This is the kind of snark I love. People talking about women opera singers by first names as if they knew them personally always had the same effect on me as it does you. As an orchestral-loving guy, I always tended to like opera performances that emphasized the strictly overall musical swath of the pieces, symphonically speaking, and never worried overmuch about which diva was best, but if you ever had the misfortune of getting into online chats about this stuff that is always where the conversation would go -- into the zone of navel gazing oneupsmanship, and I was out of there.
Thank you so much for mentioning Cotrubas' Violetta. I saw her perform it in Chicago in the early 70s and she was so incredibly moving because every physical gesture and stage behavior matched perfectly the music she was singing or others were singing to her.
Thanks for reviewing this! Muti also has an exciting recording of Otello on SACD and CD with the Chicago Symphony (and their brass section!)--excellent sound, too.
I discovered Riccardo Muti by way of early laserdiscs -- Ernani may have been the first in around 1983. A musical friend of mine stopped by for a visit and said, "There aren't any good Italian conductors these days." Then I played Ernani for him, and he said, "Well that conductor is really great!" What an exciting time Muti has given us through his long career. I passed on a chance to hear him open the La Scala season in 1986 with Aida. My roommate in Rome was from Philadelphia, and he knew Pavarotti's personal secretary. She called while he was out to offer a standing-room spot in the galleria, and when she realized he wasn't available, she offered the ticket to me. In that moment I had to decide if I was in Italy to experience opera or to get my biblical degree. It was like Adam and Eve with the apple all over again, and I didn't bite. So I missed hearing Maria Chiara and Pavarotti conducted by Muti on the biggest annual night of opera, attended by the President of Italy, the Archbishop of Milan and Lord knows who all. But then I passed my exams and became "the Bible Priest." However, I must admit that I do have my regrets!
Thanks for mentioning DFD's Rigoletto! I thought I was weird for liking it. Another notable Verdi recording of his is Jago in Verdi's Otello under Barbirolli. DFD's subtle portrayal of the role is absolutely astonishing.
The Muti Aida in this box is really great; but the live Muti Aida with Tomowa-Sintow (live - Orfeo) is, IMHO, extra special. (To digress a touch: I also have a soft spot for the Pappano Don Carlo with Alagna - it's got it's flaws, but it breathes humanity.) Finally, I love your videos, David. Thank you so much.
TO further your digression, my pick of the Don Carlo recordings is Haitink on Philips, with a fine trio of Russians (particuarly Olga Borodina's stunning Eboli - a major improvement on Waltraud Meier!) and Roberto Scandiuzzi's very moving Philip. If only they could have swapped Richard Margison for Alagna, but he's OK.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, usually yes, I don't like many of his opera recordings (this and his Daphne with Lucia Popp). In this case I think his love for the score has positive benefits, it's a very 'serious' interpretation, but there's a lot of atmosphere. It's also very well recorded for what it's worth.
Haitink's Don Carlo is one of the best as well as his Visconti production from Covent Garden from the 80's. The Abbado french version is just terrible. Aweful sound even in the new remastering and uncomprehensible french from everybody except maybe Domingo. None of the singers really shine in this recording. Actually far from it. It was good at the time being the first commercial french version but today it's unlistenable.
Perhaps worth mentioning - Warner's 35-disc collection: Verdi The Great Operas. Contains 16 operas, 8 of them conducted by Muti. Not a deluxe release (no texts/translations; rather flimsy container), but with some very good performances. Still available, though not cheap.
The Muti's Aida is great. I have recently listened to it, along with the Leinsdorf version with Leontyne Price and Plácido Domingo. Domingo was in better vocal form and more in the character. And the sound of the recording is better.
Hi David, great video again! I mostly agree about musicians talking about music is not enjoyable with the one exception of Bernstein. I always found him straightforward and insightful. Anyway, great job, enjoying the content!
In over 30 years of going to the Chicago Symphony concerts nothing, nothing compares to Muti's staged Verdi operas. Otello, MacBeth, Falstaff. After the hum-drum Barenboim years - it was like the invention of electricity.
Your opera videos are so entertaining! Please do more and not worry about those "opera people" :) I already have the Aida, Macbeth, Requiem, and 4 Sacred Pieces from this set and they all sounded wonderful, but I purchased the box just to get the other recordings. At this price EMI is practically giving them away. What do you think of Muti's years in Philly? The acoustic in the Academy of Music was just plain awful.
This is a mixed bag, I think, but you can never get opera people to agree on this stuff, and Muti really cares about this repertoire. I'm glad they chose the Zancanaro Rigoletto rather than the later one, but I would have preferred Muti's La Scala Traviata with Tiziana Fabbriccini. Scotto's earlier Traviata is my favourite of all (the one with Votto on DG). You're right about the Traviata wars, that is a thing! Another good opera deal is the 22CD Leontyne Price box which is all pretty great apart from the weird Così fan tutte.
