Post by paulmoon January 12, 2006 (1 of 22)
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As a sacd newbie - and classical/opera fan - i am not only disappointed to see so few sacd titles but i am absolutely shocked to see no sacd releases of late verdi's and only 1 late puccini opera. Or Wagners, or Strauss'.
Someone any idea why that is ? Sorry if this is a too stupid question for this forum and for bothering you with my frustration.
Guess i should keep to my choice of 12+ different versions of mozart's requiem on sacd.
Thanks
Paul
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Post by Jonty January 12, 2006 (2 of 22)
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paulmoon said:
As a sacd newbie - and classical/opera fan - i am not only disappointed to see so few sacd titles but i am absolutely shocked to see no sacd releases of late verdi's and only 1 late puccini opera. Or Wagners, or Strauss'.
Someone any idea why that is ? Sorry if this is a too stupid question for this forum and for bothering you with my frustration.
Guess i should keep to my choice of 12+ different versions of mozart's requiem on sacd.
Thanks
Paul
The reason there isn't more opera is that the majors have virtually gven up recording opera in the studio and are not issuing SACDs anyway.
The Nozzi di Figaro conducted by Jacobs is on Harmonia Mundi and very good it is too, both performance and recording. Have a look at the Chandos and Fone catalogues. Bluebeard's Castle is on Philips and Maskerade is on DaCaopo.
Note that Pentatone is to issue the Caballe/Davis Tosca and we live in hope that RCA may issue some of their back catalogue. A live recording of Wagner's Ring from performances in Adelaide is promised by Melba. So don't despair. If SACD finally succeeds and I believe it will then we should see more in due course.
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Post by tream January 12, 2006 (3 of 22)
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paulmoon said:
As a sacd newbie - and classical/opera fan - i am not only disappointed to see so few sacd titles but i am absolutely shocked to see no sacd releases of late verdi's and only 1 late puccini opera. Or Wagners, or Strauss'.
Someone any idea why that is ? Sorry if this is a too stupid question for this forum and for bothering you with my frustration.
Guess i should keep to my choice of 12+ different versions of mozart's requiem on sacd.
Thanks
Paul
There is the Davis Falstaff on LSO Live, widely available. Also the Gerdes Tannhauser available in Japan. Others include the complete Ruslan and Ludmilla on Pentatone, Handel's Saul on Harmonia Mundi (opera disguised as oratorio), the Gluck Orpheus on Archiv, etc. But, not a great selection, although the quality of the individual selections is high.
I'd love to see the premiere recording of Adams Dr. Atomic, when it comes out, be on SACD in multichannel - there is absolutely no way that a stereo only recording could capture the nuances of this work
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Post by ramesh January 12, 2006 (4 of 22)
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tream said:
I'd love to see the premiere recording of Adams Dr. Atomic, when it comes out, be on SACD in multichannel - there is absolutely no way that a stereo only recording could capture the nuances of this work
Don't know anything about this.
Historically based? If so is Dr Atomic; Robert Oppenheimer, Wen Ho Lee, Heisenberg versus Bohr via Frayn?
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Post by tream January 12, 2006 (5 of 22)
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ramesh said:
Don't know anything about this.
Historically based? If so is Dr Atomic; Robert Oppenheimer, Wen Ho Lee, Heisenberg versus Bohr via Frayn?
Dr. Atomic by John Adams premiered in SF last October - yep, Dr. Atomic is AKA Robert Oppenheimer. An opera about the first test of the A-Bomb at "Trinity" in New Mexico. Other major characters are General Grove, Edward Teller ("father" of the H-bomb), Kitty Oppenheimer, etc. Amazing piece, received 10 performances, all SRO.
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Post by Xav January 12, 2006 (6 of 22)
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Where did you hear about the Tosca with Davis? I couldn't find any mention of this on the Pentatone website. It's a wonderful recording!
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Xav said:
Where did you hear about the Tosca with Davis? I couldn't find any mention of this on the Pentatone website. It's a wonderful recording!
Check out the Pentatone thread with news from the "boss" himself...
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Post by Beagle January 12, 2006 (8 of 22)
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tream said:
Dr. Atomic by John Adams premiered in SF last October
I've been an Adams* fan ever since Shaker Loops (1978), and since we share the same birth-year, his experience of The Bomb and mine must run parallel. Maybe I'll get to see it someday (the opera, not the bomb), but I'd settle for a recording. Teller and Oppenheimer are truly operatic characters (understatement of any century).
The Official Website is quite artistic (cf exploratorium) and has sound samples (warning: the overture is 20th C. Abrasive):
http://doctor-atomic.com/production.html
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* There are TWO John Adamses
Adams, John Luther 1947-
Adams, John C. 1953-
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Post by mdt January 12, 2006 (9 of 22)
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paulmoon said:
As a sacd newbie - and classical/opera fan - i am not only disappointed to see so few sacd titles but i am absolutely shocked to see no sacd releases of late verdi's and only 1 late puccini opera. Or Wagners, or Strauss'.
Someone any idea why that is ? Sorry if this is a too stupid question for this forum and for bothering you with my frustration.
Guess i should keep to my choice of 12+ different versions of mozart's requiem on sacd.
Thanks
Paul
I'm disapointed also. I think Opera recordings would benefit very much from SA-CDs high resolution considering the complexity of the scores containing parts for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus, plus the challenge of transforming the feel of action in to the purely acoustic world (for once a sensible oportunity to use surround as artistic tool in mch recordings).
I believe the reason is lacking trust in the acceptance of SA-CD, therefore the hesitating to issue more expensive sets of several SA-CDs.
With new recordings surely cost is the main issue, but that goes for RBCD as well. However i cant see cost as a reason to hinder re-issues, because many opera recordings have ALLREADY been transfered to high res digital (e.g.: remasters to 24/96 for "the originals" by DG or even to DSD for a new re-issue series of operas by RCA).
Apart from that, newer recordings will certainly be in a format above CD quality and therefore adequate material for SA-CD release, Telarc even has several opera recordings done in DSD.
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Post by seth January 12, 2006 (10 of 22)
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paulmoon said:
As a sacd newbie - and classical/opera fan - i am not only disappointed to see so few sacd titles but i am absolutely shocked to see no sacd releases of late verdi's and only 1 late puccini opera. Or Wagners, or Strauss'.
Someone any idea why that is ? Sorry if this is a too stupid question for this forum and for bothering you with my frustration.
Guess i should keep to my choice of 12+ different versions of mozart's requiem on sacd.
Thanks
Paul
The general mood of the industry seems to be that the best format for opera is DVD-video. People are interested in building up their opera DVD collections now. I think it's that simple. And many of the labels most devoted to SACD, such as Harmonia Mundi*, Telarc, BIS, Pentatone, etc. don't record opera, or at least not much, probably because of the cost. *Now obviously Harmonia Mundi has recorded not just opera, but in the studio. But recording a Mozart opera or Handel oratorio requires no where near the vocal and orchestral forces needed for Wagner, which dramatically increases the price.
I'm surprised that someone like Decca hasn't issued something like their Solti Ring on SACD. I'm sure there are enough die-hard Wagner fans out there who own SACD players to make something like that a profitable release.
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