Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
Tue, Jun 28 2011, 12:31PM
Putting aside the poor packaging about which other members have complained, is this a performance to stand beside the best on the shelves. I have doubts about Kaufmann for a start - I'm not to keen on the leather-lunged approach. How about Abbado?
Wed, Jun 29 2011, 8:11AM
#2
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
Having listened to the whole thing the other morning (it's on Spotify in case you want to sample it), I'd say it was a very serious modern contender - for Stemme and Abbado well worth considering. Kaufmann is more of an acquired taste, but there's no doubting the man's ability to sing (and anyway, the show's surely Leonore's?). It's a long time since we've have a performance this strong and the dialogue struck me as rather well done. (And there's no Leonore No 3 which, while useful in the theatre, tends to hold things up on disc.)
Wed, Jun 29 2011, 10:14AM
#3
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
Having listened to the whole thing the other morning (it's on Spotify in case you want to sample it), I'd say it was a very serious modern contender - for Stemme and Abbado well worth considering. Kaufmann is more of an acquired taste, but there's no doubting the man's ability to sing (and anyway, the show's surely Leonore's?). It's a long time since we've have a performance this strong and the dialogue struck me as rather well done. (And there's no Leonore No 3 which, while useful in the theatre, tends to hold things up on disc.)
You can pick it up for a penny less than £13 at the moment. I will not say where because I know some have problems with that organisation, so, HMV, as well.
Hesitate not.
Thu, Jun 30 2011, 8:29AM
#4
RE: ABBADO Fidelio
personally i think that the abbado fidelio is a good mid-price option. the tempi seem right (even though IMHO noone beats böhm when it comes to conducting fidelio) and the overall cast solid to very good. i do like kaufmann and find his florestan utterly convincing. stemme's voice is not a recording voice, having seen her live i have to say that her voice doesn't translate well to disc. there is a flutter in the voice that is not apparent when you hear her in the flesh, but on disc i find it a bit grating at times. her leonore is good (though not exceptional) but doesn't bowl me over in a way that the leonores of for instance jurinac or behrens do. i would certainly buy the abbado fidelio again ... and do recommend it, but it should not be ones only fidelio on the shelves ;)
Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:30AM
#5
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
I was a little dissapointed by this recording. The first act is one of the worst I have ever heard just because Marzelline has got a very sharp voice (that ruin the quatuor and the trio) and Pizarro is just average without the beauty of line and the darkness of DFD in the Fricsay set for instance.
But fortunately, with the entrance of Kaufmann, everything changes. The beauty of tone and the dramatic presence of the german tenor is far better than the one of Vickers. And Leonore, Rocco and Abbado follow him and give one the best second act of the discography.
Well, if you love Fidelio, just listen the first act with Fricsay (with Rysanek and Frick), Bernstein (with the marvellous Lucia Popp and Janowitz even if the role is a little too dramatic for her) or Haïtink (Jessye Norman is a fantastic Leonore and Kurt Moll is very good) and enjoy the second act with Abbado.
At least, I have to mention that I dislike the Klemperer's recording at all because the tempi are really too slow and give the feeling of listening an oratorio.
Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:37AM
#6
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
PS : please forgive me for the grammar mistakes (if you want to correct them, I won't be hurt at all) but I'm french and this forum gives me, both, the opportunity to share my passion for classical music and to improve my english.
Best regards,
Mon, Aug 1 2011, 3:11PM
#7
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
Interesting that forum members prefer Kaufmann to Vickers as to my ears this recoridng cements the feeling I have had for some time that he sounds remarkably like the great Vickers.
Sat, Aug 13 2011, 7:10AM
#8
RE: Is the ABBADO Fidelio worth buying?
Abbado was for me always a safe recommendation (like safe heaven, very rarely a great choice for what he has done. Except for some italian composers (Verdi's Boccanegra, Rossini's Viaggio a Reims) and maybe the Schubert Symphonies, I don't think he ever created some definitive performances (even his Mahler is safe but not that great, in the real sense of the word). The man doesn't take risks, doesn't pave his own path. Particularly, in Beethoven is too safe for a composer who risked so much.
Therefore, his Fidelio is good to listen, anyway..., but, if you build a library, absolutely not! The old Klemperer, despite the slow tempi, creates an incredible sense of the drama and passion, building the whole thing till the end. Bernstein, risking too much, creates his own convincing vision of this great work. Fricsay moves along his unique way (but in a rather poor recording) and, in his more moderate but bold way, Haitink is utterly convincing and personal too.
As for the singers, Kaufmann might be to some more appealing, but the man has a long way to reach the spirit, the maturity and the conviction of Vickers. Stemme is a poor comparison to a Ludwig, Janowitz or even a Norman for the same reasons. The same applies to the other roles. Who can reach the depth of the voice of Frick, the gentleness of Riderbusch or the solid voice of Moll as Rocco. The same goes to the incredible Marzellinas of the past and so on.
However, ther is one reason to buy the new Fidelio of Abbado. To discover how the new managers (the current artists) of classical music are about to handle and...hand over this great music to the next generations. Otherwise, stick to the old (and unfortunately the only truly great) tradition.
Parla
Putting aside the poor packaging about which other members have complained, is this a performance to stand beside the best on the shelves. I have doubts about Kaufmann for a start - I'm not to keen on the leather-lunged approach. How about Abbado?
It's at medium price, although the extract played on CD Review did not convince me that Kauffman is a serious alternative to Vickers but the view was that it did not really take off until his entrance into the work.