Gerhard Griesel asks:

>The version of Les Contes d'Hoffmann that I've got on CD is the EMI
>Classics version by Neil Shicoff, Ann Murray and Jose van Dam.  There
>is nothing wrong with this recording: sound quality and singers are good.
>However, I have been pampered by the version that I have on lp record:
>Decca, Sutherland, Domingo and Bacquier with the Suisse Romande (it
>includes a creaking sound when Olympia needs to be rewound).  Does
>anyone know whether this version is available on CD?

It is.  Decca 417363.

>What other versions have you seen on shelves that are currently available
>that are good in terms of price, technical quality and soloists?

I like the Cluytens on EMI with De los Angeles, Schwarzkopf, Benoit,
London, and Gedda (EMI 67983) -- very intelligent, very French.  My
favorite Hoffmann remains, however, Sills and Treigle with Rudel, currently
on DG 471247.  I was never a big Sutherland fan, myself, and Treigle
wows me with a voice that could have come from Mount Rushmore.  Sills's
voice is like a sweetwater spring.  And you can understand what she's
singing.

Steve Schwartz

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