Prima la musica, poi le parole

Spree

Patience, it would seem, is a virtue I do not possess (not that I ever thought otherwise.) We will get the Met broadcast Tosca here eventually, but not for more than a month. And I was already missing my dear Maria von Hindenburg (aka La Guleghina). So I managed to acquire temporarily a DVD of her La Scala Tosca to keep me going. Thankfully things were a little more seaworthy than the recent performance Sieglinde laments.

You're right, it's scandalous that I should choose such a creature as my very first Tosca ever. But let's be honest: I wasn't watching this for an introduction to Tosca so much as a continuation of my acquaintance with Maria. And in that respect it was absolutely a success. I adore her still. 'Vissi d'arte' was not, shall we say, a shining moment, but I've never loved it too dearly anyway; for this particular Tosca I was much more interested in the high dramatics, the running, stabbing, jumping off buildings side of it all; and more than that, in some nice reckless singing from Maria. She delivered, and I was glad. And on Monday - oh agony, oh ecstasy - my Nabucco DVD arrives.

And speaking of uncharacteristic attractions: looks like I've gone and fallen for José Cura. The eagle-eyed might have picked this a few weeks ago, when I was rather taken by his appearances in a couple of Verdi galas. Well, this afternoon I went on a library spree, and among my haul was Mr Cura's Puccini arias. I'm really not supposed to swoon for tenors but it was really quite unavoidable. Unexpected, too, despite my earlier interest in him. I put the CD because I figured that, among the four I borrowed today, it was the least likely to distract me while I wrote something here. I was mistaken. And unable even to consider writing anything until he was finished. It's all just so very rich and beautiful. And so interesting too: for once, even in the big hits, I'm not just hearing the familiar tunes and the money notes, but the individual singer and his gorgeous, expressive voice. It's hard for me to pick out any favourite moments. 'Parigi! è la citte dei desideri' from La Rondine was a highlight, certainly. It's to the same tune as a Puccini song, as it turns out: I recognised it from Patricia Wright's glorious CD Serenata (the same CD contains Puccini's 'Sole e amore', incidentally, which has a few moments in common with 'Donde lieta.) Can I enjoy the high-note flourish at the end as much when it comes from a tenor instead of a soprano? Apparently so. The arias from Fanciulla were also excellent, and entirely new to me. And - although perhaps I oughtn't admit it - I loved 'Nessun dorma'. 'Non piangere Liu' was even better though. And if I don't stop myself there, I may never finish. I'm even considering buying his CD Anhelo, which Records Records is selling for $10.

Today was a bit of a money-spending day really. In addition to the Nabucco DVD and the library spree, I bought Marina Mescheriakova's 'Soprano Arias' CD. It's a Naxos disc, I've never heard of the woman before, but it was cheap so I thought I might as well own it. I also thought it was time I listened to some Grace Bumbry, given I shall find myself in her presence in less than a month. So I ordered a 3 CD set of early recordings from Amazon, which looks fabulous. And since I was already there, I succumbed to temptation and ordered a DVD of Giulio Cesare featuring The Goddess Yvonne as Cleopatra. (Funnily enough, according to this addictive little amusement, Cleopatra - along with Lucrezia Borgia - is quite possibly my Dead Celebrity Soulmate. I shan't complain about that!)

New at Antologia: Face Powder

Grace!

Here she is: Ms Grace Bumbry, judge of the 2005 Lexus SongQuest. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for months to find out who the judge would be. I had my fingers crossed for a soprano or a mezzo - and in Grace I get both. I'm also extra glad that it's somebody I actually have an opinion of. I'm easily impressed by celebrity, so I'd probably have got excited about anyone whose name I recognised, regardless of whether I'd ever heard them sing. But Grace! I love Grace. Alright, so my experience of Grace is limited to her Lotte Lehmann-tribute Liederabend at the Chatelet, which was on TV. But she charmed me utterly, and I think she's fabulous. And the Sunday after next, she'll be on the radio as Amneris in the Met archive broadcast of Aida. It gets better too: part of the SongQuest judging deal is a series of masterclasses. I'm going to Auckland for the contest final, so I might catch the one up there, but in any case, there's not a thing on earth will keep me away from her Dunedin one. Grace Bumbry in our very own hometown! I'm very, very happy.

