Word: ambrosian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, Tenor Nicolai Gedda, Bass Dimiter Petkov, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich conductor, Angel; 3 LPs). Soviet critics thought they heard a masterpiece when this, Shostakovich's second opera, was premiered in 1934. Then Stalin walked out of a performance and they listened again. This time they heard "din, gnash and screech" (Pravda). The work was withdrawn, and Shostakovich pursued more orthodox ways. A sanitized version, unveiled in 1963, found its way to the West on records, but this is the first recording of the original score. Harsh, erotic...
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Soprano Renata Scotto, Tenor Placido Domingo, Baritone Ingvar Wixell, Philharmonia Orchestra and Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Lorin Maazel conductor, Columbia; 3 LPs). Madame Butterfly is one of opera's most endearing and enduring heroines. Scotto makes a warm Butterfly; she effortlessly holds the almost whispered high notes of her Un bel di aria. Domingo's Pinkerton is such a hearty fellow that it is hard to hate...
Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible (Mezzo Irina Arkhipova, Baritone Anatoly Mokrenko, Narrator Boris Morgunov, Ambrosian Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, conductor; Angel; 2 LPs). This oratorio, arranged from Prokofiev's score for Eisenstein's two-part Ivan the Terrible film, makes splendid melodrama. Muti conducts a dashing blend of ominous march rhythms, pagan-sounding brass flourishes and pealing Russian bells...
Halevy: La Juive, highlights (Sopranos Martina Arroyo and Anna Moffo, Tenor Richard Tucker, Bass Bonaldo Giaiotti, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Antonio de Almeida conducting; RCA, $5.98). First performed in 1835, La Juive (The Jewess) is grand in style, massive in its demands for choral, orchestral and solo forces and spectacular in stage effects; in accordance with the Parisian fondness for such stuff, it was one of the favorites of 19th century French opera. Set in 1 5th century Switzerland, the story concerns the persecution of Eleazar, a Jewish goldsmith, and his foster daughter Rachel. Before his execution, Eleazar...
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (English Chamber Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Benjamin Britten conducting; London; 2 LPs; $ 11.98). A master at conducting his own music, Britten has also in recent years given us fascinating interpretations of other composers' work −notably the Mozart G Minor Symphony and the Bach Brandenburg Concertos. The neglected Fairy Queen-half opera half masque-is perhaps his finest effort: vibrantly joyous, magisterial in its command yet tender in the plaints of the soloists (especially Bass John Shirley-Quirk's Next, winter comes slowly...