| When I was a teenager I started taking voice | | | | for their excitement but for there flaws. In this |
| lessons. That was the beginning of my addiction | | | | day of digital wizardry it is possible for anyone to |
| to opera. I got a job at a record store to help | | | | sing "Di quella pira." There is something dishonest |
| feed my addiction. Minimum wage was a small | | | | about a recording that has been pieced together |
| deterrent compared to opera cds at cost. I | | | | like Frankenstein's monster. It also fosters the |
| quickly through all of the studio recordings much | | | | notion that great performers are perfect. Live |
| to my coworkers' dismay. I found the need to | | | | performances show that although they may be |
| turn to live opera recordings. | | | | great artists they make musical errors and |
| Initially I was apprehensive. Like many, when I | | | | produce less than adequate tones. When I realized |
| thought of live recordings of opera I thought of | | | | this it made me a lot more relaxed as a singer. |
| scratchy recordings rife with flaws. The first | | | | Not that I do not continue to strive for |
| recordings I bought was Cavalleria Rusticana with | | | | excellence, but I do not beat myself up in the |
| Placido Domingo and Leonie Rysanek. I was | | | | same way I used to if everything is not perfect. |
| amazed at the energy of this performance. It had | | | | Technology is amazing these days. With ipods and |
| more vitality than any studio recording I had ever | | | | other downloadable music the opera recording |
| heard before. It also became very precious to me | | | | may give way to opera mp3. Aren't ipods |
| because if featured the great Leonie Rysanek. | | | | wonderful? You can take days worth of music |
| That recording made me a big fan. | | | | everywhere you go. Long plane ride? You can |
| From Italian opera I moved to German Opera. I | | | | start Parsifal at the gate and in most cases not |
| fell in love with Richard Wagner. My father had | | | | have finished the opera by the time you have |
| the Solti Ring cycle on Lp. I listened to it over and | | | | reached your destination. Since I got my ipod I |
| over again until one day I got tired of flipping | | | | have loaded scores of recordings into it. (I think |
| records and decided to buy the CD. I knew that I | | | | back to the dark days of cassette tapes and |
| loved Birgit Nilsson but I wanted something new. I | | | | wonder how we managed.) I am sure that the |
| picked the Karl Bohm Ring. What I found was a | | | | future will bring us even more innovative ways to |
| recording that to this day I think is ultimately | | | | enjoy this great four hundred year old art form. |
| preferable to the Solti Ring. Birgit Nilsson said | | | | I did not set out to try and establish that Live |
| herself that she preferred her performance in the | | | | recordings of opera are better than studio |
| Bohm Ring because she felt that Solti's habit of | | | | recordings. There are many studio recordings that |
| doing take after take ultimately robbed the | | | | I treasure greatly. However it seems that live |
| performance of its spontaneity. I know that | | | | opera recordings have always taken a back seat |
| many love the Solti Ring cycle but I agree with | | | | to their studio counterparts. I encourage |
| Nilsson. Listening to the performance you feel | | | | everybody reading this to pick one up and try it |
| transported to Bayreuth. | | | | out. |
| As a singer I treasure live performances not only | | | | |