#19 -- OP excluded "best of" albums for some reason. Which, depending on how you define "best of" albums, excludes anyone who died or whose best work was recorded before the LP era, c. 1952.
#20 -- Hey! Schubert should get an "(obviously)"!
And OP should know that that is a somewhat Brit-heavy list. (Aside from the fact that it doesn't contain any album names, the point of my objection in #5.)
#19 -- OP excluded "best of" albums for some reason. Which, depending on how you define "best of" albums, excludes anyone who died or whose best work was recorded before the LP era, c. 1952.
And even in the LP era, there are a lot of artists whose best work isn't in album form. Most country singers, for example, are better when distilled into a "best of," because most country albums contain a lot of filler. This is also true of genres as diverse as R&B, dance, blues, and even rock and roll pre-1966.
The best Madonna album, by far, is The Immaculate Collection. I love Creedence Clearwater Revival, but the compilation is so good that I see no reason to buy the albums. I love Patsy Cline, but she did songs, not albums. And many, many other similar examples.
And OP should know that that is a somewhat Brit-heavy list. (Aside from the fact that it doesn't contain any album names, the point of my objection in #5.)
And your objection was why I was careful to list not just specific operas, but specific recordings of specific operas.
--M.
Most country singers, for example, are better when distilled into a "best of," because most country albums contain a lot of filler. This is also true of genres as diverse as R&B, dance, blues, and even rock and roll pre-1966.
Excellent points, all.
I was careful to list not just specific operas, but specific recordings of specific operas.
Yes. I couldn't be arsed to do that, so I didn't bother with classical. List threads are silly enough even when people stick to the terms set by the OP.
I've never heard Die Frau Ohne Schatten, by the way. I probably would have put Salome on a list for beginners (if I could have been arsed to come up with a specific performance.) I should look out for DFOS.
I've never heard Die Frau Ohne Schatten, by the way. I probably would have put Salome on a list for beginners
It's tough to choose just one opera by any of these guys. Salome may be a better choice for Strauss--it is, if nothing else, shorter. It's also more "modern," though.
Anyway, the woman without a shadow (of the title) is the Empress, who lacks a shadow because she is the daughter of the king of the spirits, and is immortal, and immortal beings in the world of this opera cast no shadow. The setup is that she has to come up with a shadow in three days, or her husband the Emperor will be turned to stone. Not having managed to come up with one by natural means (apparently, getting pregnant will net you a shadow, or so the implication goes), she resolves to go down among the common men and acquire one by trickery.
The opera contains MANY moments of surpassing beauty, of the kind that only Strauss could come up with (and, as with Salome, they stand out all the more being contrasted with what I'll call the "dramatic ugliness" with which a lot of the music for the unpleasant characters is written.) Strauss is in many ways a lot like Wagner in his sensibilities and attitude towards constructing an opera, and Die Frau is Strauss at his most Wagnerian in that sense. But Strauss was always a better composer, and it really shines through in this piece.
Also, Die Frau is one of the Strauss/Hoffmannsthal collaborations, and old uncle Hugo put his best work into this one, too. It's probably the one of their six operas (the other five being Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella, and the inferior Die Aegyptische Helena) in which the two collaborators' input is equally prominent.
It's not performed all that often, because it's huge (and therefore expensive), and it's hard to stage convincingly. Many people find the story off-puttingly opaque, but those people aren't trying very hard, in my opinion. I also think the objection is out of date. In our modern age when fantasy/sf storylines are everywhere, why not in opera too?
I love Ariadne auf Naxos, too--long stretches of GORGEOUS music in that one. That'd be another good choice for a beginner (and it's funny, too).
(if I could have been arsed to come up with a specific performance.)
The one I have has Cheryl Studer singing the title role, and Bryn Terfel as Jochanaan. Terfel's great, as always.
I saw Deborah Voigt sing her first live Salome here in Chicago. She had lost, like, 75 pounds to play the role, and she looked great naked. Speaking, um, objectively.
--M.
Incidentally, Voigt was also the Empress in Lyric's production of Die Frau ohne Schatten, the next season (which I also saw; I didn't find it off-putting or unconvincing or any of those things, but then again I already knew the story).
--M.
I certainly wasn't going to recommend specific recordings, particularly as that is such a personal thing, and also I would have had to suggest specific pieces as well! I think if he just finds what is available from the composers I mentioned he should find music of interest.
As long as his first piece of Beethoven isn't Wellington's Victory of course...
Born On The Wrong Planet - The String Cheese Incident
Head For The Hills - Head For The Hills
Farmhouse - Phish
Grupo 5 - Grupo Cinco
I would second the shouts for pet sounds and pearl.
My own personal favourite albums are, in no particular order
Dummy - Portishead
What Sound - Lamb
I'm Wide Awake its Morning - Bright Eyes
Amedaus Phoenix - Phoenix
In Utero - Nirvana
Black Sunday - Cypress Hill
Leftism - Leftfield
This is it - The Strokes
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
Return of the last Chance Saloon - Bluetones
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
Delphic - Delphic
If Your Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian
Takk - Sigor Ros
A Guide for Daylight Hours - Ballboy
Lost Riot - Hope of the States
Up the Brackett - Libertines