Live Offerings - Saturday, December 19, 2009

The strongest, most interesting choice today is probably the Met Tales of Hoffmann broadcast, but there are other offerings worth a look as well. WWFM is re-airing the Bayreuth Meistersinger from this past summer; Deutschlandradio Kultur offers another chance to hear Klaus Florian Vogt in Korngold's Die Tode Stadt from Frankfurt; NPR World of Opera is airing Handel's Ariodante from this past summer's Beaune Baroque Opera Festival with Karina Gauvin; several stations are carrying a Geneva performance of Chabrier's L'Etoile with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt; Radio Tre and Radio Oesterreich International offer Tristan und Isolde from the Vienna State Opera with Robert Dean Smith and Violetta Urmana; and Czech Radio is airing Gounod's Faust with Piotr Beczala and Soile Isokoski (if one doesn't think of Kwangchul Youn as a liability...).

Now for the details:

• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Oper Frankfurt am Main, a November 22 performance of Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, with Klaus Florian Vogt, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Michael Nagy, Hedwig Fassbender, Anna Ryberg, Jenny Carlstedt, Julian Prégardien and Hans-Jürgen Lazar, conducted by Leitung: Sebastian Weigle.
• Espace 2, Dwojke Polskie Radio, NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, a November 9 performance of Chabrier's L'Etoile, with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, René Schirrer, Jean Doyen, Fabrice Farina, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Blandine Staskiewicz and Jérôme Savary, conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce.
• Metropolitan Opera (on numerous stations) - Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, with Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsey, Joseph Calleja and Alan Held, conducted by James Levine.
• NPR World of Opera - From the International Baroque Opera Festival in Beaune, France, Handel's Ariodante, with Ann Hallenberg, Karina Gauvin, Maarten Engeltjes, Jael Azzaretti,; Krystian Adam and; Sergio Foresti, conducted by Federco Maria Sardelli.
• WWFM - From this past summer's Bayreuth Festival, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, with Alan Titus, Artur Korn, Charles Reid, Rainer Zaun, Adrian Eröd, Markus Eiche, Edward Randall, Hans-Jürgen Lazar, Florian Hoffmann, Martin Snell, Hans Schwarz Mario Klein, Diógenes Randes, Klaus Florian Vogt, Norbert Ernst, Michaela Kaune, Carola Guber and Friedemann Röhlig, conducted by Sebastian Weigle.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) & Radio Tre (RAI) - From the Vienna State Opera, a December 14 performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with Robert Dean Smith, Violetta Urmana, Yvonne Naef, Bo Skovhus, Franz-Josef Selig, Clemens Unterreiner, Wolfgang Bankl, Gergely Nemeti and Peter Jelosits, conducted by Simon Rattle.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From the Vienna State Opera, Gounod's Faust, with Piotr Beczala, Kwangchul Youn, Boaz Daniel, Soile Isokoski, Zoryana Kushpler, Hans Peter Kammerer, Roxana Constantinescu, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.

Messiah Alert!
This being the week before Christmas, there are many opportunities to hear Handel's Messiah (by my count I have entered eight for this week!), including a gem of a performance I heard the other evening with the New York Philharmonic, Helmut Rilling conducting a the Philharmonic's chamber orchestra with the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. The soloists are all more than respectable, but the glory of this performance is the utter clarity and beauty of the choral singing. There will be more than one chance to hear it (unfortunately abridged to fit a two hour time slot - the performance included all three parts and ran about an hour and a half), as many stations in the U.S. will be carrying it as part of their NY Philharmonic series this week.

Happy listening - and Merry Christmas to all!

