Massenet: Thaïs / Sills, Milnes, Gedda; Maazel

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This set is primarily for devoted fans of Beverly Sills, for fans of Sherrill Milnes in his prime, and for those who must have the uncut version where it's available. The estimable Ms. Sills was in less than ideal voice for the making of this recording, which is unfortunate, but the artistry still shines through. Mr. Milnes sings with rich tone. But Lorin Maazel's conducting is leaden and out of empathy with the score. --Sarah Bryan Miller

Massenet: Thaïs / Sills, Milnes, Gedda; Maazel, Music, Jules Massenet, Lorin Maazel, Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, New Philharmonia Orchestra, John Alldis Choir, Sherrill Milnes, Norma Burrowes, Classical, Classical Music, French Romantic Opera, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio, Opera/Operetta
Massenet: Thaïs / Sills, Milnes, Gedda; Maazel
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Lapsing Faith and Lost Beauty
  • Stylish Thais Set
  • AN UNDER-APPRECIATED GEM
  • A fad
  • Lovely but too late
 Massenet: Thaïs / Sills, Milnes, Gedda; Maazel
Jules Massenet , Lorin Maazel , Beverly Sills , Nicolai Gedda , New Philharmonia Orchestra , John Alldis Choir , Sherrill Milnes , and Norma Burrowes
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by MassenetAll Works by Massenet | Massenet, Jules | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Maazel, LorinMaazel, Lorin | ( M ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
RomancesRomances | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
FrenchFrench | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
OperettasOperettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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  3. Massenet: Le Cid (Complete) [Germany]
  4. Massenet: Manon
  5. Bellini - I Puritani / Sutherland

ASIN: B000002S67
Release Date: 1995-09-26

Tracks:

  1. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Voici le pain...Et le sel (Cenobites, Palemon)
  2. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Le voici! Le voici! (Cenobites, Athanael, Palemon)
  3. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Helas! enfant encore (Athanael)
  4. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Ne nous melons jamais, mon fils (Palemon, Cenobites, Athanael)
  5. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Vision (Orchestre)
  6. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Toi, qui mis la pitie dans nos ames (Athanael)
  7. Thais: Act I - Scene I : Mon fils, ne nous melons jamais (Palemon, Athanael, Cenobites)
  8. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Prelude (Orchestre)
  9. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Va, mendiant chercher ailleurs ta vie! (Serviteur, Athanael)
  10. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Voila donc la terrible cite (Athanael)
  11. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Ah! Ah! Ah!...Athanael, c'est toi!
  12. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Ah! Ah! Ah!...Je vais donc te revoir (Crobyle, Myrtal, Nicias, Athanael)
  13. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Gorde-toi bien! Voici ta terrible ennemie! (Nicias, Choeur)
  14. Thais: Act I - Scene II : C'est Thais, I'idole fragile (Thais, Nicias)
  15. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Quel est cet etranger (Thais, Nicias, Athanael)
  16. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Qui te fait si severe (Thais, Nicias, Choeur)
  17. Thais: Act I - Scene II : Non! Non! je hais vos fausses ivresses (Athanael, Thais, Nicias, Choeur)
  18. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Ah! je suis seule, seule enfin!
  19. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Dis-moi que je suis belle (Thais)
  20. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Etranger, te voila comme tu l'avais dit
  21. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Eh bien, fais-moi connaitre tout cet amour
  22. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Je suis Athanael, moine d'Antinoe! (Thais, Athanael, Nicias)
  23. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Je n'ai pas plus choisi mon sort que ma nature (Thais, Athanael, Nicias)
  24. Thais: Act II - Scene I : Meditation Religieuse - Symphonie (Orchestre)

Tracks:

