#37: Rossini: The Barber of Seville

#37: Rossini: The Barber of Seville. Decca,  1964 (CD 1999). Total time (2 discs): 144:52.

#22: Joan Sutherland: The Art of the Prima Donna

Details: Joan Sutherland (1926-2010): The Art of the Prima Donna. Decca, 1960 (CD: 2000). Total time (2 discs): 108:32.

Another parental influence I suppose. Joan Sutherland was far and away one of my mother's favorite singers and the near-unanimous assessment of 20th century sopranos is that she is second only to Maria Callas.

One of my mother's favorite habits was cooking and baking on Saturday afternoons while listening to the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Undoubtedly Sutherland was a frequent performer on these broadcasts and was one of the first singing voices I think I learned to recognize.

Sutherland, an Australian, had an incredibly advanced vocal gift--superb technical skills and the ability to convey emotion and drama while hitting every note perfectly and delivering a dazzling array of trills and runs.

This album is an intentional collection of well-known arias and from what I have heard has been used by many sopranos over the years as a learning tool.

It was recorded in Aug. 1960 in London, and the second track on disc 1 (Let the bright seraphim, by Handel) was the song that made her famous in 1958, also in London. Then, after her performance of this aria, the audience gave her a sustained 10-minute standing ovation.

The album includes her brilliant renditions of Bellini's Casta diva and Verdi's Sempre libera as well as 14 other arias from Rossini, Bellini, Gounod, Mozart and Verdi among others. 

Listening to this album left me with a taste for lasagna, salad, garlic bread and cannoli.

#1: The Magic Flute by Mozart

"If I were a dictator, I should make it compulsory for every member of the population between the ages of four and eighty to listen to Mozart for at least one-quarter of an hour daily for the coming five years."
-Sir Thomas Beecham, Daily Telegraph (London), 4 Sept 1937

Details: W.A. Mozart (1756-1791), "Die Zauberflote" (The Magic Flute), composed in 1791. Opera in two acts, in German. Recorded in Berlin, Germany in 1937, by Beecham and Berlin Philharmonic. Total time (2 discs): 131:40. Produced by Nimbus Records (U.K.) in 1991, with note that the two CDs are "digital transfers from 78 rpm discs."

This may be the oldest recording I own, in terms of when it was originally made. I'll find out at the end of the project if that is really the case but I think it is. It's also one of the longest at more than 2 hours.

What first struck me sonically was that this 1937 recording (that's 78 years ago this year) sounds a bit like the stereotypical sound from an old Victrola. And in some places I heard what sounded like a needle on a record. 78 years and 78 rpms...nice bookends. Also of immediate interest is the conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, an Englishman, venturing into Nazi Germany to lead this performance by the Berlin Philarmonic. Although none of the names of the cast sound familiar to me, they all appear to be German names. Makes me wonder what became of the musicians and singers on this recording a few years later during WWII...

Anyway, as with most operas, the recording begins with a lively overture previewing musical themes for the work. And there are some classic "Mozart moments" including the repeated pattern of 4 notes over several measures that creates motion and a build-up of drama.

Is this one of the only operas in which an instrument in the orchestra is a "character" in the story? The flute whistles its presence throughout the opera, occasionally echoed by the singers. There are great Mozart melodies throughout along with great humor (the "humming" scene as well as the Papageno duet). The celeste solos are a great touch too. All in all, as with so many Mozart compositions, the entire ensemble of instruments and voices work together to create a rich, seamless whole.

This is an opera to see in person as the staging, visuals, props, costumes, lighting and background -- and particularly the translation of the lyrics -- obviously enhance one's understanding of the storyline. The Magic Flute is rich with symbolism (the number three, and Masonic imagery) and themes of heroism, myth, enlightenment, and the triumph of humanity -- ironic considering the era in which this recording was made. All in all, a high-quality performance of a classic Mozart work of art.

"Germany can never pay enough tribute to this work. Before it German opera hardly existed: this was its moment of creation."
-Richard Wagner