What Opera Are You Listening to Now?

[Tsaraslondon]

The Mexico performance is probably only for those interested in Callas's development as an artist. She only sang the role of Gilda on stage in 1952 in Mexico and this live recording hasn't much to commend it other than Callas's really rather remarkable Gilda. There are a few miscalculations which will be eschewed for the studio recording, like the ending of Caro nome where she trills an upward arpeggio to take her up to a top E. The trills are amazing, but the long written trill on the lower Eb in the studio recording is much more revelatory. The quartet, which like the storm ensemble is a bit of a mess, also ends with her on a top Db, but with all the other singers belting out their parts, I doubt she had much other option. Again the written quiet ending on the studio recording is much more effective.

Di Stefano is the only other singer of note in the Mexico performance and he is not really at his best, careless of note values, playing to the gallery and ending la donna e mobile flat (twice). Campolonghi is an awful ham, oversinging and adding all manner of ghastly sobs whilst others are singing and Mugnai regularly has problems keeping the performance together. It has to be said that the audience doesn't seem to mind at all and they go wild after every big aria and at the end.

On the other hand, the studio recording is one of the greatest ever recorded of the opera and is regularly a first choice. It's virtues are many. Di Stefano is here almost ideal and on much better behaviour than he was in Mexico. I imagine the influence of Serafin and Walter Legge had a great deal to do with that. There are perhaps more stylish Dukes to be heard on other recordings, but few who can make you understand just why Gilda should fall so helplessly in love with him. Gobbi's Rigoletto is well-known, a portrayal to set beside his Simon Boccanegra and one of the most moving on record. As for Callas, her Gilda is a miracle and Serafin, as always, finds that perfect balance between thrilling drama and italianate lyricism.

There are much more detailed reviews of both recordings on my blog.

http://tsaraslondon.com/2017/10/24/rigoletto-mexico-1952/

http://tsaraslondon.com/2017/01/08/rigoletto/

[Tsaraslondon]

Another Callas recital to start the day:

One of her greatest, and I think my favourite among her recital records.

[ritter]

An early (1951) recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.



This performance is far removed from the "Viennese tradition", or from the much later HIP style, but is quite engaging regardless. It seems to reflect a living performance practice in Italy in those years, and works wonderfully well as such. Fernando Previtali is an expert opera conductor, and leads very well IMHO (I saw him live many years later —1977 IIRC— leading Turandot in Caracas). The orchestra can be rough and inexact at times, but that does not deter from the enjoyment. Interestingly, one gets Sesto Bruscantini as the Count, half a decade before his celebrated Figaro under Vittorio Gui on EMI, and Graziella Sciutti is still in the comprimario rôle of Barbarina (she'd later be one of the leading Susannas of her generation, appearing in the aforementioned Gui recording). Italo Tajo's Figaro is a tad bland for my ears, and Alda Noni is her usual soubrettish self as Susanna —I've never cared much for this soprano, who had a successful career in the post-WWII years). Gabriella Gatti is the Countess, and she's perfectly OK if not particularly elegant or memorable. The same applies to Jolanda Gardino's Cherubino (she never managed to achieve stardom, and this is by far the most important rôle she recorded). But all this adds up to more than the sum of the parts, and we get a nice account of the opera, tinged by the quaintness of the —perfectly acceptable— mono sound. And all the singers are native Italian speakers, so we're spared the occasional "qveste" and such that creep into the Viennese or German "canonic" recordings  .

Of course, that this is one of the greatest works in the operatic repertoire helps a lot!

[Tsaraslondon]

An early (1951) recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.



The same applies to Jolanda Gardino's Cherubino (she never managed to achieve stardom, and this is by far the most important rôle she recorded).

She did play Zaida on the Callas recording of Il Turco in Italia, a role she also played at La Scala in the Zeffirelli production in 1955 (also with Callas).

[Tsaraslondon]

Simon Boccanegra is an opera I like more every time I hear it and there is no doubt the Abbado recording is now rightly considered a classic. It was based on highly successful performances at La Scala and, aside from the sound and Abbado's wonderfullly humane conducting, has some great performances in Cappucilli, Freni, Ghiaurov and Carreras in one of his best ever recordings. This would undoubtedly be the library choice.

Hovever I would never want to be without the Santini because, although t cannot compete in terms of conducting and sound, it has at least three superb performance in the Amelia of De Los Angeles, the Fiesco of Christoff and, in one of his best gramophone performances, the Boccanegra of Tito Gobbi. Gobbi is rarely considered a true Verdi baritone, but I am reminded how, in almost all the Verdi roles he recorded, I can't get the sound of his voice and his unque inflections out of my head, whether it be his Rigoletto, Renato, Amonasro, Falstaff, Posa, Iago or Boccanegra. All are distinct characters with their own vocal personality and I can't think of another baritone who does that quite so well.

[Todd]

Il Tabarro. 

[Papy Oli]

[Tsaraslondon]

Astonishing performances from the 25 year old Maria Callas.

