Verdi! (Random Reviews from the Overflow Room)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- So much Verdi has been boxed up recently that I could save lots of space by removing the individual sets to the Overflow Room. So here they are. I suppose I should have gotten rid of them entirely, but I wanted to keep the booklets and librettos, which the boxes mostly don't have, and I'm just too obsessive-compulsive to do it. There, I said it.
For your important recording project series, you might think of the Philips early Verdi operas...certainly I found these a revelation as they came out.....
I second that heartily. Many of those Philips early Verdi recordings are still the only ones and/or the only uncut ones.
I love the Solti Don Carlo for the Inquisitor scene between Ghiaurov and Talvela. Two ENORMOUS bass voices.
Agree it's a great scene, and Bergonzi is a sensitive and expressive Don Carlo throughout, but for me the set is ruined by a miscast F-Dieskau as Posa. Not the right voice for the part, for starters (it wants a Bastianini, a Merrill, a Hvorostovsky) and he fiddles so much with the Verdi line that at points it's downright risible.
@@tom6693 DFD fiddles less than he usually does and Rodrigo/Rodrigue is written for a baryton martin French timbre and range, not an Italian one. In fact the quartet in act 4 scene with with Eboli, Elisabetta, Rodrigo and Filippo makes more sense that it usually does with DFD’s tone in that ensemble.
I’m not usually a big fan of him in Verdi, can’t stand his Rigoletto or Germont, but in this performance it works.
This is going to be a novel:
The original Forza ending is an honorable mention for stuff a composer shouldn’t have revised, instead of the Padre getting Alvaro to come back to the monastery after everything that’s happened, Alvaro curses G-d, fate, religion and throws himself off a cliff.
A much more fitting end dramatically, but the revised ending is still great musically.
The Domingo/Cappucilli/Kleiber Otello is worth hearing at least once, the singing is thrilling and Cappucilli takes the high A with Domingo at the end of act 2.
Ormandy’s Verdi requiem is a must have, it’s the closest he came to making an Italian opera recording. The man knew how to make drama happen, and Tucker is one of the best tenors to sing the Ingemisco, sounds like he’s davening it on yontiff.
Speaking of underrepresented singers, on the stereo bbc Giulini Verdi Requiem, Sandor Konya is another phenomenal voice, it’s a damn shame he didn’t make more studio recordings, he’s somewhat well represented in Wagner but not nearly enough in Italian rep and his Puccini arias album on DG holds up next to ANYONE.
The Sinopoli Rigoletto is interesting because it’s one of the ones where it’s only the notes on the page, none of the traditional interpolations, which of course is interesting to hear at least once. I think his singers are better than Muti’s studio recording (which I think does the same thing). The Penguin LOVES this performance, and the singing really is quite good. It’s a good cast.
The Giulini conducting in that Don Carlo doesn’t hold up for me. He had an off day and if you listen to it side by side with the other great recordings of the 5 act versions regardless of language, it just doesn’t hold up next to Abbado, Pappano, the live one from the Met, it doesn’t stack up.
Solti’s conducting delivers more in the longer scenes especially in act 2 and 3, which really drag on Giulini. Solti knew how this piece worked better in the theatre AND his experience with Strauss/Wagner gives him the upper hand in how to stop this admittedly long work from feeling too long, even though it’s one great dramatic moment followed by the next.
He also does the better Act 4 which is arguably the greatest act Verdi (or anyone) ever wrote.
The Basses in Solti are better, Talvela sings circles around the inquisitor on Giulini. It’s also the one DFD Verdi performance that even his harshest critics seem to enjoy. he’s really on his best behavior and it’s the most legato, least affected, performance he’s ever given. Solti was on the record that Tebaldi was one of his favorite singers and this is the only recording they made together so it’s worth owning for that alone.
The Sills traviata is one of the only ones that’s actually complete, both verses of Ah Forse Lui and Addio Del Passato, Germont’s cabaletta after Di Provenza, Alfredo’s cabaletta too and Gedda nails the optional high C….interesting to own for that alone because the traditional performance version is quite cut.
I finally discovered the beauty of Eileen Farrell's voice. Breathtaking
Another winner Dave! As you scooted through the Anna Moffo version of "La Traviata," it reminded me of your 'How I Discovered' series: this is the recording that did it for me. The aria and chorus of "Libiamo!" is how I discovered the Master and never looked back. There were very few times I could attend the Metropolitan Opera when I lived in NYC,. One of the few was my first in-person opera, "Otello". In the early 1970s, the Met gave discounts on tickets to students which I was at that time. We were given seats in a box. While we could not see much of stage left, it was a glorious experience. I am sure I still have the program. I went with my next door neighbor. We lived in Brooklyn Heights then. She was the daughter of Joseph La Sala who was Frank Rizzo's Chief of Staff in the last Rizzo administration. He, Mr. La Sala was a big opera fan and guided my purchase of other Verdi operas, specifically "Don Carlo," which for a struggling student was very expensive (on vinyl, no less). It took some time for me to be able to acquire it. But, I did and still have it.
fans of Otello/Del Monaco/Karajan should note that the ballet music was CUT in the (first?) CD transfer. And it IS there in the original LP edition.
