Live from ROH 1985. Giordano's Andrea Chenier is one of the greatest of verismo operas, full of heart-stopping big tunes and powerful emotional situations. If it is not as well-known as it should be, it is because in summary it sounds a little too like Puccini's Tosca: there is a tussle between political opponents over a woman, an attempt to save a condemned man, a tenor aria about writing poetry on the eve of execution. The difference is that Gerard (Giorgio Zancanaro) is not a villain like Scarpia, he is an idealist whom the French Revolution has betrayed as much as it has his rival the poet Chenier (Placido Domingo). His temptation to abuse his power to seduce the virtuous Maddalena (Anna Tomowa-Sintow) is a momentary one, though its consequences are terrible. There is a streak of post-Wagnerian decadence in much of this--Maddalena is at least as much in love with death as she is with Chenier, and the final love duet has a deeply sinister aspect. -- From Amazon.co.uk
Accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, composer Benjamin Britten's satirical look at life in an English market town delivers plenty of laughs. When Lady Billows (Patricia Johnson) realizes no girls in town are worthy of the May Queen title, she crowns virtuous Albert Herring (John Graham-Hall), the greengrocer's son, as the village's May King. The comic opera features a strong ensemble cast including Alan Opie and Felicity Palmer.
This performance, taped for TV in 1967, has many of the most famous singers in the German orbit of the time, mostly in prime form, in roles that suit them, a great conductor in his prime, and is a well thought out production. Don Carlos is given in German, in the four act version with the usual cuts of that era and some extra cuts (the royal procession in the first scene is gone, the middle of the garden scene is gone, cuts are made in all the ensembles in the auto da fe scene, there is a snip -- not the biggest I've heard -- in the final Carlos/Elisabetta duet -- and finally the very end is rewritten by unknown hands -- the Grand Inquisitor grasps Carlos, Elisabetta faints (so no Friar, identification of the Friar as Charles V, and no final B flat.)