And perhaps I can blame my Grace-induced happiness for my extravagance today. $150 at Real Groovy. Usually I look without buying five or six times before finally pulling out the wallet but today I threw caution to the wind and bought (almost) everything that caught my fancy. Actually my original pile totalled over $200 but I chose to resist the Best Of CDs of Mady Mesplé, Régine Crespin and Kirsten Flagstad for the time being. However, I did buy:

Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, with Natalie Dessay, Patrizia Ciofi, Véronique Gens and ten thousand other singers. And it's conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, who fascinates me.

The Essential Jessye Norman. This consists of a 'best of' CD and a DVD entitled Jessye Norman Sings Carmen and thus, at $34.95, seems to me an exceedingly good deal.

Mozart's Requiem, with soprano soloist Yvonne Kenny. And other soloists, and a choir, and an orchestra, and a conductor I suppose.

The Best of Beverly Sills. Another one who has been sitting on the to-do list for too long. Then last week I heard a soprano on the radio and thought "She's gorgeous, who is she?" And she was Beverly, being played because she'd announced that day her retirement from the Met board.

Finally, a surprise. Another boy. My ever second solo CD by a male singer. This time it's Juan Diego Florez: Great Tenor Arias. I figure if I'm going to widen my horizons and introduce some degree of gender equality, I need to start with the easy stuff: nice voices, familiar repertoire, that sort of thing.

And as if just buying it wasn't enough fun, now I get to listen to it. Buona notte!

Now listening to: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Requiem. 'Benedictus'. (Oh Yvonne!)

CD shops

I'm starting to feel a little less grumpy about Real Groovy's takeover of Echo in Dunedin (to the unaware- big CD store chain's takeover of somewhat smaller franchise). It's looking to me like they're eventually going to drop the little Echo all together: the one in the Golden Centre which has the half-decently sized classical section. The clearance tables out front get fuller and fuller, and the signage has been left as is- whereas at the big branch there's barely a trace of Echo's pink-and-black. This did have me seriously worried: the classical section at the bigger Echo consisting of about 30 CDs, and none of them being very appealing, so the thought that the one real classical section in town might be on its way out was not a happy one. But something rather surprising has happened: Real Groovy mightn't have a huge interest in their classical section but they obviously have a much more intelligent policy about it than Echo did: it's not huge, but it's significantly bigger now than a few months ago; and even better, the old boring nothingness is being replaced by real stuff, new releases and important performances and things like that. The Nozze di Figaro conducted by René Jacobs, for instance, which seems to be winning awards left right and centre; a Jessye Norman CD/DVD which (curses) someone has already snaffled; Emmanuelle Haïm's L'Orfeo; and plenty of Natalie Dessay: she's in the aforementioned Orfeo, I bought her new Strauss CD there a while back and- something unheard of in the Echo days- there's actually another copy on the shelves now. And today I found her Mozart Heroines, inexplicably concealed among 'Classical: New Zealand". So I'm optimistic. We may see the end of the small Echo's classical section, but despite its size it has been disappointingly unchanging lately, and I think the loss will be endurable. And there will still be Disk Den, who are rather good; and The Warehouse for $2.99 discoveries. Besides, there's my bank account to consider: if we had a Parsons here I'd be broke within minutes.

Of course there are other avenues anyway. TradeMe.co.nz for one. Although admittedly, the classical CDs up for grabs there are 99% Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli and hideous budget-priced bits of violin. However last night I gloried in the remaining 1%- Yvonne Kenny: Somethine Wonderful for $8.95 including postage from Auckland. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate myself. And it gets even better. I bought this believing it was a CD of Broadway songs. That's right, I thought it was a soprano singing show tunes and I chose to own it; usually I'd run away screaming from the prospect but the combination of Yvonne and an excellent bargain persuaded me to buy it regardless. Then this afternoon I thought I'd be brave and have a look at a tracklist: and it's not the Broadway album! She did make one, called something else. I assumed because of the title that this was it, but I was mistaken: it's mostly operatic and sacred arias, plus some lieder, some English songs, and just two or three Broadway type things. If I'd known that, I'd willingly have paid far more. This way is better though: here I am, happy to have paid $8.95 for something I'm not supposed to much like, and find that instead I've bought (apologies for the old man humour, it wasn't intentional) something wonderful.

