Oberon's Glade

Blog

  • Sir Simon Rattle conducts RHEINGOLD – 2004

    Snapshot anna l - Copy

    Above: Anna Larsson (Erda) gives a wonderfully subtle interpretation in this concert performance of Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD at Baden-Baden, 2004. Sir Simon Rattle conducts a very impressive cast.

    Watch and listen here.

    You’ll want to block the annoying ads.

    CAST:
    Sir Willard White – Wotan
    Oleg Bryjak – Alberich
    Kim Begley – Loge
    Yvonne Naef – Fricka
    Robbin Leggate – Mime
    Geraldine McGreevy – Freia
    Anna Larsson – Erda
    James Rutherford – Donner
    Timothy Robinson – Froh
    Peter Rose – Fasolt
    Robert Lloyd – Fafner
    Kate Royal – Woglinde
    Karen England – Wellgunde
    Christine Rice – Flosshilde

    Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
    Sir Simon Rattle

    Baden-Baden, 2004

  • Sir Simon Rattle conducts RHEINGOLD – 2004

    Snapshot anna l - Copy

    Above: Anna Larsson (Erda) gives a wonderfully subtle interpretation in this concert performance of Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD at Baden-Baden, 2004. Sir Simon Rattle conducts a very impressive cast.

    Watch and listen here.

    You’ll want to block the annoying ads.

    CAST:
    Sir Willard White – Wotan
    Oleg Bryjak – Alberich
    Kim Begley – Loge
    Yvonne Naef – Fricka
    Robbin Leggate – Mime
    Geraldine McGreevy – Freia
    Anna Larsson – Erda
    James Rutherford – Donner
    Timothy Robinson – Froh
    Peter Rose – Fasolt
    Robert Lloyd – Fafner
    Kate Royal – Woglinde
    Karen England – Wellgunde
    Christine Rice – Flosshilde

    Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
    Sir Simon Rattle

    Baden-Baden, 2004

  • Isobel Buchanan – Fauré in Autumn

    Isobel jpg

    Soprano Isobel Buchanan sings two ‘Autumn’ songs by Gabriel Fauré:

    Isobel Buchanan – Fauré ~ Automne

    Isobel Buchanan – Fauré ~ Chant d’automne

  • Hilary Hahn ~ The Lark Ascending

    HH

    Hilary Hahn plays The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams at the George Enescu Festival, 2013. Louis Langrée conducts.

    Watch and listen here.

  • GIOCONDA @ Teatro Communale Picenza – 2018

    Communale gioconda

    Above: Saioa Hernández as Gioconda and Agostina Smimmero as Cieca in LA GIOCONDA

    A performance of Ponchielli’s LA GIOCONDA from the Teatro Communale, Piacenza, 2018.

    Watch and listen here.

    Gioconda – Saioa Hernández;  Enzo Grimaldo – Francesco Meli;  Barnaba – Sebastian Catana;  Laura – Anna Maria Chiuri;  Alvise – Giacomo Prestia;  La Cieca – Agostina Smimmero

  • Ángeles Gulín as Gioconda

    Snapshot gulin aparici - Copy

    Above: Ángeles Gulín as Gioconda and Montserrat Aparici as Cieca

    A slam-bang performance of one of my favorite Italian operas, LA GIOCONDA, from the Liceu, Barcelona, in 1978. The singers simply go at it.

    Watch and listen here.

    Gioconda: Ángeles Gulín; Laura: Bruna Baglioni; Cieca: Montserrat Aparici;  Enzo: Nunzio Todesco; Barnaba: Sabin Markov; Alvise: Ivo Vinco.

    I only heard Ángeles Gulín live once: she sang Valentine in HUGUENOTS at Carnegie Hall in 1969; Beverly Sills was Marguerite de Valois and Tony Poncet was Raoul. Ms. Gulín had an enormous voice and she
    used it unsparingly.

    This GIOCONDA has the right knives-out, heart-on-sleeve passion. It’s that kind of all-or-nothing opera. As Gioconda sings of her love for Enzo in Act I: “My destiny is this: to love him, or to die!”

    ~ Oberon

  • Stuttgart Cellists ~ PARSIFAL

    Snapshot celli

    Cellists from the Stuttgart Staatsorchester play music from Wagner’s PARSIFAL.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Nelly Miricioiu as Norma

    Nelly

    The great duet of Norma and Pollione from the final scene of Bellini’s NORMA, sung by Nelly Miricioiu (above) and Carlo Ventre. Listen here.

  • ANDREA CHENIER ~ Cura & Guleghina ~ 2006

    Snapshot guleghina - Copy

    Maria Guleghina is Maddalena di Coigny (above) and Jose Cura has the title-role in a performance of Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER from Bologna 2006.

    Watch and listen here

    Andrea Chénier – José Cura
    Maddalena di Coigny – Maria Guleghina
    Carlo Gérard – Carlo Guelfi
    La mulatta Bersi – Giacinta Nicotra
    La Contessa di Coigny – Cinzia de Mola
    Madelon – Annie Vavrille
    Roucher – Carlo Cigni
    Il romanziero – Armando Ariostini
    Fouquier-Tinville – Giuseppe Guidi
    Il sanculotto Mathieu – Mario Bellanova
    Un “Incredibile” – Pierre Lefebvre
    L’Abate – Stefano Pisani
    Schmidt – Atfeh Ziyan
    Il Maestro di casa – Mauro Marchetto
    Dumas – Michele Castagnaro

    Carlo Rizzi: conductor
    Bologna Teatro Comunale Chorus and Orchestra

  • Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben ~ Olga Mykytenko

    Snapshot frauenliebe

    Soprano Olga Mykytenko and pianist Anastasiya Titovych in a 2016 performance of Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben.

    Watch and listen here.