Your Dream unsung opera release

Started by Kevin, Thursday 30 April 2020, 10:50

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Alan Howe

His writings on opera are pretty well spot-on, though. His focus, unlike so many commentators is always on the quality of singing first.

Think of this way: would we tolerate inadequate technique, poor intonation, unsteady bowing, etc. from a violinist in, say, Korngold's VC? So why do allow the same deficiences to pass in his operas?

Revilod

In reply to Kevin, as far as I can see, only Acts 1 and 2 of Fibich's opera "The Tempest" in the 2007 Bielfeld performance are on Youtube but the whole opera is available from Operapassion. It's a good performance and so is the recording. So much more colour is revealed than is apparent from Vogel's 1950 version.

Mark Thomas

The recording of The Tempest on YouTube does cover all three acts, but split over six videos, misleadingly labelled and not in consecutive order(something like the first halves of each act in the first three videos and the second halves in the second trio!). I made a set of mp3s from them, using the vocal score (IMSLP) as a guide, and all three acts are there, albeit with some cuts.

Kevin

Please post the mp3 's in the download section Mark if it's not too much trouble.

Mark Thomas

No problem, but I'll have to check the provenance of the YouTube recording to make sure that there are no copyright issues, and I can't do that right now.

Alan Howe

And so back to 'your dream unsung opera release', with reasons, please.

Perhaps a separate thread could be started on the Fibich if members want to discuss it further? Thanks.

BerlinExpat

I don't know if it helps but I have a copy that was taken from Deutschlandradio Kultur in April 2007.

Mark Thomas

That's the broadcast which is on YouTube from which I made the mp3s now downloadable from our Downloads Board. Your sound may be better, of course.

Revilod

I don't think there would be any copyright issues with the recording of "The Tempest" because it's listed on the Operapassion  website and they're all in the public domain.

Back to dream operas: Any of  Tournemire's: "La Légende de Tristan" en 3 actes et 8 tableaux
                                                                   Les Dieux sont morts (Chryséis) drame lyrique en 2 actes   
                                                                   Trilogie Faust - Don Quichotte - Saint François d'Assise

...simply because anyone who could a work as overwhelming as the Sixth Symphony must be worth further exploration....and the opus numbers suggest that the operas are roughly contemporary with the symphony.

Also, having been impressed by "Julien, L'Hospitalier" any of Camille Erlanger's others...especially "Le Juif Polonais" which was his best known work but which seems to have disappeared entirely although it remained in the French repertory until the 1930s.  ( Wikipedia says Mahler presented it in Vienna in 1906 but it was a "dismal failure"! )

BerlinExpat

Tournemire's: "La Légende de Tristan" en 3 actes et 8 tableaux was due to be performed in Ulm in April/May and I had tickets. Unfortunately the première didn't take place because of Corona and it's not appeared in next season's listing. It would have been its first performance.

Gareth Vaughan

I would certainly LOVE to see or just hear Tournemire's "Legend de Tristan".

Alan Howe

I'm currently listening to Tournemire's 7th Symphony. A loud bit's just woken me up...