Massenet: Hérodiade [Box set]

Jules Massenet (Composer), Valery Gergiev (Conductor), San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Orchestra), Plácido Domingo (Performer), Renée Fleming (Performer), Dolora Zajick (Performer), Juan Pons (Performer), Eduardo del Campo (Performer), Kristin Clayton (Performer), Kenneth Cox (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Dolora Zajick, Juan Pons, Eduardo del Campo, et al.
• Orchestra: San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus
• Conductor: Valery Gergiev
• Composer: Jules Massenet
• Audio CD (November 21, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AY9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,976 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Fleming, Renée
  • #23 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > C to G

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Introduction

2. Act 1. Scene 1.: "Alerte! Levez-vous! La palais est ouvert!"

3. Act 1. Scene 1.: "Encore une dispute!"

4. Act 1. Scene 1.: "Ah! Salomé! Dans ce palais"

5. Act 1. Scene 1.: "Jérusalem! Salut! Ville fortunée!"

6. Act 1. Scene 2.: Introduction- "Elle a fui le palais"

7. Act 1. Scene 2.: "Salomé, Salomé! Reviens, je te veux!"

8. Act 1. Scene 3.: "Venge-moi d'une suprême offense!"

9. Act 1. Scene 3.: "Frappe donc!"

10. Act 1. Scene 4.: "Calmez donc vos fureurs"

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Hérodiade, opera in 4 acts: Act 3. Scene 7.: 'Dors, ô cité perverse!' - Plácido Domingo

2. Hérodiade, opera in 4 acts: Act 3. Scene 8.: 'Ah! Phanuel!' - Plácido Domingo

3. Act 3. Scene 7.: "Dors, ô cité perverse!"

4. Hérodiade, opera in 4 acts: Act 3. Scene 8.: Prélude - Plácido Domingo

5. Hérodiade, opera in 4 acts: Act 3. Scene 9.: 'Hérode, à toi ces palmes, à toi ces fleurs!' - Plácido Domingo

6. Act 3. Scene 9.: "Hérode, à toi ces palmes, à toi ces fleurs!"

7. Act 3. Scene 8.: "Ah! Phanuel!"

8. Act 3. Scene 8.: Prélude

9. Act 3. Scene 10.: "C'en est fait! La Judée appartient à Tibère!"

10. Act 3. Scene 12.: "Peuple juif! Rends justice"

See all 37 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Recorded live at the San Francisco Opera, this Hérodiade assumes that this less-than-great opera--in which the legendary Salome has little of the fascinating, sexual neurosis in the better-known Richard Strauss dramatization--needs all the muscle the performers can give it, and the results aren't subtle. The score is cut (which may not be a bad thing), and though cast members are reasonably well-schooled in the French text, this is hardly a tidy performance, the larger point being the dramatic heat they bring to the piece. And if Renée Fleming, Placido Domingo, and Dolora Zajick firing on all cylinders wasn't enough, they're led by powerhouse conductor Valery Gergiev in one of his few, non-Russian opera recordings. Sound quality is good for live. It's two discs rather than three (such as Michel Plasson's version on EMI with Studer, Heppner, and Hampson). With a gun pointed to my head, this would be my first choice. David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Herodiade is a must have!, March 12, 2000

By 

Isabella Channel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Massenet: Hérodiade (Audio CD)

I just can't understand why Herodiade is not as popular as Werther or Manon, the music is more than memorable. As so often happens, after decades of neglect now we have 2 recordings, and both very good. This live from San Francisco recording has 2 big pluses: Renee Fleming and Placido Domingo. Dolora Zajic makes a huge sound and is exciting, but Juan Pons is nowhere near Thomas Hampson on the EMI set. The EMI advantages are some extra music, (notably ballets and the second verse of the tenor aria), and superior sound...and Thomas Hampson and Jose van Dam. I really don't care for Cheryl Studer's brand-free soprano singing. Ben Heppner is sound but he is no Domingo. Both conductors are good, but Michel Plasson is more at home than Gergiev. Since these are the only 2 recordings of Herodiade, get them both.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (Almost) divine voluptuousness, November 17, 2001

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Massenet: Hérodiade (Audio CD)

Massenet's Herodiade has been enjoying a comeback in recent years. The opera is a bit stagey, even for Massenet, in that its his first work which truly exploits his grand obsession with unrequited desire, and how it can be expressed either as secular passion or sublimated as voluptuous eroticism; in this work (unlike in his later "Thaïs," where he finally figured out how to work things out more successfully in terms of dramatics) most of the great love arias are sung to someone who is entirely absent offstage, which makes for a kind of strange opera. But the music is spectacular--as beautiful as anything he ever wrote. His great aria for Salomé, "Il est bon, il est doux," has made a spectacular showcase for the talents of lyric sopranos such as Kiri Te Kanawa; although Renée Fleming was born to play the role of Salomé, and generally acquits herself very well, her rendition of "Il est bon" doesn't quite have the vocal control one would have hoped from her. (Nonetheless, she brings it off.) Placido Domingo and Dolora Zajick are predictably perfect as Jean le Baptiste and Herodiade, even though their characters don't have the best music in the opera; the character who besides Salomé does, Herod, is played adequately but not thrillingly by Juan Pons (he doesn't seem to bring much heat to the role). The recording is live from the San Francisco Opera, and does seem to suffer from this: some of the instrumental performances seem to waver a bit, and the sound of feet running is a big distraction during the Babylonian Dance and other scenes.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very desirable French stravaganza, December 27, 1999

By 

J. Luis Juarez Echenique "pepechenique" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Massenet: Hérodiade (Audio CD)

I can't understand why Herodiade was not recorded (complete) before. It's such a crowd pleaser! Great arias, great chorus, ballets. This live San Francisco recording is very exciting. Domingo, Fleming and Zajick are electrifying, only Juan Pons is so-so. The EMI recording has the ever suave Thomas Hampson, but Cheryl Studer is nowhere as good as Renee Fleming, and even if Ben Heppner is both noble and sonorous, Domingo has that unmistikable star-quality that makes you stand and listen.