Wonderful video chat and what you say about Muti's rigid fidelity to the written score. At certain points you expect the high note...you wait...and it doesnt come, its a kind of coïtus interruptus. And artists talking on DVD, totally agree on that, just boring and snobbish. (and yes, your chat was interrupted by the ads again...)
Dave, I'm not that much into opera terminology. Please tell me what you meant by your statement that Muti banned "high notes". If Verdi had written high notes for his singers, they should be sung. I'm confused.
He banned interpolated high notes that singers traditionally add. Many are not written by the composer but he would have expected them, and audiences, obviously, like them (and so do I). It's a legitimate performance tradition.
To your opera and Lieder cliques add the musicals (i.e., musical comedies) clique. OMG. And don't dare suggest around them that anything Sondheim or LuPone or Chita (oops, Rivera) ever did might have a tiny flaw. I agree with you on people who call female singers by their first names; it's so annoying and condescending (the musicals clique does it all the time too; see above). Does anyone refer to Dietrich or Jonas or Rene? (You do hear "Placido" quite a lot.)
No criticism of your usage, but I've always disliked the "kunst diva" appellation--it seems to me that opera fans of a particular sort use that term as a cudgel to haughtily dismiss great singers with beautiful voices like Renata Tebaldi or Mirella Freni from consideration as serious artists. "Oh, you just like those pretty voices like Tebaldi, me, I prefer kunst divas like Scotto and of course Callas. I'm a serious person, you see." You know, that kind of thing.
I'm one of those "opera people" and I thought your comments about us were both hilarious and completely true!
There is one difference: YOU have a sense of humor!
Gasp...I am happy to suffer everyday listening to Callas’ La Traviata.
I really enjoy listening to your erudite and funny talks on classical music. Can't believe they're free. Best wishes for the new year !!
This is the kind of snark I love. People talking about women opera singers by first names as if they knew them personally always had the same effect on me as it does you. As an orchestral-loving guy, I always tended to like opera performances that emphasized the strictly overall musical swath of the pieces, symphonically speaking, and never worried overmuch about which diva was best, but if you ever had the misfortune of getting into online chats about this stuff that is always where the conversation would go -- into the zone of navel gazing oneupsmanship, and I was out of there.
Thank you so much for mentioning Cotrubas' Violetta. I saw her perform it in Chicago in the early 70s and she was so incredibly moving because every physical gesture and stage behavior matched perfectly the music she was singing or others were singing to her.
Thanks for reviewing this! Muti also has an exciting recording of Otello on SACD and CD with the Chicago Symphony (and their brass section!)--excellent sound, too.
The Otello and Desdemona are good, but Iago is pretty bad, and Otello without Iago is problematic.
I discovered Riccardo Muti by way of early laserdiscs -- Ernani may have been the first in around 1983. A musical friend of mine stopped by for a visit and said, "There aren't any good Italian conductors these days." Then I played Ernani for him, and he said, "Well that conductor is really great!" What an exciting time Muti has given us through his long career.
I passed on a chance to hear him open the La Scala season in 1986 with Aida. My roommate in Rome was from Philadelphia, and he knew Pavarotti's personal secretary. She called while he was out to offer a standing-room spot in the galleria, and when she realized he wasn't available, she offered the ticket to me. In that moment I had to decide if I was in Italy to experience opera or to get my biblical degree. It was like Adam and Eve with the apple all over again, and I didn't bite. So I missed hearing Maria Chiara and Pavarotti conducted by Muti on the biggest annual night of opera, attended by the President of Italy, the Archbishop of Milan and Lord knows who all. But then I passed my exams and became "the Bible Priest." However, I must admit that I do have my regrets!
Thanks for mentioning DFD's Rigoletto! I thought I was weird for liking it. Another notable Verdi recording of his is Jago in Verdi's Otello under Barbirolli. DFD's subtle portrayal of the role is absolutely astonishing.
DFD should have stayed well away from Verdi and Wagner, and opera in general.
@@xxsaruman82xx87 Some of his Wagner and Richard Strauss is quite good but in general I agree.
DFD "singing'' Verdi is an abomination...for Wagner I don't care, because I don't give a damn about him...
The Muti Aida in this box is really great; but the live Muti Aida with Tomowa-Sintow (live - Orfeo) is, IMHO, extra special. (To digress a touch: I also have a soft spot for the Pappano Don Carlo with Alagna - it's got it's flaws, but it breathes humanity.) Finally, I love your videos, David. Thank you so much.