Finally, for those keeping score, a Renée update. I'm beginning to get the hang of her Handel CD. It's taken a bit of effort, but I'm getting there. The thing, I think, has been to stop wanting the voice to go right through me, and let it just surround me instead. Because once I do that, it really is quite something. I still have a few issues. The main one- forgive me for me total lack of anything like the right vocabulary- is the sort of jerky 'thud' she seems to hit at the end of phrases sometimes. I know what I mean- I doubt anybody else does. It's strange, because the acrobatic patches where I'd expect it to happen, it doesn't; it's in other places. That's the main challenge for me at the moment. The other is the 'nya'-ish sound which happens on the odd word. But I'm learning to forgive and even enjoy: partly with the aid of Cecilia Bartoli and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, both of whom have had various, better-worded criticisms levelled at them of similar things to my Renée issues, and in both of whom I adore exactly those things which the critics decrie. One other thing did rather help out with the Renée-Handel experience last night: I spent three hours smiling, shrieking, laughing and crying my way through the first 90 pages of The Inner Voice. I'm not going to ruin even the smallest surprise for anyone planning to read it (and everyone who reads this blog ought to) but it's fabulous. Honestly, I think all opera singers should be required to write one of these.

Before I go, if I can just revive CD du jour briefly, I'd like to recommend Opera Rara's A Hundred Years of Italian Opera: 1810-1820. 3 CDs of stuff you've never heard and it's gorgeous. I borrowed it from the library on account of Yvonne's presence, but there are Della Jones and the excellent Diana Montague as well, along with about a million others. It's beautiful music, and lots of fun to hear: there's not a single opera in there I'd heard of, and only a handful of composers with familiar names. Yvonne's scene from Mayr's Medea in Corinto is stunning; and the excerpt from Morlacchi's Il Barbiere di Siviglia- from the point at which everyone is trying to make Don Basilio go away- is a delight, particularly for its Rosina, Marilyn Hill Smyth.

Housekeeping II

Plunging right back in:

Alcina. It's confession time: I was too miserly to fork out the $75 for the complete Alcina with Renée, Natalie and Susan Graham, so I bought the highlights instead. Maybe one day I'll be feeling affluent enough for the whole thing- there's no denying it's worth the money. Judging by these highlights anyway. Of course, it's a CD after my own heart: the stars of this opera are all girls so it follows that the highlights contain only girls too: Renée as Alcina, Natalie as Morgana, Susan as Ruggiero and Kathleen Kuhlmann as Bradamante. Renée is magnificent. Four of her arias are here and they're gorgeous: better than the Handel on her Handel CD. 'Si son quella' is playing right now and it's just meltingly good. Natalie is as great as I expected: I'd already heard her 'Tornami a vagheggiar' but she also has another aria on this CD, 'Ama, sospira'. I love the woman. I really do. Susan Graham also excellent. And Kathleen Kuhlmann! Who knew? Most of the opera listening world no doubt, but this is the first I've heard of her and she's absolutely fantastic. Contraltos are generally pretty fabulous. I don't know if she's usually a contralto or is just listed as one for the purposes of this opera but in any case she's wonderful. I'll even risk the outraged comment from Patrick and say this: I like her better (in the highlights at least) that Susan Graham in this opera. Sorry!

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Liederabend. It's what it purports to be, pretty much: Elisabeth live in recital. Strutting her stuff as only she can with her best friends, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Wolf. The loud and apparently uncut applause is a little grating (wouldn't want to listen to this one on headphones) but it is at any rate deserved. Nobody does this stuff like Elisabeth.

