Post by tream August 8, 2006 (1 of 5)
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I'm curious about how others feel about the new Living Stereo opera releases - to me, the only vital purchase is this one (Bjoerling and Nilsson on SACD, especially Bjoerling, to my ears the greatest non Wagnerian tenor on record - wow.) I've heard this one (it was actually my introduction to Turandot), but it has been many, many years. I've always considered Leinsdorf to be a non-entity as a conductor (heard him in the flesh and on record) but the vocal talent should outweigh his deficiencies. I've considered getting the package ($65 for the 4 sets at most specialists), but Tucker has never been a favorite tenor of mine - contrary thoughts?
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I'm thrilled about all of these recordings and will be getting the set. For me, the Boheme nor the Butterfly are definitive recordings but both are very beautifully sung, particularly by the departed Anna Moffo as Mimi. The Traviata, however, I am very excited about. To me, this is one of the strongest recordings of this piece, but the RBCD has an odd quality to its sound, and I'm anxious to see if this reissue improves upon it. I was hoping for the Barbiere with Merrill, but will be looking forward to it in the future releases of this series. Thanks RCA!
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Post by mdt August 10, 2006 (3 of 5)
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tream said:
I'm curious about how others feel about the new Living Stereo opera releases - to me, the only vital purchase is this one (Bjoerling and Nilsson on SACD, especially Bjoerling, to my ears the greatest non Wagnerian tenor on record - wow.) I've heard this one (it was actually my introduction to Turandot), but it has been many, many years. I've always considered Leinsdorf to be a non-entity as a conductor (heard him in the flesh and on record) but the vocal talent should outweigh his deficiencies. I've considered getting the package ($65 for the 4 sets at most specialists), but Tucker has never been a favorite tenor of mine - contrary thoughts?
I have the RBCD version of this but found the sound very unpleasant, so i never really listened to all of it. Wonder wether SA-CD can improove the sound sufficiently, but dought it. As for the interpretation, i've heard that Nilsons second recording is suposed to be better in all aspects (unfortunately it's on EMI , who hasn't produced a single classical SA-CD yet)
As for the Traviata i'll stick with Carlos Kleiber's version. I think it has reference quality and it's on SA-CD as well.
I do appreciate the initiative to issue complete opera recordings on SA-CD very much alltough. This genre has been sadly neglected on the format until now. I hope
some of the great opera-labels will pick up the idea, there are many treasures in the vaults that would deserve to finally be issued in apropriate sonic quality, living up to their artistic value. And please don't leave those recordings in the vaults, just because they are not multichannel,this hype about mch will only slow down SA-CD by excluding some of the greatest recordings made.The higher resolution
and especially the more natural timbre and superior imaging of SA-CD will be enjoyed by anyone who has ears to listen, independent of the amount of speakers.
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Post by ramesh August 10, 2006 (4 of 5)
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I've preordered the foursome, although all of these are new to me.
Tom, as you're a Björling fan, I've found his Butterfly duet with de los Angeles on the 1960 EMI recording unsurpassed. A pity the EMI CD release of it was a mediocre transfer.
I never heard Nilsson live, but I feel CD transfers exaggerated the steely high edge of the voice. I found the Japanese SACD set of Tannhäuser, the one where she assumed two roles, has much less of this than, eg the Solti Ring cycle on CD. So it'll be very interesting how those high notes sound on a pure DSD transfer. It's a pity RCA didn't get Reiner to record these operas instead of Leinsdorf, whom I know nothing about. His conception may have been close to Toscanini but in better than studio 8H sound; Reiner conducted a lot of opera in Europe apparently.
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mdt said:
As for the interpretation, i've heard that Nilsons second recording is suposed to be better in all aspects (unfortunately it's on EMI , who hasn't produced a single classical SA-CD yet)
As for the Traviata i'll stick with Carlos Kleiber's version. I think it has reference quality and it's on SA-CD as well.
For me, the Turandot with Corelli is preferred to this one, mainly for Corelli as this role sounds AMAZING in his voice. Björling is one of my favorite tenors, but this is not a role I like him in that much.
I'm grateful for the Kleiber Traviata. I go back and forth between the Kleiber and Leinsdorf as both are excellent. Kleiber usually wins because of the sound quality, so we'll see how the new Leinsdorf sounds. Just curious, where are people ordering from? Acousting Sounds and Music Direct had the set of four for $65 USD, I think.
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