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Entries by Topic
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001) Martha, 1969
002) Hoffmann 1960
003) Rigoletto, 1967
004) Faust, Colon 1971
005) Evening bells, 1963
006) Prophete, live 1970
007) Grafin Mariza, 1973
008) Wiener Blut, 1970
009) Rahmaninov, 1970
010) Cellini, live 1966
011) Russian arias, 1969
012) Sonnambula, Met 1963
013) Elisir, 1966
014) I vespri, Met 1974
015) Prodana nevesta, Met1978
016) Recital Salzburg, 1961
017) Swedish duets 1983
018) Recital Leningrad, 1980
018) Recital Moscow 1, 1980
020) Les pecheurs, 1960
021) Faust, Paris 1975
022) Liederabend Hannover 1964
023)Entfuhrung, Aix-en-Provence
024) Fra Diavolo, 1984
025) La Boheme 1962
026) Graf von Luxemburg 1968
027) Boris Godunov 1976
028) Carmen 1959
029) Orphee... Aix 1955
030) Manon 1970
031) Huguenots, Vienna 1970
032) Guillaume Tell 1972
033) Early arias
034) Great moments
035) Donizetti, Bellini duets
036) First 10 years
037) I Capuleti e i Montecchi 19
038) Dame blanche, Hilversum 196
039) Gedda sings Lehar
040) Zigeunerbaron 1969
041) Don Giovanni 1965
042) Lady Macbeth from..., 1978
043) Werther Carnegie Hall 1965
044) Barbier von Bagdad 1956
045) Carmen 1964
046) Favorite encores 1964
047) Palestrina 1973
048) Oedipus Rex, Rome 1952
049) Pikovaja dama, Met 1972
050) Capriccio 1957
051) Idomeneo 1971
052) Turco in Italia 1954
053) Don Giovanni, Met 1967
054) Der Zarewitsch 1968
055) Land das Lachelns 1952
056) Barbiere di Siviglia 1974
057) Messiah 1964
058) Tosca, Boston 1971
059) Pelleas et. Mel. Met 1962
060) Cosi fan tutte 1974
061) Verdi Requiem 1963
062) Lakme Carnegie Hall 1981
063) I puritani 1971
064) Puritani Philadelphia 1963
065) Puritani Florence 1970
066) Vanessa 1958
067) Die Fledermaus 1955
068) Carmen 1964
069) Don Giovanni, Aix 1956
070) Faure 1982
071) Life for the Tsar 1957
072) Zauberflote 1964
073) Lucia, Met 1977
074) Iphigenie en Tauride 1961
075) Alceste 1982
076) Paganini 1977
077) Csardasfurstin 1973
078) Szenen aus Faust 1981
079) Boris Godunov 1953
080) Cendrillon 1978
081) North.&Russ. songs 1971
082) Platee Aix-en-P. 1956
083) Bettelstudent 1973
084) Giuditta 1984
085) Bach Mass 1967
086) Betrogene Kadi 1975
087) First recital 1953
088) Zar & Zimmermann 1966
089) La damnation, Rome 1969
090) Rosenkavalier 1956
091) Wunder der Heliane 1992
092) La traviata 1971
093) Padmavati 1983
094) Ballo, Vienna 1975
095) Thais 1976
096) Oedipe 1989
097) Devin du village 1956
098) Lohengrin Stockholm 1966
099) Gustav Wasa 1992
100) Satie 1969
101) Kalanus 1986
102) Undine 1966
103) Traviata Covent Garden 1972
104) Traviata, Vienna 1971
105) Christus am Olberge 1970
106) Tell, Florence 1972
107) Carmen, La Scala 1974
108) Orfeo ed E., Edinburgh 1067
109) Sonnambula, Met 1972
110) Gedda&Slovenski oktet
111) Onegin, Met 1977
112) Entfuhrung 1966
113) Euryanthe 1974
114) Gerontius 1975
115) Lustige Witwe 1967
116) Lustige Witwe 1962
117) Lustige Witwe 1952
118) Louise 1977
119) Iolanta, Paris 1984
120) Faust 1958
121) Recital Zurich 1998
122) Nacht in Venedig 1854
123) Candide 1989
124) Opernprobe 1975
125) Elisir, Met 1965
126) La damnation 1973
127) Werther 1968
128) Mireille, Aix 1954
129) Verdi Requiem Vienna 1954
130) Verdi Requiem, NY 1972
131) Benvenuto Cellini 1972
132) Recital Vienna 1984
133) Last savage Met 1964
134) Cantata BWV Rome 1969
135) Recital Leningrad 1980
136) Zauberflote video 1970
137) Elijah 1968
138) Recital 1970
139) Zauberflote, Rome 1953
140) Ballo video Stockholm 1985
141) Les introuvables
142) War and Peace 1986
143) Don Giovanni, Met 1971
144) Lady Macbeth video 1992
145) La damnation 1969
146) Rigoletto, Stockholm 1959
147) Onegin, Met 1979
148) Onegin, Florence 1980
149) Moscow 1980 video
150) Budapest 1984 video
151) Faust 1953
152) Monte Carlo 1984 video
