Mirella Freni’s 1993 triumph in the lead of Umberto Giordani’s Fedora at La Scala has made it to DVD. In his booklet essay, Werner Pfister (translated by Stewart Spencer) admits the opera “does not enjoy the best of reputations.”
Month: October 2007
ìDein ist mein ganzes Herzî
Okay, okay, I freely admit this up front: I am not inordinately fond of operetta. Just thought you should know. All the more remarkable then that I found myself listening to this new recording several times over.
STRAUSS : Elektra
Whatever you do, don’t give this DVD as a gift to people you don’t want to alienate.
Philip Glass celebrates 70th with compelling new opera
SAN FRANCISCO ó ìMy subject is war and the pity of war, and the poetry is in the pity.î
San Francisco Opera’s ‘Magic Flute’ a bit out of tune
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/15/DDIESPUOO.DTL
Handelís ìRadamistoî revisited with mixed results in Hamburg
A remarkably quick turnaround from only last May when the first run of Handelís ìRadamistoî was blessed with a consistently high level of vocal performance may have been the reason for sparser houses this time round at the Hamburg Staatsoper (October 6th).
Swiss conductor Jordan named Paris Opera music director
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iaLQ0vWG2K5Ek6RiU_wGOOKmxpUg
The Metís New Lucia
Of Donizettiís fifty or so ìseriousî operas, Lucia di Lammermoor was the only one to survive his heyday almost unscathed by change of fashion; today, when a dozen of his other worthy works have been restored to the repertory, Lucia easily hangs on.