Category: Recordings

A socially conscious artist, caught in the violent gyrations of a country in revolution and war, awaits execution.

It only takes a few moments for the overture to Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi to establish that this opera takes a very different approach to the classic story than does Shakespeare’s play.

This beautiful production premiËred in 1980 and was the first live-telecast from the Met internationally relayed.

Conductor Steven Mercurio appears to have made a highly favorable impression on singers in his career so far (some of the following info comes from his website, http://stevenmercurio.com/).

Iím surprised that such an eminent musicologist as Julian Budden, in his interesting essay accompanying the recording, still lays the blame for the relative failure of Edgar at the librettistís feet.

Putting the “grim” into a classic fairy tale (whether the Brothers Grimm’s or not), this Glyndebourne La Cenerentola from the 2005 festival season establishes a drab, dark mood in its first scenes.

A recording of the complete sacred music of Antonio Vivaldi is a welcome prospect, not least because it offers an opportunity to go beyond the fame and familiarity of Vivaldiís concertos and the ubiquitous ìGloria.î

A friend who bought this issue grumbled that Dynamic had swindled him out off his money as the whitewashed, less than sharp picture quality is not much better than the pirate issue he once received from a correspondent.

The back of this DG set relates that the company made the recording “in Modena in conjunction with a series of performances in Italy and Germany.”

Decca/London was somewhat earlier with their series ëClassic Recitalsí and now Deutsche Gramophon is following without that title.