153) Les Troyens, Rome 1971
154) Recital with Moore video
155) Ballo, Covent Garden 1977
156) Manon San Francisco 1971
157) Oeduipus Rex Stockholm 1991
158) Elisir, Vienna 1973
159) Manon, Met 1959
160) Recital Amsterdam 1982
161) Beethoven's songs 1969
161a) Beethoven's songs
162) Arias and songs
163) Ciboulette 1982
164) Zigeunerbaron, Met 1959
165) Interview Da capo 1989
166) Matthaus Passion 1961
167) Pecheurs Carnegie Hall 1974
168) Documentary video 1968
169) Persephone 1955
170) Lelio 1974
171) Lehar and Kalman
172) Oberon Carnegie Hall 1978
173) Met 25. anniversary 1982
174) Pushkin's poems 1987
175) Wiener Blut 1954
176) La Boheme Munich 1975
177) Alceste, Met 1961
178) Faust, Met 1969
179) Zauberflote, Met 1970
180) Rosenkavalier Met 1969
181) Cellini Carnegie Hall 1983
182) Orfeo ed. E., Aix 1955
183) Manon, Met 1963
184) Boris Godunov Met 1963
185) Lucia, Met1969
186) Hoffmann, Met 1959
187) Traviata, Met 1964
188) Man who disappeared 1984
189) Forza del destino 1964
190) Postillon 1965
191) Don Carlos 1973
192) Freischutz 1969
193) Matthaus Passion 1969
194) Dalibor Carnegie Hall 1977
195) Gedda Icon-85th bithday
196) Rinaldo, Milan 1983
197) P. m. solenelle 1984
198) Schule Salzburg 1957
199) Lakme 1961
200) Evocations 1986
201) Missa solemnis 1958
202) Recital Vienna 2001
203) Concert Munich 1969
204) Fra Diavolo, SF 1968
205) La clemenza di Tito 1955
206) La damnation 1959
207) Alceste 1962
208) Champagner operette
209) Budapest concert 1984
210) Liszt's songs 1986
211) Faust, Met 1966
212) Paradies und Peri 1973
213) Tosca 1988
214) Cosi fan tutte Aix 1955
215) Recital 1999
216) Idomeneo, Rome 1971
217) Romeo et Juliette 1964
218) La damnation Montreux 1959
219) Abu Hassan 1973
220) Romeo&Juliette Met 1968
221) Carmen, Vienna 1954
222) Tosca, Stockholm 1975
223) Ein Walzertraum 1970
224) Puritani Naples 1971
225) Faust Met 1958
226) Puritani Carnegie Hall 63
227) Mozart Requiem 1971
228) Faust Met 72
229) Berlioz Grande messe
230) Recit. Salzburg 1959
231) Recit. Memphis 1972
231) The very best
232) The very best
233) Rigoletto Met 1967
234) Onegin Boston 1976
235) Three Requiems
236) Die Schone Helena
237) Onegin English 1992
238) Russian lith. chant
239) Orthodox chants
240) Russian songs 1980
241) Candide video 1989
242) Gala concert Munich
243) Butterfly 1955
244) Zigeunerbaron 1954
245) Onegin 1988
246) Swedish songs 1980
247) Fledermaus 1972
248) Beethoven's 9. Symph
249) B. Godunov 87 audio
250) B. Godunov 87 video
251) Hoffmann Met 1970
252) Recital London 1973
253) Bach Magnificat
254) Land des Lächeln 67
255) Schauspieldirector
256) Mesplé& Gedda duos
257) Hugo Wolf
258) Robert Stolz
259) Zwillingsbrüder 1975
260) French connection
261) Beethoven 9th, 1973
262) Kienzl Evangelimann
263) Berlioz Romeo et J.
264) Strauss Venedig 1967
265) Cellini live 1964
266) Salzburg 1971
267) Onegin Met 1978 live
268) Operetta duets 1972
269) Hoffmann live 1971
270) Russian romances '60
271) Mozart Krönungsmesse
272) Bach B minor Mass
273) Entführung Met 1979
274) Beethoven Missa 1959
275) Mozart Requiem live
276) Poulenc Melodies
277) Pelléas et Mélis. 71
278) Don Giovanni live 62
279) Schubert rec. Rome74
280) Russian hymns&chants
281) Arias&songs
284) Manon, Colon 1970
285) Viennese delights
286) Orphée Gluck live 75
287) L'enfance du Christ
288) Zauberflöte Met 1958
289) Iphigenie Taur. 1956
290) Cosi fan tutte 1959
291) Zauberflote Scala55
292) Butterfly German
293) Bruckner 9th symph.
293) G. Tell highlights
294) Sjögren songs
295) Verdi Requiem 1979
296) Entführung 1968
Music Links - operas and recitals of Nicolai Gedda
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NICOLAI GEDDA IN OPERAS AND RECITALS
Thursday, 18 June 2009
61) Giuseppe Verdi Requiem, Quatro Pezzi Sacri - recording from 1963
Topic: 061) Verdi Requiem 1963


