Sharon Sweet (above) sings Aida, with Michael Sylvester as Radames and Juan Pons as Amonasro, in a scene from Act III of Verdi’s AIDA:
AIDA – Act III scene – Sharon Sweet – Michael Sylvester – Juan Pons – Met 1997 bcast
Category: Blog
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Bastianini & Tucci ~ scene from ANDREA CHENIER
Ettore Bastianini is Carlo Gerard (above) and Gabriella Tucci is Maddalena di Coigny in a scene from Act III of Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER. Listed as being from Torino 1963, this seems to be a studio recording or radio broadcast: the sound quality is amazingly clear. Both singers are at their very finest.
Listen to them here.
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Tebaldi/Bergonzi ~ TOSCA – Act I scene – Buenos Aires 1953
A scene from Act I of Puccini’s TOSCA with Renata Tebaldi (above) and Carlo Bergonzi from Buenos Aires 1953. This was Bergonzi’s role debut as Cavaradossi.
Listen here.
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The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And “Thou shalt not” writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briers my joys and desires.– William Blake (1757 – 1827)
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Yvonne Minton ~ Sea Pictures
Yvonne Minton (above) sings Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Listen here.
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PARSIFAL @ Bayreuth ~ 1981
Above: Eva Randová as Kundry
Horst Stein conducts Wagner’s PARSIFAL at the Bayreuth Festival 1981. Watch and listen here.
Cast:
Amfortas: Bernd Weikl ~ Titurel: Matti Salminen ~ Gurnemanz: Hans Sotin ~ Parsifal: Siegfried Jerusalem ~ Klingsor: Leif Roar ~ Kundry: Eva Randová ~ 1st Knight of the Grail: Toni Krämer ~ 2nd Knight of the Grail: Heinz Klaus Ecker ~ 1st Squire: Marga Schiml ~ 2nd Squire: Hanna Schwarz ~ 3rd Squire: Helmut Pampuch ~ 4th Squire: Martin Egel ~ Flower Maidens: Norma Sharp, Carol Richardson, Hanna Schwarz, Mari-Anne Häggender, Marga Schiml, and Margit Neubauer ~ Alto Solo: Hanna Schwarz
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Mary Curtis-Verna ~ Vissi d’arte
Mary Curtis-Verna sings the “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s TOSCA on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1950.
Watch and listen here.
She sent me the above photograph after I sent her a fan letter. Ms. Currtis-Verna has a special place in my heart: she was my first-ever Turandot, at The Met in 1965, making a vivid impression.
Oberon's Glade 