What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[mc ukrneal]

For those of you that have any of the Ediciones Singulares opera releases (from Palazetto Bru Lane), I just discovered that they have their librettos online in pdf files. I find this sort of thing very helpful. Here is the link: http://www.bruzanemediabase.com/eng/Document-and-image-bank/Librettos

[André]

Nice find, mc, thanks for that. Very useful indeed  .

[Tsaraslondon]

This isn't a complete recording of Il Trittico. Admittedly all the operas use Rome forces, but each opera is led by a different conductor, and they were all originally issued at different times. The first two, released respectively in 1956 and 1958 are mono, but Gianni Schicchi, released in 1959 is stereo. The only unifying element is that De Los Angeles and Gobbi both appear in two out of the three operas. Still, it was useful and inevitable that the individual releases would eventually be grouped together and, as far as I'm aware, they have not been available singly since.

This morning I'm listening to that terse piece of grand guignol Il Tabarro



Bellezza's conducting is efficient rather than inspired and the recording is a bit muddy, but it has at its heart one towering performance in the Michele of Tito Gobbi, a characterisation fit to set next to his Scarpia and Rigoletto. Not only is the role powerfully sung, but we see deep into the man's tortured soul, the violence bubbling beneath. In no other studio performance of the opera do we feel Michele's pain with quite such terrifying immediacy.

None of the other singers is on his level, but they are apt enough for their roles. Margaret Mas, a singer who appears to have done nothing else on record, sounds a bit mature, but that suits the role of Giorgetta well enough, as does the slightly raw tone of Giacinto Prandelli's Luigi. The smaller roles are all well characterised.

[Ciaccona]

NP:



Puccini: Suor Angelica


Listening to this work again - I particularly like the aria "Senza Mama" but there's plenty of other nice moments throughout the work.

[Ciaccona]

NP:

[asin]B01AMWKJO2[/asin]

Verdi: Luisa Miller


Maiden listen...

[Tsaraslondon]

NP:

[asin]B01AMWKJO2[/asin]

Verdi: Luisa Miller


Maiden listen...

I don't really know this set, as the cast has never quite grabbed me, but I do like the opera and know it quite well.

There are three excellent recordings I know of, and I'd find it difficult to choose between them.





.

Maag is superb and his cast is probably the most vocally entitled, but I do miss a touch of vulernability and innocence in Caballé's Luisa, and the role of Federica is undercast.

Maazel has the most touching Luisa of all in Ricciarelli, but she is a little fallible vocally, and Obraztsova's blousy, overblown Federica goes too far in the other direction.

Moffo on the Cleva set steers a course midway between Caballé and Ricciarelli, not quite as inside the role as Ricciarelli, not quite so vocally plush as Caballé, and at last we have a perfect Federica in Verrett.

All three tenors, Pavarotti, Bergonzi and Domingo, are at somewhere near their best, and I find it hard to choose between them. Milnes would probably be my favourite Miller, but all three are excellent.

All in all the opera has been very well served on disc.

[Tsaraslondon]

Continuing with the 1950s EMI Il Trittico, I move on to Suor Angelica.



This has always been my least favourite of the triptych, as I find its over-sentimentalised quasi religiosity a bit too much for my taste. However it is difficult not to resist such generous hearted sincerity as we get here from the adorable Victoria De Los Angeles, superbly supported by the veteran Tullio Serafin, who doesn't overdo the sentimentality. Fedora Barbieri presents a truly magisterial and implacable Zia Principessa, aristocratic, cold and dispassionate in her treatment of Angelica.

However even in a performance as committed as this, the ending stretches my suspension of disbelief just a bit too far and ultimately I prefer the sense of repressed passion and sexuality implied in the Scotto/Maazel version, which plays out almost like a scene from Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. In their hands, Angelica's final vision comes across more as a drug-fueled hallucination, which helps to ameliorate my problems with the piece.

On the other hand I wouldn't want to be without De Los Angeles' beautifully sung and characterised Angelica. She is a little stretched by the highest reaches of the role, but in general the voice sounds absolutely lovely and her singing is as musical as ever.

[Tsaraslondon]

Moving on to the final opera in Puccini's triptych.



Verdi had his Falstaff and Puccini had his Gianni Schicchi, though Puccini's comedy is a lot blacker and more cruel than Verdi's.

Gobbi was brilliant in both comic roles of course, but he presents two very different characters. His Falstaff was all genial bluster, a lovable rogue, where his Schicchi is a clever schemer, with more than a touch of the venal tempered by a genuine love and affection for his daughter.

This is probably one of the best things Santini did for the gramophone, and the performance is superbly paced, with wonderfully pointed characterisations from the supporting cast, the libretto so crisply delivered that you can all but taste the words. Carlo Del Monte might seem a bit light of voice, but for once Rinuccio sounds like the young man he is supposed to be, and Victoria De Los Angeles is simply adorable as Lauretta - none better on disc.

