A russian Aida

[Lilas Pastia]

I listened to a rather special Aida, a 1961 Bolshoi Opera production. the line up is extremenly impressive:
AIDA - Galina Vishnevskaya
RADAMES - Zurab Andzhaparidzhe
AMNERIS - Irina Arkhipova
AMONASRO - Pavel Lisitsian
RAMFIS - Ivan Petrov
KING - Vladimir Filippov
MESSENGER - Fyodor Barkhominka
CONDUCTOR - Aleksandr Melik-Pashaev

There are many peculiarities. Among those is bass drum reinforcements in the orchestra basement, a general parsimony about vibrato, and a consistent bright, penetrating projection of vocal tone. All the soloists have voices that are of the first rank for their respective roles. Those who think Vishnevskaya might be too light for the ethiopian princess will be in for a surprise. Not only is she fully equal to the role's most demanding moments (including the climax of the Triumph scene), but she consistently delights with the 'trueness' of her singing.

The outright star of the vocal show is probably Arkhipova, a formidable Amneris by any standards. Imagine a cross between Cossotto and Obraztsova, and you will get a fair idea of the size and impact of her voice, as well as a good representation of her histrionic powers. The male leads are very impressive too, especially Lisitsian's towering Amonasro. Woe to poor Aida if she fancies disobeying her fanatic father .

Andzhaparidzhe is one beast of a Radames. Unsubtle but clarion and stentorian of voice. It's a minor miracle that amid the dynamite cast one can still marvel at the power and saturnine presence of the bass chorus (the call to war, the trial scene) and the sensitive but very powerful conducting of Melik-Pashaev.

Sound is ok, but the orchestra is slighted in the overall soundstage. Obviously the main deterrent - a major one for me - was to listen to  dozens and dozens of familiar lines in a foreign language. For some reason , I didn't find that it suited this very dramatic work linguistically. There's an edge and colouring that just don't go past the rather mushy russian vowels.

For those interested, this is available as downloads, one per act.

[M forever]

Where? That might be very interesting. Are the brass players vibrating like hell, too?

[Anne]

"The outright star of the vocal show is probably Arkhipova, a formidable Amneris by any standards. Imagine a cross between Cossotto and Obraztsova, and you will get a fair idea of the size and impact of her voice, as well as a good representation of her histrionic powers."

Arkhipova sings in one of Mussorgsky's operas (Boris Godunov or Khovanshchina).  Last I knew the video tape or DVD was still for sale.

[Lilas Pastia]

Well, those links are out there somewhere, but I have no idea where. Anyhow, I got them by email, so here goes:


http://rapidshare.com/files/34879664/Verdi_-_Aida_I.zip.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/34887976/Verdi_-_Aida_II.zip.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/34892543/Verdi_-_Aida_III.zip.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/34893693/Verdi_-_Aida_IV.zip.html

I don't hear any braying or wailing from the brass. Nice trumpet playing in the triumph scene, but actually the WPO tromba section under Karajan has a more powerful and penetrating sound. Don't forget you hear them from the pit, so the sound is covered.

[Hector]

Was the Nile scene switched to the Volga?

Did Aida and Radamesky die in the gulags?

[Sarastro]

And how did you like Vishnevskaya with Simionato?

[Lilas Pastia]

In Aida? Isn't that the La Scala production ? In her memoirs Galina, she comments on that one at some length. It was hugely successful. But I didn't hear it.

[Sarastro]

In her memoirs Galina

Galina wrote a lot of lies in her memoirs, pity, she wasn't an angel, though her Liu is. 0:) Shostakovitch once said that her Tatiana is more like a witch...maybe, though I like it. But still her temper reveals itself in singing.

By the way I like what you wrote.  Listen to Lisitsian's Girgio Germont! And Arkhipova with Andzhaparidzhe are good in the Queen of Spades.

[knight66]

I was once in a performance of Nevsky with Irina Arkhipova; a legend to us. However, not only did she not turn up at all for an orchestral rehearsal; in the performance she did not appear until her movement was about to start and she left right after it.

I could see that as she doubtless sang the piece often with the orchestra and knew the conductor well, the rehearsal was probably not needed; but she held the entire performance up with her coming and going. I don't care how often she has heard the piece, she was doubtless being well paid and ought to have been on the platform for the short duration of the whole work. Her actions destroyed the atmosphere of the piece twice; as the audience responded to her appearance and then again as they realised she was off to the pub.

Mike

[Lilas Pastia]

Good story, Mike! . She is an incredible vocal phenomenon. The sheer rightness of everything she sings makes you think it couldn't be done any other way. OTOH it doesn't excuse that kind of behaviour .

Sarastro, I do have a few Lisitsian pieces and he is indeed a remarkable singer: charismatic and endowed with a vocal stradivarius cello. He combines qualities that are normally shared between different singers.