RECORDINGS & REVIEWS
[from L'Assassinio ... to Don Giovanni]
Note: Some of the texts may contain letter
and word errors due to the difficulty of reading old newspapers or magazines.
L’Assassinio nella Cattedrale [Live]
01.03.1958 L’ASSASSINIO NELLA CATTEDRALE
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla ScalaGianandrea Gavazzeni
World Premier Recording
Nicola Rossi-Lemeni (Thomas Becket); Leyla Gencer (Prima Corifea); Gabriella Carturan (Seconda Corifea); Aldo Bertocci (Araldo); Mario Ortica (Primo Sacerdote); Dino Dondi (Secondo Sacerdote); Adolfo Cormani (Terzo Sacerdote); Rinaldo Pellizzoni (Primo Tentatore); Antonio Cassinelli (Secondo Tentatore); Nicola Zaccaria (Terzo Tentatore); Rinaldo Pellizzoni (Primo Cavaliere); Enrico Campi (Secondo Cavaliere); Silvio Majonica (Terzo Cavaliere); Marco Stefanoni (Quarto Cavaliere)
Opera d’Oro – 2 CDs
ASSASSINIO NELLA CATTEDRALE 1958
OPERADIS
This recording is reviewed in the following publication:
(The) Gramophone - April 2004 p.95 [PO'C]
Attila [Live]
20.10.1972 ATTILA
Orchestra and Chorus of the Theatre of New Jersey
Alfredo Silipigni
Jerome Hines (Attila); Leyla Gencer (Odabella); Nicola Martinucci (Foresto); Cesare Bardelli (Ezio); Thomas Perri (Uldino); Daniel Bonilla (Leone)
Myto – 2 CD
OPERADIS
Recordings of Attila by Giuseppe Verdi are surveyed in the following publications:
Celletti p.836; Opera on CD (1) p.44 (2) p.50 (3) p.56; Opera on Video p.68; MET (VID) p.357; Penguin p.466; Giudici p.878 (2) p.1426; Opéra International No.260 septembre 2001 p.16
https://operadis.com/
ATTILA 1972
19.12.1972 ATTILA
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Riccardo Muti
Nicolai Ghiaurov (Attila); Leyla Gencer (Odabella); Veriano Luchetti (Foresto); Norman Mittelmann (Ezio); Ottavio Taddei (Uldino); Mario Rinaudo (Leone)
Opera Depot – 2 CDs
31.12.1972 ATTILA
Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Riccardo Muti
Nicolai Ghiaurov (Attila); Leyla Gencer (Odabella); Veriano Luchetti (Foresto); Norman Mittelmann (Ezio); Ottavio Taddei (Uldino); Mario Rinaudo (Leone)
Opera Depot – 2 CDs
ATTILA 1972 [1972.12.31]
OPERADIS
Recordings of Attila by Giuseppe Verdi are surveyed in the following publications:
Celletti p.836; Opera on CD (1) p.44 (2) p.50 (3) p.56; Opera on Video p.68; MET (VID) p.357; Penguin p.466; Giudici p.878 (2) p.1426; Opéra International No.260 septembre 2001 p.16
Comments: Recording of a performance at Florence (31 December 1972). There is a review in Opera (February 1973 p.124) which is stated to be of a performance with this cast on October 19 1972. This date seems unlikely as on p.132 of the same issue it is stated that Leyla Gencer was singing Odabella in Newark, NJ, USA on 20 October 1972
https://operadis.com/
GUÍA
UNIVERSAL DE LA ÓPERA
2001
 |
Attila
Opera en un prólogo y tres actos, con libreto de Te mistocle Solera. Estrenada en el teatro La Fenice de veneda el 17 de marzo de 1846.
Como afirma el critico italiano E. G., hubo un momento en el mundo de la lirica en que parecia que esta ópers no estis y sin embargo fue otro bastión en la lucha antiaustriaca que estaba levando a cabo el libretista Temistocle Solera, y que levaria ya on poco tiempo a la independencia talana.
1. ✰✰ Boris Christoff, Gian Giacomo Guelfi, Gastone Limarilli, Margherita Roberti. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro Comunale de Florencia dirigidos por Bruno Bartoletti, Myto. 2 CD. 1962. (En vivo.)
5. ✰✰✰✰ Nicolai Ghiauros, Piero Capuccilli, Veriano Luchetti, Rita Orlandi- Malaspina. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de la Scala de Milán dirigidos por Giuseppe Patanè. Myto. 2 CD. 1975. (En vivo.)
