L'incoronazione di Poppea discography

These lists show the audio and visual recordings of L'incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi. The opera was premiered in Venice in 1642-43, but after a 1651 revival in Naples it remained unperformed for 250 years. It began to enter the general opera repertory in the 1960s, and thereafter was increasingly performed in leading opera houses and festivals.

Summary of recording history

The first recording of L'incoronazione, with Walter Goehr conducting the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in a live stage performance, was issued in 1954. This LP version, which won a Grand Prix du Disque in 1954,[1] is the only recording of the opera that predates the revival of the piece that began with the 1962 Glyndebourne Festival production. In 1963 Herbert von Karajan and the Vienna Staatsoper issued a version described by The Gramophone as "far from authentic",[2] while the following year John Pritchard and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded an abridged version using Leppard's Glyndebourne orchestration. Leppard conducted a Sadler's Wells production, which was broadcast by the BBC and recorded on 27 November 1971. This is the only recording of the opera in English.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 1974 version, the first recording without cuts, used period instruments in an effort to achieve a more authentic sound, although Denis Arnold has criticised Harnoncourt's "over-ornamentation" of the score, particularly his use of oboe and trumpet flourishes.[3] Arnold showed more enthusiasm for Alan Curtis's 1980 recording, live from La Fenice in Venice. Curtis uses a small band of strings, recorders and continuo, with trumpets reserved for the final coronation scene.[4] Subsequent recordings have tended to follow the path of authenticity, with versions from baroque specialists including Richard Hickox and the City of London Baroque Sinfonia (1988), René Jacobs and Concerto Vocale (1990), and John Eliot Gardiner with the English Baroque Soloists.

In more recent years, videotape and DVD versions have proliferated. The first was in 1979, a version directed by Harnoncourt with the Zürich Opera and chorus. Leppard's second Glyndebourne production, that of 1984, was released in DVD form in 2004.[5] Since then, productions directed by Jacobs, Christophe Rousset and Marc Minkowski have all been released on DVD, along with Emmanuelle Haïm's 2008 Glyndebourne production in which the Festival finally rejects Leppard's big-band version in favour of Haim's own small orchestra setting.

List of recordings

The lists below refer to complete performances; excerpts and highlights are excluded. The year given is the year of the recording.

Audio

Year Cast
Poppea, Nerone,
Ottavia, Ottone, Seneca
Conductor
Opera house/Orchestra
Label[6]
1952 Sylvia Gähwiller,
Friedrich Bruckner-Rüggeberg,
Maria Helbing,
Mabelle Ott-Penetto,
Franz Kelch
Walter Goehr
Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich
LP: Concert Hall,
Cat: CHS1184
1963 Sena Jurinac,
Gerhard Stolze,
Margarita Lilowa,
Otto Wiener,
Carlo Cava
Herbert von Karajan,
Vienna Staatsoper
Audio CD: Deutsche Grammophon,
Cat: 457 674-2
1963 Ursula Buckel,
Hans-Ulrich Mlelsch,
Eugenia Zareska,
Grayston Burgess,
Eduard Wollitz
Rudolf Ewerhart,
Santini Chamber Orchestra
LP: Vox,
Cat: OPBX113
1964 Magda László,
Richard Lewis,
Frances Bible,
Walter Alberti,
Carlo Cava
John Pritchard,
Glyndebourne Chorus
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
LP: HMV,
Cat: SLS 908
1966 Claudia Parada,
Mirto Picchi,
Mirella Parutto,
Renato Cesari,
Boris Christoff
Carlo Franci,
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
CD: Opera d'oro,
Cat: OPD1243
1966 Carol Bogard,
Charles Bressler,
Sharon Hayes,
John Thomas,
Herbert Beattie
Alan Curtis,
Oakland Symphony Orchestra
University of California chorus
LP: Cambridge,
Cat: CRM 8901
1971 Janet Baker,
Robert Ferguson,
Katherine Pring,
Tom McDonnell,
Clifford Grant
Raymond Leppard,
Sadlers Wells Opera
(Sung in English; BBC broadcast 21 November 1971
Oriel Music Society,
Cat: OMS 046/3
1974 Helen Donath,
Elisabeth Söderström,
Cathy Berberian,
Paul Esswood,
Giancarlo Luccardi
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Concentus Musicus Wien
Teldec
Cat: 2292-42547-2
1980 Carmen Balthrop,
Carolyn Watkinson,
Andrea Bierbaum,
Henri Ledroit,
Ulrik Cold
Alan Curtis
Il Complesso Barocco
LP: Aperta
Cat: LMA3008
1988 Daniela Dessì,
Josella Ligi,
Adelisa Tabiadon,
Susanna Anselmi,
Armando Caforio,
Kumiko Yoshii
Alberto Zedda
Bassano Pro Arte Orchestra
LP & CD: Nuova Era
Cat: J6737/9
1988 Arleen Auger,
Della Jones,
Linda Hirst,
James Bowman,
Gregory Reinhart
Richard Hickox
City of London Baroque Sinfonia
Virgin Classics
Cat: 90775-2
1990 Danielle Borst,
Guillemette Laurens,
Jennifer Larmore,
Axel Köhler,
Michael Schopper
René Jacobs
Concerto Vocale
Harmonia Mundi
Cat: 901330/2
1996 Sylvia McNair,
Dana Hanchard,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Michael Chance,
Francesco Ellero d'Artegna
John Eliot Gardiner,
English Baroque Soloists
Archiv
Cat: 447 088-2
1997 Anna Caterina Antonacci,
David Daniels,
Nadja Michael,
Axel Köhler,
Kurt Moll
Ivor Bolton,
Members of Bavarian State Orchestra
Farao Classics,
Cat: B108 020
2000 Guillemette Laurens,
Flavio Oliver,
Gloria Banditelli,
Fabian Schofrin,
Ivan Garcia
Gabriel Garrido,
Ensemble Elyma
K617,
Cat: K617110
2005 Patrizia Biccirè,
Liliana Rugiero,
Angela Bucci
William Matteuzzi,
Raffaele Costantini
Sergio Vartolo,
Capella Musicale di San Petronio
Brillant,
Cat: BLC 92752
2010 Emanuela Galli,
Roberta Mameli,
Xenia Meijer,
José María Lo Monaco,
Raffaele Costantini
Claudio Cavina,
La Venexiana
Glossa,
Cat: GCD 920916