TO further your digression, my pick of the Don Carlo recordings is Haitink on Philips, with a fine trio of Russians (particuarly Olga Borodina's stunning Eboli - a major improvement on Waltraud Meier!) and Roberto Scandiuzzi's very moving Philip. If only they could have swapped Richard Margison for Alagna, but he's OK.
And anyone for Haitink. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, usually yes, I don't like many of his opera recordings (this and his Daphne with Lucia Popp). In this case I think his love for the score has positive benefits, it's a very 'serious' interpretation, but there's a lot of atmosphere. It's also very well recorded for what it's worth.
Haitink's Don Carlo is one of the best as well as his Visconti production from Covent Garden from the 80's. The Abbado french version is just terrible. Aweful sound even in the new remastering and uncomprehensible french from everybody except maybe Domingo. None of the singers really shine in this recording. Actually far from it. It was good at the time being the first commercial french version but today it's unlistenable.
@@ZviNetanel Hear hear. The Pappano was a big improvement.
Perhaps worth mentioning - Warner's 35-disc collection: Verdi The Great Operas. Contains 16 operas, 8 of them conducted by Muti. Not a deluxe release (no texts/translations; rather flimsy container), but with some very good performances. Still available, though not cheap.
Absolutely brilliant.
The Muti's Aida is great. I have recently listened to it, along with the Leinsdorf version with Leontyne Price and Plácido Domingo. Domingo was in better vocal form and more in the character. And the sound of the recording is better.
Hi David, great video again! I mostly agree about musicians talking about music is not enjoyable with the one exception of Bernstein. I always found him straightforward and insightful. Anyway, great job, enjoying the content!
Yes! Bernstein is the exception that proves the rule.
In over 30 years of going to the Chicago Symphony concerts nothing, nothing compares to Muti's staged Verdi operas. Otello, MacBeth, Falstaff. After the hum-drum Barenboim years - it was like the invention of electricity.
I meant in concert operas.
Your opera videos are so entertaining! Please do more and not worry about those "opera people" :) I already have the Aida, Macbeth, Requiem, and 4 Sacred Pieces from this set and they all sounded wonderful, but I purchased the box just to get the other recordings. At this price EMI is practically giving them away. What do you think of Muti's years in Philly? The acoustic in the Academy of Music was just plain awful.
This is a mixed bag, I think, but you can never get opera people to agree on this stuff, and Muti really cares about this repertoire. I'm glad they chose the Zancanaro Rigoletto rather than the later one, but I would have preferred Muti's La Scala Traviata with Tiziana Fabbriccini. Scotto's earlier Traviata is my favourite of all (the one with Votto on DG). You're right about the Traviata wars, that is a thing! Another good opera deal is the 22CD Leontyne Price box which is all pretty great apart from the weird Così fan tutte.
That all sounds right to me.
Wonderful video chat and what you say about Muti's rigid fidelity to the written score. At certain points you expect the high note...you wait...and it doesnt come, its a kind of coïtus interruptus. And artists talking on DVD, totally agree on that, just boring and snobbish. (and yes, your chat was interrupted by the ads again...)
That's fixed.
Dave, I'm not that much into opera terminology. Please tell me what you meant by your statement that Muti banned "high notes". If Verdi had written high notes for his singers, they should be sung. I'm confused.
He banned interpolated high notes that singers traditionally add. Many are not written by the composer but he would have expected them, and audiences, obviously, like them (and so do I). It's a legitimate performance tradition.
To your opera and Lieder cliques add the musicals (i.e., musical comedies) clique. OMG. And don't dare suggest around them that anything Sondheim or LuPone or Chita (oops, Rivera) ever did might have a tiny flaw. I agree with you on people who call female singers by their first names; it's so annoying and condescending (the musicals clique does it all the time too; see above). Does anyone refer to Dietrich or Jonas or Rene? (You do hear "Placido" quite a lot.)
But why speak of Muti in past tense??
Think about it.
No criticism of your usage, but I've always disliked the "kunst diva" appellation--it seems to me that opera fans of a particular sort use that term as a cudgel to haughtily dismiss great singers with beautiful voices like Renata Tebaldi or Mirella Freni from consideration as serious artists. "Oh, you just like those pretty voices like Tebaldi, me, I prefer kunst divas like Scotto and of course Callas. I'm a serious person, you see." You know, that kind of thing.
In other words, they're all nuts.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Very true. Unfortunately, I just love opera, so I suffer the community.
Speaking of Attila, the phrese "Take the whole wolrd leave Italy to me" is sung by Ezio and not by Attila
I didn't say that it was sung by Attila. I said that it was sung during Attila.