BaL 11.02.12 Verdi's Otello

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Never discard, but frequently hear a performance I'd like to add to the collection (though it's by no means always the one which comes out 'top'...).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'll raise you a Don Carlos, Ferney! (IMO, of course.)

[BBMmk2]

As in the complete Verdi operas, BBM? He didn't record many - Otello (twice - Cossutta in Vienna and Pavarotti in Chicago, but his DVD with Domingo at Covent Garden is very fine); Aida, Traviata, Ballo, Don Carlo, Rigoletto, Boccanegra and Falstaff.

For those looking for a performance on DVD, Muti's in Salzburg is very good. Aleksandrs Antonenko sings the role of Otello and is scheduled to perform it at Covent Garden this summer. Domingo is always going to be there or thereabouts in any consideration of the opera, but I marginally prefer Mario del Monaco for Karajan.

Ah , right. Thank you IGI. I will have tohave a scourge of the sites and see what comes up!!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm not a great Verdi fan, but this opera is somehow different and I look forward to the programme.

[Chris Newman]

My first ever live opera; early sixties, at Covent Garden naturally. James Mackracken, Vivien Townley and Tito Gobbi with Ted Downes. Not on a record as far as I am aware. But I was smitten and never looked back.

[DracoM]

Same Otello for me. Vickers' anguish IMO has never been bettered on record.

[BBMmk2]

Not long to go now! Who will be the runners and riders for this one?

I forgot that i have the one with Placido Domingo!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I forgot that i have the one with Placido Domingo!

[Nick Armstrong]

I forgot that i have the one with Placido Domingo!

I thought there were at least 5 with him.... Or am I missing your joke / irony?

I listened to this with interest, as I try to do when the music isn't up my street. I shan't be investing. From that first chord which sounds (and I know this isn't Giuseppe's fault) like the start of a glamorous RKO Pictures movie, I can't get inside Verdi's head at all. The only bit that I found gripping was Sherrill Milnes's "e poi" s ... I can see why people rave about him.

What a shame Jon Vickers's Desdemona sounded more like his mum than his vulnerable bride.

But a well-illustrated BAL, I thought, as one of the uninitiated...

[BBMmk2]

Unfortunately, that was bad grammer on my part! I have therecording he made with Myun-Chung!

[Flosshilde]

I've got the Domingo/Scotto/Levine recording (which, coincidentally, I've just recently listened to).

I wonder; if you have one of the recordings discussed in BaL, & it doesn't come out well in the critic's/presenter's review, what would your reaction be? Ignore the critic, or discard your recording & replace it with the recommended one?

No problem - the recording I've got was the final choice!

[visualnickmos]

DracoM (msg 21) Are you referring to the RCA Vickers/Rysanek recording? That is the only recording I have of this powerful work. I find it incredibly 'strong'.... brilliant!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

An interesting BaL from Christopher Cook, illustrating much marvellous singing. The only point where I'd take serious issue with him is over the Iago of Sergei Leiferkus, on the Domingo, Studer/ Chung account. I find his Iago wonderfully sinuous, the slavic-accented Italian marking him as an outsider, with a huge chip on his shoulder.

[Barbirollians]

Just listened to the Domingo/Scotto/Milnes /NPO/Levine - recording. No wonder it won . I thought it was fantastic and was transfixed throughout .