La forza del destino

[gradus]

Did anyone else listen to this afternoon's recording from Florence conducted by Mehta?
It is such a magnificent piece and can survive the worst that singers can throw at it and one or two had a go today but I thought the playing and choral work spirited. Violeta Urmana sounds as though she has a gripping stage presence but the recording did her voice no favours and the male principals had some difficulties in the higher reaches of the stave but the performance had me hooked - Verdi at high voltage.

[bluestateprommer]

Sorry that I didn't think to recycle this thread earlier, but am now working through the Met Opera stream of the 1984 TV broadcast of La forza del destino, with Leontyne Price as Leonora, plus Isola Jones as Preziosilla to up the Juneteenth factor. Like with the other older videos that the Met has made available, a certain fusty-looking vibe is unavoidable visually. But worth it for admirers of LP, of course.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Watched a bit then , having paid 4.99 , turned over for the ROH live . I need more hours in the day to watch all these arts streams. Hope all ok in states ...

[bluestateprommer]

Watched a bit then , having paid 4.99 , turned over for the ROH live . I need more hours in the day to watch all these arts streams. Hope all ok in states ...

One trick that an opera friend mentioned was that if you start to watch one of the Met streams, and have to stop for a bit, but don't actually close the screen, the feed tends to linger and remain available, to put it one way. Haven't tried that yet myself. Never having seen a live performance, watched or listened to Lfdd from start to finish, it was something to realize what a jerk the character of Don Carlo is. Plus, with some of the borderline ethnic slurs from Fra Melitone, one wonders if that was part of the reason for the choice of this opera, besides the LP factor.

Hope the ROH DLvdE (in the shrunk version) went well. Getting by here in the USA, just speaking for myself. (Ask us again in about 4.5 months.)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Good to hear things ok . The ROH DLvdeE was absolutely magnificent . Now watching FDD again - great singing - some not so good false beards. Will we ever hear the like of Leontyne Price again?