[Todd]

Suor Angelica.  This opera has several things going for it.  First, it's got nothing but female parts, which soothes the ear.  Second, it's brief.  Third, it's Puccini at his sappiest and most sentimental, but it's end of career Puccini, so the tunes hypnotize, the orchestration bewitches, and the tautness leaves the listener wanting more.  Damn fine.  I don't really collect opera recordings anymore, but I just may have to track down the version with Lucia Popp in the lead because Lucia Popp is in the lead.  This version leaves nothing to be desired.

[San Antone]

One Hundred Years of Great Artists at the Met: The Johnson Years - 1935-1950



I retrieved my collection of these LPs from storage which I bought in the mid-80s at the Met shop, and have been really enjoying these singers in chronological order.  The transfers are in incredible audio restoration, and thankfully I took care with them and they sound great.  I have come to the conclusion that the quality of operatic singing has deteriorated since these singers were active.

The LPs cover the period of 1903-1982, which while not really 100 years, nor beginning in 1883 (there was no recording technology then) - but these singers's careers certainly were during those dates.  In fact, a number of them were at the end of their career, but still able to sing beautifully.

[Todd]

Gianni Schicchi.

[Tsaraslondon]

Though I miss some of the extra music Verdi wrote for Aroldo, I think Stiffelio is the much more cohesive piece. It's originl failure can be attributed to its subject matter and contemporary setting rather than the quality of the music, and we should remember that it was written just before Verdi's first undisputed masterpiece, Rigoletto.

This recording was based on a reconstruction, as the autograph was thought to be lost and in fact was only discovered some years after it was made. The DVD with Domingo from the 1993 Met performance was in fact the first time the original score was seeing the light of day since its premiere. However, we owe Gardelli and Philips a debt of garatitude, for it was this recording that revived interest in the opera as Verdi originally conceived it. It's a terrific performance, with Carreras, who sang the role quite a bit on stage after this, excellent in the title role and Sylvia Sass a wonderful Lina. Manugeurra is likewise superb as Stankar. Gardelli, as always in ealy Verdi, is a great asset in the pit.

Although there are a few pages where inspiration lags (the routine cabaletta to Lina's darkly brooding aria Ah, dagli scanni eterei is definitely one), there are also many pages of Verdi at his best and the finale, in which Stiffelio publicly forgives his erring wife, is genuinely moving. Anyone who loves Verdi should really hear this set.

[Ganondorf]

Suor Angelica.  This opera has several things going for it.  First, it's got nothing but female parts, which soothes the ear.  Second, it's brief.  Third, it's Puccini at his sappiest and most sentimental, but it's end of career Puccini, so the tunes hypnotize, the orchestration bewitches, and the tautness leaves the listener wanting more.  Damn fine.  I don't really collect opera recordings anymore, but I just may have to track down the version with Lucia Popp in the lead because Lucia Popp is in the lead.  This version leaves nothing to be desired.

I have to concur. That is the only opera Puccini composed after Fanciulla which I really like (with the obvious exception of Turandot). Sorry La rondine, Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

One Hundred Years of Great Artists at the Met: The Johnson Years - 1935-1950



I retrieved my collection of these LPs from storage which I bought in the mid-80s at the Met shop, and have been really enjoying these singers in chronological order.  The transfers are in incredible audio restoration, and thankfully I took care with them and they sound great.  I have come to the conclusion that the quality of operatic singing has deteriorated since these singers were active.

The LPs cover the period of 1903-1982, which while not really 100 years, nor beginning in 1883 (there was no recording technology then) - but these singers's careers certainly were during those dates.  In fact, a number of them were at the end of their career, but still able to sing beautifully.

That looks like a fun set!  How many LPs are in it?

I have (on CD) a boxed set that I purchased years ago called:  "Met--One Hundred Singers.  One Hundred Years."  Wonder if they are all the same recordings?

  It's a 6-CD set.

And like you, I'm struggling to find many opera singers that I find to be thrilling these days.  Is it just me and getting older and fussier? 

I have to concur. That is the only opera Puccini composed after Fanciulla which I really like (with the obvious exception of Turandot). Sorry La rondine, Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi!

That's a lovely set! 

PD

[San Antone]

That looks like a fun set!  How many LPs are in it?

I have (on CD) a boxed set that I purchased years ago called:  "Met--One Hundred Singers.  One Hundred Years."  Wonder if they are all the same recordings?

And like you, I'm struggling to find many opera singers that I find to be thrilling these days.  Is it just me and getting older and fussier? 

PD

There are six LP twofers, so 12 LPs, probably would be fewer CDs.  That box looks great and may have many of the same singers/selections.  I will look for it.  Yes, aside from the drawback with historical recordings of audio quality, if one can manage to transcend that aspect, the performances are usually far more enjoyable that what we have today.

I am a subscriber to Met Opera on Demand, and while I very much enjoy watching the productions I am also aware of the wide vibrato of most of the singers, and often vocal quality far below that found on the recordings from the '30s-'60s.

In fact I am finishing up watching their latest production of Rigoletto, which was actually surprisingly good.



