Originally posted by Teinosuke
Ah, I'm glad you've been listening more to Janacek! Strange you came to him so late, when for me, he was practically how I discovered opera!

I saw Vaughan Williams' Pilgrim's Progress staged a year ago by English National Opera. The music is exquisite, but it did feel rather undramatic. More like a cantata or oratorio than a true opera.

I came around on Janaceck despite finding his music so close to Puccini's.

Vaughan Williams' operas are certainly not for everyone. But then again that can be said of many composer's operas. I disliek almost everything Argento has ever done and I dislike Adam's Nixon in China more than a root canal.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
It is quite good, but rather difficult and inaccessible like everything Messiaien wrote. Same goes for Alban Berg\'s Lulu and Wozzeck. I think you would enjoy Poulenc\'s Dialogues des Caremilites. It is extraordinarilly dramatic and beautiful. The ending is quite gripping. I highly recommend Strauss\' Rosenkavalier, Cilea\'s Adriana Lecouvreur, Britten\'s Bi ...[text shortened]... t Melisande is an incredible masterpiece. Stravinsky\'s Rakes Progress is quite a piece of music.

The Stravinsky sounds intriguing: Hogarth a go go. Billy Budd has my interest; great Melville novel. Wonder why nobody's done one on the Boer War ... The Debussy, I feel ya, but I can't hack the fin de siecle. Not the opera, anyways. All I can see is Maeterlinck on a bicycle ... Jarry on a bicycle I can handle.