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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best stereo recording of a vastly underrated opera, January 3, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Humperdinck - Hansel And Gretel (Audio CD)
This beautifully-sung and -recorded version of the only German opera between Parsifal and Salome to hold its place in the repertory has a lot of competition. But few stereo recordings can match the glory of von Stade's singing, or the rich, full Wagnerian sound elicited by Sir John Pritchard. This opera is filled with gorgeous orchestral detail that can't always be heard in the opera house, because it can often drown out the "young" size voices frequently cast. Yet this recording manages to balance it all quite well. Ileana Cotrubas as Gretel is not as rich a sound as may be considered ideal, but she is well-recorded and rarely sounds thin or brittle. Soderstroem's Witch is an acquired taste, but she does not ruin the performance. One of the standouts of this recording is the rich and sumptuous voice of the young Kiri te Kanawa as the Sandman. This small but pivotal scene has never been recorded more beautifully than here. The children's choruses at the end are lovely, and they sound more like "real" children than in other recordings, which frequently use more academically-trained choirs. There are other good recordings of this work. Jennifer Larmore's version on Teldec is beautifully sung, but is not recorded as richly. Sir Colin Davis on Philips brings out much the same orchestral beauty, but his version simply isn't as sweetly sung. For nearly everything in balance for a performance of this opera, the Pritchard version is the one to have.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Opera For Young And Not So Young, November 28, 2003
This review is from: Humperdinck - Hansel And Gretel (Audio CD)
HANSEL AND GRETEL is often classified as a children's opera, but opera buffs question the accuracy of such a classification. Certainly it is based on a classic children's story, and it can be staged in a way that makes it appealing to children, but there is more to it than often meets the eye. For example, the plot does not involve a wicket stepmother who forces the children away, but a stressed mother who gets angry with the children. This is a family that lives in poverty, but is bound by love. This gives the piece a certain amount of drama. The music is robust and is heavily influenced by the works of Wagner. There are themes that introduce the various characters and scenes. There are beautiful solo pieces, duets, and ensembles, and beautiful parts written for the children's chorus. This recording is excellent. It has the wonderful voices of Frederica von Stade and Ileana Cotrubas as Hansel and Gretel respectively. Christa Ludwig is the mother and Siegmund Nimsgren sings the jovial role of the father. The recording also features the voices of Kiri Te Kanawa and Ruth Welting. The female voices alone make it worthwhile. Thomas Pritchard conducts the Gurzenich Orchestra. The sound of the orchestra is lavish and the ensemble seems familiar with the work. While this ensemble does not seem to have too many recordings, the strength of the orchestra in this recording would make a listener wonder why. Though there are many wonderful historic recordings of this work from the golden age of German opera singing, this is certainly a recording that will appeal to the modern listener.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
I found the one for me at last, December 15, 2009
I used to own this recording on LP and loved it. The CD release is even better than I remember. With a stellar cast led by Ileana Cotrubas as Gretel and Frederica Von Stade as Hansel the recording/performance excels in musicality, acting, and the right amount of dramatic tension the opera requires. Christa Ludwig sang Mother for the first time in this recording and does a great job. Elisabeth Soderstrom's Witch is well sung with the right amount of straightforward singing and evil-accented phrases. She is never "cartoony" in her protrayal. Her rendition of the line, "I love little children so much I could eat them up!" (my translation) is truly chilling. I do miss the sound of her oven blowing-up (and who doesn't like a good oven blow-up), but there are other sounds that add to your imagining of the visuals. The orchestra plays excellently and balances well with the singers. The pacing is just right, never too slow or too fast. The singer's diction is excellent, even in the gingerbread children choir. There are only two things that I find weak here: 1) The Father (sorry I forgot his name) is no match for the rest of the cast and sings rather woodenly. 2) There is no booklet documentation, just a CD with it. "Ok", I thought, "I know what's going on in the story enough to follow it and I can get a libretto off the web". NO! I cannot find one site that has a libretto of this opera. In the grand scheme of things this is a minor irritation. At this great price for 2 CDs you can't go wrong with this choice. By the way, did I mention that I'm listening to it right now and have lost my train of thought and had numerous misspellings due to getting caught up in it?
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