Best Opera
default -- Thu, 01/29/2009 - 19:53
Recently, I stumbled on an old Denon DVD-Audio music sampler disc titled "This
Is DVD-Audio." I have been collecting DVD-Audio and SACD discs for some time
now and this one was just an old one that I was given at a trade show a while
back. While listening to this disc I stumbled onto a track from an opera
done by Gabriel Faure: Requiem Op.48. Please understand, I do not listen to
opera and never thought that I would ever be interested in it either.
However, I found this track very moving. I have found the entire opera on
Multi-channel SACD and plan to puchase it.
My question to you all is very simple. Can you please suggest any other operas
that are must haves. Please keep in mind that I prefer multi-channel music,
but I am interested in your suggestions whatever they may be. I like this particular track because of how relaxing it is and how at peace it makes me feal.
Sincerely,
CHStuart
www.chstuart.com
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Very glad to hear of your discovery. I'll be happy to provide a few suggestions, which I hope are helpful.
My general view, and I think other staffers would concur, is that a good approach to a new type of music is to cast a rather wide net and then report back. These suggestions are made in that light.
First, I hope without being pedantic, we should clarify that Faure's Requiem is technically not an opera. It would be classified by most as vocal or choral music. It may be that other music you like related to the Faure is therefore, not opera.
With that in mind, let's start with two of the great Requiems:
Verdi, Messa Da Requiem -- one great recording is with Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony, on Telarc. It is 2Ch CD. Harnoncourt conducts a multichannel SACD version on RCA. I have not heard it, but Harnoncourt is very thoughtful, though not known for Romantic period material, and therefore may take an interesting approach.
Mozart, Requiem K626 -- for multi-channel, Harnoncourt is the one. Concentus Musicus Wien/Arnold Schoenberg Choir.
As you can probably tell, requiems are sacred pieces. You might wish to explore more along those lines. This brings to mind:
Bach Cantatas BWV 82 and 199 -- Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. I don't think there is a SACD of this. But there is an SACD of her Handel Arias. She is just amazing, and CD or SACD the recordings are beautiful.
I also think it is worth exploring a variety of choral music. One interesting disc is:
Conspirare, Through the Green Fuse -- this phenomenal group does a variety of mostly 20th century pieces, but most are very beautiful, not angular. Hybrid SACD.
As for Opera itself, one place to start is:
Puccini, Madama Butterfly -- There are many recordings, but no modern recordings I know of in SACD. For SACD, though, you can get the Leinsdorf, Leontyne Price Living Stereo Hybrid SACD from the '60s. I haven't heard it, but I will say that some early recordings can be very enjoyable.
I suggest Madama Butterfly only because it has such beautiful music. That said, I wouldn't often classify opera as a whole as "peaceful". The basic dramatic orientation of opera practically dictates that it is not, overall, peaceful.
You might also tried some of the aria compilations to get additional direction. For example, Renee Fleming has a Hybrid SACD recording of Bel Canto (literally "beautiful singing") arias. Bel Canto might fit with your tastes, and you probably won't hear these little performed pieces elsewhere. Or try Abbado's compliation disc with Anna Netrebko -- called Sempre Libera. It has more popular Bel Canto and Romantic period arias and is Hybrid SACD.
Compilation can of course work outside of opera, and you might try Conspirare's Requiem disc or Joseph Flummerfelt/Westminster Choir's Heaven to Earth (Hybrid SACD).
Others will have different ideas. This is a vast and rich area that can lead to a lifetime of listening pleasure.
CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC
This thread, from contributor Andy Quint, may also be of interest:
http://www.avguide.com/forums/opera-blu-ray
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
Great Operas of the Twentieth Century (restricted to one per composer):
Debussy: Pelleas and Melisande
Puccini: Turandot
Strauss: Elektra
Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle
Berg: Wozzeck
Brecht/Weill: The Three Penny Opera
Janacek: From The House of the Dead
Schoenberg: Moses and Aaron
Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Minsk
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler
Britten: Peter Grimes
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Dallapiccola: The Prisoner
Henze: The Young Lord
Schnittke: Life with an Idiot
User's Guide, part 2: "Great Opera" and "Peaceful" are not the same thing. See User's Guide, part 1 above for the likely-though-not-necessary conflict between drama and peace.
BTW, I can recommend trying some of the great operas (20th century or otherwise), just want to set expectations.
CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC
Excellent compilation disc in this vein from Chesky:
Chesky catalog # sacd3230
"The World's Greatest Audiophile Vocal Recordings".
Hmmmm.... as previously stated, Faure's Requiem is not an opera and I am not sure if there is any opera that
would give you similar atmosphere or feeling. The closest, opera wise I could think of would be
Wagner's Lohengrin, Parsifal or may be Meistersinger or Tristan and Isolde. Definitely lots of music I would consider
peaceful, calm, spiritual, sublime etc etc but lots of things in between that most either love or cannot stand
If you like Germanic Romantic period, Wagner might work.
Another piece that you might be more to your liking is Brahm's German Requiem.
Madame Butterfly is always easy to listen to. I would highlyh recommended RCA Price/Tucker set mentioned above
if not for Leinsdorf's conducting which I found very frustrating at time. Generally I would recomend Freni's first recording with
Karajan or either of Scotto's recording (personally I like her 2nd recording with Domingo better but conventional wisdom seems
to prefer her first with Bergonzi).
La Boheme is also another very accessible opera, very lyrical but not quite as emotionally charged as Madame Butterfly. Unfortunately most of the recent recordings in the last 10-20 years that I heard including the recent Telarc recording which is available on SACD can't quite compare to
the classics. You can't go wrong with Karajan/Freni/Pavarotti, Serafin/Tebaldi.Bergonzi or Beecham/de los Angeles/Bjoerling (the original mono release on CD was quite poor sonically but the more recent remastered release is much cleaner). Karajan set is very well recorded and is probably the best set when considering performence as well as sound quality.
"Peaceful" the operas I recommended above are not. They don't call "soap operas" soap operas for no reason--drama is at opera's heart, and the melodramatic or tragic or bitterly ironic conflicts inherent in drama were intensified in the art music of the bloody, revolutionary twentieth century. For soothing or peaceful or just plain delightful, Mr. Stuart would be better off looking to light or comic opera or operetta or to religious music. with that in mind let me revise the list with more appropriate suggestions:
Puccini: La Rondine
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Brecht/Weill: The Three Penny Opera
Ravel: The Spanish Hour
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass
Hindemith: Nobilissima Visione
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
Stravinsky: Mass
Bernstein: Candide
Britten: War Requiem
Part: Te Deum
I, for one, would not call most of Wagner "soothing" or "peaceful," although he did write one superb comic opera, Die Meistersinger, that is pure delight. And though filled with gorgeous music and song, La Boheme and Madame Butterfly are scarcely cheerful or soothing stories.
That darn drama thing, again!
CEO and Editorial Director, Nextscreen LLC
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