La grabación de Boris Christoff (1) foe un registro que dio a conocer una ópera entonces ol vidadisima. Christoff cantó aproximativamente, pero le faltaban puntos de referencia en un rol de gran envergadura que nadie cantaba entonces. Bruno Bartoletti salió bien del paso,
La interesante grabación (2) puso de relieve la calidad de Muti como director y la solidez de Ruggero Raimondi en un papel que le cayó bien, y que repitió mejor en 1972, grabción (3) que realizó con la Deutekom y su pe culiar manera de cantar: Carlo Bergonzi fue un Foresto de antología. Gardelli dirigió con precisión y buen nivel.
En la (4) se reunieron las voces de Ghiaurov y Leyla Gencer, formando un registro que sin ser excepcional, es típico de coleccionista. Y en la grabación siguiente (5) la pareja la forma con Rita Orlandi-Malaspina, de breve pero estentórea carrera. Ghiaurov está inmenso como pocas veces. Luchetti cumple bien.
Nesterenko paseó su Attila por Europa al igual que su Zaccaria del Nabucco pero su grabación de esta ópera fue mejor; en la de Ar tila (6) se limita a cantar con voz fiera y cumple. El equipo vocal es flojo y se salva sólo la Odabella de la Sass, mediana.
Samuel Ramey da nueva vida a Attila en su grabación (7) de gran clase, que cuenta con un excelente Foresto (Neil Schicoff) y una Odabella con algún problema (Cheryl Studer). En el duro rol de Exio, Zancanaro se las ve y se las desea para no quedar demasiado mal. Riccardo Muti no logró sacar una versión tan buena como debió de imaginar.
Opera en un prólogo y tres actos, con libreto de Te mistocle Solera. Estrenada en el teatro La Fenice de veneda el 17 de marzo de 1846.
Como afirma el critico italiano E. G., hubo un momento en el mundo de la lirica en que parecia que esta ópers no estis y sin embargo fue otro bastión en la lucha antiaustriaca que estaba levando a cabo el libretista Temistocle Solera, y que levaria ya on poco tiempo a la independencia talana.
1. ✰✰ Boris Christoff, Gian Giacomo Guelfi, Gastone Limarilli, Margherita Roberti. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro Comunale de Florencia dirigidos por Bruno Bartoletti, Myto. 2 CD. 1962. (En vivo.)
5. ✰✰✰✰ Nicolai Ghiauros, Piero Capuccilli, Veriano Luchetti, Rita Orlandi- Malaspina. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de la Scala de Milán dirigidos por Giuseppe Patanè. Myto. 2 CD. 1975. (En vivo.)
La grabación de Boris Christoff (1) foe un registro que dio a conocer una ópera entonces ol vidadisima. Christoff cantó aproximativamente, pero le faltaban puntos de referencia en un rol de gran envergadura que nadie cantaba entonces. Bruno Bartoletti salió bien del paso,
La interesante grabación (2) puso de relieve la calidad de Muti como director y la solidez de Ruggero Raimondi en un papel que le cayó bien, y que repitió mejor en 1972, grabción (3) que realizó con la Deutekom y su pe culiar manera de cantar: Carlo Bergonzi fue un Foresto de antología. Gardelli dirigió con precisión y buen nivel.
En la (4) se reunieron las voces de Ghiaurov y Leyla Gencer, formando un registro que sin ser excepcional, es típico de coleccionista. Y en la grabación siguiente (5) la pareja la forma con Rita Orlandi-Malaspina, de breve pero estentórea carrera. Ghiaurov está inmenso como pocas veces. Luchetti cumple bien.
Nesterenko paseó su Attila por Europa al igual que su Zaccaria del Nabucco pero su grabación de esta ópera fue mejor; en la de Ar tila (6) se limita a cantar con voz fiera y cumple. El equipo vocal es flojo y se salva sólo la Odabella de la Sass, mediana.
Samuel Ramey da nueva vida a Attila en su grabación (7) de gran clase, que cuenta con un excelente Foresto (Neil Schicoff) y una Odabella con algún problema (Cheryl Studer). En el duro rol de Exio, Zancanaro se las ve y se las desea para no quedar demasiado mal. Riccardo Muti no logró sacar una versión tan buena como debió de imaginar.
