This year has brought a bumper crop of wonderful recordings of unusual operas — and one unusual recording of a repertory staple: Gounod’s Faust.
Opera
Opera Review: A Major Opera by Donizetti — Heard for the First Time!
One of Donizetti’s strongest and most original works, has finally been reconstructed and recorded by superb forces under the remarkable Mark Elder.
Opera Review: Antonio Salieri’s “Tarare” — A Startling Opera of Social Commentary
Tarare is simply one of the most important operas of the Classic era, precisely because it challenges so many aspects of Classic-era “normality.” You won’t believe your ears.
Opera Review: Ready for a Very Different “Faust”? You Should Be!
Even taking into consideration my several objections, this Faust is one of the most accomplished and intriguing opera releases of recent years.
Opera Preview: Opera North’s “All Is Calm” — Peaceful Interlude
All is Calm juxtaposes the gravity (some might say the idiocy) of war with the simple human gestures that the opposing sides extended to each other during a remarkable cease fire.
Opera Review: Pauline Viardot’s and Ivan Turgenev’s First-Rate Fairy Opera Rediscovered
Colorful, characterful, and full of worldly wisdom, The Last Sorcerer—by a skilled and imaginative composer, to a text by the great Russian novelist— receives a superb world-premiere recording, with Met mezzo Jamie Barton and bass-baritone Eric Owens.
Opera Album Review: Muslims vs. Christians in 10th-Century Spain, Portrayed in an 1881 Gounod Opera (World-Premiere Recording)
Gounod was no mere purveyor of gentle sentiments. This 1881 opera, superbly performed, shows plenty of drama and grit.
Opera Review: A Decolonized “Magic Flute” by the Isango Ensemble
What if you took canonical Western works and reimagined them from an African perspective?
Opera Feature: MassOpera’s “Freedom Ride” — An Operatic Conversation on Civil Rights, Past and Present
There can be little doubt that the urgency of the opera’s message about equality is as relevant as ever.
Opera Album Review: Offenbach’s “La Périchole,” by an All-French Cast, Combines Zest and Elegance
This is one of the zippiest, most life-affirming opera recordings I have heard in a long time. Well, this puts it a bit too blandly, because the work’s social satire also targets the smug self-satisfaction and careless cruelty of the powerful.