Oh! I wasn’t aware that Herbie ever recorded the ballet. I know Serafin included the ballet in the RCA recording with Vickers and Rysanek, and indeed, the ballet was cut in the CD issue.
Yes. That omission annoyed the heck out of me. Speaking of Protti, Decca wanted to get Bastianini as Iago but he was apparently incapable of learning the role. Culshaw said he asked, "what's all this about a handkerchief?"
A composer of terrific abundance. I don’t have a lot of versions, even of my favourite operas, because I really have to be in the mood for it (and, like you, Dave, I’m not really an opera guy). I did buy the Decca/ universal complete Verdi box some years ago. The second incarnation, better than the first. That mostly does me! In fact looking at my single issue opera shelves here I think I only have Giulini’s Don Carlo.
So, thankfully, no overflow situation…
Murray. I also have that DECCA complete Verdi box and it is a superb way to get all of your Verdi in one swoop! I love the orchestral stuff in there. Don’t you??
Oh yes. Almost all the performances are just fine, and as there are so many operas, that’s quite a compilation. They replaced the Abbado Aida with Karajan one with tebaldi, supplemented the Don Carlo recordings, did a better Nabucco (although Dave might disagree with me on that). What else do you need?
@@alanmcginn4796
Regarding the Bernstein Verdi Requiem, my understanding is that Franco Corelli was initially contracted to do it, but that Bernstein offered it to Domingo anyways. Domingo was concerned that he was getting a reputation of being Corelli’s stand-in, and also raised the fact that Corelli was already under contract. Bernstein responded that Domingo should just say yes because Corelli always cancelled and that the existing contract was effectively pro forma.
Though Corelli never made a studio recording of the Requiem (so far as I know), there is a jet-fueled 1967 performance from him, Gwyneth Jones, Grace Bumbry, Ezio Flagello and Zubin Mehta and the LA Phil. Would like to have heard a Corelli-Bernstein pairing though.
Congrats on knowing Christa Ludwig. She never made a bad record.
You're always surprising me, Dave--and today it's the surprise of learning that your OCD has real limits. I'd have bet my pension on the fact that within your Verdi section, you would have started with all the Aidas and run right through alphabetically to a Verdi Miscellany at the end. Who knew you'd just line 'em up in no particular order and make it harder for yourself to find that Arroyo Forza when you want it.
Tom. I so agree! I am shocked also. Haha. But that’s why I put all this stuff into my iTunes. All beautifully alphabetized. And so easy to find. Oh guys. Too much music. And too little time to listen to it all. :)
Great survey. Thank you. Some personal favourites there. Thanks.
I definitely prefer Ormandy's Verdi Requiem to Bernstein's erratically paced one.
I can't say I prefer Arroyo to Leontyne but she'd be a godsend today. So much of her recording career depended on Caballe canceling recording sessions. Vespri, Forza, a Ballo, Don Giovanni.
That Solti Ballo was the one that was supposed to have Bjoerling but he was afraid that he'd have to sing the last act aria he refused to sing on some weird principle. So he had a few too many at a local watering hole instead.
I agree, that Leinsdorf Ballo is THE reference recording. I'd also take that RCA Aida with Milanov, Barbieri, Bjoerling, Warren, and Christoff as my reference version. Made when giants walked the earth. And Perlea knows what he's doing.
The only thing I don’t like about is the sound. I can’t do Aida in mono. I need those choruses coming at me from both sides.
@djquinn4212 For me that's ameliorated by having 5 speakers in the listening room. Not directional, but it's ample.
But I can listen to the 1928 HMV and Columbia Aidas with pleasure.
Great collection of stuff there, Dave. Coincidentally, I just ordered the Gardelli Nabucco last night to go with my Muti and Sinopoli recordings.
You'll enjoy it, you won't be sorry. Of the three, the Gardelli always is the one I take off the shelf when I want to hear Nabucco.
Whow. You knew Ludwig??????? She was amazing. Just perfection
The difference between your colletion and mine is that my CDs often have stickers on them announcing "Cut Price!" "On Sale!" "Two for one!" and so on. Some of my CDs are even second-hand! Don't tell me you always buy new and full price?
I don't so I won't.
Thank you for this