Thanks for that, martle....here's a little more fun -

Here’s a sneak preview of a new production of Trovatore, complete with dodgy subtitles with dodgy spelling. The set’s a bit, well, on the cheap and cheerful side and ‘wooden’ isn’t the word for the acting on show… plastic might be a better description!

Act I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uErW42zznfo
Act II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Q76TZakIs
Act III http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_YTcWUuNqU
Act IV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VqYIB1fASo

Luna: Prepare to die, gypsy scum!
Manrico: Whatever, dude! Like you know how to use that!

Enjoy!
 

I quite like the Blachut recording - but what is he singing about futbol just after the first c'?      The conductor doesn't offer him much help, does he?   It's almost minuetto allegretto!   I really fear that the economics of pieces like TROV will leave them either as the preserve of the "super-houses" like the Met and ROH, or living dinosaurs in Eastern European houses who don't think in terms of "real money".   Mongolian National Opera (bless 'em!), for example,  have a TROVATORE production that's been around since the late 1950s...  they don't really have anyone who can sing it (except for the aptly-named Mr Bold as the Conte di Luna) but that doesn't, ehem, prevent them trying    (Despite its Asian location, Mongolia fell under the soviet bloc's influence in the USSR period, so it has had an "E European" style opera house since 1954).

    

Sadly there is a great deal of exactly that kind of production still found in the former Soviet Onion. The so-called "Ukrainian National Opera of Odessa" (a title which is highly disputed by the real National Opera in Kiev, btw...) are something similar, only even worse (if that were possible?).  The main reason they can be found working in W Europe is because... they're cheap   The chance to earn some foreign currency for a month's tour means they are prepared to tolerate living conditions on tour (staying 8-10 to a room in youth hostels or in caravan-sites) which no local performers would accept.  I feel sorry for their economic plight (Moldova is a desperately poor place, the "forgotten one" of the ex-USSR states) but if you're going to use the famous phrase and "take your show on the road", you're obliged not to forget the first bit about "getting your show together" first  

By way of substantiating the claim about this kind of operation being "cheap"...  a performer I know well (whose name appears in my B-list) was offered a tour of Germany and Netherlands, coincidentally in TROVATORE.  The fee for a major role - offered by a Netherlands impresario - was $120 per week, and there were averagely 4-5 performances (including matinees) per week...   so that's about $25 per show (£13).  There was the chance to improve the financial circumstances by agreeing to sing in the chorus of PAGLIACCI (the other show being toured) on the "off" nights of Trovatore, and this brought the money to $200 per week. Accom in 4-bedded dorms was included. "I told him to shove it up his %*%*" was the performer's reply...  but the show went ahead, so some other poor sod accepted these terms    No wonder the quality of such shows is utter rubbish... even the best performers would be ground-down to complete dejection by conditions that wouldn't be permitted in a chicken-factory   Heaven only knows how little the chorus and orchestra were being paid, but their accom was in 8-bed rooms (a condition which was supposed to make the soloists feel "privileged").

Ho Il Grande.  I saw the Chisenau Opera of Moldova about three years ago.  The production I saw was "Carmen" (in the fine theatre in Buxton) and I thought it very good.  Don Jose could have been better and Escamillo, with a fine voice, was, at times, a little rough.  The Carmen was young and really looked the part.  Her acting and singing were first rate, as was the Micaela's - a really young performer for a change.  I consider both these ladies amongst the best in their parts that I have encountered.  The chorus was o.k., sang accurately and filled their part well.  I had no quarrel with the production.

So far as Trovatore is concerned, my choice would be Bjorling and Milanov - though she was a little elderly on the famous recording.  Manrico does not require a great deal of "beef" and I do feel that it's about time this was realised.  What he requires is the ability, at times, to employ a good cutting edge forward production.  Di quella is easy to sing and I cannot understand any leading tenor's need to transpose down.  Ah si ben mio is, of course, a lot more satisfying to perform and, IMHO, a far better aria.
Cheers.

I do like the Blachut recording: but I agree with Reiner that the conductor doesn't do him any favours. Have only just discovered this performance, so will have to check out the rest of it and hear what it's really like.

The rest of the cast is:

Luna - Theodor Šrubař
Leonora - Milada Šubrtová
Azucena - Věra Krilová
Ferrando - Jaroslav Veverka
Inez - Věra Soukupová
Ruiz - Karel Leiss

The Czechs do like their Verdi: for many years, Nabucco was overwhelmingly the most popular opera in the repertoire, at least in Brno. And it's interesting that they seem to have been pioneers in doing a really complete Trovatore.

A couple more clips for you to enjoy: Maria Callas in concert and Fiorenza Cossotto in a Vienna production.

Callas in Miserere : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7avEWEbE6CA

Cossotto in Stride le vampa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-8xU-lm_o

Roswaenge's Di quella pira appears on a podcast of 12 performances from the 78s era:
http://handelmania.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=130110

For a further 25 (yes, 25!) performances of Di quella pira (all live ones), visit http://handelmania.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=130110 to download the podcast from the Handelmania site. It's in the form of a quiz, with results announced after every fifth performance. There are a few surprises there....quite difficult, although I reckon you'll get some of the more familiar names.