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La Gioconda
Two Performances
(Philadelphia, Feb. 28, 1964; complete performance). Corelli, Curtis-Verna, M. Dunn, Bardelli, Giaiotti; Guadagno, cond.; Philadelphia Lyric Opera.
Plus La Gioconda (October 18, 1966; 71 mins. of highlights). Corelli, Tebaldi, M. Dunn, Chookasian, Colzani, Hecht; Guadagno, cond.; Philadelphia Lyric Opera.
Ponchielli: La Gioconda
Mary Curtis-Verna, soprano (La Gioconda); Mignon Dunn, mezzo-soprano (Laura); Gladys Kriese, mezzo-soprano (La Cieca); Franco Corelli, tenor (Enzo Grimaldo); Cesare Bardelli, baritone (Barnaba); Bonaldo Giaiotti, bass (Alvise Badoero); Chorus and Orchestra of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera/Anton Guadagno, cond. Highlights from La Gioconda with Renata Tebaldi (La Gioconda); Dunn (Laura); Lili Chookasian (La Cieca); Franco Corelli (Enzo); Anselmo Colzani (Barnaba); Joshua Hecht (Alvise); Chorus and Orchestra of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera/Guadagno, cond.
Bel Canto Society BCS-5015. (3 CDs) (M) TT: 3:41:43
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Corelli sang Gioconda many times with the Met but never elsewhere;apart from these two Philadelphia performances. These are his only available Enzos, and this is their first-ever release. The CDs were made from tapes supplied by Steve Cohen, the official recording engineer for The Philadelphia Lyric Opera.
Corelli uses a mechanistic vocal method involving manipulating the position of the larynx. In dramatic passages he sings with his larynx lowered to the bottom of his neck, to give his voice maximum heft, core and brilliance. In lyric passages he repositions his larynx somewhat upward. He sings caressingly in the love scenes with Dunn and with anguish in the third act ensemble. In both performances he is in wonderful voice and even interpolates a high C in Act I and another in Act IV. Above all, as in no other role, he expresses blind fury, in his confrontations with Curtis-Verna and Tebaldi
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Carmen
(1959). Corelli, Simionato, Freni, Guelfi; Dervaux. Sung in Italian.
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José was the role of Corelli´s debut and the one he performed most often. Here he is in his early prime, sounding like a hungry animal in a cage, the voice brilliant and full of core and bite. Yet he also is plaintive, particularly in the final scene. Throughout it he finds an extraordinary number of vocal colors. His desperation at the end is chilling.
By this time he had expunged nearly all trace of the flicker vibrato characteristic of his tone at the beginning of his career. But his sound still had a baritonal tinge that lessened later, particularly after he undertook high roles, such as Raul in Ugonotti and Poliuto, and lyric ones, such as Rodolfo and Roméo.
Simionato (as often in real life) is haughty, knowing, tough. Freni´s tone is young, warm and feminine. Guelfi swaggers engagingly
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Tosca
(Parma, Jan. 21, 1967, live). Corelli, Gordoni,Orazi, Carbonari, Maionica; Morelli; Chor. and Orch. of the Teatro Regio di Parma.
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If you love Franco Corelli, and don't ready own this set, you will definitely want to acquire it at once. For those who have yet to become acquainted with the magic of this great, if controversial, tenor, I truly cannot think of a better place to start.
The booklet cover of this CD issue from Bel Canto Society says it all, with CORELLI emblazoned at the very top. During the course of a long and brilliant career, Franco Corelli sent audiences into frenzies with his matinee-idol looks, golden tenor voice, and atomic high notes, often held for what seemed an eternity. Many critics found Corelli´style extraordinarily self-indulgent, but few denied his unique magnetism.
This Tosca was recorded in performance at Parmas Teatro Regio on January 21, 1967. On the booklet cover, the tenor is quoted as saying: Cavaradossi? This one;s my best! And indeed, it would be hard to disagree. On this occasion, Corelli is in absolutely spectacular voice, and he knows it. Cavaradossi;s opening aria, Recondita armonia, is taken quite broadly, allowing Corelli to caress the vocal line and to deliver a stunning (and prolonged) B-flat at its climax.
