|
|
Don Carlo, opera
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Ewald Aichberger, Judith Blegen, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Franco Corelli, Tugomir Franc, Gundula Janowitz, Martti Talvela, Shirley Verrett, Eberhard Wachter
Conducted by Horst Stein
Date of Recording: 1970
Venue: Vienna, Austria
|
|
Verdi's masterpiece a tad abridged....,
This is a very interesting recording of DON CARLO because it offers a terrific cast, great sound quality at a low price, but, sadly, the score is so abridged that one yearns for a more complete reading with most of the same cast.
We don't often think of Corelli in this role, but he is quite thrilling, particularly in his final duet. Gundula Janowitz and Eberhard Waechter, as Elisabeth and Posa, respective, are clearly out of their fach in this opera, but they get the job done, particularly Janowitz.
Ghiaurov, heard here in his prime is a booming, threatening Phillip, yet he turns introspective and delivers a great verion of his Act IV aria. His confrontation with the wonderfully sinister Inquisitor of Matti Talvela is the finest I've heard anywhere.
Clearly, though, the performance belongs to Shirley Verrett, who steals the show with her gutsy, thrilling Eboli. From her Veil Song, to her "Don Fatale" she thrills at every turn. If for no other reason, buy this recording for her.
|
|
A Grand Don Carlo.
This performance surprised me, for I've not been heretofore a fan of either Corelli (great voice but a clumsy musician) or Janowitz (great musician but a cold, almost disembodied voice). Corelli sounds terrific and sings with passion but without losing control and lapsing into tasteless bawling. Janowitz displays passion I didn't think she was capable of-at times she sounds almost like Freni; only in a few very high notes at the end does she resort to the sort of tight, instrumental tones which will pass in Bach and Mozart but not Verdi. Verrett is splendid, Wachter is surprisingly good; the lyric moments are a little beyond him after years of Jokanaans, but the big dramatic moments, i.e. the scene with Corelli, are terrific. Ghiaurov is alternately lyric and stentorian, and Talvela's Inquisitor is almost in the rug-chewing category: passionate instead of cooly malevolent. The smaller roles are handled well, including Judith Blegen as the Voice from Heaven and Edita Gruberova as Tebaldo (uncredited, by the way).The sound is wonderful stereo and the Vienna Philharmonic plays beautifully--the brass introduction to the first act has never sounded better, and Stein doesn't slam through the opera like Levine does. The auto-da-fe scene is bereft of much of the martial music,shortening it considerably; I was a little disappointed in this, though some may not mind--hard to tell if the music was eliminated in the performance or just to fit the opera onto three discs. The one real anomaly occurs at the end of the opera...the lines for the friar (Carlo V, Phillip's father), Phillip, and Elisabetta are omitted in favor of a quick orchestral conclusion...very strange, and judging from the tentative applause from the audience, puzzling to them as well, but not a detriment. Buy this and cherish it as the audience in this performance clearly did. Casts like this don't exist anymore!
|
03/19/1965 Tosca @ New York, Metropolitan Opera House: Fausto Cleva
Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera
Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera
Maria Callas: Floria Tosca
Franco Corelli: Mario Cavaradossi
Tito Gobbi: Il Barone Scarpia
Clifford Harvuot: Cesare Angelotti
Lawrence Davidson: Il Sagrestano
Andrea Velis: Spoletta
Russell Christophe: Sciarrone
Robert Goodloe: Un Carceriere
Stuart Fischer: Un Pastore
|
|
|
Poliuto, opera
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Teatro alla Scala: Antonino Votto: Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Norberto Mola
Maria Callas: Paolina
Franco Corelli: Poliuto
Ettore Bastianini: Severo
Nicola Zaccaria: Callistene
Rinaldo Pelizzoni: Felice
Piero de Palma: Nearco
Virgilio Carbonari: Primo cristiano
Giuseppe Morresi: Secondo cristiano
Live 7 diciembre 1960 Teatro la Scala.
|
|
Corelli's Greatest Performance
This famous, exciting performance marked Callas's return to La Scala after the feud with Ghiringhelli. The diva is in respectable "late period" voice, no trial for the Faithful; and the doomed Bastianini is vocally glorious if dramatically rather sketchy. The real triumph is Franco Corelli's molten magma martyr. Viscerally exciting throughout, Corelli reaches the heights of legend in the grand Act 2 scene in which Poliuto, the Christian zealot bound for the loosing end of a bout with lions in the Colliseum, overturns the idol. No tenor since has commanded this kind of passion with vocal glamor of this quality. His duet with Callas in the last act is spectacular, as well. This is one of the great performances, with good (not superb) sound, and certainly the most persuasive account of this neglected but extremely influential work ever to appear in the catalogue. A must for vocal entusiasts and Donizetti lovers.
|
|
Historical document of two great singers
Despite the bel canto revival of the latter part of the twentieth century, a large part of Gaetano Donizetti's prolific operatic output remains obscure. Poliuto is a score that deserves wider renown--as the liner notes to this Opera D'Oro reissue point out, the fluidity of form and importance of the chorus vividly anticipate the later innovations of Verdi. Donizetti's score lacks the dramatic impetus of the later composer, probably due to a lackluster story and libretto, but for the listener there is much beautiful music to be savored here.
The 1960 La Scala revival of which this recording is a live document attracted notice for the presence of Maria Callas, returning to the hallowed stage after an extended absence caused by disagreements with the Scala management, and Franco Corelli, then at his vocal zenith. Though Callas receives the loudest, most prolonged ovations from the Scala audience, the opera is really Corelli's show. He makes the most of his opportunities in the title role, singing with the bronzed tone for which he was famed and letting loose some spectacular high notes.
By 1960 Callas was past her vocal prime, and probably chose the role of Paolina for her Scala return because it made fewer demands than others in her repertory. Her important contributions are limited to one extended scena and two duets. Vocally she sounds secure but cautious--no doubt this was a nerve-wracking occasion for her, but she comes through honorably. Ettore Bastianini is in his usual splendid if dramatically neutral voice as Severo, Poliuto's rival for Paolina's heart, and the other roles are well cast.
Musicologically the edition used for this production does not pass muster--it is heavily cut and conflated from two divergent versions of the score. Some Opera d'Oro issues have in the past been miserable in audio quality but the sound on these CDs is quite listenable. Fans of Corelli and Callas, therefore, have a bargain worth grabbing with this low-price reissue documenting an exciting evening in the opera house.
|
|
_a.jpeg)
|
|
|
|
|
Metropolitan Opera Gala honouring Sir Rudolf Bing
Martina Arroyo, Montserrat Caballe, Franco Corelli, Placido Domingo, Robert Merrill, Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price, Regina Resnik, Richard Tucker, Teresa Zylis-Gara
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
|
|
Metropolitan Opera Gala honoring Sir Rudolf Bing" Recorded Live at The Metropolitan Opera House New York City, April 22, 1972. w/ Martina Arroyo, Montserrat Caballe, Franco Corelli, Placido Domingo, Robert Merrill, Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price, Regina Resnik, Richard Tucker, Teresa Zylis-Gara +++ Released on DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530260, vinyl an easy NM, like new!!
|
|
|
|
|
