Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Gounod was no mere purveyor of gentle sentiments. This 1881 opera, superbly performed, shows plenty of drama and grit.
The post Opera Album Review: A Grand Opera from Late in Gounod’s Care…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:24AMThursday, September 26, 2019
This is one of the zippiest, most life-affirming opera recordings I have heard in a long time. Well, this puts it a bit too blandly, because the work’s social satire also targets the smug …
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 07:54PMTuesday, September 17, 2019
One of Saint-Saëns's most important operas, Proserpine, has recently been given its world-premiere recording, and the result is a revelation.
The post Opera Album Review: A Renaissance-Ton…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:33PMFriday, July 12, 2019
This world-premiere recording of the 1826 Paris version of Gaspare Spontini’s Olimpie makes a powerful case for a composer much admired in his own day.
The post Opera CD Review: Now Hear W…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:12PMWednesday, May 1, 2019
Once much-performed, then banished from the stage by the Nazis, this is a fine new recording of an opera by the man who would become one of Hollywood’s leading composers.
The post Opera Re…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:04AMTuesday, March 12, 2019
A 1962 concert performance from Radio Italiana, now on CD, shows how delightful Wagner can sound without barking and slow wobbles.
The post Opera CD Review: Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger,�…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:10AMSunday, February 17, 2019
Beethoven reportedly told Rossini to stick to writing comic operas. But new recordings of two of Rossini’s major serious operas bring great pleasure to the listener—and let us hear some …
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:54AMSunday, January 20, 2019
A reflection on the whole tradition of combining longish narrative poems to music, especially for performance in a concert hall by large forces (e.g., singers and orchestra).
The post Classi…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:54AMWednesday, January 2, 2019
Chopin and His World establishes multiple new starting points for further studies of one of the world’s greatest composers, yet it can be read with pleasure by people who merely(!) love th…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:12AMSaturday, December 22, 2018
A list of the most memorable opera and vocal recital recordings of the year.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:04AMTuesday, December 11, 2018
None of the opera recording I have reviewed this past year beats this Cradle for dramatic vitality, musical imagination, and ongoing political relevance.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:48PMSunday, November 25, 2018
This recording challenges our settled sense of what art music, in conjunction with colorful spoken and sung verse, can accomplish.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:32AMWednesday, November 14, 2018
Yes, the first-ever recording of a opera that is as wonderful as Berlioz and Wagner said it is.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:36AM 
