Category: Recordings

Handel went to London as a free-lance musician ñ i.e., ìon his own bottomî ñ in autumn 1710. His Rinaldo of February 1711, with its dazzling arias and scenic spectacles, was resoundingly successful.

Inspired by the elitist poets of late nineteenth century Paris, Debussy was eager to join their ranks by developing musical ideas that evoked the same emotional response as the poetry he admired. Originally, PrÈlude ‡ líaprËs-midi díun faune was a collaborative project between Debussy and StÈphane MallarmÈ, a poet highly regarded by the composer.

Perhaps instead of waiting for the next great new opera, focus should be on finding the next great opera composer.

Clearly someone at Naxos loves Rossini. The label only recently released a good Cenerentola with the most excellent Joyce Di Donato, and the back catalog contains many titles, including highly praised sets of Barbieri (with Ramon Vargas) and Tancredi (featuring Ewa Podles).

I wonder if a record company, any record company, would have taken the trouble of recording these songs if the composer had been Zoltan Kocsis or Deszˆ Ranki instead of Imre (his real first name) K·lm·n?

Known for his virtuosity as a pianist, Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941) is also known as a composer. While most of his works involve piano, he left a single opera, Manru, a three-act work that he composed between 1892 and 1901.

Two of Finlandís greatest artistic luminariesócomposer Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935) and poet Lassi Nummi (b. 1928)ócame together to produce a fine new work, The Barabbas Dialogues (2004), which has been recently recorded and released on CD on the CPO label.

In an era where new studio recordings by major orchestras have dwindled to a pathetic dribble, leaving many fine institutions to start their own in-house labels, the Berlin Philharmonic still has an active contract with a major company (its conductorís label of many years, EMI) and releases come on a regular basis. A recent one features some of Benjamin Brittenís great work for instruments and tenor.

ìCarmen, un bon conseilî warns Frasquita in the last act of the opera. So friends, heed my advice and donít play this CD in your car when you are accompanied by someone who likes opera but is not crazy on lieder.

It is now slightly over 40 years since the first recording of a complete opera by Saverio Mercadante (an Il Giuramento with Maria Vitale and Amedeo Berdini) was released on LP. I quickly fell in love with his music, and realized that, while not necessarily on the same level as Bellini and Donizetti, he was not far behind, and that more of his works would be extremely welcome.