Jennifer Larmore: Amore per Rossini. I feel like I neglect Jennifer a bit. A year and a half or so ago, when opera was coming into its own the great passion of my life, Jennifer was one of my earliest obsessions: there were 3 or 4 songs on her Recital DVD which I was watching nightly. But as my interests broadened she moved into the background a little- and she oughtn't have. Because when I remember to listen to her I remember what a gorgeous voice it is: rich and warm and the sort of thing which makes you smile. And this CD is an excellent showcase for all that and more. Its theme is similar to Cecilia's Rossini Heroines: Rossini arias which aren't from Il Barbiere or Cenerentola, but from his serious operas instead. Good old Rossini. Two of the arias on this CD are from Matilde di Shabran and are world premières- but this is Rossini and they sound, well, rather familiar. Still, there's something comforting in the instant identifiability of Rossini, and as long as one doesn't overdose, it's rather fabulous to listen to. (Psychic moment: I just started Operadio up and it's Jennifer singing 'Una volta' from Cenerentola). Anyway, this is a very nice CD. She's rather made for these sorts of Rossini roles. As Cenerentola at this very moment she's just lacking somehow. Gorgeous voice, perfect sound but I think she's a bit too mature and grown up to be convincing. Cecilia on the other hand... but I'm off topic.

Sumi Jo: La Promessa. I've been inexplicably reluctant to give Sumi Jo a try. But I was likewise reluctant concerning Natalie Dessay and since that turned out so well (and since the CD was secondhand and cheap) I thought it was about time I listened to her. Very nice! It's a CD of Italian songs, more or less- there are also a couple of Handel arias sung with piano accompaniment so that they sound like songs. She's at a disadvantage where I'm concerned because I have a lot of this stuff being sung by the women I adore. But she holds her own nevertheless and it really is a very pretty voice. I still haven't taken the plunge and listened to her in the operatic repertoire where she's such a star, Königin der Nacht and the like, but this CD will do me for now. It's nice- and this isn't really a backhanded compliment- to some CDs that I can listen to without getting pyschologically and emotionally involved or having my heart broken, if you know what I mean. This is one of those. I like.

Le Nozze di Figaro. I can't tell you how long I've longed for this. Or rather I can: since early this year, in Melbourne, on the day I fell for Anna Moffo. When I saw that there existed a Figaro (#1 contender for favourite opera) with Anna and Elisabeth I needed it. And now finally I own it. It's great. It's what I wanted. Anna and Elisabeth being their inimitable selves, together. I haven't really had a chance to form an opinion of the rest of the cast; but Anna is adorable beyond belief and Elisabeth, well, Elisabeth was born to be the Countess and the Marschallin and thus is fabulous. The recitative frightened me at first- it reaches breakneck speeds at time- but I got used to it. Apart from anything else this is a fantastically well-acted Figaro and the recitative is part of that: Figaro and Susanna's conversation at the very beginning is so well executed you can almost forget it's being sung. Anna's 'Deh vieni' is to die for, Elisabeth is the perfect soprano to demonstrate just how much meaning there is in every note Mozart wrote, and Fiorenza Cossotto is an adorable Cherubino. By the way, don't you think it's rather lovely that Barbarina's essentially inconsquential aria ('L'ho perduta, me meschina') is so absolutely gorgeously beautiful? I've been listening to Yvonne Kenny (surprise surprise) singing it on my other Figaro and gosh. The woman has lost a pin and is stressing about being being annoyed with her- it's not earthshattering stuff- and yet she gets this unbelievable aria.

And that's all the CDs I've listened to reviewed now. There are some left: two Elisabeth CDs, plus Fledermaus which she's in as well. And her Rosenkavalier with Christa Ludwig, or at least highlights thereof. I have heard one track on it though: 'Da geht er hin..'. The passage which begins 'Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding' is one of the best things I've ever heard (and seen) Elisabeth do: it's on the Self Portrait DVD and it's brilliant. Somebody in the anti-Elisabeth camp said that her mannered style of singing (which I know is a problem with a lot of people) makes her so proper as the Marschallin that she could never start sleeping with a teenaged boy. I disagree. I think she's exactly as she ought to be.

