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CD-ROM: The Operas Of Gioacomo Meyerbeer
Product Description
The Operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer
Volume AE006 of the Audio Encyclopedia is devoted to a single composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer. The single disc contains at least one complete performance of each of the mature operas in monaural sound; wherever possible, versions in at least two languages are offered. The operas, conductors and principal cast members are: L'Africaine Riccardo Muti Jessye Norman; Veriano Lucchetti, Giangiacomo Guelfi L'Africaine Gerd Albrecht Martina Arroyo; Giorgio Lamberti, Sherrill Milnes Il Crociato in Egitto Gianfranco Masini Justino Diaz; Yvonne Kenny, Felicity Palmer Dinorah Mats Liljefors Eva Mei; Fabio Previato, Jörg Schneider Dinorah Axel Kobe Eun-Joo Park, Thomas de Vries, Frederic Hellgren Ein Feldlager in Schlesien Fritz Weisse Norma Sharp, Ruthild Engert; Jörn W. Wilsing Les Huguenots Robert Heger Karl Terkal, Gottlob Frick; Maud Cunitz, Valerie Bak Les Huguenots Gianandrea Gavazzeni Franco Corelli, Nicolai Ghiaurov; Giulietta Simionato, Joan Sutherland Les Huguenots Ernst Märzendorfer Nicolai Gedda, Justino Diaz; Enriqueta Tarres, Rita Shane L'Étoile du Nord Roderick Brydon Malcolm King; Janet Price Le Prophète Henry Lewis Nicolai Gedda; Margeritha Rinaldi, Marilyn Horne Le Prophète Marcello Viotti Placido Domingo; Viktoria Loukianetz, Agnes Baltsa Robert le Diable Nino Sanzogno Giorgio Merighi, Boris Christoff; Renata Scotto Robert le Diable Marc Minkowski Jianyi Zhang, Kwangchoul Youn; Nelly Miricioiu
The disc includes synopses of the operas and historic selections to complement the complete recordings. However, it must be noted that "completeness" is not what we are accustomed to in operas not generally labelled "Grand". Scenes and numbers are cut and rearranged, arias are interpolated or abridged and other changes are made wholesale and retail. In part, that may be attributed to the length of the operas as composed, running in some cases more than four hours. In part, it reflects variations in performance practice even in Meyerbeer's day. Much as we may wish for a truly complete performance, the realities of modern production make that as improbable as gaining performances of Meyerbeer's early works.
While the transfers lack the sound quality of commercial recordings, each is a worthy realization of its score. The primary purpose of the disc is to embody in a single volume a synoptic view of Meyerbeer's evolution; such an overview is difficult to obtain with the large number of discs in conventional formats. Some additional information on the casts is here
ERRATUM: The Eide Norena selection is not "Ombra leggiere" but "Sombre forêt" from Guillaume Tell.
Volume AE006 of the Audio Encyclopedia is devoted to a single composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer. The single disc contains at least one complete performance of each of the mature operas in monaural sound; wherever possible, versions in at least two languages are offered. The operas, conductors and principal cast members are: L'Africaine Riccardo Muti Jessye Norman; Veriano Lucchetti, Giangiacomo Guelfi L'Africaine Gerd Albrecht Martina Arroyo; Giorgio Lamberti, Sherrill Milnes Il Crociato in Egitto Gianfranco Masini Justino Diaz; Yvonne Kenny, Felicity Palmer Dinorah Mats Liljefors Eva Mei; Fabio Previato, Jörg Schneider Dinorah Axel Kobe Eun-Joo Park, Thomas de Vries, Frederic Hellgren Ein Feldlager in Schlesien Fritz Weisse Norma Sharp, Ruthild Engert; Jörn W. Wilsing Les Huguenots Robert Heger Karl Terkal, Gottlob Frick; Maud Cunitz, Valerie Bak Les Huguenots Gianandrea Gavazzeni Franco Corelli, Nicolai Ghiaurov; Giulietta Simionato, Joan Sutherland Les Huguenots Ernst Märzendorfer Nicolai Gedda, Justino Diaz; Enriqueta Tarres, Rita Shane L'Étoile du Nord Roderick Brydon Malcolm King; Janet Price Le Prophète Henry Lewis Nicolai Gedda; Margeritha Rinaldi, Marilyn Horne Le Prophète Marcello Viotti Placido Domingo; Viktoria Loukianetz, Agnes Baltsa Robert le Diable Nino Sanzogno Giorgio Merighi, Boris Christoff; Renata Scotto Robert le Diable Marc Minkowski Jianyi Zhang, Kwangchoul Youn; Nelly Miricioiu
The disc includes synopses of the operas and historic selections to complement the complete recordings. However, it must be noted that "completeness" is not what we are accustomed to in operas not generally labelled "Grand". Scenes and numbers are cut and rearranged, arias are interpolated or abridged and other changes are made wholesale and retail. In part, that may be attributed to the length of the operas as composed, running in some cases more than four hours. In part, it reflects variations in performance practice even in Meyerbeer's day. Much as we may wish for a truly complete performance, the realities of modern production make that as improbable as gaining performances of Meyerbeer's early works.
While the transfers lack the sound quality of commercial recordings, each is a worthy realization of its score. The primary purpose of the disc is to embody in a single volume a synoptic view of Meyerbeer's evolution; such an overview is difficult to obtain with the large number of discs in conventional formats. Some additional information on the casts is here
ERRATUM: The Eide Norena selection is not "Ombra leggiere" but "Sombre forêt" from Guillaume Tell.
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We sell only opera recordings. The recordings are sent to you in paper sleeves with no tray card or inserts, just the raw discs with printed labels. These recordings are of nonprofessional quality that are in the public domain. The quality of these old opera recordings is not very good and they are meant for collectors and educational purposes only. Most of them are 30 or 40 years old, so they might be blurry, colors faded, and not sound very good, but they might not be available elsewhere. Please note that most of our recordings do not have tracks, they have 1 long track per disc.