Category: Recordings

On June 3, 1875, thirty-six year old Bizet died after having one, some say two, heart attacks preceded by other complications. Legend has it that the composer’s death was hastened by the failure of his latest work, Carmen.

In 1981 Wilhelminia Fernandez became somewhat of a cult figure when the French thriller ìDivaî appeared on the screens. For a time her ìEbben, ne andro lontanoî from La Wally almost became a hit and several commercials used a small part of the aria.

So EMI has declared this 1988 Porgy and Bess to be one of the ìGreat Recordings of the Century.î That may settle the issue for many ñ but not all.

It is not uncommon for opera on DVD to have credits for two directors. In the case of this Paris Capriccio, a new production from June 2004, the credits list Robert Carsen as the stage director and Francois Roussillon as directing for TV and video.

Under the direction of James OíDonnell since January 2000, the Choir of Westminster Abbey has cultivated a robust singing style that well serves the music of this new recording and continues the Abbeyís position as one of the obvious standard bearers of the English cathedral tradition.

At 73 minutes, this DVD of the typical gala affair ñ various soloists trot on, sing an aria, then trot off ñ canít be called generous, but it does have variety.

When you and I were young Maggie, there was only the fine Werther with Thill and Vallin and the Cetra recording with Tagliavini and his first wife, Pia Tassinari.

I suspect that when we survey the musical landscape of the early seventeenth century, it is opera, monody, and madrigal that come most quickly and lastingly into view, and given the contemporaneous attention given to the relationship between music and word, it is unsurprising that this would be the case.

When Giulio Caccini entitled his landmark 1601/02 publication Le nuove musiche, he confidently laid claim both to the novelty of the emerging baroque style and his formidable role in bringing it to blossom.