Video

Year Cast
Poppea, Nerone, Ottavia, Ottone, Seneca
Conductor
Opera house/Orchestra
Label[6]
1979 Rachel Yakar,
Eric Tappy,
Trudeliese Schmidt,
Paul Esswood,
Matti Salminen
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Zurich Opera and Chorus
(Stage direction by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle)
DVD: Deutsche Grammophon,
Cat. No.0734174
1984 Maria Ewing,
Dennis Bailey,
Cynthia Clarey,
Dale Duesing,
Robert Lloyd
Raymond Leppard
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Festival chorus
(Glyndebourne Festival, 1984: dir. Peter Hall)
DVD: Kultur,
Cat. No.PC47368
1993 Patricia Schumann,
Richard Croft,
Kathleen Kuhlmann,
Jeffrey Gall,
Harry Peters
René Jacobs
Concerto Köln
(Schwetzingen Festival, 1993)
Arthaus,
Cat: 100 108
1994 Cynthia Hayman,
Brigitte Balleys,
Ning Liang,
Michael Chance,
Harry van der Kamp
Christophe Rousset
Les Talens Lyriques
Muziektheater Amsterdam, dir. Pierre Audi
DVD: Kultur,
Cat:
2000 Mireille Delunsch,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Sylvie Brunet,
Charlotte Hellekant,
Denis Sedov
Marc Minkowski
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Festival d'Aix en Provence, 2000
Bel Air,
Cat:
2008 Danielle de Niese,
Alice Coote,
Tamara Mumford,
Iestyn Davies,
Paolo Battaglia
Emmanuelle Haïm
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Glyndebourne Festival, 2008. Stage direction: Robert Carsen
Decca,
Cat: 0743339

References

Notes
  1. "Trade News". Gramophone (London: Haymarket): 95. November 1954. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  2. "Gundula Janowitz features in a far from authentic Poppea". Gramophone (London: Haymarket): 94. July 1998. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  3. Arnold, Denis (March 1975). "Monteverdi:L'incoronazione di Poppea complete". Gramophone (London: Haymarket): 101. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  4. Arnold, Denis (April 1982). "Monteverdi:L'incoronazione di Poppea ed. Curtis". Gramophone (London: Haymarket): 88. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  5. Lawrence, Richard (September 2004). "Monteverdi:L'incoronazione di Poppea". Gramophone (London: Haymarket): 76. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Recordings of L' incoronazione di Poppea on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
Sources