  1. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Pere, Dieu m'a parle par ta voix,
  2. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Non loin d'ici, vers I'occident
  3. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Considere, o mon pere (Thais, Athanael)
  4. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Suivez-moi tous, amis! (Nicias, Choeur, Crobyle, Myrtal)
  5. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Divertissement (i) (Orchestre)
  6. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Voila I' Incomparable! (Nicias)
  7. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Celle qu vient est plus belle (Crobyle, Myrtal)
  8. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Divertissement (ii) (Orchestre)
  9. Thais: Act II - Scene II : Eh! c'est lui!...Athanael! (Nicias, Choeur, Athanael)
  10. Thais: Act II - Scene II : II dit vrai! (Thais, Nicias, Athanael, Choeur)
  11. Thais: Act III - Scene I : L'ardent soleil m'ecrase
  12. Thais: Act III - Scene I : Ah! des gouttes de sang coulent de ses pieds (Thais, Athanael)
  13. Thais: Act III - Scene I : O messager de Dieu, si bon dans ta rudesse (Thais)
  14. Thais: Act III - Scene I : Baigne d'eau mes mains et mes levres (Thais, Athanael, Choeur)
  15. Thais: Act III - Scene I : La paix du Seigneur soit avec toi (Athanael, Albine)
  16. Thais: Act III - Scene I: Mon oeuvre est accomplie! (Athanael, Thais, Albine, Choeur)
  17. Thais: Act III - Scene II : Que le ciel est pesant! (Cenobites, Palemon, Athanael)
  18. Thais: Act III - Scene II : C'est lui qui vient! (Athanael, Palemon)
  19. Thais: Act III - Scene II : Qui te fait si severe (Thais, Athanael, Choeur)
  20. Thais: Act III - Scene II : Thais va mourir! (Athanael)
  21. Thais: Act III - Scene III : Seigneur, ayez pitie de moi (Choeur, Albine)
  22. Thais: Act III - Scene III : Sois le bienvenu dans nos tabernacles (Albine, Athanael, Choeur)
  23. Thais: Act III - Scene III : C'est toi, mon pere! (Thais, Athanael)

Amazon.com

This set is primarily for devoted fans of Beverly Sills, for fans of Sherrill Milnes in his prime, and for those who must have the uncut version where it's available. The estimable Ms. Sills was in less than ideal voice for the making of this recording, which is unfortunate, but the artistry still shines through. Mr. Milnes sings with rich tone. But Lorin Maazel's conducting is leaden and out of empathy with the score. --Sarah Bryan Miller

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Lapsing Faith and Lost Beauty.......2006-09-23

The reason I assign the recording four stars rather than five is that the pathos of the opera strikes me as too extreme. The same combination of exquisite beauty and suffocating pathos turns up in Barbra Streisand's song "The Way we Were." Beverly Sills sings the pathetic part of Thais to the hilt; and Massenet's familiar "religious meditation" does the rest. All of these intensely pathetic operas including Pagliacci and Tosca derive from the epoch-making example of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with its unrelieved love-and-death sorrow. As a Christian I associate this powerful tradition with lapsing faith in Europe after 1865. Massenet's opera treats the early Christian monks of Egypt as caught up in tragic error. Thais is a supremely beautiful woman won from a life of immorality to Christianity by a well-intentioned monk who knew her in his earlier days. As the converted Thais lives and dies for the abstract reward of heaven, the monk grieves over the beauty he has destroyed. The real spiritual solution to the dilemma posed by the opera lies in the correlation between future resurrection, universal vitality and intense beauty; but theologians have generally missed he point and shown more interest in heaven than in concrete resurrection. In any case there was no way out for Massenet and his source.

