RECORDINGS & REVIEWS
CD I
Poulenc Figliole, con tutto il cuore I dialoghi delle carmelitane
Verdi Son giunta! Grazie, o Dio! La forza del destino
Verdi Madre, pietosa Vergine La forza del destino
Verdi Pace, pace mio Dio! La forza del destino
Pizzetti Anche oggi a Natale Assasinio nella cattedrale
Tchaikovsky È mezzanotte, presto! Pikovaya Dama
Bellini Casta diva Norma
Bellini Dormono entrambi Norma
Bellini Teneri figli Norma
Bellini Me chiami, o Norma Norma
Bellini Deh ! con te, con te li prendi Norma
Bellini Mira, o Norma Norma
Bellini Si, fino all’ore estreme Norma
Bellini Qual cor tradisti Norma
Bellini Norma ! ... deh ! Normai scolpati ! Norma
Bellini Deh! Non voleri vittime Norma
Monteverdi Addio Roma, addio patria L’ıncoranazione di Poppea
Mozart Estinto Idomeneo? Idomeneo
Mozart Tutte ne cor vi sento Idomeneo
CD II
Donizetti Com’è bello! Lucrezia Borgia
Donizetti Era desso il figlio mio Lucrezia Borgia
Verdi Tu che le vanità Don Carlo
Verdi Arrigo! Ah! Parli a un core I vespri siciliani
Gluck Al pianto vostro Alceste
Verdi Qui Radamès verrà Aida
Verdi O cieli azzuri Aida
Verdi Una macchia è qui tuttora Macbeth
Verdi Ecco l’orrido campo Un ballo in maschera
Verdi Ma dall’arido stelo Un ballo in maschera
Handel Tornami a vagheggiar Alcina
Chopin Il bellisimo ragazzo
Donizetti La corrispondenza amorosa
Bizet Le matin
Rossini La partenza
Two CDs and a video recording dedicated her performances and her 50th Anniversary Celebrations in La Scala
La Scala Edition – 2 CDs & 1 DVD
LA REPUBBLICA
Leyla Gencer alla Scala 50 anni sulla carta e in CD
Considerata una delle ultime grandi dive del Novecento, dotata di una tecnica vocale superba e di notevoli qualità interpretative, Leyla Gencer, turca, classe 1924, si è imposta grazie a un repertorio ampio e impegnativo. Grande interprete donizettiana, si è distinta anche in alcuni grandi personaggi verdiani e pucciniani e ha lavorato molto alla Scala. Ora il teatro le dedica il libro Leyla Gencer, 50 anni alla Scala (32 euro), dove viene ricostruita la sua carriera tramite saggi e fotografie. Ad arricchire il volume sono allegati due cd, che spaziano dal debutto scaligero del 1957 con Dialogues des Carmelites di Poulenc al recital rossiniano alla Piccola Scala del 1979, e un dvd che contiene foto, spezzoni video, interviste. La presentazione è oggi pomeriggio nel Ridotto dei palchi, presenti Lorenzo Arruga, Franca Cella e Stéphane Lissner. Teatro alla Scala, Ridotto dei palchi, ore 17, ingresso libero.
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer’s live recordings between 1958 – 1968
Arias from Aida, Ernani, I Puritani, Anna Bolena, La Gioconda, Don Giovanni, I due Foscari, Lucrezia Borgia, I Vespri Siciliani, Lucia di Lammermoor, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino.
Operatic Arias
Verdi E strano, e strano, follie, follie ..... Sempre libera La Traviata (Callas)
Verdi Piangea cantando .... Ave Maria Otello (Tebaldi)
Verdi Mercé dilette amiche I vespri Siciliani (Sutherland)
Donizetti Torna all'ospite tetto...Vieni o tu, che ognor io chiamo Caterina Cornaro (Gencer)
Verdi Riposa. Tutte, in suo dolor vegilante Alzira (Caballé)
Donizetti In questi orribili momenti...quel sangue versato Roberto Devereux (Kabaivaska)
Bellini Qui la voce … Vien diletto I Puritani (Callas)
Verdi Ritorna vincitor Aida (Tebaldi)
Donizetti Il dolce suonı mi colpi dua voce .. Ardon gli incensi Lucia di Lammermoor (Sutherland)
Donizetti Com’é bello Lucrezia Borgia (Gencer)
Rossini Tanti affetti in tal momento La donna el Lago (Caballé)
Verdi Tu che le vanita Don Carlos (Kabaivaska)
FANFARE MAGAZINE
This curious release features six famous divas—four of them genuine international superstars, and two (Gencer and Kabaivanska) of lesser fame. Interestingly, it is for the performances by the latter two that I find this set interesting. The Callas, Tebaldi, Sutherland, and Caballé performances have been so widely available that their value here is questionable unless you are a beginning collector. If you are, those performances sound decent enough (the Callas is fake stereo, however—though not offensively so) in this incarnation. The performances by the Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer are lovely. Gencer had a strong and loyal following, but never established an international career; I gather she could be erratic on stage and difficult to work with. But many of her performances preserved on private labels are of stunning dramatic impact. While the voice has breaks between the registers, she uses that to dramatic advantage. She could float high soft notes with the best of them, and the two arias on this set catch her at the top of her form. Kabaivanska offers lovely singing, if without the personality of a Gencer or a Callas. Her rendition of “Tu che le vanità” lacks the ultimate impact that can be found in the most insightful readings, but it is beautiful and worthy singing.