MAGGIO MUSICALE DI FIORENTINO
NICOLA CATTO
2019
(…) E torniamo ora a queste recite fiorentine del dicembre 1972, parlando del quartetto di cantanti ivi impiegato (tutti, curiosamente, tra i 40 e i 44 anni). Dopo il debutto nella difficile parte, compiuto nell’ottobre dello stesso anno nel New Jersey, Leyla Gencer tornava a Odabella negli ultimi anni della sua gloriosa carriera (che si concluderà nel 1983). Non si dirà nulla di sconveniente nel rilevare come i mezzi vocali della cantante turca fossero un po’ appannati, o come lo slancio eroico della cabaletta d’entrata non trovasse perfetta rispondenza in un’emissione forse mai stata veramente adatta al ruolo: ma, grazie anche alla comune passione per la ricerca musicale condivisa con Riccardo Muti (con cui collaborerà ancora a Firenze per Macbeth nel 1975 e in tanti anni a Milano, alla guida dell’Accademia), per l’intensità del fraseggio (che meraviglia, quel “Fuggente nuvolo”, sia nella poesia delle mezzetinte che nell’amorevole accompagnamento dal podio!) e lo slancio della leonessa (anche in un re bemolle sovracuto fuori ordinanza), la Gencer è una Odabella da tenere a mente. Diversissima, ovviamente, dalla Stella che la precedette a Roma’e dalla belcantista Studer che la seguirà a Milano, ma non meno interessante. Se la fulgida vocalità di Veriano Luchetti, vero habitué del ruolo assai acuto di Foresto, è perfettamente adatta alla lettura corrusca eppure analitica di Muti (che, viceversa, non sembrava sintonizzarsi perfettamente con il Cecchele della Rai), l’allora quarantenne canadese Norman Mittelmann, pur con qualche limite di temperamento, ha una vocalità cuprea ed estesa in alto, affatto idonea al personaggio, piuttosto tetragono, di Ezio, che coglie con maggiore efficacia del Guglielmo Tell di qualche mese prima. E infine Nicolai Ghiaurov, che resta il fenomeno vocale capace di soggiogare gli spettatori per tre decenni, e il cui enorme carisma emerge anche in una serata in cui qualcosa non sembra funzionare alla perfezione. Quello che il disco non può ovviamente conservare è l’efficacia della regia di Sandro Sequi e la bellezza delle scene di Pier Luigi Pizzi (con quell’apparizione di Papa Leone in un campo di grano che rimarrà un modello), ma quello che invece sa esaltare, grazie anche al notevole miglioramento acustico garantito da questa rimasterizzazione dei nastri originali, è la concertazione di Muti, che prende una strada ben diversa dai pur lodevoli precedenti di Giulini e Bartoletti e, ancor più che a Roma, unisce lo slancio elettrizzante delle strette all’accento epico dei grandi finali, con un’essenzializzazione quasi novecentesca di colori e fraseggi: la strada verso l’Attila belcantistico degli anni Ottanta è già tutta qui, in un cammino verdiano che, a Firenze, culminerà in un Otello che rimane, forse, il più folgorante dei tanti nella carriera del Maestro Muti.
https://www.maggiofiorentino.com/
https://www.maggiofiorentino.com/profile/attila/
MUSICA MAGAZINE
E Muti porto quei barbari fuori dall'oblio
Attila di Giuseppe Verdi è un melodramma brusco e spiccio. Composto in pieno Risorgimento, ha per sfondo un'Italia in balia dei barbari. Gli studiosi l'hanno sempre giudicata un'opera poco significativa. Non è vero. L'ha dimostrato Riccardo Muti, facendola riemergere dall'oblio nel 1970 e poi riproponendola diverse volte, anche al Metropolitan di New York. La collana di incisioni storiche Maggio Live (in coproduzione con l'etichetta discografica del Maestro, RM Music), ne pubblica adesso in doppio cd l'esecuzione registrata al Teatro Comunale nel dicembre ‘72.
Cast di voci bronzee, valorose, ognuna eroica a suo modo: Nicolai Ghiaurov, che del protagonista grandioso e belluino sa pure lumeggiare le ombre psicologiche, il saldo Norman Mittelmann, generale romano, censurabile soltanto per l'italiano non nitido, il raggiante Veriano Luchetti e Leyla Gencer, l'unica donna, che da sola tiene testa a tutti gli uomini. Muti, di "Attila", esalta la polpa sinfonica, la teatralità impetuosa, la corrusca stringatezza così come la poesia di certe pagine. Per esempio la smagliante cantabilità degli archi nel Preludio, imbevuta di dolcezza e di palpiti, un tratto caratteristico della scrittura verdiana, sempre. Gli stessi archi, che sembrano già quelli di "Traviata", introducono pure la romanza del soprano al primo atto, mentre i filamenti di fiati e arpa che la sostengono si proiettano addirittura fin verso le rive del Nilo, ad " Aida", venticinque anni dopo. Dunque una partitura tutt'altro che convenzionale, a cui questa lettura fiorentina contribuì a restituire buona reputazione. Dal passato Ritorna "Attila" nell'esecuzione registrata al Teatro Comunale nel ‘72.
