Melisande
Carmen
The Met used to have the subtitles on the back of the seat in front of you. You could op to turn them off if you didn't want them. Not sure if they still have that feature or not.
Is the ultimate exercise in musical endurance.
Not by a long shot.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Yes, the San Francisco opera started that, like, twenty years ago. It's a clever innovation to make opera more commercially successful, but I think it distracts attention from the performers.
Just my opinion; YMMV.
Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.
Try some Britten operas. There in English, and of very high quality.
Billy Budd is my personal favorite of his. Got to see it performed live once.
That's quite insane! The Ring would seem like a pop single compared to that.
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