VARIETY
Great Voices [Live]
Bellini Deh! Non volerli vittime Norma
Donizetti Egli e spento Belisario
Donizetti Figlia impura di Bolena Maria Stuarda
Donizetti Di un cor che more, Ah! Se un giorno Maria Stuarda
Donizetti Come innocente giovane Anna Bolena
Donizetti Piangete voi?Al dolce guidami Anna Bolena
Verdi Nel di della vittoria, Ambizioso spirto Macbeth
Verdi La luce langue Macbeth
Verdi Una macchia e qui tuttora Macbeth
Verdi Tacea la notte placida Il Trovatore
Verdi Vanne, lasciami.... D'amor sull'ali rosee Il Trovatore
Verdi Ecco l'orrido campo Un ballo in maschera
Verdi Son guinta La forza del destino
Verdi Pace, pace, mio dio La forza del destino
Verdi Non piangere mia compagna Don Carlo
Verdi Tu che le vanita Don Carlo
I and others have written in these pages of Leyla Gencer, a Turkish soprano who had a career of considerable importance in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Born in 1928 (according to most sources) in Turkey, Gencer wedded a strong dramatic persona to an affinity for the Verdian and bel canto style. Influenced by Callas, she had a more classically beautiful voice but not the Greek singer's remarkable range of color. She also lacked the uniqueness of the Callas approach to phrasing, and she could not duplicate Callas's uncommonly well-bound legato. Gencer also displayed tonal thinness in her lower register.
RADIOCORRIERE.TV
IL PICCOLO
Fernando Previtali conductor
Arias and scenes sung by Renata Tebaldi, Mario del Monaco, Leyla Gencer, Ettore Bastianini.
Opera Highlights - 2 LPs
Grandi Personaggi Verdiani "LEONORA"
Mozart Tutte le torture Die entführung aus dem serail
Mozart In guali eccessi … Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata Don Giovanni
Bellini Ah, rendetimi la speme… Qui la voce sua soevo… Vien, diletto I Puritani
Donizetti Coppia iniqua Anna Bolena
Donizetti Il dölce suono … Ardon gli incensi … Spargi d’amor Lucia di Lammermoor
Massenet Oh, Werther! Mio Werther… Gridar sento i bambini Werther
Verdi Voi lo diceste … Quante volte come un dono La Battaglia di Legnano
Verdi Pace, pace mio Dio La forza del destino
Verdi Nel di della vittoria … Vieni, t’affretta Macbeth
Verdi Gultier Malde… Caro nome Rigoletto
Verdi Come in questt’ora bruna Simon Boccanegra
Verdi No… mi lasciate ... Tu mi cui sguardo …. Si condanna e s’insulta I due Foscari
Verdi Tacea la notte placida Il Trovatore
Verdi Timor di me … D’amore sull’ali rosee Il Trovatore
Mozart Tutte le torture Die entführung aus dem serail
Mozart In guali eccessi … Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata Don Giovanni
Bellini Ah, rendetimi la speme… Qui la voce sua soevo… Vien, diletto I Puritani
Donizetti Coppia iniqua Anna Bolena
Donizetti Il dölce suono … Ardon gli incensi … Spargi d’amor Lucia di Lammermoor
Massenet Oh, Werther! Mio Werther… Gridar sento i bambini Werther
Verdi Voi lo diceste … Quante volte come un dono La Battaglia di Legnano
Verdi Pace, pace mio Dio La forza del destino
Verdi Nel di della vittoria … Vieni, t’affretta Macbeth
Verdi Gultier Malde… Caro nome Rigoletto
Verdi Come in questt’ora bruna Simon Boccanegra
Verdi No… mi lasciate ... Tu mi cui sguardo …. Si condanna e s’insulta I due Foscari
Verdi Tacea la notte placida Il Trovatore
Verdi Timor di me … D’amore sull’ali rosee Il Trovatore
FANFARE MAGAZINE
Leyla Gencer. Opera Arias. • Leyla Gencer, soprano. • FOYER FO 1015 (two discs), produced by Salvatore Caruselli, $19.96 [distributed by German News]. MOZART Abduction from the Seraglio: Tutte le torture. Don Giovanni: Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata. BELLINI I puritani: Qui la voce. DONIZETTI Anna Bolena: Al dolce guidami; Coppia iniqua. Lucia di Lammermoor: Il dolce suono . . . Ardon gli incenzi. MASSENET Werther: Mio Werther. . . Gridar sento. VERDI La battaglia di Legnano: Voi lo diceste . . . Quanto volte. La forza del destino: Pace, pace, mio Dio. Macbeth: Nel de della vittoria. Rigoletto: Caro nome. Simon Boccanegra: Come in quest'ora bruna. Il due foscari: No ... mi lasciata ... Tu al cui. Il trovatore: Tacea la notte placida . . . D'amor sull'ali rosee.