Gobbi recorded the role again towards the end of his career (under Maazel, with Domingo as Rinuccio and Cotrubas as Lauretta), but this one, the only one of the operas in this set to be recorded in stereo, remains my first choice.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

[Tsaraslondon]

The first complete opera recording I ever owned, and I still have a great deal of affection for it. True, Callas's voice was in decline by then, but she is more inside the role than ever, and some passages, particularly those in the middle of the voice, are sung more beautifully and movingly than ever before.

My absolute fvourite Callas Norma  is the live La Scala peformance of 1955, with Del Monaco and Simionato, but I prefer this later studio recording to the first one, if only for the Pollione of Corelli, the Adalgisa of Ludwig, a surprising but unexpectedly successful bit of casting, and the superior recording.

[Tsaraslondon]

With Furtwängler at the helm, this is a serious Don Giovanni, with the giacosa tending to get lost in in the drama. It is not what we are used to these days and some of his speeds are indeed far too slow, though sometimes they work, as for instance in the very slow speed he adopts for the Masque Trio, which would tax most singers to the limits, but is sublimely sung here by Grümmer, Schwarzkopf and Dermota.

The cast is indeed a brilliant one, with Siepi's demonically mercurial Don contrasting nicely with Edelmann's wily Leporella. Anton Dermota is a melifluous Ottavio and Walter Berry makes a very strong showing as Masetto. The women could hardly be bettered. Elvira was always one of Schwarzkopf's best roles and she is here in superb form, dominating every scene she is in, both dramatically and vocally up to every demand of her role. Her performance of Mi tradi gets the biggest round of the applause of the night. Grümmer is a creamy-voices Anna, singing with beauty and purity and Erna Berger, though in her 50s at the time, a delightful Zerlina.

[Tsaraslondon]

Though now considered one of the greatest opera recordings ever made, this justly famous recording of Tosca was not universally acclaimed when it was first issued, Alec Robertson comparing Callas's assumption of the title role unfavourably to Tebaldi's more dramatic performance. He died in 1982. I wonder if he ever ate his words. Dyneley Hussey made the observation that much of Callas's singing was unrhythmical, which, given Callas's legendary musical exactitude, now seems entirely incredible.

In all respects (conducting and singing) this Tosca is a more musical performance than the Tebaldi/Erede with which it was being compared, where dramatic effect is applied rather than arising from the music itself.

Despite the excellence of the three principals, the star of the recording for me is Victor De Sabata, who doesn't so much conduct as mould the score, and consequently the real winner is Puccini, as it should be. Apparently Karajan had John Culshaw play sections of the De Sabata recording to him during sessions for his own equally famous recording of the opera with Leontyne Price. According to Culshaw, "One exceptionally tricky passage for the conductor is the entry of Tosca in act 3, where Puccini's tempo directions can best be described as elastic. Karajan listened to de Sabata several times over during that passage and then said, 'No, he's right but I can't do that. That's his secret.'"

Of course De Sabata is immeasurably helped by his cast, who in turn are inspired to give of their best. How Alec Robertson could have thought Campora characterised Cavaradossi better than Di Stefano, who sings not only with his customary face but also with a degree of musical accuracy he didn't always achieve, is beyond me. Gobbi was, is, and no doubt will always be a touchstone for the role of Scarpia,  a gentleman thug, smoothly reptilian and much more interesting than the conventional villain he is often portrayed. As for Callas, the objections meted out at the time not only seem churlish, but far off the mark. Infinitely feminine and vulnerable, her Tosca is a long way from the cane-touting, flamboyantly capricious character she was usually portrtayed in those days, and maybe that was why AR found her less dramatic. She is in her best voice, with scalpel-like attack on the high notes, the voice wonderfully responsive and she brings a welcome bel canto approach to this verismo role.

66 years after it was recorded, it remains the best of all recorded Toscas.

[Tsaraslondon]

No doubt these days some might find Böhm's approach somewhat too portentous, and there is no denying the seriousness of his approach from the first few bars of the overture, but I like it, whilst admitting that it's not always how I would like to hear the opera.

His cast is stronger on the male side than the female, lead by Wunderlich's peerless Tamino, a treasurable example of him in a complete opera. Not always as stylish as Simoneau, he brings an approproately heroic dimension to the character, with the added advantage of the sheer beauty of that voice. There is none better on disc. Franz Crass's sonorous Sarastro is another asset, as are the Armed Men of James King and Marti Talvela. Hotter is an authortative Speaker, but his voice is beginning to show signs of age. Fischer-Dieskau was not a natural for Papageno, and I think I'm right in saying it wasn't one of his stage roles. He misses some of the wide-eyed charm of the best interpreters of the role, but his singing qua singing gives a lot of pleasure. In Bei Männern he gives Evelyn Lear a lesson in pure legato singing.