 



LINK: DOWNLOAD


 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 11:01 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 6:19 PM MEST
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60) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cosi Fan Tutte - recording
Topic: 060) Cosi fan tutte 1974

 

Fiordiligi ....... Montserrat Caballé
Dorabella ........ Janet Baker
Guglielmo ........ Wladimiro Ganzarolli
Ferrando ......... Nicolai Gedda
Despina .......... Ileana Cotrubas
Don Alfonso ...... Richard Van Allan

Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Douglas Robinson, chorus master

Sir Colin Davis, conductor

Recording date and location: May 1974, Watford Town Hall, London

 


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 10:50 PM MEST
Updated: Thursday, 29 September 2011 7:59 AM MEST
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59) Claude Debussy Pelleas et Melisande - live performance from 1962
Mood:  amorous
Topic: 059) Pelleas et. Mel. Met 1962

 

Live performance from MET on December 27, 1962

 

Anna Moffo, Nicolai Gedda, George London, Jerome Hines

Conductor Ernest Ansermet

 

LINK:

   DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 4:59 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 6:24 PM MEST
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58) Giacomo Puccini Tosca - live performance from 1971, Boston
Mood:  sad
Topic: 058) Tosca, Boston 1971


 

Live performance from Boston Symphony Hall, April 1972

Tosca - Marilyn Niska

Cavaradossi - Nicolai Gedda

 Scarpia - Donald Gramm

 

Conductor Sarah Caldwell

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 10:14 AM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 6:21 PM MEST
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57) Georg Friedrich Haendel Messiah
Topic: 057) Messiah 1964


 

Soloists:

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Grace Hoffman

Nicolai Gedda

Jerome Hines

 