A destra, Muti
Beatrice di Tenda [Live]
10.01.1964 BEATRICE DI TENDA
Orchestra e Coro del Grande Teatro La Fenice
Vittorio Gui
Leyla Gencer (Beatrice di Tenda); Juan Oncina (Orombello); Mario Zanasi (Filippo Maria Visconti); Antigone Sguarda (Agnese del Maino); Mario Guggia (Anichino); Ottorino Begali (Rizzardo del Maino); Sante Zanon, maestro del coro
Memories – 2 CDs
BEATRICE DI TENDA 1964
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ANTHONY D. COGGI
Bellini - Beatrice di Tenda. • Leyla Gencer, soprano (Beatrice di Tenda); Juan Oncina, tenor (Orombello); Mario Zanasi, baritone (Filippo Visconti); Antigone Sgourda, soprano (Agnese); Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice, Venice, conducted by Vittorio Gui. • Melodram 456 (3) (three discs, mono, live performance: Venice, January 10, 1964), $32.94
Donizetti Anna Bolena. • Leyla Gencer, soprano (Anna Bolena); Juan Oncina, tenor (Percy); Carlo Cava, bass (Enrico VIII); Patricia Johnson, mezzo-soprano (Giovanna Seymour); Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni. • Melodram 458 (3) (three discs, mono; live performance: Glyndebourne, June 13, 1965), $32.94 [distributed by German News]
Neither ease nor expediency prompted me to pair these releases in a single review. I did so because they have so much in common. Both are bel canto operas; both fell out of favor for a time; both owe their modern exhumation to the efforts of prominent conductors (the very ones, in fact, leading the performances at hand); both have the same basic plot (a tyrant, intent on dissolving a once advantageous marriage, ruthlessly attempts to rid himself of a virtuous wife on trumped up charges); and finally (and perhaps most important), both title roles were created by Giuditta Pasta, a description of whose talents seems, at this point, appropriate in light of the roles' vocal and dramatic requirements. Grove describes Pasta's voice as “rebellious,” and goes on to note that though it was not “free from imperfection, the individuality of her impersonations and the peculiar and penetrating expression of her singing made the severest critics forget any faults ... in the sympathy and emotion she irresistibly created.” Further, “the dignity of her face, form and natural gestures fitted her eminently for tragedy, for which she (possessed) the necessary fire and energy.” It is worth noting that before she created Beatrice, Pasta had performed like service for Bellini in La Sonnambula and Norma, an informational tidbit I offer not to titillate trivia enthusiasts but to suggest that the composer really intended his latest heroine to combine the appealing sweet vulnerability of an Amina (a mature one, admittedly) with the ferocity and righteous indignation of his Druid priestess. (Cailas' interpretation of Anna Bolena all but proves that much the same can be said to describe that heroine as well, though the opera preceded all three of the others. A pity she never got around to Beatrice!)
All of which is an unduly roundabout way to explain why, after hearing Gencer's Beatrice, I feel I may have been overly harsh in my criticism of the opera the last time I had occasion to review it in these pages (Fanfare VI:6). Had that recording (and, for that matter, any of the other performances of the work to which I'd been exposed, both “live” and recorded) been sung with the dramatic eloquence Gencer brings to it here, I would surely have been more favorably disposed toward it. In my defense, I did imply that the problem with both Beatrices then under discussion was a too placid and passive interpreter (Sutherland), and I expressed interest in the Beatrice the more theatrically compelling Kabaiwanska, who sings Agnese in one of them, would have provided. Bolena, on the other hand, I have always considered Donizetti's finest tragic opera.
The two are #6 and #8 respectively in Melodram's third series of “interpretazioni liriche indimenticabili,” and both are here expertly sung and acted by Gencer, who for too many years was unfairly dismissed as a “Callas manqué,” but who deserves to be recognized in her own right as a singing actress on the grand scale, and whose name, fortunately, recurs with ever-increasing frequency in these pages. Her voice can, at times, be as hard as Callas', but it is more secure in alt, and though her runs and scales are not as impeccable as Sutherland's, she is capable of exquisite high pianissimi and commands sufficient flexibility to encompass most of the roles' more florid passages. Finally (and again, perhaps most important as respects the works under discussion), she is a most involved participant in the drama: one who delivers the texts intelligently and tellingly.