The voice—in its lower and middle registers—has substance and vibrancy. Like Maria Calks—with whom she has often been compared—Gencer is not always comfortable in the upper register; but in general, she is more successful than Callas in the stratosphere, never firing off any of those armor-piercing missiles that are so distressing in many of Callas' discs. Nor does Gencer exhibit any of the Callas wobble. She's had a dedicated, cult-like following for many years; her great appeal to her fans, it seems to me, comes from her intensely dramatic projection. Again, like Callas, she is said to have been exciting to watch. The performances here are live ones, originally done between 1957 and 1961, taped in Milan, Buenos Aires, Trieste, Florence, Palermo, Salzburg, and Venice. Among the conductors involved are Serafin, Previtali, Fabritiis, Gavazzenni, Quadri, and Gui. Almost everything is touching in its commitment and its emotional involvement. Gencer convinces the listener she is Elvira, Lucia, Leonora, Amelia, and Charlotte. Warmth, intensity, passion, and earthiness abound all through these performances, giving us a glimpse of an unquestionably impressive performer.
The reproduction is generally adequate although occasionally afflicted with post-echo. As noted in the headings, the arias from The Abduction and Werther are sung in Italian.
Leyla Gencer Sings Mozart [Live]
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer’s Mozart recordings between 1958 – 1968
Tutte le torture....Il Ratto dal Serraglio
Estino é Idomeneo... Tutte nel cor vi sento Idomeneo
Chi mai del mio provo piacer .... Idol mio ... Idomeneo
Ahimé, tutto perdei!.... D’Oreste e d’Aiace Idomeneo
Porgi Amor... Le Nozze di Figaro
E Susanna non vien!.. Dove sono i bei momenti.... Le Nozze di Figaro
Canzonetta sull’aria... Le Nozze di Figaro
Ah, chi mi dice mai....Ah, fuggi il traditor... Don Giovanni
Bisogna aver coraggio... Ah, taci ingiusto core... Don Giovanni
In quali eccessi... Mi tradi..... Don Giovanni
Don Ottavio son morta.... Or sai...Bisogna aver corragio Don Giovanni
Crudele!... Non mi dir bell’idol mio ..... Don Giovanni
It is not by chance that in her role as a musical performer, Leyla Gencer chose a Don Giovanni of young Italian voices (season As.Li.Co. 1985) among her first titles. Mozart had always been one of her authors. The first merit of this CD is that it helps discover the range of her Mozart repertoire. At the beginning performing at the State Theatre of Ankara in 1955 she was a frothing Fiordiligi in a Turkish version of Cosi fan tutte, with a severe German maestro, Georg Reinwald she re-creates Konstanze (The abduction from the Serraglio) and Pamina (Thee Magic Flute) with agility and in one of her first concerts in Italy (Martini & Rossi, 16th February 1958) she produced the colouring of Tutte le torture, with admirable lightness and deliberation, when the Italian Rai TV had already presented her as Leonora in the television version of the Trovatore. The first person to have faith in Leyla Gencer's Mozartian singing was Vittono Gui who wanted her for the part of Donna Elvira in his Don Giovanni (Rome, Teatro dell'Opera, February 1960) and immediately afterwards Leyla Gencer's Elvira was chosen for the television version of Don Giovanni by the Rai TV (1960, conductor Francesco Molinari Pradelli). The interpreter was immediately attracted by the more dramatic nature of Donna Anna and debuted in the role in Turin (November 1961), immediately afterwards she was Anna in the grandiose production at Covent Garden (February 1962) directed by the new musical director Georg Solti with Franco Zeffirelli as producer and scenographer and a very prestigious cast: Cesare Siepi, Leyla Gencer, Sena jurinac, Mirella Freni, Richard Lewis, Geraint Evans.