I have, if you can believe it, more to say. There was some Bach on the Arts Channel the other night. If we're to believe the website, it was a couple of cantatas and (I quote) Bach's Magnificent. I mean, obviously Bach is magnificent, I quite agree. But I don't think it's the title they wanted. Typical Arts Channel. Like the Classical Brit Awards, they seem to have very little grasp or appreciation of the very thing they dedicate themselves to celebrating. Anyway. I was expecting some nice Bach to keep me company during the evening, with some nice sweet sopranos. Oh no: this wasn't background music, it was brilliance. Christine Schäfer and Bernarda Fink are both absolutely amazing! I could listen to Christine sing Bach forever, and as for Bernarda, let me just say this: if she can get this much drama and meaning from a cantata, while assiduosly following score, I can only imagine how electrifying she must be on stage. Frightening at times, I should imagine. I want to see her live. And of course the whole thing was conducted by the wonderful Nikolaus Harnoncourt, whom I adore. Even if he has got scary eyes from a monster movie. He's a very clever and a very classy man.

Let's leave things there for tonight, shall we?

Il catalogo è questo

In about six hours time I'll be leaving Melbourne and coming home. No more chances to buy CDs. So let me review. This is the entire CD haul:

Barbara Bonney: Wolf & Strauss Lieder
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Bach & Mozart
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Liederabend
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf & Irmgard Seefried: Soprano duets
Patricia Petibon: French Touch
Patricia Petibon: French Baroque Arias
Natalie Dessay: Mozart Concert Arias
Natalie Dessay: Air d'opéras français
Sumi Jo: La Promessa
Die Fledermaus with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Le nozze di Figaro with Anna Moffo & Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Yvonne Kenny: Handel Arias
Emma Matthews: Handel Arias
Denyce Graves: French Arias
Der Rosenkavalier Highlights with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf & Christa Ludwig
Alcina Highlights with Renée Fleming, Susan Graham & Natalie Dessay
Jennifer Larmore: Amore per Rossini

Plus four not strictly or not at all classical:

West Side Story with Barbara Bonney & Michael Ball
Ute Lemper: Punishing Kiss
Ute Lemper: City of Strangers
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways

Coming to a grand total of 21 CDs in 21 days: couldn't have done better if I'd planned it. Add to that a Mozart Requiem, four live operas, one starring the to-die-for Yvonne Kenny and you (or rather, I) have one very very satisfying trip. It's been fabulous. Although I am glad to be going home: at this rate I don't think I could afford to stay much longer!

CD shopping in the blistering heat

I have no sense of direction. However I must have some sort of CD shop finding radar, because on my first afternoon here (I'm in Melbourne), with no particular memory from last time of where things were, I was nevertheless led automatically to HMV, JB HiFi and Thomas' music, all three of whom became a little richer thanks to me. And it's only just beginning.

Haven't given anything a proper listening to yet, but my purchase list at present is as follows:

Barbara Bonney: Wolf & Strauss Lieder. I'm listening to this right now and she's as unbeatable and gorgeous as ever. This was rather a nice find too, as it's on the Eloquence label: Barbara Bonney recital at budget price. Naturally, having bought it for $12 I saw it elsewhere for $10 and then $8 but not to worry, even $12 is pretty darned cheap for such a good CD.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Liederabend. Another cheapish one, with some Mozart, Schumann, Schubert, Wolf and others. Haven't listened to a single track yet, but if it's half as beautiful as the fabulous cover photo then I shall be very happy.

Natalie Dessay: Air d'opéras français. This is not the same French Arias CD as the one which sent me spinning in adoration of the lovely Natalie, it's an earlier one with a slightly more unusual programme. There's Offenbach, Ravel, Poulenc and others. The Mad Scene from Thomas' Hamlet is on there too, which is interesting as it's also included on the other French Arias. I intend to leave this country with a sizeable collection of Natalie.

Patricia Petibon: French Touch. Finally, finally, a Patricia Petibon CD! The last time I was here, in February, my interest in Patricia was only beginning, and I resisted her French Baroque Arias for some unknown reason. And I've managed to maintain my attachment all these months with only a few mp3s to keep me going; but now I've got French Touch. The bits I've listened to so far are as brilliant as I expected, I'm happy to say. And really, how can you resist a red-headed soprano who poses on a carousel horse for her album cover?