The Philharmonia orchestra and chorus, London, September 1964

Conductor Otto Klemperer 


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 8:33 AM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 6:14 PM MEST
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009
56) Gioachino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Mood:  amorous
Topic: 056) Barbiere di Siviglia 1974


 

 

 

 

Recorded in London, August 1974

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 7:19 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 12:00 PM MEST
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55) Franz Lehar Das Land des Lachelns
Mood:  lyrical
Topic: 055) Land das Lachelns 1952


Recording from November, 1952

Lisa - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Gustl - Erich Kunz

Prinz Sou-Chong - Nicolai Gedda

Mi - Emmy Loose

Tschang - Otakar Kraus

 

Philharmonia orchestra and chorus London

Conductor Otto Ackermann

 


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 10:50 AM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:56 AM MEST
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54) Franz Lehar Der Zarewitsch
Mood:  amorous
Topic: 054) Der Zarewitsch 1968




LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 9:46 AM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:53 AM MEST
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Monday, 15 June 2009
53) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni - live performance from 1967
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: 053) Don Giovanni, Met 1967


 

Metropolitan Opera House  


January 28, 1967 Matinee Broadcast


Don Giovanni............Cesare Siepi
Donna Anna..............Joan Sutherland
Don Ottavio.............Nicolai Gedda
Donna Elvira............Pilar Lorengar
Leporello...............Ezio Flagello
Zerlina.................Laurel Hurley
Masetto.................Theodor Uppman
Commendatore............Bonaldo Giaiotti


Conductor............  .Karl Böhm

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 10:16 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:48 AM MEST
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52) Gioachino Rossini Il Turco in Italia
Topic: 052) Turco in Italia 1954

 


Fiorilla, a young Napolitana ( soprano ) -  Maria Callas
Selim, the Turk ( bass ) -  Nicola Rossi-Lemeni
Narciso, her lover ( tenor ) -  Nicolai Gedda
Geronio, her husband ( bass ) -  Franco Calabrese
Zaida, a Turk ( mezzo-soprano ) -  Jolanda Gardino
Albazar, a Turk ( tenor ) -  Piero de Palma
Il Poeta, Prosdocimo, a poet ( baritone ) -  Mariano Stabile
 
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milano
Chorus master: Vittore Veneziani

Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor

Recorded: 31 Aug - 8 Sept 1954, Milano

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 8:02 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:50 AM MEST
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51) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Idomeneo - recording
Topic: 051) Idomeneo 1971


 


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 5:55 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:42 AM MEST
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50) Richard Strauss Capriccio
Mood:  amorous
Topic: 050) Capriccio 1957


 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Strauss's last opera is one of the wonders of lyric art: an intelligent conversation piece about aesthetic principles (which is more important, words or music?) wrapped in achingly beautiful music. Its humor and drama are subtler than we're used to, but the opera is no less pleasurable for it. Capriccio's reputation as a connoisseur's piece is well served by this 1957 recording that features a superb cast led by the distinguished Straussian Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. True, she could be mannered, but the role of the Countess who must decide between the poet and the musician fits her like a glove, and she's radiant in the final, soaring monologue. Everyone else in the cast is outstanding, and the monophonic sound is so clear that you almost won't miss stereo. Sawallisch has the Philharmonia playing with the utmost transparency. Karl Böhm's DG stereophonic version with Gundula Janowitz is almost as fine (although currently out of print), but this one, like vintage wine, just gets better and better. --Dan Davis

 


Countess Madeleine - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

The count - Eberhard  Wächter

Flamand - Nicolai Gedda

Olivier - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

La Roche - Hans Hotter

Clairon - Christa Ludwig

Monsieur Taupe - Rudolf Christ

Italian singer - Anna Moffo

Italian tenor - Karl Schmitt-Walter

 

Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, London 1957

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 5:49 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:30 AM MEST
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Sunday, 14 June 2009
49) Pjotr Iljic Cajkovskij Pikovaja Dama (The Queen of Spades) - live performance
Topic: 049) Pikovaja dama, Met 1972


