Amahl and the Night Visitors

Gian Carlo Menotti (Composer), David Syrus (Conductor, Performer), Royal Opera House Orchestra Covent Garden (Orchestra, Performer), Curtis Watson (Performer, Conductor), Donald Maxwell (Performer, Orchestra), John Dobson (Performer), Lorna Haywood (Performer), Lorna Haywood (Artist), James Rainbird (Artist), David Syrus (Artist), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden (Artist)

Product Details

• Performer: David Syrus, Royal Opera House Orchestra Covent Garden, Curtis Watson, Donald Maxwell, John Dobson, et al.
• Orchestra: Royal Opera House Orchestra Covent Garden, Donald Maxwell
• Conductor: David Syrus, Curtis Watson
• Composer: Gian Carlo Menotti
• Audio CD (September 15, 1998)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jay Records
• ASIN: B00000C2I7
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #124,621 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your Best Amahl Choice, November 14, 2000

By A Customer

Just a note to those trying to decide which Amahl and The Night Visitors CD to buy. Get this one! Menotti participated in making it and was happy with the result (sez so on the liner notes). Not that I am any kind of big time exprt or anything, but I had to learn the Amahl role for our Y2K community choir concert, so I listened to the video, the Schippers version + and also this one, and this was the best quality recording, plus the boy soprano was so much better + everyone else just fab. Enjoy!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bravo!, December 7, 1998

By A Customer

I am a professional Mezzo Soprano and I purchased this CD to study the role of the Mother more closely. I found Lorna Haywood to be exceptional. Her voice is gorgeous and full of vibrant colors, her diction is astounding. I have learned so much from her performance that I hope to put into my own. The young James Rainbird also does a great job with the challenging role of Amahl - very expressive and very few pitch problems. Bravo all! A must for the opera lover's collection!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Poor Ensemble Performance of a Classic, August 12, 2002

By	Rich (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Reading the reviews of others I was excited to get this CD. I know the work well having been "Amahl" some thirty year ago and now studying to to do "Melchior" this Christmas.

Score in hand I sat down to listen to the recording [recorded "in the presence of Gian Carlo Menotti -- he must have been asleep for some of it].

First the good:

The mother and Amahl are both excellent. What a nice vocal chemistry we have here, really a pleasure.

Now the bad:

The ensemble parts are weakened tremendously by the trio of kings which sound woefully under rehearsed. Since Menotti writes all of their ensemble singing in a somewhat modal manner this requires absolute perfect tuning among the three of them.
This is not the case and they are out of tune throughout. Melchior [the middle baritone part] is barely heard when singing with the other two kings. Badly done.

The ugly:

The chorus and orchestra ensemble is really poor. There are serious intonation problems throughout. Tenors in the chorus are flat as is brass in the orchestra -- especially glaring during some quiet moments.

I'm thinking about asking for my money back!