5 out of 5 stars Stylish Thais Set.......2005-10-16

This 1976 recording of Thais is my favorite of the two recordings I have - the other being the Fleming/Hampson. Sills' vibrato is a little more pronounced here than it was a few years earlier, but it doesn't bother me. She still has a gorgeous voice and brings this conflicted character vividly to life. Having studied with the likes of Mary Garden as a young singer, Sills has an innate understanding of the French style, and uses her voice with much imagination and flair. Also, the character of Thais is not supposed to be a young girl - an aging courtesan of 30ish or so... Sherrill Milnes, in a departure from his usual Italian repertoire, sings a most impassiaoned Athaneal - the voice full and resonant, the character's obessiveness wonderfully realized. I think he never did anything better on disc. Nicolai Gedda is a little past his best here, but like Sills understands the French style and delivers the vocal goods as required. Maazel conducts an exciting performance (even playing the solo violin in the Meditation himself) and the sound is excellent. The Fleming/Hampson set is beautifully sung, but I feel the drama of the story is not fully realized somehow - hard to put my finger on what's missing there. This Thais is one of my favorite French opera recordings - recommended highly.

5 out of 5 stars AN UNDER-APPRECIATED GEM.......2004-12-03

Late 19th-century French opera is often disparaged these days, which isn't really fair. Delibes had some beautiful melodies, and Massenet was a much better composer than many give him credit for. And although "Manon" and "Werther" may be more famous, to me, his late opera "Thais" is his masterpiece. There are three major recordings of this opera, one with Anna Moffo, Gabriel Bacquier and Jose Carreras, a recent one with Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson and Giuseppe Sabattini, and this 1976 recording with Beverly Sills, Sherill Milnes, and Nicolai Gedda. All three versions have their strengths and weaknesses. The Moffo/Bacquier vesion, although excellent and showing Carreras in his prime, is unavailable. (I'm not sure it was ever issued in CD.) The Fleming/Hampson recording is also excellent--Fleming has a gorgeous and luscious voice, and Hampson a silky smooth baritone--but I find myself reaching for the Sills/Milnes version most often.
Sills was past her prime when she recorded this, and her high notes are a little thin and sometimes wobbly. Nevertheless, her artistry is so great that she infuses the role of the courtesan with the tremendous drama the role requires. Thais' radical change of character, from the insouciant hedonist to the redeemed penitent, is gloriously demonstrated in Sills' portrayal.
And this opera is as much about Athanael as it is Thais. Milnes, at the height of his career when he recorded this in 1976, brings tremendous power and vitality to the role of the priest, whose reverse progression from moralistic religious surety to tortured doubt parallels that of Thais, the object of his forbidden love. Nicolai Gedda's singing is, as always, stylish and graceful, and Loren Maazel's reading of the score is well paced and forceful. This recording belongs in all opera collections.

1 out of 5 stars A fad.......2004-05-21

This Thais is ruined by Sills. Buy Renee Fleming's Thais instead. She has the big voice, the looks and the talent. Sills didn't, all she can do is make my ears bleed. Shame on that shrieker!

3 out of 5 stars Lovely but too late.......2004-02-24

I have a live-recording with Sills which is MUCH better. Sills was always at her best live on stage. For studio-recordings get the Fleming-set or the sadly cut recording with the divine Renee Doria. (My favourite Thais)

Track Listings:

  1. Meeting: Two Worlds of Modal Music
  2. Miserere - Sacred Choral Music [Import]
  3. Missa Laetare Nova Sion
  4. Mozart: Die Zauberfloete [Import]
  5. Mozart: Flute Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, etc. [Import]
  6. Mozart for Creativity
  7. Napoli Antologia della Canzone Napoletana
  8. Opera for Everyone - Carmen
  9. Opera for Everyone - La Traviata
  10. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6/Marche Slave/Capriccio Italien

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

And Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain... [Import]

Ethnic Silhouettes

Fine Cuts

A Genuine Tong Funeral

On Fire [Import]

Coll: Heat Is on / Go for Your / Between Sheets

Dynamic Voice of Frankie Laine [Box set] [Import]

Dvorak: Piano Concerto, Op.83

Further Horizons

Four for Trane [Original recording remastered]

Eve 6

Cuando Brille el Sol [Import]

Corridos

Zeyer

Paint It Blue