Which brings me to the women. Lear can be shrill on high, and hardly ever phrases with distinction, her legato leaving something to be desired. No patch, certainly, on the likes of Janowitz, Popp, Margaret Price, Lemnitz, Te Kanawa or even Rosa Mannion, who sings the role on my other recording conducted by William Christie. Roberta Peters, on the other hand, is a lot better than I remembered, and she does at least sound dangerous, her coloratura glitteringly precise. Lisa Otto is a pert Papagena.

So, still a worthy Die Zauberflöte, and one I woud not want to be without, for Wunderlich's Tamino at least.

[Tsaraslondon]

This has always been one of my three favourite recordings of Madama Butterfly (the others being Callas/Karajan and De Los Angeles/Gavazzeni), and listening to it again today has been a most moving experience.

Though Sir John Barbirolli conducted a good deal of opera during his career, this and the Otello with James McCracken are, I think, the only studio examples of his work in the field, and I've always thought of this recording as being as much his as Scotto's, which is not quite the case with the two aforementioned Callas and De Los Angeles sets. Barbirolli's love for the score is evident in every bar, and he reveals many incidental details that sometimes get lost in more opulent readings, whilst he never loses track of the score's ebb and flow. The Rome orchestra, though not quite on the level of those in Vienna and Milan, nonetheless play brilliantly for him.

He has at his disposal a uniquely Italianate cast, who all sing wonderfully off the words. Scotto, 32 at the time (oddly enough about the same age as Callas and De Los Angeles at the time of their recordings) is a superb Butterfly and presents from start to finish a fully rounded character. The microphone placing doesn't always flatter her, and, just occasionally, one is aware of the intellect behind the characterisation, but she is still one of the most pathetically moving Butterflies on disc, even if she lacks a little of De Los Angeles's natural charm.

Bergonzi is an ardently lyrical Pinkerton, maybe not quite as charming as Di Stefano with De Los Angeles, but singing with glorious, golden tone, and less stiff than Bjoerling who sings Pinkerton on De Los Angeles's second recording. Panerai, who was a late replacement for Peter Glossop, is a superbly inciteful and sympathetic Sharpless and there is terrific support from the likes of Anna Di Stasio, Paolo Montarsolo as the Bonze and Piero de Palma as Goro.

Ultimately my favourite recording would still be Callas/Karajan but I find it so emotionally, so intensely shattering, that I can only take it once in a while (rather like Vickers's Tristan). On the other hand, sonically, the stereo sound is a great improvement on the boxy mono of that recording, though, in turn, not quite on the level of the glorious sound afforded Karajan on his second Decca recording with Freni and Pavarotti, which remains a first choice for many, I know.

There are other superb recordings, not least the early one with Dal Monte and Gigli. It has certainly been very lucky on disc.

[JBS]

Crosspost from WAYLT

A  vivid performance

I have it as part of this set

Fortunately the sonics are much better than the tinny Siegfried Idyll with which, in this incarnation, it shares the CD. (Tinny sound also afflicts the Mozart recordings included in this set.)

[Tsaraslondon]

Though performed fairly regularly in Italy and the US, La Gioconda has never gained a foothold on the repertoire here in the UK. It was given its British premiere in 1883, but was not seen at the Royal Opera House throughout the twentieth century and only in concert (in 2004) in the twenty-first. Who knows why? I find it musically more enjoyable than any of Giordano's operas, though it does require singing of great imagination to bring the characters to life.

Callas has always been closely associated with the title role no doubt due to the success of her two recordings, and it punctuates significant moments in her life, though she actually only sang it rarely on stage. It furnished her with her Italian debut in 1947 at the Arena di Verona, conducted by the man who was to become her mentor, Tullio Serafin. It was here too that she met her husband Gian Baptista Meneghini. The present set was her first ever complete opera recording (made for the Italian firm Cetra in 1952) and she recorded it again for EMI in 1959, when she was separating from Meneghini. Inbetween there had been a couple more performances in Verona in 1952 and a run of performances at La Scala at the end of 1952, and thereafter she never sang it on stage again.

I've always found it impossible to choose between the two. The voice has slimmed down considerably by the time of the second recording of course, but nowhere near so disastrously as some would have us believe, and her top register is in much better control than it was even in the recital records (Mad Scenes and Verdi Heroines) recorded the previous year. Furthermore her interpretation has deepened and has become more subtle.

However this earlier one affords us the chance of hearing Callas at her vocal peak and the range, both musical and emotional, is enormous. Very few sopranos, if any, bring the role of Gioconda so vividly to life, as she infuses every phrase with meaning.