Leyla Gencer Vol.I [Live]
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer's recordings between 1954 – 1957
Puccini Perche Con Tante Cure, Un Bel Di Madama Butterfly
Tchaikovsky Ah! Povero Mio Core! Yevgeni Onyegin
Puccini Vissi D’Arte Tosca
Verdi O Cieli Azzurri Aida
Verdi Addio del passato La Traviata
Catalani Ebben, ne andro lontano La Wally
Verdi Timor Di Me?, D'amor Sull' Ali Rosee Il Trovatore
Verdi Pace, pace mio dio La forza del destino
Mozart Tutte le torture Il Ratto del Serraglio
Puccini Senza Mamma Suor Angelica
Donizetti Il Dolce Suon, Ardon Gli Incensi Lucia Di Lammermoor
Poulenc Figliole, Con Tutto Il Cuore Dialoghi Delle Carmelitane
Rocca Non So, Non So Monte Ivnor
FANFARE MAGAZINE
LEYLA GENCER: Volume 1. • Leyla Gencer, soprano; various conductors and orchestras. • MYTO 1 MCD 951.122 [ADD]; 78:00. (Distributed by Qualiton.)PUCCINI Madama Butterfly: Perché con tante cure (with Fernanda Cadoni, mezzo-soprano); Un bel di. Tosca: Vissi d'arte. Suor Angelica: Senza Mamma. TCHAIKOVSKY Eugene Onegin: Ah! Povero mio core (with Gino Bechi, baritone). VERDI Aida: O ciel azzurri. La traviata: Addio del passato. Il trovatore: Timor di me? D'amor sull'ali rosee. La forza del destino: Pace, pace mio Dio. CATALANI La Wally: Ebben, ne andrò lontano. MOZART Il ratto dal serraglio: Tutte le torture. DONIZETTI Lucia di Lämmer moor: Il dolce suono; Ardon gli incensi. POULENC Dialoghi delle Carmelitane: Figliole, con tutto il cuore. ROCCA Monte Ivnor: Non so, non so.
FROM CD BOOKLET
1995. Leyla Gencer begins today, with the new year, her first commission as president of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts of Istanbul: her country commits to her experience as singer and interpreter (as well as to her culture as musician, artistic director and teacher of interpretation courses) the imprint of a festival uniting the living fire of western music with the East’s passion for beauty and philosophy. For concert and opera lovers, Leyla Gencer, forty years after the beginning of her career, is one of today’s main figures of reference.
Leyla Gencer Vol.II [Live]
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer's recordings between 1957 - 1958
Verdi Che Piu T'Arresti, Tacea La Notte, Di Tale Amor Il Trovatore
Verdi Son Giunta! La Forza Del Destino
Donizetti Ancor Non Giunse!, Regnava Nel Silenzio, Quando rapito in estasi Lucia Di Lammermoor
Verdi No ... Mi Lasciate ... Tu all Cui Sguard, Che Mi Rechi? I Due Foscari
Pizzetti Anche Oggi A Natale Assassinio Nella Cattedrale
Puccini Eben altro il mio sogno... O Luigi! O Luigi!... Dimmi Persche Il Tabarro
Puccini Senza Mamma.... Suor Angelica Ha Sempre Suor Angelica
Donizetti Piangete Voi?...Al Dolce Guidami Anna Bolena
OPERA NEWS
This disc spans little more than a year, but the performances on it are absolute interpretations. ln the 1957 and 1958 seasons, Leyla Gencer had definitely become an ongoing miracle in her encounter with composers, ready to gush forth an unbounded wealth of characters, accumulated via mysterious blends of distant cultures. Her debuts in major masterpieces are no mere first encounters, but the bestowal of a long awaited, sacred investiture. Il Trovatore in Milan for the Italian Broadcasting Corporation, May 1957, was one of her debuts. She heads a troupe of great Verdi voices (Del Monaco, Bastianini, and Barbieri), and she is ready to brave them as she allows herself free rein, incorruptible in her own modernity. She does not worry about how Leonora should be sung; on the contrary, she knows everything about the heroine through some sort of historical memory. She makes Leonora her own with the gift of her visionary word; singing is an ideal for her.
