BaL 13.06.15 - Monteverdi: Il Ritorno d'Ulisse

[umslopogaas]

Thanks folks, I think tomorrow I shall have to hand over a bit more cash for a few more CDs ... as if I didnt already have enough discs littering the living room floor.

Most of them would give the HIPP brigade heartburn, but I dont care, because I dont know any HIP brigadoons.

I'm just waiting for the day when the pundits start saying, "you know, those old Thomas Beecham recordings are really something special, I really like the extra instruments added to the Halleluja chorus" and my ancient LPs are suddenly worth heaps of dosh.

[Bryn]

I'm more than a little surprised to find the Vartolo on Brilliant Classics has dropped out of the catalogue. No big names, but very nicely done, and with thorough musicological research behind it. Damn it, it even came with a 42 page essay, plus full libretto.

[vinteuil]

I'm more than a little surprised to find the Vartolo on Brilliant Classics has dropped out of the catalogue. No big names, but very nicely done, and with thorough musicological research behind it. Damn it, it even came with a 42 page essay, plus full libretto.

... amazon fr has a copy -

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B000JJ5HBE

[ardcarp]

Interesting that Leppard's Glyndebourne production (quite revolutionary in its day, I think) is available on DVD but not CD.

Indeed. Leppard is going to sound 'dated', but he was a great pioneer, and I hope his version will be judged within the framework of its time and not dismissed out of hand because 'things have moved on'. Looking forward to Sat a.m.

BTW, is my memory serving me false, or did Raymond Leppard do it at a Prom...late 60s?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

BTW, is my memory serving me false, or did Raymond Leppard do it at a Prom...late 60s?

"False" only in the date, ardy - 1972:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e84fxj

[ardcarp]

Thanks, ferney. 3 great singers on top of the bill.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks, ferney. 3 great singers on top of the bill.

- and Anne Howells in the cast, too!

[verismissimo]

- and Anne Howells in the cast, too!

Superb Octavian.

[Madame Suggia]

There's a DVD on Amazon of the Glyndebourne/Leppard performance with Baker and Luxon for around a fiver.

[Madame Suggia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2L-0Vipfd8

[Flosshilde]

I'm ashamed to say that though an ardent baroquer, I really find this work a tough nut to crack. I saw a traditionally-staged production of it at Sadler's Wells many years ago and thought the evening would never end. Must make more of an effort to listen to the BAL this time and see if TK can reveal its charms to me.

Interesting - it's one of my favourite operas (although I don't actually have a recording). I saw the Kent Opera production many years ago, and the Leppard/Glyndebourne one on TV (actually I think I might have seen it at Oxford with Glyndebourne touring). It is very dramatic (more so I think than Orfeo, although not as 'human' as Poppea) with some wonderful scenes & music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I saw the Kent Opera production many years ago ...

In the early 1990s, Floss? So did I - and with an "Educational Project" connected with it: the first time I'd been in close proximity to the Theorbos and archlutes: wonderful experience, wonderful production. (They did a very good Grimes in that "run", too - with a singer with a powerful voice but no consonants as Grimes himself! IIRC, their Arts Council funding was withdrawn the following year. )

[Richard Tarleton]

I was just about to post that our Tess is very hard to please. And then she said it herself

[MickyD]

This budget version from Brilliant seems to have escaped the list...and it gets three glowing reviews here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monteverdi-Il-ritorno-dUlisse-patria/dp/B000JJ5HBE/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1434186046&sr=1-2&keywords=monteverdi+il+ritorno+d%27ulisse+in+patria

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Oh dear. Some highlyi informative stuff submerged in a sea of self-righteousness...