Corelli;s performance is brimming with such moments. Perhaps the most spectacular occurs in Act II, after Cavaradossi has been returned from Scarpia;s torture chamber. When Cavaradossi learns of Napoleon;s victory, he leaps to his feet and sings 'Vittoria!' The second 'Vittoria' is sung on an A-sharp that Puccini directs be delivered allargando molto (very broadly). But even Puccini could not have dreamed of the twelve(!)-second elongation Corelli accords this high note, driving the Parma audience into an absolute frenzy.
The love affair between Corelli and the Parma audience continues into the opera;s final act. As in his first-act aria, Corelli takes E lucevan le stelle at a markedly slow tempo. The opening of the aria is notable for its hushed beauty. And then, Corelli arrives at the sequence beginning O dolci baci, o languide carezze (Oh sweet kisses, languorous caresses). At the high A on the word disciogliea, Corelli sings a protracted and beautiful diminuendo, continuing on the same breath to the conclusion of the phrase. The stunned audience responds with a collective, audible gasp. Corelli then delivers the final climax of the aria with almost superhuman strength.
At this point, the Parma audience breaks into sustained cheers, applause, and finally, rhythmic clapping, as they beg Corelli for an encore. It is not forthcoming atleast not immediately. But after the conclusion of the opera, an upright piano is wheeled on stage to accompany Corelli in a stunning rendition of the Neapolitan song Core;ngrato.
I doubt that we will ever again hear a performance like this. First, it is unlikely that a tenor with Corelli;s remarkable gifts will come this way again. Second, even if he did, I can;t imagine any of today;s conductors allowing the kinds of freedoms Corelli takes with the score. Many will view that as a positive developmentI do not.
The remainder of the cast is fine, although certainly not on Corelli;s level. Virginia Gordoni is a vibrant, fiery Tosca who has occasional difficulty with her upper register. Attilio D;Orazi is a firm-voiced and malevolent Baron Scarpia. Through all of Corelli;s liberties and audience participation, conductor Giuseppe Morelli does an admirable job of holding the performance together.
The booklet cover states that the recording is in stereo. I don;t believe that to be the case, but in any event, the sonics are quite clear, generally with minimal distortion in climactic passages. [The stereo spread is minimal.BCS]
The CDs contain more index numbers than typical for issues of this opera, with many Corelli highlight moments isolated for easy access and repeated pleasure. If you love Franco Corelli, and don;t already own this set, you will definitely want to acquire it at once. For those who have yet to become acquainted with the magic of this great, if controversial, tenor, I truly cannot think of a better place to start
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Il trovatore
(Milan, Dec. 7, 1962). Corelli, Stella, Cossotto, Bastianini, Vinco; Gavazzeni; Chor. and Orch. of La Scala.
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The white heat of La Scala´s opening night, December 7, 1962
Ira Siff, reviewing in Opera News
"While there is no shortage of recordings of Il Trovatore available for purchase, and the opera is, despite the oft-lamented dearth of Verdi voices these days, still performed with regularity, this release is a significant document of a lost era. At the time of this performance, opening night of La Scala´s 1962-63 season, had one expressed the suspicion that in twenty years it would be impossible to assemble an Italian cast to do justice to Verdi´s masterpiece, it would have seemed laughable. And yet now, almost forty years hence, this exciting and vital presentation of a work which merely requires four sensational Verdi voices (a fifth, in the bass role, doesn´t hurt things), and an idiomatic conductor, seems as much a part of history as, say, the two Scala recordings of the late 20´s, one with Bianca Scacciati´s vivid Leonora, and the other with the searing Azucena of Irene Minghini-Cattaneo. The recorded sound, and the style of singing, may be more up to date here, but an opening at La Scala with an Italian cast and conductor, all able to handle the demands of a standard repertory Verdi opera, is so exotic today that it puts the 60´s more in line with the 20´s than with our time.
