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Although I usually do a lot of preparation for productions in which I’m involved, I deliberately avoided listening to The Magic Flute too much. I was afraid of it not weaving its magic on me, but I was wrong. I have a new sense of wonder at this miraculous work. Has anyone combined such beauty, profundity, comedy, and vocal fireworks into one package? I’m not sure anyone but Mozart could have accomplished it.

The Magic Flute – Lear, Wunderlich, Peters, Fischer-Dieskau, Crass, Lenz; Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Karl Böhm.

Since in most of my opera programs I tend to feature singers who are no longer active (or alive), I thought it time to right that wrong by featuring some of the currently active singers on the art song circuit today. These are just some of the singers I admire in this repertoire (and a list definitely to be continued).

Cecilia Bartoli – An Italian Songbook with James Levine. Decca

Thomas Quasthoff – Schubert: Schwanengesang; Brahms: Vier ernste Lieder; with Justus Zeyen. Deutsche Grammophon

Barbara Bonney – Diamonds in the Snow with Antonio Pappano. Decca

Bryn Terfel – The Vagabond with Malcolm Martineau. Deutsche Grammophon

Susan Graham – Songs of Ned Rorem with Malcolm Martineau. Erato

Susan Graham – La Belle Èpoque (Songs of Reynaldo Hahn) with Roger Vignoles. Sony

This week on The Classical Voice we’re listening to memorial music of different types. We started with “Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms. Finally John Rutter’s reassuring Requiem.

If there is was an inspiration for my radio show, it was years of listening to George Jellinek. His show The Vocal Scene, heard for years on WQXR and also syndicated to many stations was an invaluable survey of great singers and great singing. His encyclopedic knowledge and gentle manner was heartwarming, informative, and inspiring.

He will be missed.

This Sunday we’re listening Leoncavallo’s verismo classic Pagliacci. Even more than Mascagni (who occasionally gets an outting of L’amico Fritz or Iris), Leoncavallo’s music rarely gets a hearing apart from this iconic opera.

Yet even if this is lone achievement, it is a great one. Certainly the aria “Vesti la giubba”, recognizable from Caruso’s recording, Rice Krispies commercials and television parodies, is enough to guarantee its immortality.

We’ll be listening to excerpts from four recordings:

EMI – Giuseppe DiStefano, Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Rolando Panerai, Nicola Monti. Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Tullio Serafin.
EMI – Jussi Bjorling, Victoria De Los Angeles, Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill, Paul Franke. RCA Victor Orchestra and Chorus, Renato Cellini
EMI – Franco Corelli, Lucine Amara, Tito Gobbi, Mario Zanasi, Mario Spina. Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Lovro von Matacic.
Decca – Mario del Monaco, Gabriella Tucci, Cornell MacNeil, Renato Capecchi, Piero de Palma. Orchestra and Chorus of Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. (out of print).

Sarasota Opera’s 2010 Winter Festival opens February 6 with the double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.

I’ll begin with a preview of Cavalleria rusticana this week. There is something heartwarming to me about the quiet strings that open the opera, which belies the violent tragedy that ends it. Although I like L’amico Fritz a lot, Mascagni never equaled the dramatic passions of this work.

I’ll be playing much of the opera this Sunday, from a number of different recordings. Some of the singers we’ll hear are Beniamino Gigli, Giuletta Simionato, and Lina Bruna-Rasa.

Join me from 7 to 9 on WSLR 96.5 LP-FM in Sarasota or streaming online at www.wslr.org.

In preparation for Christmas, a holiday favorite in one of my favorite recordings (out-of-print I’m afraid but sometimes obtainable via Amazon):

Brigitte Fassbänder, Lucia Popp, Julia Hamari, Walter Berry, Anny Schlemm, Norma Burrowes, Edita Gruberova; the Vienna Boys Choir; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Georg Solti, conductor.

The Metropolitan Opera has just opened a new production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann which will be in theaters in the coming weeks. I’m playing a recording of excerpts from this great work:

Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Placido Domingo, Edita Gruberova, Claudia Eder, Gabriel Bacquier, Justino Diaz, James Morris, Andreas Schmidt, Christa Ludwig; Choeurs de Radio Rance, Orchestre National de France; Seiji Ozawa, conductor. DG 427 682-2

Inspired by the Key Chorale’s upcoming Back to Bach concert (Nov. 22 at 4 p.m. at the Sarasota Opera House), I played some J.S. Bach (with a little PDQ thrown in for good measure).

J.S. Bach – Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison from the Mass in B minor (BWV 232). Juliane Banse, Sibylla Rubens, sopranos. Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. Helmut Rilling, conductor. Hänssler Classic.

J.S. Bach – Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4). Yumiko Kurisu, Koki Katano, Peter Kooy, Akira Tachikawa. Bach Collegium Japan. Masaaki Suzuki, conductor. BIS

PDQ Bach – Cantata: Iphigenia in Brooklyn; New Horizons in Music Appreciation; “My Bonnie Lass She Smelleth” The Wurst of PDQ Bach. Vanguard

J.S. Bach – Part I of Weihnachtsoratorium. Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Franz Crass. Munich Bach Choir, Munich Bach Orchestra. Karl Richter, conductor. DG Archiv

J.S. Bach – Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine. St John Passion. Oxford New College Choir, Collegium Novum Ensemble. Edward Higginbottom, conductor. Naxos