Would she had better support in these performances! Neither husband possesses the beauty of tone or flexibility his music requires, but Cava's rough-voiced Henry is, at least, more fearsome than the Visconti of Zanasi, whose light-textured baritone projects a less than formidable adversary to a Beatrice of Gencer's mettle. The same tenor, Oncina, is, coincidentally, the “lover” in both, and, though certainly more than adequate, I admired him more in the lighter tenore di grazia parts he had by this time more or less abandoned. Though his prior experience in such roles stands him in good stead in the second-act Beatrice concertato, one can only guess how (or if!) he might have survived “Vivi tu” in Anna Bolena had Gavazzeni chosen not to cut it, for, from all reports, Rubini, who created the role of Percy, pulled out all vocal stops when he sang it. (This is, I suppose, as good a place as any to deplore the numerous, slashing cuts both conductors inflict on these works. As the operas' prime champions, one would think they might have had greater faith in their integrity as musico-dramatic entities.) Both of the “other women” roles are soprano parts, though Seymour is frequently taken by a mezzo. (Agnese, in fact, doubles Beatrice's vocal line up to a B in the second-act quintette, “Al tuo fallo.”) As Agnese, Sgourda tends to wobble until she warms up, while Johnson would be more acceptable a Seymour did, she not have to vie with memories of Simionato.
As “true believers,” not only in the works they are conducting but in the theatrical viability of the genre to which they belong, both Gavazzeni and Gui are fully aware of the need to balance dramatic intensity with a free-flowing melodic line. I was, however, surprised that the latter seemed to play down the power and vigor of the Beatrice “Quintette” (which Verdi surely had in mind when he composed the Macbeth concertato following Duncan's murder) the very power and vigor he brings to so many pages of his recording of Norma, Beatrice's immediate predecessor.
Surfaces are so-so; sound decent enough given its age. No notes in either set; Italian text only in both. Both include sections not sung and omit sections that are! Most curious in this regard is the Beatrice libretto, which at one point and in a glaringly different type-face reproduces the text of a duet for Agnese and Beatrice which Bellini had sketched out, which Gui has scored . . . but which is not included in the recording. Nor is, for the record, the cabaletta with which Sutherland concludes that opera in the London “complete.”
The Bolena to get is the live 1957 La Scala performance with Callas, Simionato, and Rossi-Lemeni conducted by Gavazzeni, a performance that literally sparked the current bel canto revival. I reviewed the Foyer recording (FO 1014, three discs, mono) in Fanfare VII:3, but it is to be found in virtually every pirate's catalog. Beware, however; the Foyer set I received for review contained two copies of Sides 5 and 6, though one was labeled 3 and 4! I can't be as definite as respects my Beatrice of choice. Much as I admire “La Stupenda,” her lack of fervor in either of the only other two recordings of this piece I've heard is a real liability, but on London, at least, she enjoys the support of Cornelius Opthof (Visconti) and Luciano Pavarotti (Orombello), and the sound is a lot better than on any competing version.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Bellini Beatrice di Tenda. • Vittorio Gui, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Beatrice); Mario Zanasi, baritone (Filippo); Juan Oncina, tenor (Orombello); Antigone Sgourda, mezzo-soprano (Agnese); Coro e Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia. • Nuovo Era 23333/34 [ADD]; two discs, 70:39, 78:39. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Recorded in 1964.
I was very excited to receive this set from the head office in New Jersey. Although Beatrice is hardly my favorite Bellini opera (is it anyone's?) and it is far from a masterpiece, the catalog could use a really fine performance of it just to put it in perspective. The old Sutherland-Pavarotti-Veasey-Bonynge on London has not been reissued (as yet) on CD and last year's Rizzoli set with Mariana Nicolescu was a disappointment on most fronts. So, imagine my joy when I saw that Leyla Gencer had struck again.
And in fact, the interesting Turk is here in fine fettle, singing with her usual individuality and intelligence, and in good voice to boot. She makes us feel for Beatrice's plight (it's the same plight as Anna Bolena's, but it's not as well told or as through-composed) and gets around the difficult music with great panache and expressivity. She's a winner. She inexplicably sings the first cavatina and cabaletta up a whole tone (it's not the pitch of the tape); perhaps this is an alternative about which I haven't heard. Juan Oncina's Orombello is sincere but his tone is downright whiney at times; it also doesn't help that Pavarotti's voice still rings in my ears in this music. The role's not large or important enough to make or break a performance.
