Flotow's Martha (or The Market at Richmond)

[Beppe]

Does anyone here like this opera and, if so, which is your favorite CD set?

This is my favorite on CD:

[Richard Tarleton]

Beppe, I love this opera. I've only seen one production - my great aunt, who introduced me to opera, took me to a student production in the London Collegiate Theatre in 1969. In the interval she introduced me to a formidible lady with a strong Middle European (Moravian, I found out afterwards) accent who said she thought the production was terrible. My aunt (who was a doctor, and friends with a whole bunch of psychologists and psychiatrists at the Tavistock Clinic) explained afterwards that this was Mrs Ernest Jones, widow of Freud's friend and biographer. It was in English, piano instead of orchestra, a few significant cuts (I learnt later), but I was enchanted, and bought the LP set - Rothenberger/Fassbender/Gedda/Prey cond Heger - soon afterwards.

It has so many lovely numbers and great tunes. The big tenor aria Ach so fromm was for a while better known in Italian belted out by vulgar bawlers of the Mario Lanza variety. Some great set pieces - two Richmond Fairs, the second of which (spoiler alert ) resolves things, a spinning song, a hunting scene, and (of course) the thread of The Last Rose of Summer running through it (see, recently, Three Billboards...). The plot - in cold print it's beyond daft, but set to music it's perfect. Why isn't it done more often (at all ) these days?

That's the only recording I've ever owned - I still have and occasionally play it. I see on Amazon that your version is available, and I think my sister will be giving it to me for Christmas - Lucia Popp, what more can one say, self-recommending.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I now recall, I searched for this on a streaming service, but only found the Berger classic recording. But I did locate the Popp recording in a Library and decided to wait and borrow it, to see if my enthusiasm matched yours......

Now, with two hearty recommendations, I'll set a reminder to do that in the New Year (a long overseas trip will intervene...).

Oh - I just see its on You Tube, so I'll see I if I can listen sooner rather than later!

[verismissimo]

I love the extracts recorded in 1912 by Alda-Jacoby-Caruso-Journet.

This is one of them. Heaven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85pooNMAZrk

[Beppe]

BTW , that cover I posted is rare and expensive. The Popp set comes in a couple other, more readily availabl used, covers.

There is one I don't recommend: My review is up at Amazon. Now perhaps it is just me but I did listen again to it the other day and am still not impressed. I think the problem with this one is similar to the problem with the sung-in-English set. While it is a romantic comedy, those two make it way too buffo. Personally I find this opera more of a semi serious work that does not do well with too much buffo. This very well may be my favorite opera next to Bellini's La Sonnambula.

There are two videos I know of, both from German Television. One has a young Waltraud Meier. The other is this gem:

[Beppe]

[Beppe]

Here is an English libretto:

http://www.opera-arias.com/flotow/martha/libretto/english/

Here are my five favorite sets in order of preference:

1) If you only want one Martha recording, I would recommend this one, which has a great cast and great sound quality:

[Beppe]

2) This one is also quite good and has sound quality equal to or close to that of the above set:

[Beppe]

3) This is a very nice set and has pretty good sound quality, though not up there with the two above, some distortion but not significant:

[Beppe]

4) This one is a bit lower in sound quality, suffering from substantial distortion on some high notes, tending more towards the quality of the last one below:

[Beppe]

5) The worst sound quality of the five, with noticeable distortion. Still a nice enough performance. This one is available in a dozen or more cover images and some are remastered, others are not, so I may not have the best version (as mine came in a 5 opera box set, not the one pictured below, though sound clips suggest it is similar to the one below which is remastered):

[Beppe]

Some of these sets have cuts. I am not expert on this but my listening indicated to me that the main cut is Nancy's Aria when she is with the huntresses. Here is a video of it:

So in the above five sets, my ears tell me that this aria is present in the sets with Popp (#1), Rothernberger (#2), and Lipp (#3). It is not present in the other two (#4 and #5).
Here it is in the Rothenberger set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_dunbAkaQI

It also is present in the set I don't like (see post #5 above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sWi3cld_so

Later i want to post up some highlights sets. I usually avoid highlights sets, but we don't have a lot of Martha recordings and one highlights set has Fritz Wunderlich--a shame they didn't do the whole opera with him.

[Beppe]

Can't help putting another clip up. This one with the famous Last Rose song:

This production includes (all of which appear in the clip in post 5 above):
Lady Harriet (Martha): Luch Peacock
Lionel: Rudiger Wohlers
Nancy (Julia): Elisabeth Steiner
Plunkett: Nikolaus Hillebrand
Sir Tristan Mickleford (Farmer Bob): Klaus Hirte

[Richard Tarleton]

This song definitely accompanies me to my desert island. The poem by Thomas Moore was written in 1805 and set to a traditional Irish tune. Here it is in English in the Flotow setting sung by Renée Fleming.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv9UdtFepdY

and here, in a nicely resonant acoustic, is one of the pinnacles of the violin repertoire, the Variations on The Last Rose of Summer by Max Ernst

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...DD6A&FORM=VIRE -

many performances on You Tube but this shows the staggering virtuosity in close-up. I remember watching Gidon Kremer play this in his recital in the Tchaikovsky Competition (where he won first prize) in 1970 on TV, the year John Lill won the piano competition. It's also one of Britten's few unsuccessful folk song settings.

[Beppe]

This song definitely accompanies me to my desert island. The poem by Thomas Moore was written in 1805 and set to a traditional Irish tune. Here it is in English in the Flotow setting sung by Renée Fleming.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv9UdtFepdY

and here, in a nicely resonant acoustic, is one of the pinnacles of the violin repertoire, the Variations on The Last Rose of Summer by Max Ernst

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...DD6A&FORM=VIRE -

many performances on You Tube but this shows the staggering virtuosity in close-up. I remember watching Gidon Kremer play this in his recital in the Tchaikovsky Competition (where he won first prize) in 1970 on TV, the year John Lill won the piano competition. It's also one of Britten's few unsuccessful folk song settings.

It is wonderful in verse, on violin, and sung. I do like Renee Fleming a lot. Wish she had recorded Martha.