Classical
|
Handel - Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2006)
|
Sale Price: $44.99
List Price: $49.99
 |
Usually ships in 24 hours |
Giulio Cesare is not these days all that much of a rarity. So let's start by passing over in silence those noble early productions with bass and baritone Caesars who, however talented, were pitch inappropriate, and rarely capable of the florid work. The Caesar question then reduces to mezzo or countertenor. I greatly prefer the latter and since there are today many countertenors who perform the role, I am always saddened when conductors cast women. Even among female Caesars, Connolly is not really first-rate. If you require a woman, Janet Baker's magisterial performance is still available. The real problem with any production, however, is rarely the Caesar. The opera, after all, belongs to Cleopatra, and this is where the Glyndebourne production sinks to the bottom of the heap. Daniele de Niese is extraordinarily attractive, and her passage work is adequate. But Cleopatra is not primarily a sex kitten; if she were we would have not respect for Caesar's infatuation. She is a woman of real depth, and here the test is her seduction scene with its ravishing (and fantastically difficult) "V'adora pupille." De Niese here embarrasses. She cannot begin to negotiate the leaps in the vocal line, and as a result loses any hint of legato, let alone sensuality. I still await the perfect performance of this aria, while maintaining an idiosyncratic fondness for Valerie Masterson, Baker's Cleopatra, whose G&S origins may have helped her to be alluring even while singing softly. In any case De Niese's version is one of the worse, and she wisely does not include it on her recent Handel disk. Do not get me wrong. I adore Christie, and he works his orchestral magic here as fully as elsewhere. But we all know that the Brits love their Glyndebourne. Beware then: this is a dreary performance, the kind that makes people hate Handel. Those who need a performance in modern sound should go to the Minkowski cds or one of the (less luminously recorded) DVDs. The rest of us will have to cobble together our perfect performance from bits and pieces of the many great recordings that already exist.
|
![Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Gergiev, Carsen [Metropolitan Opera 2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31NNTMfZRWL._SL160_.jpg)
| | |
Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin / Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky, Gergiev, Carsen [Metropolitan Opera 2007]
|
Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera
|
Sarah Brightman - Live from Las Vegas
|
Sale Price: $24.97
List Price: $39.98
|
Sale Price: $18.97
List Price: $29.98
|
Sale Price: $13.47
List Price: $24.98
|
Users are also interested in the following products:
Google SketchUp For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Pexagon Technology Pixifun Photo Sticker Refill Kit
Abbey Press:: "Once Upon a Star" Socks (Girls' Socks & Tights)
Schoolhouse Rock - History Rock
|
|
|
connor-choice.com - Handel - Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Opera Festival 2006) - Comparison Shopping and Read Reviews Index | Sitemap
![Vivere Live in Tuscany [DVD/CD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41z0Xx3hePL._SL160_.jpg)