The Agnese of Antigone Sgourda is provincial in an energetic sort of way and the oddly placed music sits well for her. She also makes sense of the character. Neither she nor Oncina ever takes any higher options or embellishes the vocal line. Mario Zanasi, with the largest role (Filippo—the Henry VIII character), is properly nasty and impressive, although the voice weakens at the bottom and some of his crueller moments are thus lost.
WARNING: This performance
is the edition used by the excellent conductor Vittorio Gui. There are many
small, annoying cuts and a bit of re-orchestrating, but they aren't as
appalling as what he does to the opera's final pages. He totally eliminates
Beatrice's cabaletta and has the chorus sadly, quietly, intoning the beautiful
melody of the “Angiol di pace” trio instead. I miss the cabaletta and if you
know the opera, so will you—in fact, even if you don't know the opera, you'll
miss the cabaletta. This way, the work just sorts of ends. Perhaps on stage the
tragedy was underlined this way, but I felt gypped. Otherwise the Maestro's
leadership is right-on.
Orchestra and chorus are fine and the sound is good, doctored digital re-mastering. Plenty of cueing points, booklet with slight essay and Italian libretto. Over to you: good for what it is, but no cigar. Let's keep waiting for a real Beatrice.
OPERADIS
Recordings of Attila by Giuseppe Verdi are surveyed in the following publications:
Celletti p.44; Penguin
p.9; Giudici p.28 (2) p.72
This recording is reviewed in the following
publications:
Opera Now - April 1995 p.51
LA STAMPA
1989.09.08
GUÍA UNIVERSAL DE LA ÓPERA
2001
 |
Bellini, Vincenzo (1801-1835)
Beatrice di Tenda
Opera en dos actos, con libreto de Felice Roman basada en una tragedis de Carlo Tedaldi-Fores, es trenada en el Teatro La Fenice de Venice, el 16 de marzo de 1833.
El olvido casi total que cayó sobre esta opera en los años finales del siglo xx y buena parte del xx motivaron que tampoco se dieran grabacio nes discográficas importantes de Beatrice, aunque lentamente el panorama se fue animando a medi da que avanzaba el gusto por el balcantismo renovado de los años sesenta y setenta
1.✰✰✰ Leyla Gencer, Antigone Sgourda, Juan Oncina, Mario Zanasi. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro La Fenice de Venecia dirigidos por Vittorio Gui. Memories. 2 CD. 1964. (En vivo.)
Opera en dos actos, con libreto de Felice Roman basada en una tragedis de Carlo Tedaldi-Fores, es trenada en el Teatro La Fenice de Venice, el 16 de marzo de 1833.
El olvido casi total que cayó sobre esta opera en los años finales del siglo xx y buena parte del xx motivaron que tampoco se dieran grabacio nes discográficas importantes de Beatrice, aunque lentamente el panorama se fue animando a medi da que avanzaba el gusto por el balcantismo renovado de los años sesenta y setenta
1.✰✰✰ Leyla Gencer, Antigone Sgourda, Juan Oncina, Mario Zanasi. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro La Fenice de Venecia dirigidos por Vittorio Gui. Memories. 2 CD. 1964. (En vivo.)
2.✰✰✰✰ Joan Sutherland, Josephine Veasey, Luciano Pavarotti, Cornelius Opthof.
Coro Ambrosian Opera y London Symphony Orchestra dirigidos por Richard Bonynge.
Decca. 2 CD. 1967.
3.✰✰ Mirella Freni, Carmen Gonzales, Renzo Casellato, Claudio Desderi. Coro y
Orquesta del Teatro Comunale di Modena dirigidos por Maurizio Arena. Legato. 2 CD. 1976. (En vivo.)
4.✰✰ Mariana Nicolescu, Stefania Toezyska, Vincenzo La Scola, Piero Cappuccilli.
Coro Filarmónico de Praga y Orquesta de Montecarlo
dirigidos por Alberto Zedda. Rizzoli. 3 CD. 1986.
5.✰✰✰ Edita Gruberová, Vesselina Kasarova, Don Bernardini, Igor Morosov Coro
Wiener Jeunesse y Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio Austríaca dirigidos por
Pinchas Steinberg. Nightingale. 2 CD. 1992. (En vivo.)
6.✰✰ Lucia Aliberti, Camille Capasso, John David De Haan, Paolo Gavanelli. Coro y Orquesta de la Deutsche Oper de Berlin dirigidos por Fabio Luisi.
Edel. 2 CD. 1998.
Precursora del retorno de esta ópera, como casi siempre, fue Leyla Gencer, en un reper torio que parece hecho a su medida. Su interpretación en esta grabación (1) es intensa y su voz se alza en agudos de excelente factura, y con ese sonido lunar que es su marca de fábrica. Muy bien Joan Oncina en el papel de Orombello y eficaces Antigone Sgourda y Mario Zanasi en los restantes papeles importantes.El sonido es de bastante calidad.