RIGOLETTO Quinn Kelsey
DUKE OF MANTUA Piotr Beczała
GILDA Rosa Feola
SPARAFUCILE Andrea Mastroni
MADDALENA Varduhi Abrahamyan
CONDUCTOR Daniele Rustioni

[Pohjolas Daughter]

There are six LP twofers, so 12 LPs, probably would be fewer CDs.  That box looks great and may have many of the same singers/selections.  I will look for it.  Yes, aside from the drawback with historical recordings of audio quality, if one can manage to transcend that aspect, the performances are usually far more enjoyable that what we have today.

I am a subscriber to Met Opera on Demand, and while I very much enjoy watching the productions I am also aware of the wide vibrato of most of the singers, and often vocal quality far below that found on the recordings from the '30s-'60s.

On fact I am finishing up watching their latest production fo Rigoleto, which was actually surprisingly good.

RIGOLETTO Quinn Kelsey
DUKE OF MANTUA Piotr Beczała
GILDA Rosa Feola
SPARAFUCILE Andrea Mastroni
MADDALENA Varduhi Abrahamyan
CONDUCTOR Daniele Rustioni

The only name that I recognize here is Piotr Beczala--whose voice and style of singing I do like; I know that I have at least one album of his (off the top of my head)--the Slavic Arias one. 

It's interesting to see how styles of singing have changed over the years.  One that does drive me crazy was (what I think of as) "tweety-bird kind of singing" from I want to say like the 1930's/40's?

I don't listen as often these days to fairly old/historical recordings (like from the 1940's and earlier), but it can be lots of fun...for instance listening to arias sung by Rosa Ponselle, who was Maria Callas' favorite singer when she was growing up--hearing her voice and interpretations and wondering what Callas was thinking and feeling when she first heard her sing. 

PD

p.s.  By the way, there's a listing on Discogs of the arias and singers in that boxed set.

[Papy Oli]

Don Giovanni - Act I (Giulini)

[Todd]

[Tsaraslondon]

Over the next few days I will be listening to all my recordings of La Traviata, seven in all, though four of these have Callas in the title role. She sang Violetta more than any role other than Norma in an interpretation that she constantly strove to refine. Rather than listen to all her recordings one after the other, I thought it might be interesting to compare each one with one of my other recordings, leaving the last of her recorded performances (Covent Garden, 1958) on its own at the end.

I'm starting with the Cetra studio recording, which was recorded in 1953, shortly after the famous De Sabata Tosca, and she is in splendid voice. However, there is a part of me that always wishes it had never been made. The terms of her Cetra contract stated that she could not re-record the role for five years, so when Legge came to record the opera for his La Scala series in 1955, he cast Antonietta Stella as Violetta. Callas was furious with him for recording her Traviata without her and refused to even speak to Serafin for a year after that for agreeing to conduct the recording. In retrospect he should probably have waited. Stella proved a poor replacement and the set never sold well. Furthermore, there are quite a few things wrong with the Cetra set. Orchestra and chorus are decidedly provincial, Santini's conducting leaden and her co-stars, Albanese and Savarese hardly in the first rank. However, there is much to enjoy in Callas's singing, even if she doesn't yet plumb the depths of Violetta's character. In none of the subsequent performances will she sing the Act I arias with such fabulous ease and it is worth hearing the set for Act I alone. In short there is much to enjoy, and Callas is already doing things with the role that few approach, but it doesn't yet add up to the finished article. I've always thought it the most expendable of all my Callas sets.

From here I turned to Serafin's second recording of the opera with Victoria De Los Angeles as Violetta and what a difference between Santini's somnolent accompaniment and Serafin's vital conducting. Not for the first time listening to one of Serafin's Verdi recordings, I feel the man is terribly underrated. Truly one of the greatest Italian opera conductors of all time. It makes it doubly sad that there was never a Callas/Di Stefano/Gobbi/Serafin La Traviata. I have no doubt that, like their Rigoletto, it would have been a classic of the gramophone.

De Los Angeles is a favourite of mine and I like her Violetta. Vocally, she is more at home in Acts II and III than she is in Act I, but she plays the charming coquette well in the first act and has the necessary plaintiveness for the later Acts. Her Violetta is charming and touching, but much smaller in scale than any of the Callas performances and the opera lacks the tragic import Callas brings to it in each of her recordings. Though her Violetta is affecting, it is not ultimately shattering, which is what I want from a Violetta.

Sereni is, as he is with Callas in Lisbon, a sympathetic Germont, but Carlo Del Monte is a bit too throaty and muscular for my liking. There are better Alfredos on some of my other sets.

[Wendell_E]

The day after Elizabeth I's death, I thought I'd give Britten's Gloriana a listen. I've got Mackerras's CD set, but looking at Amazon Music, I saw they had a recording of the world premiere (8 June 1953), with Joan Cross, Peter Pears, Monica Sinclair, Geraint Evans, and Jennifer Vyvyan, John Pritchard conducting.

Yesterday, Olivier Py's La Monnaie production of Les Huguenots on YouTube. I liked it a lot, but could have done without Raoul and Marguerite de Valois having sex during their duet. I imagine it was staged quite differently when Sutherland and Corelli did it at La Scala. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OtetClXBpg