Leyla Gencer Vol.III [Live]
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer’s recordings between 1958 - 1959
Weinberger Chi Parla Qui?....Schwanda!... Aspro Quel Cammino Schwanda
Weinberger Iniquo Al Rito, Infedele Sei.....In Questo Paese Schwanda
Verdi Come In Quest'ora Bruna... Vieni A Mirar La Cerula Simon Boccanegra
Verdi Orfanella Il Tetto Umile ..... Figlia!...A Tal Nome Io Palpito Simon Boccanegra
Verdi Nell'ora Soave... Plebe! Patrizi! Popolo Simon Boccanegra
Verdi Tu Qui?...Amelia!..... Parla, in Tuo Cor Virgineo Simon Boccanegra
Massenet Va...Non E Mal Se Piango Werther
Massenet Ah! Che Il Coraggio Mi Abbandona! Werther
Verdi Voi Io Diceste La Battaglia Di Legnano
Verdi Quante Volte Come Un Dono La Battaglia di Legnano
Verdi Che, Signor! Tu Qui?.... A Frenarti La Battaglia di Legnano
Verdi O Cor, Nel Petto La Battaglia di Legnano
Verdi Deus Meus, Pone Illos La Battaglia di Legnano
Prokofiev Lasciami, Lasciami L'Angelo di Fuoco
FROM CD BOOKLET
This is not a calling of the artist for the avantgarde; rather it is the opera of the time that is responding to recent issues and events, renewing itself without traumatic breaks with tradition. These are the cultural choices of the leading figures in the musical world such as Mario Labreca, then in the central administration of Italian Radio and Television programs, who proposes she sing Schwanda, the Bagpiper on August 10, 1958. This two-act opera by the Czech Jaremir Weinberger, was performed in Prague for the first time in 1927. A folk opera in terms of subject, it is taken from the Slavic and German wealth of fables, and its themes are inspired by folk heritage. There is the bagpiper Schwanda and the gentleman thief Babinski who steals him from his wife and takes him to the realm of the Sad Queen. When she hears Schwanda’s playing she melts with love and wants to marry him. But his wife Dorotea aided by the Wizard, arrives and accuses Schwanda of betrayal; Babinski saves Schwanda from the Queens revenge. When Schwanda is then scolded by Dorotea, he swears by the Devil that he has not betrayed her, and a chasm sucks him down into Hell. Here Schwanda sells his soul to the Devil to go back to Dorotea, but Babinski saves him by beating the devil in a card game, and takes him back to his wife. Leyla is Dorotea, with sprightly talk, stupor, tests to overcome, accusations, and warm affection.
The following summer, the Spoleto Festival opened on June 26, 1959 with Sergei Prokoiiev’s The Fiery Angel, an opera that has just been posthumously presented in its world premiere at the International Venice Festival in 1955. Its modern, and radical composition has a hard, deeply felt impact on this singer of 19th century music, with its fragmented composition and continuous jumps of interval guided by hallucinatory tremors between abandon and the fire of phonic violence. But she wins, she finds a weary and burning consistency in the gothic tale of Renata, with its contrast between holiness and perdition, between defenceless surges and vindictive, possessive furore that pursue her and the characters who come close to her. She finds verve and impulsive flexibility in her energic voice, the colours of stupefaction, the opacity of crime. So, the singsong of the possessed girl starts to move her, weary and still under the charm of an obsessive cycle that shakes her from time to time. You are overwhelmed by the force of his piece of contemporary theatre, the precursor of a great deal of cinematographic taste (from Dreyer to “The Exorcist”) and the story of the apparition of Madiel, “an angel made of fire with vestments as white as snow” which illuminated her life as a child, but for whom she feels carnal passion. It was a resounding success, repeated in Trieste in December. The artist perceived the effort of such singing that deviated from her vocal training and restrained the demands she made on her voice.