La auténtica recuperación de Beatrice di Tenda, sin embargo, la llevó a cabo la casa discográfica Decca con su publicación, en 1967, de la mejor versión (2) de esta ópera, encomendando su realización a las mejores estrellas de la casa: Joan Sutherland grabó así uno de los papeles más brillantes de su carrera, aunque en esta etapa su pronunciación italiana dejaba mucho que desear. Luciano Pavarotti, que entonces era aún poco conocido, hizo un espectacular Orombello (sus frases desde la cárcel constituyen un momento especialmente feliz de su participación) y Josephine Veasey fue una carnosa y espléndida Agnese del Maino. Lástima que el Filippo de Cornelius Opthof no pasase de mediano. Bien el coro y lujosa la orquesta conducida por el especialista en belcantismo que ya se iba abriendo paso en el mundo del disco: Richard Bonynge.
La grabación (3) de Mirella Freni sólo tiene interés por ella, ya que el sonido del registro es pobre y poco preciso. La Freni siempre está en condiciones de dar brillo a los personajes que canta, de la grabación, el otro intérprete digno de mención es el Filippo de Claudio Desderi.
En su versión (4) Mariana Nicolesco tiene una voz indudablemente interesante, pero su aplicación de los tiempos y su nervioso emisión vocal no dan plenitud al personaje de Beatrice. Vincenzo La Scola, no es un cantante depurado ni ideal para el personaje; la Toczyska y Piero Cappuccilli cumplen con dignidad. La dirección de Alberto Zedda es aburrida y poco imaginativa.
Edita Gruberová se grabó su propia versión en Nightingale (5), su propia casa, y realizó sus habituales proczas con una musicalidad innegable y una voz que domina el rol, que es uno de sus mejores. El equipo complementario no pasa de correcto, pero Pinchas Steinberg da garbo a la grabación.
Como última opción se ha añadido recientemente una grabación (6) que, sin ser deficiente, no añade nada nuevo al historial de esta ópera
CLASSICAL MUSIC
2002
 |
Beatrice di Tenda (1833) isn't the most dramatically compelling of Bellini's operas, but
it does have some strong passages among the well- crafted melodies. After many
years of neglect, it was revived in Venice (site of its premiere) in 1964.
Gui
makes some strange interpolations and some nips and tucks in the music, but
conducts a strong, very serious interpretation. Leyla Gencer never quite made
it to the big leagues of international opera, but she certainly was popular in
Italy and a force in the bel canto movement. Her Beatrice is forcefully sung,
with many vocal explosions along the way to create drama where little exists,
almost an over-interpretation. The other singers are competent (Nuova Era).
A supplement, possibly even a substitute for Sutherland's studio recording, is an exciting performance from a 1961 concert by the American Opera Society. This is preparation Sutherland and here she truly earned her nickname, "La Stupenda." This is spectacular singing, with as much grace, ease, and excitement as possible. It wasn't just the occasion of her New York debut but her first appearance with her famous vocal partner, mezzo Marilyn Horne. She too sings brilliantly. Rescigno adds to the excitement, leading a rich, full-blooded interpretation
Lucia Aliberti has a voice that needs a bit of tolerance from the listener. It's not exactly ugly, but it's very strange. Every note seems to be artificially produced, with distinct breaks between vocal registers, and this makes the basically sympathetic character of Beatrice sound like a tough broad. The rest of the cast isn't very good except for the dark, chocolate-sounding baritone Paolo Gavanelli, but he's not enough to save the show. Fabio Lusi leads Berlin Opera forces in a lethargic performance with tempos slowed down, probably to accommodate Aliberti's labours (Berlin).
In a 1992 Austrian Radio broadcast led by Pinchas Steinberg, Gruberová, like Sutherland, is a dead-on-target coloratura marksman, but has sharper diction and is a more vivid vocal actress, with her voice sometimes taking on an unpleasant edgy quality. The others in the cast are unremarkable (Nightingale, 3CD). In a strange mixture of nationalities, with Italians and Eastern European singers, the Monte Carlo Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Choir are led by Alberto Zedda. Mariana Nicolesco is the star here, a Beatrice of the Gencer variety. She has strong support from her colleagues, but the competition from earlier recordings is too much (Sony, 3CD). The bargain price of June Anderson's Beatrice is its only recommendation (Opera d'Oro, 2CD).