Le nozze di Figaro. Susanna = Anna Moffo. La Contessa = Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. I have only this to say: Sull'aria.

And I'll finish this post here; I think my review of Manon, which we saw on Saturday night, deserves a post all to itself.

Extravagance

All I intended to do when I went into town yesterday was go to the jeweller. But somehow on the way I managed to pick up a Régine Crespin recital DVD, Maria Callas interviews on DVD and a Don Pasquale on CD. I ought, I suppose, to be saving cash for serious CD shopping in Melbourne but I couldn't help myself.

The only one of the three I've played so far is the Régine Crespin DVD. It's part of a very very exciting looking series by EMI called 'Classic Archive'. Disk Den has a whole heap of them. Archive performances, restored and on DVD for $24.95. $24.95! I almost bought more, but decided that, cheap as it was, Maria Callas' 1958 Paris recital deserved to go to an adoring fan rather than me. Anyway, Régine. It's a fabulous DVD. Three Berlioz arias from 1965, a good chunk of a Liederabend from 1964, and then a couple of songs from 1972. This woman is one of the best lieder singers I've seen: quite apart from the gorgeous voice, she's captivating to watch and really makes something of whatever song she's singing. The Ravel song, 'Le Paon', is unbelievable to watch. It's a rather funny little story about a jilted groom which she sings with such sincerity and humour that it's almost like someone just standing there telling the story- you almost forget she's singing. Except that of course you can't forget she's singing because she's singing so fabulously. I continue in my love of this voice, something I'm very glad to report: until tonight all I'd heard from her was a couple of Verdi arias and an Offenbach one so I'm very happy to find that she's just as impressive in lieder. Her 'Lachen and Weinen' is another wonderful one to watch as well as hear. And then of course there's the French stuff where she's an Unparalled Goddess. Fauré has had me melting all over the place in the last week and this is no exception: 'Soir' is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. And the Berlioz arias! From what I've read, Berlioz was a bit of a calling card for Mme Crespin, and rightly so. She's stunning. The technically knowledgeable will have ways of describing her voice; I don't particularly. It's this strong powerful instrument and yet there's this sort of lightness and effortlessness to it as well, if that makes sense. It's a big and impressive voice, but it's warm and friendly as well, and pretty in its own way. All of which works wonders when she comes to the Berlioz. 'Le Spectre de la Rose' from 'Les Nuits d'été' is perfect.

And as if Régine weren't enough on her own, the DVD comes with a bonus. A French soprano I've never heard of before called Denise Duval. She sings Poulenc: three arias, filmed in 1959, and two songs, from 1961. All of which mightn't be particularly except for one thing: her accompanist is M. Poulenc himself. I have to say, although Poulenc mightn't be my favourite composer ever, it's pretty neat to see the composer himself playing his own work. Even better, in the (rather hilarious) aria from Les Mamelles de Tirésias he himself takes the part of the husband, half-speaking half-singing his lines and obviously enjoying them. The whole spectacle is rather odd: Thérèse goes on a bit of a feminist rampage and turns into a man- Tiresias. Meanwhile her husband has little more to say than 'Bring me some meat'. However my favourite Denise Duval-Francis Poulenc moment is the songs. According to the notes these seem to have been filmed in Poulenc's studio. The two of them were good friends and it shows. First she sings a rather lovely little song, 'Les Anges musiciens' ("Car c'est toujours Mozart que reprennent sans fin les anges musiciens"). Then there's a rather gorgeous little exchange, as she leans over and pages through his music to find the song she'd like to sing next- 'Quelle aventure!'- tells him, and then, while singing it, acts as his page-turner as well. Very sweet. Not exactly worth $24.95 on its own, but almost.

At some point I'll watch the Maria Callas interviews. The DVD- called The Callas Conversations consists of her conversations with Lord Harewood and also an interview with Bernard Gavoty. Then there are three arias- 'Adieu, notre petite table', 'Ah, non credea mirarti' and 'O mio babbino caro'. As regular readers can no doubt guess, it's not the arias that I bought the DVD for. However, they should be interesting. And the interviews I'm looking forward to: whatever my opinion du jour of her singing, Maria is utterly fascinating when interviewed. And if the Lord Harewood interview is the one I think it is- excerpted in the Maria Callas documentary on earlier this year- then she's also absolutely fabulously gorgeous in it.