Live Offerings, Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Part I

Getting a late start on this blog today (thanks to a late but great party last night). Some things are already underway:

• Sveriges Radio P2 - Stravinski's The Rakes Progress, from Malmö, with Nikola Matisic, Hulda Björk Gardarsdóttir, Bengt Krantz, Emma Lyrén, Ethel Schelin, Daniel Hellström, Sellem - Rickard Söderberg, Thomas Hildebrandt and Skådespelare - Keijo J. Salmela, conducted by Staffan Larsson.
• WUFT-FM HD2 - From Houston Grand Opera, a Choral Gala.
• Bartok Radio - Its Budapest Ring Cycle continues with a June 14 performance of Gotterdammerung, with Christian Franz, Oskar Hillebrandt, Eric F. Halfvarson, Hartmut Welker, Linda Watson, Markovics Erika, Cornelia Kallisch, Gál Erika, Németh Judit, Szabóki Tünde, Korondi Anna, Fodor Gabriella and Shöck Atala, conducted by Adan Fischer.
• BBC Radio 3 - From Opera North, Massenet's Werther, with Paul Nilon, Alice Coote, Fflur Wyn, Peter Savidge, Donald Maxwell, Richard Burkhard and Joshua Ellicott, conducted by Richard Farnes.

And about to start:

• CBC Two - From La Scala in Milan, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with David Daniels, Rosemary Joshua, Emil Wolk, Daniel Okulitch, Gordon Gietz, and Erin Wall, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Staatsoper Hannover, a November 14 perfromance of Wagner's Das Rheingold, with Tobias Schabel, Jin-Ho Yoo, Young-Hoon Heo, Robert Künzli, Stefan Adam, Jörn Eichler, Albert Pesendorfer, Young Myoung Kwon, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Arantxa Armentia, Okka von der Damerau, Nicole Chevalier, Julia Faylenbogen and Mareike Morr, conducted by Wolfgang Bozic.
• DR P2 - From the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, an August 29 performance of Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Tom Randle, Sine Bundgaard, Pietro Spagnoli, Magnus Staveland, Alexandrina Pendatchanska and Sunhae Im, condiucted by René Jacobs.
• Espace Musique - From Vienna State Opera, Wagner's Lohengrin, with Robert Dean Smith, Morten Frank Larsen, Ain Anger, Falk Struckmann, Janina Baechle and Camilla Nylund, conducted by Leif Segerstram.
• KBYU - From Houston Grand Opera, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Iestyn Davies, Laura Claycomb, Jon Michael Hill, Norman Reinhardt, Liam Bonner, Marie Lenormand, Katie van Kooten, Matthew Rose, Steven Cole, Ryan McKinny, Robert Pomakov and Leann Sandel-Pantaleo, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - From The Liceu in Barcelona, Szymanovsky's Krol Roger, with Juan Pons and Anne Schwanenwilms and Scott Hendricks.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From Wexford, an October 31 performance of a double bill: Chabrier's Une éducation manquée, with K. Jayasinghe, P. Murrihy; and Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio, with G. Bellavia, C. Pervin, G. Pelligra, V. Prato, L. Dall’Amico and A. Gill, both conducted by C. Franklin.
• RTP Antena 2 - From Thuríngia, a February 2 performance of Mendelssohn's Soldatenliebschaft, with Gerlinde Illich, Linlin Fan, Joan Ribalta, Bernardo Kim and Serge Noviqueconducted by Eric Solén.
• WETA - From Washington National Opera, one more airing of Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudio Huckle and Andrew Foster Williams, conducted by William Lacey.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From Houston Grand Opera, a Choral Gala.
• WQXR - from Los Angeles Opera, Verdi's Requiem, with Adrianne Pieczonka, Stephanie Blythe, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, and René Pape, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• XLNC1- From Houston Grand Opera, Verdi's Rigoletto, with Scott Hendricks, Albina Shagimuratova, Eric Cutler, Andrea Silvestrelli, Maria Markina, Bradley Garvin, Jamie Barton, Adam Cioffari, Shon Sims, Octavio Moreno, Faith Sherman and Tommy Ajai George, conducted by Patrick Summers.

More to come shortly. Happy listening.....