Opera!
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Wagner: Die Walküre
RecommendedHildegard Behrens (Brünnhilde), Jessye Norman (Sieglinde), Christa Ludwig (Fricka), Gary Lakes (Siegmund), James Morris (Wotan), Kurt Moll (Hunding)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine
Awards:
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Grammy Awards, 32nd Awards (1989), Best Opera Recording
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Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Maria Ewing (Katerina), Aage Haugland (Boris), Sergei Larin (Sergei), Philip Langridge (Zinovi), Elena Zaremba (Sonyetka), Kurt Moll (Old Convict)
Orchestre et choeurs de l’Opera Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung
Chung's version of Shostakovich's sardonic tragedy still packs tremendous punch —
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Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore
Roberto Alagna (Nemorino), Angela Gheorghiu (Adina), Roberto Scaltriti (Belcore), Simone Alaimo (Dulcamara)
Orchestre et choeur de l’Opera National de Lyon, Evelino Pido
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Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana & Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Jessye Norman (Santuzza), Giuseppe Giacomini (Turiddu), Rosa Laghezza (Lucia), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Alfio), Marta Senn (Lola), José Cura (Canio), Barbara Frittoli (Nedda), Carlos Álvarez (Tonio), Simon Keenlyside (Silvio)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly
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Verdi: La Traviata
Kiri Te Kanawa (Violetta), Alfredo Kraus (Alfredo), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Germont), Silvia Mazzoni (Flora), Olga Borodina (Annina)
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta
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Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Cheryl Studer, Plácido Domingo, Juan Pons, Fernando de la Mora, Samuel Ramey, Jennifer Larmore, Anthony Laciura
London Symphony Orchestra, Ion Marin
this 1990 recording, conducted with great energy and character by Ion Marin, has plenty going for it. Studer and Domingo are both idiomatic and the rest of the cast...is good. As an alternative... —
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Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mirella Freni (Butterfly), José Carreras (Pinkerton), Juan Pons (Sharpless), Teresa Berganza (Suzuki)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Freni's Butterfly was always heartfelt, and Carreras is a sympathetic Pinkerton. —
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Britten: Peter Grimes
Jon Vickers (Grimes), Heather Harper (Ellen), Jonathan Summers (Balstrode), Elizabeth Bainbridge (Auntie), Teresa Cahill (First Niece), Anne Pashley (Second Niece), John Dobson (Bob Boles), Forbes Robinson (Swallow), Patricia Payne (Mrs Sedley), John Lanigan (Horace Adams), Thomas Allen (Ned Keene),...
the cast is fine and the tension cumulative —
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Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Francisco Araiza (Hoffmann), Samuel Ramey (Dapertutto/Miracle/Coppélius), Anne Sofie von Otter (Nicklaus), Jessye Norman (Antonia), Eva Lind (Olympia), Cheryl Studer (Giulietta)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Staatskapelle Dresden, Jeffrey Tate
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Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie
Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (Hippolyte), Veronique Gens (Aricie), Bernarda Fink (Phèdre)
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski
Phèdre was a breakthrough role for Bernarda Fink, who sings here with grave sensuality, supported by a characterful and largely Francophone cast. —
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