Fretless
Member
So, I have always been bothered by my own prejudices and troubles getting into opera and vocal music in general. I studied a bunch of it in music school and I've played orchestrally in many arias and recitatives but not whole operas. Anyways, my close colleague got me a subscription to Opera News, and from there I'm trying to expand and appreciate. My public library has a mountain of opera and choral music so I'm starting at the top and making my way through the collection. Right now I'm going alphabetically, but I do make detours so I don't burn out on one composer. They also have many solo discs stuck in with the operas themselves. I try to pick a disc out of the Opera, Choral, and Voice sections each week/every other week (depending on time).
So far this academic year I've heard:
Victoria De Los Angeles--The Very Best Of...
Dario Argento--Te Deum; From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
Durufle--Messe "Cum Jubilo"
John Adams--Harmonium; I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky; On the Transmigration of Souls; The Death of Klinghoffer
Robert Ashley--Perfect Lives
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson--Bach Cantatas BWV 82 and 199
Marcelo Alvarez--Bel Canto
Louis Andriessen--De Staat; De Tijd
Milton Babbitt--An Elizabethan Sextette
Roberto Alagna--Roberto Alagna; Nessun Dorma
Anonymous 4--Love's Illusion; American Angels
Angelika Kirchschlager--Bach Arias
Franco Alfano--Cyrano de Bergerac
Adam de la Halle--The World of Robin and Marion
Brian Asawa--16th Century Lute Songs
Warren Benson--Songs for the End of the World
Eugen D'Albert--Tiefland
Osvaldo Golijov--Ainadamar
Marian Anderson--Schubert and Schumann lieder
Alla Francesca--Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
Mark Adamo--Little Women
Rachmaninoff--The Bells
Currently listening to: Leonardo Balada's Cristobal Colon
I have been least impressed so far by the John Adams works, and the Argento Te Deum was a real drag as well.
I do have some of my own discs of opera & choral--Wozzeck, three of the Ring operas, Verdi Requiem, Brahms Deutsches Requiem, St. Matthew's Passion, Penderecki St. John Passion & Utrenya, Mahler lieder, etc. I need to get to know them better, though.
I've been putting my thoughts and reviews about these discs at this site (Rate Your Music), along with starting in on my own collection of everything else:
http://rateyourmusic.com/~Faville
(I don't know if it's allowed to post other sites here, remove if so)
Sometimes I have time and motivation to write a lot, sometimes it's short notes.
I suppose I could post them here as well, as long as people don't mind/can help me with when I'm being appallingly off the mark!
So far this academic year I've heard:
Victoria De Los Angeles--The Very Best Of...
Dario Argento--Te Deum; From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
Durufle--Messe "Cum Jubilo"
John Adams--Harmonium; I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky; On the Transmigration of Souls; The Death of Klinghoffer
Robert Ashley--Perfect Lives
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson--Bach Cantatas BWV 82 and 199
Marcelo Alvarez--Bel Canto
Louis Andriessen--De Staat; De Tijd
Milton Babbitt--An Elizabethan Sextette
Roberto Alagna--Roberto Alagna; Nessun Dorma
Anonymous 4--Love's Illusion; American Angels
Angelika Kirchschlager--Bach Arias
Franco Alfano--Cyrano de Bergerac
Adam de la Halle--The World of Robin and Marion
Brian Asawa--16th Century Lute Songs
Warren Benson--Songs for the End of the World
Eugen D'Albert--Tiefland
Osvaldo Golijov--Ainadamar
Marian Anderson--Schubert and Schumann lieder
Alla Francesca--Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
Mark Adamo--Little Women
Rachmaninoff--The Bells
Currently listening to: Leonardo Balada's Cristobal Colon
I have been least impressed so far by the John Adams works, and the Argento Te Deum was a real drag as well.
I do have some of my own discs of opera & choral--Wozzeck, three of the Ring operas, Verdi Requiem, Brahms Deutsches Requiem, St. Matthew's Passion, Penderecki St. John Passion & Utrenya, Mahler lieder, etc. I need to get to know them better, though.
I've been putting my thoughts and reviews about these discs at this site (Rate Your Music), along with starting in on my own collection of everything else:
http://rateyourmusic.com/~Faville
(I don't know if it's allowed to post other sites here, remove if so)
Sometimes I have time and motivation to write a lot, sometimes it's short notes.
I suppose I could post them here as well, as long as people don't mind/can help me with when I'm being appallingly off the mark!
Last edited: