This recording of Massenet's 1894 opera Thaïs was taken from concert performances at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall. The idea of late 19th century French opera minus the stage splendor, especially in the sexy story of Thaïs that featured the original "wardrobe malfunction" in its original production, might seem unexciting, but the opera, which is both difficult to sing and expensive to produce, has often been performed in concert, and the key on the performer's part is to exploit the difference between the operatic stage and ...
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This recording of Massenet's 1894 opera Thaïs was taken from concert performances at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall. The idea of late 19th century French opera minus the stage splendor, especially in the sexy story of Thaïs that featured the original "wardrobe malfunction" in its original production, might seem unexciting, but the opera, which is both difficult to sing and expensive to produce, has often been performed in concert, and the key on the performer's part is to exploit the difference between the operatic stage and concert performance. That happens in this production, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, a veteran of the opera and a cast led by soprano Erin Wall as Thaïs. She is not Renée Fleming or Anna Moffo, both of whom championed this opera in wildly different ways, but that's OK: her moderate-size voice, penetrating in dramatic insight, fits the concert setting. She is nicely matched by baritone Joshua Hopkins as the lust-addled monk Athanaël, and Davis' Toronto Symphony Orchestra plays cleanly...
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