Troyanos, Tatiana

Berlioz - Les Troyens (remastered)

The Making of West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein

Filmed in 1984, the feature-length documentary Leonard Bernstein Conducts "West Side Story" follows the composer as he records the first-ever complete recording of his musical-theater masterpiece. Virtually the entire documentary takes place in a New York recording studio with a pick-up orchestra, session singers, and headliners Kiri Te Kanawa (Maria), José Carreras (Tony), Tatiana Troyanos (Anita), and Kurt Ollmann (Riff). The 89-minute program alternates rehearsal footage with complete final takes of the main numbers--including "Tonight," "America," and "Maria"--with limited comments from the principal players. Te Kanawa explains how much the music means to her, Troyanos notes how she grew up in the very streets depicted on stage, and Carreras provides a rare moment of tension when a session ends unsatisfactorily. Bernstein himself is by turns commanding, charming, enthusiastic, and weary. This is a fascinating insight into what happens as a major album is recorded. --Gary S. Dalkin

1. Arrival of the principal singers, blending off 2. I feel Pretty (Piano rehearsal) 3. First session: introduction of the principals 4. Tonight (ensemble) (rehearsal) 5. Jet Song (recording) 6. Cool (recording) 7. Tonight (Piano rehearsal) 8. Something's Coming (recording: take, playback, retakes) 9. Troyanos on working with Bernstein "Tonight (Ensemble)" (recording) 10. Tonight (Ensemble) (recording- contd.) 11. Bernstein talks about the orchestra, "I feel pretty" (recording) 12. Te Kanawa on working with Bernstein 13. Problem passages, "Dance at the Gym" (recording & playbacks) 14. Bernstein talks to the press "Dance at the Gym" (recording-contd.) 15. Recording Nina and Alexander Bernstein ("Meeting Scene" - "Dance at the Gym") (recording- contd.) 16. Te Kanawa on West Side Story, "Somewhere" (recording) 17. Troyanos on recording, "America" (rehearsal and recording) 18. One Hand, One Heart (recording) 19. Te Kanawa on singing Bernstein's music 20. Maria (piano rehearsal) 21. Maria (recording) 22. Carreras on the Interruption, "Maria" (recording- contd.) 23. Te Kanawa on working with Berstein 24. A Boy like that "I have love" (recording) 25. Gee, Officer Krupke (recording) 26. Balcony Scene (recording) 27. Berstein on recording West side Story, "Balcony Scene" (recording) 28. End titles

Wagner - Tannhauser (remastered)

This Tannhäuser is a fine example of something that unfortunately has become rare: a modern Wagner opera performance that Wagner would certainly have applauded. Under the artistic leadership of conductor James Levine, the production team of director Otto Schenk and designer Günther Schneider-Siemssen has adhered strictly to the composer's wishes. These are not hard to fathom; they were clearly articulated in his lifetime and rigorously enforced at Bayreuth long after his death. But in the last half-century they have been frequently violated by his descendants and heirs, among others. The temptation to plumb these music dramas for symbols and allegories is almost irresistible. In this production, like the later Met edition of the Ring cycle, the artists sensibly allow each audience member to develop a personal interpretation without undue interference. The singers--Richard Cassilly, Eva Marton, Tatiana Troyanos, Bernd Weikl, and John Macurdy--are superbly matched to their roles. --Joe McLellan

Richard Strauss - Ariadne auf Naxos / Levine, Norman, Battle, Troyanos, Metropolitan Opera

Richard Strauss - Capriccio / Runnicles, Te Kanawa, Hagegard, Troyanos, San Francisco Opera

The last and most subtle of Richard Strauss's operas gets a finely nuanced interpretation in this San Francisco Opera production. A generally excellent cast is highlighted not only by the radiant presence of Kiri Te Kanawa but by the deceptively robust performance of Tatiana Troyanos in her last operatic appearance before her untimely death from cancer.

The composer described Capriccio as a "conversation piece for music in one act," and he put a lot of effort into it, not only the music but the words, on which he collaborated with conductor Clemens Krauss. His verbal input was particularly appropriate in this work, because the real subject (symbolized by a conventional love triangle) is the competition (and alliance) between words and music in opera, a subject naturally close to the composer-librettist's heart. The conversation runs through the whole opera in various forms. It begins immediately after the curtain goes up, with a quarrel between the poet Olivier (Simon Keenlyside) and the composer Flamand (David Kuebler) over the respective merits of their arts. They are rivals for the hand of the widowed Countess Madeleine (Te Kanawa); she is to choose between them (i.e., between poetry and music) but she is still undecided as the final curtain descends. The intervening two hours are rich in artistic shop talk and backstage situations that will enchant sophisticated opera-lovers, as well as the love interest for the rest of us.

David Runnicles conducts with a sure sense of Straussian style; and Mauro Pagano's 18th-century set creates the right atmosphere. Keenlyside and Kuebler are eloquent and believable, Te Kanawa sweet, regal and ambiguous. Håkan Hagegård and Victor Braun give particularly vivid performances in supporting roles. --Joe McLellan

Richard Strauss's last opera, includes some of the composer's most elegant and sumptuous music. The deftly woven vocal ensembles, detailed orchestral writing and light-handed parodies of eighteenth century music show the hand of the master. Stars Kiri Te Kanawa, Hakan Hagegard, Tatiana Troyanos, and Victor Braun.

Penderecki - Die Teufel von Loudun

Berlioz - Les Troyens / Levine, Troyanos, Norman, Domingo, Metropolitan Opera

Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Tatiana Troyanos, Eric Tappy, Carol Neblett, Catherine Malfitano, Kurt Rydl, James Levine

Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company

By 1981, when this production was taped for Canadian television, Joan Sutherland's voice was unquestionably past its prime. But even in its decline, that voice remained something quite special, and the role of the troubled Druid priestess Norma was one of her specialties. A substantial advantage in this recording is the presence at the podium of her husband and coach, Richard Bonynge, who had a deep understanding of the strengths and limitations of her voice and stage persona. His pacing and balance give the voice opportunities to challenge, at least momentarily, the ravages of time.

Lotfi Mansouri, one of the great operatic entrepreneurs of the late 20th century, assembled a first-class supporting cast for Sutherland--most notably Tatiana Troyanos, to whose memory this video is dedicated. The performance of Troyanos in the role of the younger and equally troubled priestess Adalgisa is outstanding and would make this disc worth having even without its documentation of Sutherland. As far as it is possible to determine, this is the only video opera appearance of tenor Francisco Ortiz. On the basis of his performance as the Roman officer Pollione, he seems to have deserved more attention. Bass Justino Diaz gives a sterling performance as the old Druid Oroveso, and this production is, overall, preferable to the earlier Australian Opera video of Sutherland's Norma. --Joe McLellan

George London - A Celebration / Troyanos, Rysanek, Popp, Gruberova, Gedda, King, Araiza, Malfitano, Estes, Moser, Vienna

VAI DVD 4329 Music of Mozart, Offenbach, Wagner, others. Special guests: Nicolai Gedda, Lucia Popp, Tatiana Troyanos, Edita Gruberova, Catherine Malfitano, Simon Estes, Francisco Araiza, Thomas Moser, Leonie Rysanek, James King. Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna/various. 1984 concert. 120 min., Color.