"This performance is typical of the era as concerns cuts´Leonora loses the second verse of her Act I cabaletta, as well as the entire Tu vedrai following the Miserere. But despite these excisions, and the fact that most of the principals in the cast can be found on a DG Trovatore that originated in the studio at about the same time (Carlo Bergonzi is the Manrico on the commercial version), this is a set worth considering. First of all, there is the cast, captured here in the white heat of an opening night, with chemistry oozing from every...well, were it still the LP era, we might say groove. The five protagonists are all young and in their prime. II Trovatore is a high energy opera, sometimes relegated to the position of static vehicle for static veterans. Here, there´s a sense of a viable love triangle, with the Di Luna as charismatic and attractive as the Manrico, and a Leonora of real femininity, balanced by sheer guts.
"Franco Corelli was clearly the Manrico of his time, pliant yet heroic of voice, stunning to look at, and seemingly fearless in the upper register. Deserto sulla terra, anything but an easy opener, is tossed off with spectacular ease. Squillo-drenched high notes are balanced with floated soft tones throughout the performance, and even if, in the 60´s, real men didn´t trill in Ah! sì, ben mio, there are caressing tones aplenty in place of the missing embellishment. Di quella pira, a legendary Corelli moment, brings back memories of his sensational Met Manricos of the time, with a simply endless high B natural at the climax.
"Antonietta Stella, sometimes lost in the Tebaldi/Callas crossfire, gives a lesson in fine, unaffected Verdi singing. One can quibble with the slurred trills in Di tale amor, or lament the fact that her early-career pianissimo had deserted her by the time she was thirty-three, replaced by a lovely, if less impressive, mezzo piano. But, as always, Stella´s crystal-clear diction and her total commitment to every moment make her Leonora more than the one-dimensional character one usually encounters. Ettore Bastianini´s voice was once described as oily, juicy sound, by no less than Dimitri Hvorostovsky, an ardent admirer of the older baritone´s recordings This performance finds Bastianini, just diagnosed with the throat cancer that took his life at the tragically young age of forty-four, in electrifying form, his plush instrument poured out with fiery abandon. His Act IV duet with Stella is perhaps the high point of a performance full of high points.
"Fiorenza Cossotto was on the way to her great Azucena years in 1962; there is plenty of voice, but the tone is a bit lacking in depth, and there is not yet much in the way of detail. Cossotto was never a subtle singer, but she grew into her roles quite effectively, and this is early days for what was to become, along with Amneris, her signature role. Nonetheless, there are plenty of sparks flying amidst multitudinous decibels. Cossotto´s husband, Ivo Vinco, is a smooth-voiced Ferrando, who does trill perhaps not the most expressive singer in the world, but quite respectable, even in such exalted company.
"Gianandrea Gavazzeni leads the Scala orchestra through an evening which must have been singularly memorable. The tempi for the first three acts are rhythmically potent, and the playing blazes away with a combination of fire and accuracy that ignites every number. In Act IV, there is a sudden, inexplicable broadening of pace, which seems to confuse the singers a bit, and reminds one more of his late, mid 70´s Trovatores at the Met. But the second scene of Act IV rekindles, and the climax of the opera is thrilling. "
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Ernani
(Verona, July 15, 1972). Corelli, Ligabue, Cappuccilli, Raimondi; De Fabritiis, cond. Chor. and orch. of the Arena di Verona.
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In this Ernani, Corelli sings tenderly, with yearning. He oozes suffering of the soul.
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Il trovatore
(Berlin, October 1, 1961). Corelli, Parutto, Barbieri, Bastianini, Ferrin; De Fabritiis; Chor. and Orch. of the Rome
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This performance is very serious business. The singers feel their parts as if their lives depended on it. Franco is aflame (much more so than in the Salzburg Trovatore, with Karajan). He sings his scenes with Azucena with warmth, fervor and, in Act II, frenzy. His high notes are very brilliant.
For the benefit of a Russian mezzo-soprano, I recently compared and discussed Stride a vampa and Condotta ellera in ceppi as sung by Minghini Cattaneo, Zinetti, Pederzini, Stignani, Barbieri, Simionato, Cossotto, Wettergren and others. The Barbieri version I chose was from this performance. Of all the versions, we both found it the most vivid and fervid. In addition, she observes more of the dynamic markings and accentuations than the others do. (Barbieri told me Azucena was her best role.)
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