Verdi’s congeniality attracted her to widen her Verdi repertoire. ln December 1958, she sang her first Simon Boccanegra in Naples, directed by Mario Rossi, with Tito Gobbi, a historical Doge, and Mirto Picchi as the ardent Gabriele Adomo. Her voice is sumptuous, the character is haughty, the melodic line in the singing is noble starting in her opening cantabile. Every word creates colour as well as movement in a Ligurian landscape which is a living presence in this opera as it enters into a different relationship with the individual characters and episodes. There is ecstatic luminosity in her duet with the tenor, where the singing has gentle, subtle modulations, and discloses dramatic emphasis. A sea of remote infancy fills the tale (Andante) which unveils Amelia’s mysterious story. It works off reasons of the heart with dynamic in pianissimo and leads to the passionate duet of recognition between Amelia and the Doge who is her father. The first finale awakens all the dramatic force of the character starting with her passionate entry for the tale of her kidnapping, the phrases of accusation vehemently enunciated at the centre of the Council scene and follows through until the concertato, open to the Doge’s heartfelt speech. Sculpted by Gobbi. Unfolding majestically and with high drama. It is pierced by airy phrases from Amelia who asks for forgiveness. The duet with the unaware tenor is also highly dramatic when he surprises her in the Doge’s palace, and then it is suddenly lit up with her suave and boundless passion.
There is another kind pathos that is more dripping with tears and internal clashes in Massenet’s Werther which was a debut in 1955 for the beginning of Opera TV, and Leyla Gencer sang it again in Trieste in 1959. We hear the aria of the third act where Carlotta breaks out into tears. This is a miracle of emotional involvement and poised form: the legato singing pursues the curves of its poetic French libretto, and it follows the language of the heart, so typically French. Then it slowly falls back into unspeakable sadness, with the dark colour of weeping, right after the scene where the weight of pain becomes unbearable and the heroine’s courage emerges in prayer.
The 1959 Florentine Musical May officially celebrated the centenary of the Second War for independence and the foundling unity of ltaly, with La Battaglia di Legnano written by Verdi in 1849. Conducted by Vittorio Gui, it was directed by Enriquez with sets by Colonello. The solemn occasion excites Leyla Gencer’s historical calling, an approach which the cultured conductor Gui further refines. It has the fullness of the character and lyrical-heroic singing without emphasis though accentuated and the expressive force of the historical truth rediscovered. This is the path of the Verdi Renaissance which began with I Due Foscari in 1957 Lida begins with a recitative of tragic gloom and then suddenly there is the cavatina of the proto-romantic heroine. La Gencer offers it up palpitating, softly mosso on the expressive figures of sweet melancholy, and infallible rhythmic precision. Then, suddenly motivated by music in an agitato tempo, the typical cabaletta of early Verdi heroines unleashes singing that mixes strength and brilliant coloratura, with virtuoso passages of lengthy trills and triplets sent flying: La Gencer is extraordinary. Perhaps the highest point of this character, wavering between the ideal and passion, is the prayer that opens the fourth act. A prayer of psalm singing, Lida’s passionate plea reconciles her affection for the two heroes she loves, with the patriotic prayer of the people. The strands of the plot converge in a choral, sacred impetus, where the soprano’s voice rises purified by limpid ease and soars in the purity of the vocalise traced like a symbol that is beyond human language.
Opera Fanatic
A Film by Jan Schmidt-Garre on Singing
Bergamo Musica Festival
The Versatile Prima Donna
Rigoletto Caro nome † Cherubini
Macbeth La luce langue Verdi
Medea E che? lo, son Medea † Verdi
Hamlet Mad scene Thomas
Manon Lescaut Sola, perduta, abbandonata Puccini
Turandot In questa reggia Puccini
Norma Ah, bello a me ritorna Bellini
Die Zauberflöte O zittre nicht Mozart
Die Zauberflöte Der Hölle Rache Mozart
Le nozze di Figaro Porgi amor † Mozart
SOPRANO ASSOLUTO: THE VERSATILE PRIMA DONNA. • Maria Callas 1, Cristina Deutekom 2, Leyla Gencer 3, Adelaide Negri 4, sopranos; unnamed artists. • ORNAMENTI FE-106 [no SPARS code]; 75:59. (Distributed by Qualiton.) VERDI Rigoletto: Caro nome'3 Macbeth: La luce langue4. CHERUBINI Medea: E che? lo, son Medea1 34. THOMAS Hamlet: Mad scene4. PUCCINI Manon Lescaut: Sola, perduta, abbandonata4. Turandot: In questa reggia24. BELLINI Norma: Ah, bello a me ritorna1 2. MOZART Die Zauberflöte: O zittre nicht4; Der Hölle Rache4. Le nozze di Figaro: Porgi amor3.
Let us begin with the source: The “label” conveys nothing beyond the title as given above, the disc's number, and the fact that it was copyrighted in 1993 to Opera Live Productions. The accompanying brochures offer nothing more than the title on their covers, though inside we find that they were copyrighted by Bravo Music of America. A tiny logo on the reverse of the jewel box contains the word “Ornamenti” which is repeated on the spine. One might guess that the perpetrators want to make it tough for the buyer to complain.
