Classical Music Cds

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

July: Featured Classical Music CDs

TurnandotTURANDOT
OP1237. Live Performance, 1972, Barli, w.Annovazzi Cond. Teatro Petruzzelli Ensemble; Marion Lippert, Flaviano Labò, Lydia Marimpietri, Angelo Mercuriali, Antonio Zerbini, Renato Capecchi, etc.; Marion Lippert:
Tosca (1971) & Il Trovatore (1973) - Excerpts (both Stuttgart). (Portugal) 2-Gala 100.782. $23.90, the Set.

“The title role of Puccini’s Turandot is one of the most cruel in the soprano repertory. At the Metropolitan Opera it has been sung mostly by Birgit Nilsson, who has made it one of her great roles. All the alternates have been at best adequate. Last night, however, the part was taken by Marion Lippert, a German soprano making her American debut, and the Met seems to have made something of a ‘find’. Although the Munich-born artist has been singing for a dozen years in European houses, her appearance here was not preceded by any special acclaim. In fact, no one seemed to know who she was. Only from the Met personnel, where she had been heard in rehearsal, was there any advance comment that the company might have a ‘sleeper’ in the new soprano. Miss Lippert met all the demands of her vocally taxing score without any trouble. This in itself says a great deal. She has a big voice, one that is clear and warm, and it has no trouble reaching the heights of Turandot’s music. It is securely produced and can be very beautiful when softened….In the third act the voice sounded glorious.”


- Raymond Ericson, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4 Oct., 1968

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

June: Featured Classical Music CDs

DIE WALKÜRE
OP1222. Live Performance, 1955, w.Keilberth Cond. Bayreuth Festival Ensemble; Ramón Vinay, Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Gré Brouwenstijn, etc. (England) 4-Testament Stereo SBT4 1391, from Unpublished Decca recording. Outstanding sound! $79.90, the Set.

SIEGFRIED
OP1122. Live Performance, 1955, w.Keilberth Cond. Bayreuth Festival Ensemble; Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Paul Kuén, Gustav Neidlinger, Maria von Ilosvay, Josef Greindl, etc. (England) 4-Testament SBT4 1392, from Unpublished Decca recording. Outstanding sound! $79.90, the Set.

"For more than 50 years, the RING recorded by Decca at Bayreuth in 1955 has lain unheard in the company’s archives….Of course, in one form or another, the Bayreuth RING cycles of the 1950s…have been made available on official and unofficial labels over the years, but none of those – with their many merits – has anything like the sound-quality achieved here….No opera house or recording has since rivaled the cast assembled here, not even the Decca set by which time Hotter, Windgassen and Neidlinger were all some 10 years older. In 1955 all three are the peak of their form and – singing live rather than in the studio – are that much more involved and involving."

- Alan Blyth, Gramophone, March, 2006