In opera, Rossini, born in 1892- the year after Mozart died, is the successor of the great master
and, when performed as perceptively as in the “Cenerentola” that debuted at the Houston Grand Opera on January 27, his rightful heir.
Author: Gary Hoffman
Houston takes fresh approach to Cenerentola
Jaume Aragall en Vivo
During any recital by an aging divo there comes a moment of truth when he sings an operatic aria
(usually E lucevan le stelle , as the highest note is an A). That is the defining moment when he no longer can hide behind idiosyncratic interpretation, expressive breathing and a lot of clever transpositions.
Conservatory Tries to Raise Its Profile
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/arts/music/07scho.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin
PURCELL: Dido and Aeneas
This disc is a reissue of a 1993 recording made at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California, but new to me.
A Conductor with panache: JosÈ Serebrier speaks to Anne Ozorio
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2007/Jan-Jun07/serebrier.htm
PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf
I suppose you will find this quite an addition to the Melchior legacy if you are a collector of every sound Melchior ever uttered.
Madama Butterfly, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article1334253.ece
SHOSTAKOVICH: Lady Macbeth of Mtensk District (Kirov Opera)
The Kirov Opera and Orchestra concluded their annual residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC last week with a Sunday matinee concert performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 1932 Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District.
CHARPENTIER: Judicium Salomonis, H. 422; Motet pour une longue offrande, H. 434
Neither of these late works (the Judicium Salomonis is from 1702) is new to disc – the former
has two recent recordings, from ten and from twenty years ago, and the latter one, by Herreweghe, released in 1985.