Opera Today

The sleeve notes of this interesting issue state that “ any comparison between La Fattucchiera and Italian bel canto models by Bellini or Donizetti would be too easy though it became commonplace to describe him (= Cuyàs) as the continuator of the school of Bellini.

Although the name of Vicente Martin y Soler is no longer obscure, most opera lovers still know him best due to Mozart quoting his opera ‘Una cosa rara’ during the Don’s last meal in Don Giovanni.

I was impressed by Karajan’s intense conducting, which seems so right in the wake of the unavoidable tragedy that is going to happen.

Record companies are dominated by accountants and short term cost structure seems to be more important than artistic results or even sale figures. This is a prime example.

For those OperaToday readers prone to fantasies about being a member of royalty with one’s own cozy opera house tucked away on the hereditary estate, this Hungaroton DVD will enable that desire. Filmed in August 2005 at the royal palace at Gödölló, Il barone di rocca antica, an operetta giocosa from Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, requires only four singers.

There is a (no doubt apocryphal) story that if one listens carefully to CaballÈís recordings there is a slight sshhh-sound in the background; the sound of the knife she uses to cut open her scores while recording.