 

Live performance in MET, 1972

Lisa....................Raina Kabaivanska
Gherman.................Nicolai Gedda
Countess................Regina Resnik
Prince Yeletsky.........William Walker
Count Tomsky............John Reardon
Chekalinsky.............Paul Franke
Surin...................Andrij Dobriansky
Paulina.................Joann Grillo
Masha...................Carlotta Ordassy
Master of Ceremonies....Gene Boucher
Chloé...................Loretta Di Franco
Chaplitsky..............Robert Schmorr
Narumov.................Edmond Karlsrud
Dance...................Naomi Marritt
Dance...................Ivan Allen

Conductor...............Kazimierz Kord

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 9:38 PM MEST
Updated: Monday, 28 November 2022 6:12 PM CET
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48) Igor Stravinski Oedipus Rex - live performance from 1952
Topic: 048) Oedipus Rex, Rome 1952

 


 

  

Narrator:          Arnoldo Foà

Oedipus:            Nicolai Gedda

Jocasta:             Magda Laszlo

Creo:                 Mario Petri

Tiresias:             Nestore Catalani

Nuntio:              Mario Petri

Pastor:               Aldo Bertocci

 

Orchestra and Chorus Rome  Rai

Conductor Herbert von Karajan

 Chorus: Nino Antonellini

Recorded on  20 December 1952,  live performance (51'34).

 

 

 

LINK : DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 6:35 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:19 AM MEST
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47) Hans Pfitzner Palestrina
Topic: 047) Palestrina 1973


 

Approached as an essay in words and music on a particularly resonant historic moment, when music, church and international politics stood at the same crossroads, Palestrina is an inspiring and often inspired work. It has at its heart one of the most visionary scenes in all opera, the apparition to Palestrina of the ghosts of his musical ancestors, urging him to save the art of polyphony by composing a Mass that will confound counter-reformation zealotry; it is followed by a still more moving tableau in which the heavens open to reveal a choir of angels from whose dictation Palestrina writes the Missa Papae Marcelli. Judged by conventional operatic criteria, however, the work is awkward and gravely flawed. The main line of its plot is furthered hardly at all by the Second Act, which is a lengthy, albeit brilliantly dramatized, resume of ecclesiastical politics at the Council of Trent, in which the composer's name is mentioned briefly, almost in passing, twice. The proportions of the opera are ungainly, too (the acts last roughly 100, 75 and a bare 30 minutes respectively), and to make matters apparently worse, the music and the text seem at times to be out-of-phase.

Perhaps the most affecting scene in Act 3 is the reunion of Palestrina and Cardinal Borromeo. Moved to tears by literally heavenly music, the Prince of the Church (who had commissioned the Mass and imprisoned Palestrina when he failed to deliser it) throws himself at the composer's feet and begs his forgiveness. Pfitzner's orchestra, as Borromeo falls to his knees and as Palestrina gently raises and embraces him, says all that is in both men's hearts and says it most movingly, but the rather plain lines of dialogue between those two orchestral passages add very little to them. At other times plainness of dialogue is just what you feel you need: Pfitzner's orchestral writing is so richly eventful, his counterpoint so cunningly wrought (and yes, I suppose one must admit, at times so unremitting) that you long either for a moment or two of thinly accompanied simple recitative or for the words to get out of the music's way. And yet I would not have the libretto (Pfitzner's own) a line shorter. Complex though it is, it is of remarkable quality, full of incident and beautiful imagery; it would work well as a spoken play.

In the opera house this sense of a play and a sequence of orchestral meditations upon it being performed simultaneously could be a problem; so could the long and densely populated scenes that seem to come from another opera (called Borromeo, perhaps). But in a fine recorded performance it is easier to accept that this is, so to speak, an opera with footnotes and appendices. The great passages (apart from the apparition scenes they include the eloquent preludes to all three acts, the culminatory pages of Borromeo's and Palestrina's monologues in Act 1, two impressive addresses in Act 2 and the beautiful end of the opera as Palestrina, left alone, returns to his music) are in an odd sort of way justified by what only a severe critic would dismiss as the pages of finicking detail between them. They are no more tiresome than those quarts-d'heure in which Wagner's characters remind the audience of what has been happening so far, and once you have allowed them to set the nobler moments in context, you can always skip them on later hearings (DG have provided plentiful cuing bands).

