This Dynamic recording of Meyerbeer’s Semiramide, an opera title more familiar with Rossini’s name appended, mixes the pleasure of a modestly appealing surprise with regret at key aspects of the performance.
Author: James Sohre
Mozart and Lortzing from Hamburg Opera on film
A nostalgic charm permeates these filmed productions from the early 1970s of Lortzing’s Zar und Zimmerman and Mozart’s Die Zauberflˆte, collaborations between the Hamburg State Opera and German TV director Joachim Hess.
Karajan opera highlights on Classics for Pleasure
The opera highlights series from Classics for Pleasure continues its recycling of the EMI catalogue with selections from two of Herbert von Karajan’s recordings.
French Opera highlights on Classics for Pleasure
Consumers might opt for a highlights set instead of a full recording of an opera for many reasons.
THOMSON: The Plow that Broke the Plains
Naxos’s DVD division has already released the performances on this disc of Virgil Thomson’s scores for The Plow that Broke the Plains and The River, as soundtracks for a re-release…
San Diego Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
Opera companies often tout new productions as a major attraction of their seasons.
Serafin: Overtures and Preludes
Timeless values of great opera conducting fill this disc of overtures and preludes, all conducted by Tullio Serafin.
HANSON: Merry Mount
A frequent complaint about contemporary operas — or most any after Puccini’s Turandot — is the lack of that memorable lyricism found in the standard repertory.
Verdi: La Forza del Destino
From a relatively obscure label — Osteria — comes this 1962 live recording of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, featuring a relatively obscure soprano, GrÈ Brouwenstijn.
Classics for Pleasure opera highlights: Puccini
With single CD versions of full-length operas, isn’t the term “highlights” presumptuous?