Then there is the concept behind the program—if any. The larger of the two accompanying booklets contains an essay credited to Ivan von Günther, translated by Lilian Dones, purporting to tell us what a soprano assoluto really is. It is wretchedly expressed. Sample: “It is agreed, in principle, that an Absolute Soprano is capable of issuing E natural from a wide low register.” It is equally wretchedly printed—there are, for example, superfluous hyphens, as in “Me-dea,” “Trovatore,” and “E Natu-ral,” and such gaffes as “she shared the stage with Placido Domingo” (no doubt in “Il barbiere di Siviglia”). Lest we are confused by the definition, a list of assoluti is appended, which includes along with such obvious candidates as Maria Malibran and Lilli Lehmann, Giuseppina Strepponi (Verdi's wife), Maria Németh—and Adelaide Negri. The other booklet, labeled “index,” lists (1 through 15) opera, selection, singer, recording date, and playing time.
Far be it from me to quarrel with the selection of artists, though I am surprised to find such late representations (1985-93) of Deutekom and Negri. The latter seems particularly to fill the requirement that the assoluto must include Turandot and the Queen of the Night in her repertoire. In fact, for thirty-seven minutes of the total seventy-six are given over to Negri, I can't help thinking that she is the whole point of the matter. (1 caught by chance the broadcast of the 1982 Met Norma in which, subbing for Scotto, she “shaved the stage with Placido Domingo,” and turned it off in acute boredom after an hour.)
On to the recording itself: It is generally execrable, most of it apparently done from the audience with smuggled equipment, muffled, tubby, noisy, and often cursed by the presumed handclaps of the recorder, explosively preserved for posterity. Several selections are abruptly cut off in midstream.
The Callas “Caro nome” (if the 1952 date is right, probably the Mexico City performance) is frankly magnificent, but very dim and punctuated by a prompter and, toward the end, by a lot of chatter. Gencer and Deutekom, brought in for comparison, are not Callas's equals, however admirable on their own terms. (Gencer should leave Mozart alone. Deutekom's Turandot is much better than I would have supposed.)
Which brings us to Negri, who apparently reigned supreme at the Teatro Colon in her native Argentina. Born in 1943, she made her debut at the age of twenty-nine and, according to the accompanying blurb, “has gone on to sing in the mot [sic!] important theaters in the world,” though the bio in Kutsch and Riemens does not mention this aspect of her career. She gave nine performances (Lucia, Norma, Trovatore, Ernani, Macbeth) at the Met between 1982 and 1984.
As heard here (in a muffled, bass-heavy acoustic) she appears to have a huge voice and an unlimited range;'perhaps, if properly recorded, she would prove quite exciting. The Medea scene is well sung, but is utterly without drama, especially by contrast with Callas and Gencer. But the nearly fifteen minutes of the Hamlet mad scene, with its whooping and wobbling (1992) is well-nigh unbearable—though it is the audience that goes mad (with relief?) at the end. And the rest, to my ears, is not much more tolerable. Perhaps one ought to have been there.
In my opinion this disc does a grave disservice to the artists and composers and should be quarantined. A reviewer should not have to suffer like this!
Stella della Lirica Vol.I [Live]
Operatic arias from Norma, Anna Bolena, Il Trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlo.
Una Divina alla Fenice [Live]
Excerpts from Leyla Gencer’s recordings between 1957 – 1983 in La Fenice
31.12.1957
I due Foscari – Giuseppe Verdi
Leyla Gencer (Lucrezia), Marisa Salimbeni (Pisana), Gian Giocomo Guelfi (Il
Doge),
Tullio Serafin conductor
No… mi lasciate…
Tu, al cui sguando onnipossente
Che mi reschi? … favella
Ah, piu figli, infelice, non hai…
Piu non vive!….. l’innocente
29.04.1963
Gerusalemme – Giuseppe Verdi
Leyla gencer (Elena) Mirella Fiorentini (Isaura), Giacomo Arragall (Gastone),
Emilio Salvoldi (Conte di Tolosa), Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor
Il bronzo squilla
Elena mia! Gastone! Ti benedica il cielo!
Che mi cal della vita
Son vani i lamenti
E tu Io soffri, o ciel?