You will probably not want to when even the minor character roles are as strongly cast as they are here. There is not a weak link among them, and primus though Gedda's stalwartly eloquent Palestrina and Fischer-Dieskau's grandly authoritative Borromeo are they are very much inter pares with the likes of Ridderbusch, Weikl, Steinbach and Nienstedt around. Donath is bright and touching as Palestrina's young son, Fassbaender an impulsively eager pupil. Some of the real urgency that all these singers bring to their parts must be due to the inspired choice of a conductor in whom passion and intellect are ideally balanced, it sounds as though this opera was very close to Kubelik's heart and head, and he directs with noble eloquence. The recording copes with Pfitzner's vast resources very well, with an excellent sense of a space having depth as well as breadth. The sound is a little bright at times (Donath's purity is slightly edged), but for the most part both clear and sumptuous. An exceptionally welcome CD reissue.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [7/1989]

 

Nicolai Gedda, Karl Ridderbusch, Bernd Weikl, Herbert Steinbach, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victor von Halem, John van Kesteren, Peter Meven, Hermann Prey, Friedrich Lenz, Adalbert Kraus, Franz Mazura, Helen Donath, Brigitte Fassbaender, Gerd Nienstedt; Bavarian Radio Chorus; Tölz Boys' Choir; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelík, conductor

Recorded in Munich, 1973

LINK : DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 4:48 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:16 AM MEST
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Saturday, 13 June 2009
46) Nicolai Gedda Favorite Encores
Mood:  bright
Topic: 046) Favorite encores 1964


 

1. Funiculi-funicula (Denza)
2. Du bist die Welt für mich (Tauber)
3. Non ti scordar di me (de Curtis)
4. Granada (Lara)
5. Schlaf ein, mein Blondengelein (Perez)
6. Gute Nacht, mein holdes, süsses Mädchen (Meyer)
7. Tiritomba (Traditional)
8. Mamma (Bixio)
9. Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel (May)
10. La Danza (Rossini)
11. Berceuse (Godard)
12. Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (Rotter)

 

 

Graunke Smphony Orchestra Munich 1964
Willy Mattes, conductor




LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 11:58 AM MEST
Updated: Friday, 12 November 2010 7:49 PM CET
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Friday, 12 June 2009
45) Giacomo Puccini Madama Butterfly
Mood:  sad


 

Recording from 1955

 

Butterfly - Maria Callas

Pinkerton - Nicolai Gedda

Sharpless - Mario Boriello

Suzuki - Lucia Danieli

 

La Scala Theater Orchestra, conductor Herbert von Karajan

 

LINK: DOWNLOAD

 

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 10:19 PM MEST
Updated: Friday, 7 August 2015 9:43 AM MEST
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44) Peter Cornelius Der Barbier von Bagdad
Topic: 044) Barbier von Bagdad 1956


 


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 8:31 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:06 AM MEST
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43) Jules Massenet Werther - live performance
Topic: 043) Werther Carnegie Hall 1965


 

Live concert performance from Carnegie Hall, 14 November, 1965



Werther - Nicolai Gedda

Charlotte -  Rita Gorr

Albert -  Theodor Uppman

Sophie -  Ann Elgar

Bailiff -  Joseph Tair

Johann - Daniel Ferro

Schmidt -  Charles May

 

Conductor Robert Lawrence


LINK : DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 7:36 PM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:04 AM MEST
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42) Dimitri Sostakovic Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: 042) Lady Macbeth from..., 1978


 

 

Prejudice. That is why this work does not appear on the shelves of some opera lovers. The composer’s name conjures dissonance; thus are great works and performances ignored. That is a sad mistake for one should really sit and listen. Then if you fall into the ‘hate it’ rather than ‘love it’ camp your decision will be based on reason.