The Don Pasquale, by the way, has two distinctions. Firstly, some singularly hideous cover art; secondly, a Norina sung by a certain excellent Slovakian. I downloaded Lucia's 'Quel guardo il cavaliere' quite some time ago and it's one of my favourite things ever; so when I saw the whole opera secondhand for $25.95, I ignored the fact that it only has one soprano, and succumbed. I'm sure it will be fabulous. For the moment, however, I'm rejoicing in Haydn's Armida with its double treat: Cecilia Bartoli and Patricia Petibon. Thankyou Mr Harnoncourt.

Where everybody gets a bargain

The title above, for those who don't know, is the slogan of The Warehouse, a New Zealand/Australian budget department store. They sell everything, cheaply: and much of the time, you get what you pay for. But I'm going to be shocking now and say: I think they're one of the best classical music retailers in the city. Perhaps not if you're looking for someone or something in particular, no. However if you just want to go shopping, they're excellent- the very nature of the business means they're not selective. They sell whatever they've managed to get cheaply, at prices which are no doubt profitable for them but are tiny to people like me, who buy the things. So what's happened is that their classical CD section is huge, and dominated by budget releases. This includes things like the Teldec budget line, which features people like Barbara Bonney, Jennifer Larmore, Edita Gruberova and Angela Gheorghiu- and I have opera highlights CDs of all these people which I got for NZ$2.99 each. At the moment, you can spend $5 and have Renata Tebaldi in La Bohème or Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in Le Nozze di Figaro.

And just lately, they've got a new line. From what I can tell, they're compilations drawn from the immense (120 CDs) 'Great Voices of Opera' collection. They're double CDs, featuring anything from 1 to about 20 singers. I believe the arrangement was alphabetical in the original collection; here it's not. So Adelina Patti and Nellie Melba share a disc, as do Lily Pons and Maria Ivogün. And the list goes on and on. The liner notes are pretty shabby, I'll admit. Brief biographies, somewhat clumsily translated from German- one notable instance of this clumsiness being the transformation of Cilea's opera about a French actress (Adriana Lecouvreur) into one apparently about a German aristocrat- Adriana Lecouvreur von Cilea. That's German for 'Adriana Lecouvreur, by Cilea' but apparently that possibility escaped our translator. Not to worry.

I grabbed six of these double CDs, all of them being of course devoted only to sopranos- there are at least as many featuring tenors and baritones and basses. The recordings go back as far as 1903, and come up until the 1940s, so needless to say the quality is never particularly stunning. Sometimes it's downright terrible. But it's possible, if you try, to tune out all the hissing and crackling and listen to the voice underneath. And even though some of these belong top singers past their primes, rushing (or rushed) to record, whether they could do it well or not, before they were gone for good, all of this promises to be an educational and enjoyable experience. I think I've probably, for $18.90, almost doubled the number of individual singers in my collection, and I'm very much looking forward to discovering what these women I've read about actually sounded like- or at least an approximation of it.

CD du jour is however none of the above. It's also not a CD. Before I went to the Warehouse, I went to Dunedin's excellent secondhand record store Records Records. And among other things, I acquired the loveliest 45rpm EP. Songs by Bellini: Renata Tebaldi. Two songs per side; three of the four are on Cecilia's Italian Songbook. Listening to it this evening, it was one of the nicest and prettiest things I've heard in a long time. Highly recommended: if, that is, you can find it anywhere.

Fun With Vinyl

Not as suspect as you might think. I've been record shopping this weekend. Our local theatre holds an annual 24 hour secondhand book and record (and various other things) sale. Most of the stuff is 50c. So I spent about $35 and came home at 2.30am with piles of books and records. I picked up all manner of things: 2 books about Wallis Simpson, about a million 1960s knitting patterns, some cookbooks from the same era with horrendous food photography, and quite a few opera-type goodies. So let us review.