No… l’ira vostra, l’indegno insulto
10.01.1964
Beatrice di Tenda – Vinecenzo Bellini
Leyla Gencer (Beatrice), Mario Zanasi (Filippo), Antigone Sgourda (Agnese),
Juan Oncina (Orombello), Mario Guggia (Anichino), Vittorio Gui, cunductor
O mio fedeli
Ma la sola, ohime! Son io
Ah, la pena in lor piombo
Tu qui, Filippo?
Il mio dolore, e l’ira…
Deh! Se mi amasti un giorno
Ah! Tal onta io meritai / quando a me tal empio alzai
Chi giunge?
Ah! Se mi amasti un giorno
09.04.1968
Macbeth – Giuseppe Verdi
Leyla Gencer (Lady Macbeth), Ledo Freschi (il Servo), Mirella Fiorentini
(Dama), Alessandro Maddalena (il Medico), Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor
Nel di della vittoria io le incontrai
Vieni! t’afretta! Accendere
Duncano sara qui?
Or tutti sorgete, ministri infernali
Una macchia e qui tutt’ora
15.12.1968
Medea – Luigi Cherrubini
Leyla gencer (Medea), Carlo Fracci, conductor
Dei tuoi figli la madre
14.05.1969
Belisario – Gaetano Gonizetti
Leyla Gencer (Antonina), Giuseppe Taddei (Belisario), Nicola Zaccaria
(Giustiniano), Mirna Pecile (Irene), Umberto Grilli (Alamiro), Gianandrea
Gavazzeni, conductor
Da quel di che l’innocente
Di pianto, di gemiti
Egli e spento
Cielo irato
20.06.1970
Messa di Requiem per Bellini – Gaetano Gonizetti
Leyla Gencer (soprano), Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor
Ingemisco
07.01.1971
La Gioconda – Amilcare Ponchilelli
Leyla Gencer (Gioconda), Mirna Pecile (La cieca), Mario Zanasi (Barnaba),
Oliviero de Fabritiis, conductor
Tradita! Ahime! O cuor! Dono funesto!
Suicidio!
Ebben? Perché son muta e affaranta!
18.06.1978
Les Martyrs – Gaetano Gonizetti
Leyla Gencer (Pauline), Renato Bruson (Sévere), Gianluigi Gelmetti, conductor
En touchant a ce rivage….
Ah, souvenir cruel et tendre…
15.02.1983
La Proca d’un Opera Seria – Francesca Gnecco
Leyla Gencer (Corilla), John Fischer, conductor
Nel cor piu non ni sento (La Milinara di Paisello)
CD sales were donated to the construction of La Fenice Opera, which burned down in 1996.
FROM CD BOOKLET
Between 1957 and 1983 Leyla Gencer sang in twelve operas performed at La Fenice and sang in various concerts. Artists have an intense relationship with an opera house where they return to sing, where an audience that has already applauded them awaits them in expectation. Or rather, they have a special relationship with many opera houses, each of which inspires a different type of love and a unique relationship with the acoustics and mythic history of the opera of the artists’ vibrant performance. However, with La Fenice, this passion is even more intense and striking owing to its miraculously light opera hall with its decorations in gold, mirrors and shades of pink. Not only because we know it is no longer there, but because this very heart of music is surrounded by the city of Venice with its subtle interplay of water and whispers, sudden banks of fog and images, its history intertwined with the East, its flourishing art, that all compete with the seduction of the places, the goodwill of the people, the customs of traditional celebrations such as the Regata Storica or Carnival, drawing one to its past.
Leyla Gencer is Turkish, born on the Bosphorus (1928) but with her mother’s Polish roots of sensitivity and passion; she was educated in Europe amidst a climate of cultural opening following Atatürk’s reforms and Italian influence following her operatic vocation. Thus, for her Venice is the other shore of her sea, the western border of a unique Roman and Byzantine Empire, she recognises familiar paths and wants to interiorise them. Her hotels on the Canal Grande (Il Bauer, Il Gritti), or those close to the opera house (La Fenice and des Artistes), Venetian painting that she studies in churches and palaces under the guidance of her teachers, the Veneto Serafin, the nobleman Gui, the enlightened Gavazzeni; the houses of an elite who were sensitive to her extraordinary nature were open for intellectual evenings, from Conte Cini to Mario Labroca, from Marquise di Cadaval to Wally Toscanini.
Verdi Centenial [Live]
Duet from Simon Boccanegra
Duets from Verdi / Donizetti
Operas
Duets from Il Trovatore
Duets from Il Trovatore
Duets from Il Trovatore (Verdi)
Duets from Bellini / Verdi
Duets from Bellini / Verdi
Duets from Werther (Massanet)