 

Further it is unlikely that there will be a better recording. I was tempted to add the word ‘ever’ but that is presumptuous. Here is a recording that drips with emotion and power. Rostropovich conducts, cajoles, creates and controls a performance of outstanding fluidity. Of course that is what Shostakovich intended with the orchestral interludes between scenes creating seamless sound in each Act. And what overwhelmingly powerful sounds there are: from quiet haunting accompaniment through wonderfully deep vibrato via sharp tonal contrasts and into brass and full orchestral violence. Here is musical tension second to none.

 

With Galina Vishnevshaya singing Katerina it is hardly surprising that there is an outstanding reciprocity of musical understanding: musical husband and wife teams are frequently so and this is no exception. Of course Shostakovich made Katerina a more sympathetic character that she was in the original work where cruelty predominated and no sympathy could be aroused. Here we see another side of Katerina. Whilst she is venomous to, and about, her father in law (listen to sam ty krýsa and shudder) she arouses sympathy in her lonely bedtime ‘lament’ Zherebýonok k kobýlke torópitsa; sympathy she herself feigns so well upon her father in law’s death. This is a performance of many parts: from warm cream toned richness to awesome aggression.

 

Her father in law, sung by Dimiter Petkov, has a simple character: thoroughly unpleasant. A mean, moaning hypocritical role (keen to protect his son’s wife until the early hours of the morning when foiled only by her lover’s presence) Petkov sings it so well he is believably dreadful. My only reservation is a slight lack of variation in dynamics until he returns as ‘his’ ghost when there are dynamics and deep coloured variation aplenty. The ever-reliable Nicolai Gedda sings the sexually duplicitous Sergey. His distinctive timbre brings more that a hint of Wagner. This is a towering performance moving through raw animal passion to obsequiousness. There is a crudity in the music which Vishnevskaya and Gedda capture faultlessly. The cuckolded husband, sung by Werner Krenn has a comparatively small and somewhat unattractive role. There is little for Krenn to build characterisation upon until his return to his home and one of the infrequent duets. He and Vishnevskaya provoke strong vocal contrasts in each other before violence erupts and ends in his death.

 

At this point I cannot refrain from wondering why we have not seen a production on film or television ‘loosely based’ on the story. Two deaths so far, one more to come, with a mob-handed sexual assault scene (probably updated to a gang rape) and consensual coupling off stage rather than the earlier on stage aggressive sexual passion.

 

So first to an assault. Taru Valjakka as Aksinya is a totally convincing victim manhandled with crudity. Here is frenetic singing and accompaniment demonstrating serious unpleasantness. Valjakka leaves us in no doubt about that with some heart-rending tones and ear piercing cries. Birgit Finnlä, as Sonyetka, seducer of, and by, Sergey has a voluptuous tone judged to perfection. There is some light relief but not lightweight singing. Robert Tear is the ‘shabby peasant’ a role he obviously relishes both in its sober and almost drunken state. Leonard Mróz as the priest produces a vocal priestly parody with his deep strong intonation. All this and yet more with distinctive and particularly clear singing from Aage Haugland, Martyn Hill and Alexander Malta. Finally there is what we have come to expect in this series by way of accompanying booklet. There is the usual full libretto which follows Richard Osborne’s synopsis of each scene and thoroughly interesting history of the opera and comments on this recording.

 

With such a cast it is not surprising that this was an outstanding recording. Now digitally remastered it is nothing short of a stunning recording fully justifying its place in this series. So if you do not have it, overcome your prejudice and buy it. You might not ‘like’ it or even ‘enjoy, it but you will appreciate the power of the performance.

Robert McKechnie


LINK: DOWNLOAD

 


Posted by nf/amenemhat at 11:55 AM MEST
Updated: Tuesday, 17 September 2013 11:01 AM MEST
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