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The Radio 3 Boards > The Music Boards > The Opera House > Rusalka
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Author Topic: Rusalka  (Read 296 times)
ernani
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« on: 20:01:17, 25-07-2007 »
I recently picked up the Benackova/Neumann/Czech Phil recording of this opera in HMV for £15. What glorious music! I only (shamefully) knew the 'Song to the Moon' up to now. Wonderful singing on this set too.

Anyway, I read that Dvorak wrote a number of other operas. I know the odd aria from a few of these, but would be grateful for recommendations and thoughts on the other operas from the knowledgeable folks on these boards!  Smiley
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Soundwave
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« Reply #1 on: 20:19:36, 25-07-2007 »
Ho Ernani.  May I recommend "The Jacobin" to you.  It's a fine, attractive opera with a real "show stopping" scene in which the village chorus rehearses a song of praise.  I understand that the Welsh National did it some years ago.

My brother in law, who is Czech, gave me a CD of Dvorak's one act opera "The Stubborn Lovers".  Quite a pleasant work but no masterpiece.
Cheers
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Ho! I may be old yet I am still lusty
Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #2 on: 20:45:40, 25-07-2007 »
Marvellous it is indeed!   The confrontation with the "Foreign Princess" is a vicious moment that's very well written, and defuses any accusations of being sugar-sweet.  I find the Prince's aria a bit heavy going, but other than that it's a lovely opera, and the Water Sprite is a gift of a part for a lyrical bass.


Svetlana Sozdateleva - with a tail to tell


Rusalka/Sozdateleva, Prince/Ponamarev, Watersprite/Skorikov
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
-  Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
Soundwave
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« Reply #3 on: 13:06:39, 26-07-2007 »
Ho Ernani!   On the subject of Czech operas, have you tried any of Smetana's apart from the Bartered Bride.  I can recommend "Dalibor" and "The Kiss".  The latter has a fine tenor aria with an accompaniment, in the piano reduction, akin to a Brahms concerto.
Cheers
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Ho! I may be old yet I am still lusty
ernani
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« Reply #4 on: 17:26:42, 27-07-2007 »
Thanks Soundwave, Reiner and Opi - I think some further explorations into Czech opera are in order  Smiley
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #5 on: 17:41:26, 27-07-2007 »
Good luck with those investigations, Ernani!  Smiley  Of course there is some super Janacek, which really goes without saying...  but don't ignore Martinu either?   THE GREEK PASSION is music to get your teeth into! Smiley
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
-  Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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