1. Sheet music.
I learnt the piano for 7 years, during which time I grew progressively worse. I passed Initial Grade, promptly failed Grade One then scraped passes in a few more grades. I think I'm possibly- theoretically- Grade Four. The scary thing is that I'm a grade higher than that in the Trinity Theory exams. I've really no clue how that came to be- I look at the various preparatory notes my teacher made for me at the time and it's all a total mystery. I remember at one point transposing something. I wouldn't have a clue how to now. However this is all incidental. The point is that despite my lack of ability, I still have the piano my parents bought when I started lessons. And in the last couple of years I've taken to playing it again. The lack of any obligation to practise or improve makes it a lot more fun, and so I play a lot, and badly. But I enjoy it. So I took the opportunity to get some cheap sheet music:

-Mendelssohn vocal album. All I know of Mendelssohn Lieder is from a Barbara Bonney CD of same but I like playing vocal music because it's usually straightforward and only requires one hand.
-Elijah. I knew I was going to what might be a sublime Elijah the following night, so although it's a bit of a mess, I grabbed it when I saw it. It seems to have been owned by a choral singer who didn't read music: the bass parts of all the choruses are marked up in red pen with d,r,m,f,t,l,s to correspond with the notes. Luckily he had nice handwriting so it's not too offputting.
-The Merry Widow vocal score. I've played this once before and it was fine although not hugely fun (Le Nozze di Figaro is wonderful fun one-handed) but since all the other vocal scores I saw were Gilbert and Sullivan or otherwise unappealing, I took the best of a bad lot.
and finally
-Everybody's Favorite Grand Opera. Provided your favourite happens to be Carmen, Faust, Lohengrin, Lucia di Lammermoor, Tannhauser or Il Trovatore. Original texts and English 'adaptations' from 1937. Strictly a greatest hits type collection of arias. Should be fun. Seems also to come with the stories of the operas.

2. Source texts. Or something of the sort. In any case, French texts which share titles with operas. A Mithridate, Manon Lescaut and Le Barbier de Séville. I'm don't know that the first one has a direct relation to the Mozart opera, however the other two are sources. Really I'm just posing buying these- the chance of my reading them is slim (except Barbier which I've already read). But it's nice to own them all the same. I also bought something rather odd, which I haven't looked at enough to know exactly what it is. It's called La Vie d'Amour de Beethoven (The Love Life of Beethoven) and comes from a series called 'Leurs Amours' (Their Loves) which includes the lovelives of Wagner, Catherine the Great and Baudelaire among others. I'm hoping it's as innocuous as the pretty cover suggests and not some variety of 1920s French pornography.

3. Records. Whence cometh the title. In fact the operatic pickings were pretty slim this year: piles and piles of Joan Sutherland and '[insert conductor here] conducts Favourite Overtures' and not a whole lot else. But I did find

1. The rather unusual Joan Turner's Workshop. Joan is a musical comedienne who I've seen described as halfway between Anna Russell and Harry Secombe. She can sing and she is often rather funny, although not always. All in all it's a rather fun record. It's not all opera, but it does begin with an operatic sequence: a rather standard monologue punctuated by y of arias with English words to suit. Hard to explain but definitely worth my 50c.

2. Lucia di Lammermoor. Or rather half of it. And I don't plan to listen to it. I bought it because it's got Maria Callas on the cover before she lost all that weight. She's certainly not a small girl but she's still rather impressive.

3. Deanna Durbin Sings. I kid you not. It's only 4 tracks per side and so far I've only heard the first side but it's really OK. None of that godawful (and slightly frightening) overdone coloratura showing off that she and other MGM sopranos were made to do in the movie. On the other hand it's not an album which screams 'missed opportunity as operatic star'. Fun though.

And that's all. And altogether the above mentioned cost me NZ$5.50. I think I did rather well.

CD du jour is Cecilia Bartoli's The Salieri Album. Because I've been wanting to listen to it for about a week and I just can't seem to find where I've put it.

P.S. Patrick, possibly (probably) my only reader might be interested to know that La Vie d'Amour de Beethoven is dedicated to Reynaldo Hahn, of the reportedly fabulous Susan Graham CD.