SF Chronicle - Find the Errors

Today's column on classical opera recordings contains at least 3 glaring errors. Can anyone spot them and/or others?

A critic's best bets for previewing the coming season Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic Sunday, August 17, 2003 ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/ 2003/08/17/PK148...

The coming fall season at the San Francisco Opera marks the first phase in General Director Pamela Rosenberg's long-range austerity plan. By New Year's Day, only six productions will have taken the stage at the War Memorial Opera House, in contrast to nine last season

This is on EMI, not DG.

He should have included Ghiaurov, not Talvela, since Ghiaurov is Philip.

Right you are. BTW - the DGG is still in print, though maybe n/a in the States. It IS available from Canada at mymusic.com.

Bill Kasimer found one of the other glaring errors - the Giulini DC is on EMI, not DG.

One to go.

An important distinction: Provatorov's recording is that of the revised opera, Katerina Ismailova (Angel/Melodiya 3-LP set, RCL-4100) and I believe this is the first recording of the revision (circa 1963). I know of no CD issue, although my set is good enough to transfer and I will probably do it one of these days. Another recording of the revision is on Le Chant du Monde label (LDC 2781021/23, a 3-CD set), it features soloists and orchestra of the Kiev Opera, under the direction of Stepan Tourtchak.

Ramon Khalona

Since no one picked up on the third glaring error, here it is:

''Cavalleria Rusticana' and 'Pagliacci': [snip] And although each opera can be heard individually on CD, we might as well treat the pair as a single unit so long as the company is doing the same.

The best way to do that is still with Herbert von Karajan's classic pairing with the Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon), a recording whose vocal ardor and orchestral power are hard to beat.'

Of course, the orchestra - not to mention the chorus - in both of these Karajan recordings is that of Teatro alla Scala, Milano. The mistake is made even worse when the reviewer cites the 'orchestral power [that's] hard to beat.' Indeed, the La Scala orchestra is wonderful here, but the reviewer is obviously stoking received opinion on the Berlin band's 'power' to bolster his recommendation.