Today's Highlights

Beatrice di Tenda by Bellini
A beautiful and unjustly neglected opera.It contains gorgeous melodies, great arias and exciting finales. Joan Sutherland made the role very much her own in the early 1960's. This first studio recording made in 1966 still standswell. Sutherland captures the character's sadness and dignity well with beautiful and poised singing and naturally shines in cabalettas. The unkown Cornelius Opthof holds himself very well next to Sutherland with a secure top and incisive phrasing as the wicked Fillipo. As the second couple we have a fiery Josephine Veasey as Agnese and a very young Luciano Pavarotti as Orombello. Excellent sound and briskly conducted by Richard Bonynge.

verdi's Il Trovatore
Leontyne Price, Franco Bonisolli, Piero Cappuccilli, Elena Obrazova and Karajan at the baton. Interestingly, in November 2005 BBC CD Review pundit Hilary Finch tacitly revoked her earlier pronouncements in "Gramophone" and chose this as her favourite version. I bought and I enjoyed it as a result, while still acknowledging that there is some audible evidence of the ravages time had wrought on Price's voice; it is a little husky but there is still a majestic and stately grandeur in her smoky tone. I do not agree with the opnion that a cast like Bonisolli, Cappuccilli, Obratsova and Raimondi is not up to international standard or that Karajan is "glib", even if I do accept that the 1970 Mehta account is superior and that Karajan's conducting is more visceral in the 50's version - but I like to hear an interpretation which provides a subtler alternative to the usual "gung-ho" approach. It's such a pleasure to hear an orchestra caress this music instead of banging the hell out of it and there is a depth and richness in the strings so often missing in more provincial bands - and let's face it, most orchestras can sound provincial next to the Berlin Philharmonic. Bonisolli's baritonal heft is very welcome, as is his willngness to sing tenderly. There is a temptation to characterise him as a grand-standing clown on account of his ability and willingness to prolong barn-storming top C's but he's much more than that. Obratsova's vast, even crude, voice with its booming lower register and secure top notes provides real thrills in a role to which she is perfectly suited and in which she rivals Cossotto for sheer visceral attack. Both Raimondi and Cappuccilli are a little too soft-grained but again, it's a change to hear these roles so carefully sung, with attention to the subtlety of dynamics and phrasing which Karajan's more relaxed tempi evidently encourage. Yet there's no lack of brio in the opening to Act 3; Karajan brings much more energy to the score.

Wagner's Tristan Und Isole
Solti's Tristan und Isolde (1960)is one of the great Wagner recordings, capturing Nilsson at her very zenith, partnered with a most impassioned Tristan, Fritz Uhl. Resnik is the most intense Branganae on disc, with her Act II interjections hair-raisingly beautiful, yet still menacing. Nilsson shows her absolute mastery of this most difficult soprano role, both vocally and dramatically, with Solti proving to to be a more congenial counterpoint than Bohn from 1966, who rushes things along too often. Fritz Uhl is an authentic heldentenor who has a innate feel for the role - his Act III is among the finest on disc. The remastered recording belies its 40 some odd years and sounds quite impressive, with a perfect balance between soloists and orchestra - John Culshaw knew how to produce his Wagner and Strauss! A must have recording for any serious Wagnerite.

Night Music
Mompou Plays Mompou These are performances from the mid 70s recorded by mompou himself (in his early 80s, but his technique is great). Four CDs of introspective, deceptively simple, beautiful music. He's been compared to the Impressionist and Satie... this is Spanish impressionism and I find it less tiring and repeatitive than much of Satie's work. Recording quality is very good... not excellent. If you have not discovered Mompou's work and enjoy solo piano, this is your chance.

Plus much more before and in-between...