First Opera?

I've been mulling this one over in my mind, ever since Fredrik's threads along the lines of 'first piano', 'first concertos' and so on.

Part of the reason that I didn't start the thread then was that I'm not entirely sure that Opera is something that you can get into via CD or vinyl, but rather something that has to be experienced live first. And hence the '?' in the title. That's not to say you have to have seen an opera to enjoy a CD, I love Britten's Peter Grimes and Janacek's From the House of the Dead, despite having seen neither live and I only recently saw Figaro for the first time. However, there is something about opera that cannot properly be conveyed on a CD (or even, arguably, on a DVD) and has to be experienced live and so I would venture to suggest that unless one has seen at least one 'good' opera production (the latter being almost as important, if not more so, than the work) then starting to build a CD collection of opera is likely to be something of a futile and unsatisfying endevour. More so, having seen a good production makes an opera on CD all the easier to enjoy (part of the reason I love Wagner's ring as much as I do is the superb Scottish Opera production I saw at the 2003 Edinburgh festival). That said, despite this, I thought I would at least try and start an all purpose opera thread and see where it went.

For anyone looking for an opera production to get started with I would recommend looking out for WNO if they come down your way (they brought two fantastic productions to Edinburgh last autumn - Verdi's Don Carlos and Rossini's Barber of Serville - and others that I didn't see); I saw an excellent Opera North Don Giovanni last year. For those in London, I'd urge a note of caution with regard to ENO whose recent productions (with the exception of their recent Billy Budd, of which I've heard good things, and the forthcoming Mackerras Makropolos Case) have been somewhere between patch and poor, and the loss of Paul Daniel as music director was extraordinarily careless. If Glyndebourne on Tour is coming your way (though it's possible they've finished already) Mozart's Figaro is very enjoyable, Tangier Tattoo should be avoided like the plague and La Cenerentola is rather poor.

I'll stick just one caveat on - I'd like to steer clear of Wagner here (despite having already mentioned it, partly because we have a pretty good Ring thread already and partly because I'm not sure he's the easiest place to start in opera - they again, the anvils in Rheingold really hooked me in so.....).

So, where to start on CD. Well, I'm going to start with Britten. Partly because he's in English, which helps (and negates something of a need to follow along with a libretto). That said, musically, he isn't necessarily the easiest composer to get into, so I'm not going to go for any of the well known works such as Peter Grimes or Billy Budd, but instead for (I think) his earliest opera: Paul Bunyan. I think it may have been have been the first opera I ever heard on CD, my brother loved it and used to play it a lot. I think it has some of Britten's finest and most lyrical music. It also gains wonderfully from having one of the finest librettos of any opera ever. Too often the libretto is, frankly, second to the music; in this case, with Auden doing the words, there's no chance of that. To make it a stronger recommendation, it's an opera that actually works far better on CD than in the theatre (perhaps one of the reasons it flopped back when it premiered in America in the late 30s); the reason for this is wrapped up in the subject. The opera is the story of Bunyan, a mythic American figure of a giant lumberjack who clears the forests of the west (which is where the staging problems start to come in). Interestingly it really is something an ensemble piece with little approaching a lead role, instead virtually each character simply gets their own 'aria'. Having said all that, it is possible to argue that this is almost as much a musical or an operetta as it is a full opera. This impression is reinforced by the fact that the scenes are linked together by the songs of a folk/balladeer/storyteller. But, to be honest, I couldn't care less what label gets stuck on it and we're simply fortunate that Britten decided to dust it off in the last years of his life and revise it for publication. There exist two recordings. One is from Hickox's Chandos survey of the Britten operas taken from a Royal Opera House production. Sadly it suffers in two key respects. The first is the singers are very obviously not American, in particularly the balladeer, and it somehow just doesn't feel quite right. The second, and more serious problem is that given Bunyan is a voice from off-stage and he sounds rather too much like he's shouting, or, at the very least, the voice is strained. Fortunately, Brunelle's Plymouth Music Series recording has made a welcome reappearance at budget price on EMI. The fact that it's done in America (yes, that Plymouth ) lends it a certain rightness. Because it's a studio recording, Bunyan's voice sounds right without any hint of strain. The only drawback is that the set doesn't contain a libretto (not that you really need it, just that I'd like one).

Probably counting even less as a opera than that, is Bernstein's Candide, but it's very fine none the less and the composer's own account on DG is very good.

Beethoven's Fidelio is a fantastic piece of composition (as it should be, given the time he spent on it). I have two recordings. One, Rattle/BPO should be avoided absolutely - it is very bad indeed, as, I think, is all Rattle's Beethoven. The other is the very fine Mackerras/SCO account on Telarc (done after an Edinburgh festival concert). I'm told very fine things about both Klemperer's readings, but haven't heard either in full. One is on EMI, but the one I shall probably end up getting is the live ROH version on Testament (since it also features the wonderful Hans Hotter).

I'm wary of suggesting it as a starting point, but then I recall that it was probably the first 'good' opera that I'd seen. It was a rather fine Glydebourne production of Janacek's Makropulos Case. That said, while I would not be against suggesting Janacek for someone starting out, I do not think that Makropulos is the best place to start. But as long as you go for (yes, you guessed it, Mackerras, you can't go far wrong). I'd probably start with Osud, it has a wonderful score, and the WNO recording on Chandos is in English to boot, and filling just one disc it's nice and cheap (for opera). Mackerras has also recently done Jenufa in English, but this recording is not as good as the earlier Czech recording with the VPO. Indeed the entire VPO cycle is available at knockdown price (though without librettos) and, of the individual operas, probably From the House of the Dead and The Cunning Vixen are among the finest (the latter also available in English under Rattle - though I haven't heard that).

There are a number of good Mozart operas, but since I've just discussed the three I would recommend in my Mozart thread, I will not do so again here, however they are the Gui or Giulini Figaros and the Giulini Don Giovani (all on EMI) and the Mackerras/LPO magic flute (which has the added bonus of being in English).

Smetana's Bartered Bride is also very fine and Charles Mackerras has just done it in English in a fantastic new recording on Chandos.

I'm not sure it counts as opera, but I'm going to mention it anyway: Gilbert and Sullivan. Not least because it gives me another excellent excuse, as if I need one, to mention Mackerras whose wonderful series of recordings with WNO on Telarc are some of the best going (and include Pinafore, Pirates, the Mikado, Trial by Jury and Yeoman of the Guard). The minimal dialogue, more of a blessing than a flaw, fits all but Yeoman onto one disc and, for my money, you will not find a finer conductor of G&S than Mackerras.

Lastly I shall turn to Verdi and, in particular, to the wonderful Don Carlos. Now, this a tricky work since he revised the score so many times, a 'definitive' edition is something of an oxymoron. Most of the available recordings are in Italian rather than the original French. To make matters worse, it suffers from the problem summed up as follows (and I'm afraid I'm not sure whom I'm quoting here, so if anyone knows...): "..all you need are the six best singers in the world!". I have enjoyed very much the Giulini/Domingo Royal Opera recording. Anyone wanting further detail about the French recordings, etc., should look up my Don Carlos thread.

Anyway, I've gone on for more than long enough, anyone else got any opera recommendations?

regards, Tam