When it comes to the two supporting casts, neither is ideal, and it is a bit swings and roundabouts. The best of them on the first set is Fedora Barbieri as Laura, who gives as good as she gets in the E un anatema duet, the worst the whiney Gianni Poggi, who has absolutely no sense of line or legato. Ferraro is better on the first set, but neither can match performances on complete sets by the likes of Pavarotti and Bergonzi. Votto conducts both sets, some of the best work he has done in the studio. As you might expect, the sound on the stereo 1959 set is a great improvement on the Cetra.

[JBS]

I think the only recordings I have are the Callas recordings. I can't say that I particularly like it.
I'm also not sure how popular the opera was in the US compared to the UK. What fame it had seems to be linked to the "Dance of the Hours" and its use in Disney's Fantasia.

[Tsaraslondon]

I think the only recordings I have are the Callas recordings. I can't say that I particularly like it.
I'm also not sure how popular the opera was in the US compared to the UK. What fame it had seems to be linked to the "Dance of the Hours" and its use in Disney's Fantasia.

Well, Metopera alone lists live recordings featuring Milanov, Farrell and Tebaldi.  It was one of Ponselle's Met roles, and Bumbry sang it there in 1979. Domngo sang Enzo there in the 1980s, and there has been at least one production there this century (Deborah Voigt in the title role). I don't know too much about the rest of the US, but I do remember seeing a telecast of one production (from San Francisco, I think) featuring Scotto and Pavarotti.

I was wrong to state that it hadn't been performed at Covent Garden since its 1883 premiere. Ponselle did sing it at the house in 1929, but that is the only performance I can find for the rest of the twentieth century.

[Wendell_E]

Well, Metopera alone lists live recordings featuring Milanov, Farrell and Tebaldi.  It was one of Ponselle's Met roles, and Bumbry sang it there in 1979. Domngo sang Enzo there in the 1980s, and there has been at least one production there this century (Deborah Voigt in the title role). I don't know too much about the rest of the US, but I do remember seeing a telecast of one production (from San Francisco, I think) featuring Scotto and Pavarotti.

You're right about the Scotto/Pavarotti San Francisco production. I remember being frustrated at not being able to watch it because Hurricane Frederick struck Mobile, leaving my house without power for 16 days, which also prevented me from seeing Domingo's first telecast of Otello from the Met.

Checking the SF Opera's archives, I found these other productions there:

1947 Roman/Resnik (in her earlysoprano days, obviously), Baum, Warren
1948 Varnay, Baum, Valentino
1967 Gencer, Cioni, Ludgin
1983 Caballé/Slatiaru, Bonisolli, Manuguerra
1988 Marton, Polozov, Opthof

And at Lyric Opera of Chicago
1957 Farrell, Tucker/diStefano, Protti
1959 Farrell, Tucker, Taddei
1966 Soulioutis, Cioni, Guelfi
1987 Dimitrova, Ciannella (IIRC one of Pavarotti's many LOC cancellations)
1998 Eaglen, Botha, Putilin

Just statistics at the Met during my lifetime:

1956-57: La Gioconda: 4 performances: Statistics
1958-59: La Gioconda: 5 performances: Statistics
1960-61: La Gioconda: 7 performances: Statistics
1961-62: La Gioconda: 5 performances: Statistics
1966-67: La Gioconda: 22 performances: New Production: Margherita Wallmann//Beni Montresor: Statistics
1967-68: La Gioconda: 12 performances: Statistics
1975-76: La Gioconda: 16 performances: Statistics
1979-80: La Gioconda: 10 performances: Statistics
1982-83: La Gioconda: 11 performances: Statistics
1989-90: La Gioconda: 7 performances: Statistics
2006-07: La Gioconda: 8 performances: Statistics
2008-09: La Gioconda: 5 performances: Statistics

You can see see details at the Met's online database (http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/frame.htm)

There a recording of a 1960 New Orleans production with Milanov.

[Tsaraslondon]

You're right about the Scotto/Pavarotti San Francisco production. I remember being frustrated at not being able to watch it because Hurricane Frederick struck Mobile, leaving my house without power for 16 days, which also prevented me from seeing Domingo's first telecast of Otello from the Met.

Checking the SF Opera's archives, I found these other productions there:

1947 Roman/Resnik (in her earlysoprano days, obviously), Baum, Warren
1948 Varnay, Baum, Valentino
1967 Gencer, Cioni, Ludgin
1983 Caballé/Slatiaru, Bonisolli, Manuguerra
1988 Marton, Polozov, Opthof

And at Lyric Opera of Chicago
1957 Farrell, Tucker/diStefano, Protti
1959 Farrell, Tucker, Taddei
1966 Soulioutis, Cioni, Guelfi
1987 Dimitrova, Ciannella (IIRC one of Pavarotti's many LOC cancellations)
1998 Eaglen, Botha, Putilin

There a recording of a 1960 New Orleans production with Milanov.

Which also supports my theory about the opera being much more popular in America than in the UK.

Where do you find all this information?