Bianca e Fernando. This second Bellini opera (Naples, 1826) was heavily revised for the opening of Genoa's new Teatro Carlo Felice. That's the version led by Andrea Licata. There are extensive cuts in the extremely long choral parts, plus some cuts to spare the tenor-but not spare him much. Gregory Kunde doesn't have the most beautiful or distinctive voice, but he's very musical. While the vocal hurdles are not as extreme as those of Adelson, they're high enough to daunt many a tenor, and Kunde goes over them quite well, with even a full-throated blasted out high F. When the soprano finally arrives, she takes over most of the vocal terrors, and Young Ok Shin has a beautiful, liquid silver voice, delicate of nuance, graceful, with fleetness and ease in the coloratura. Haijing Fu is an exciting singer; his baritone is a big, dark, burly growl that chugs its way through the bel canto. Licata has the orchestra sounding remarkably good, more than just another pit band (Nuova Era 7076, 2CD).
Lucia Aliberti has a voice that needs a bit of tolerance from the listener. It's not exactly ugly, but it's very strange. Every note seems to be artificially produced, with distinct breaks between vocal registers, and this makes the basically sympathetic character of Beatrice sound like a tough broad. The rest of the cast isn't very good except for the dark, chocolate-sounding baritone Paolo Gavanelli, but he's not enough to save the show. Fabio Lusi leads Berlin Opera forces in a lethargic performance with tempos slowed down, probably to accommodate Aliberti's labours (Berlin).
In a 1992 Austrian Radio broadcast led by Pinchas Steinberg, Gruberová, like Sutherland, is a dead-on-target coloratura marksman, but has sharper diction and is a more vivid vocal actress, with her voice sometimes taking on an unpleasant edgy quality. The others in the cast are unremarkable (Nightingale, 3CD). In a strange mixture of nationalities, with Italians and Eastern European singers, the Monte Carlo Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Choir are led by Alberto Zedda. Mariana Nicolesco is the star here, a Beatrice of the Gencer variety. She has strong support from her colleagues, but the competition from earlier recordings is too much (Sony, 3CD). The bargain price of June Anderson's Beatrice is its only recommendation (Opera d'Oro, 2CD).
A supplement, possibly even a substitute for Sutherland's studio recording, is an exciting performance from a 1961 concert by the American Opera Society. This is preparation Sutherland and here she truly earned her nickname, "La Stupenda." This is spectacular singing, with as much grace, ease, and excitement as possible. It wasn't just the occasion of her New York debut but her first appearance with her famous vocal partner, mezzo Marilyn Horne. She too sings brilliantly. Rescigno adds to the excitement, leading a rich, full-blooded interpretation
Lucia Aliberti has a voice that needs a bit of tolerance from the listener. It's not exactly ugly, but it's very strange. Every note seems to be artificially produced, with distinct breaks between vocal registers, and this makes the basically sympathetic character of Beatrice sound like a tough broad. The rest of the cast isn't very good except for the dark, chocolate-sounding baritone Paolo Gavanelli, but he's not enough to save the show. Fabio Lusi leads Berlin Opera forces in a lethargic performance with tempos slowed down, probably to accommodate Aliberti's labours (Berlin).
In a 1992 Austrian Radio broadcast led by Pinchas Steinberg, Gruberová, like Sutherland, is a dead-on-target coloratura marksman, but has sharper diction and is a more vivid vocal actress, with her voice sometimes taking on an unpleasant edgy quality. The others in the cast are unremarkable (Nightingale, 3CD). In a strange mixture of nationalities, with Italians and Eastern European singers, the Monte Carlo Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Choir are led by Alberto Zedda. Mariana Nicolesco is the star here, a Beatrice of the Gencer variety. She has strong support from her colleagues, but the competition from earlier recordings is too much (Sony, 3CD). The bargain price of June Anderson's Beatrice is its only recommendation (Opera d'Oro, 2CD).
Bianca e Fernando. This second Bellini opera (Naples, 1826) was heavily revised for the opening of Genoa's new Teatro Carlo Felice. That's the version led by Andrea Licata. There are extensive cuts in the extremely long choral parts, plus some cuts to spare the tenor-but not spare him much. Gregory Kunde doesn't have the most beautiful or distinctive voice, but he's very musical. While the vocal hurdles are not as extreme as those of Adelson, they're high enough to daunt many a tenor, and Kunde goes over them quite well, with even a full-throated blasted out high F. When the soprano finally arrives, she takes over most of the vocal terrors, and Young Ok Shin has a beautiful, liquid silver voice, delicate of nuance, graceful, with fleetness and ease in the coloratura. Haijing Fu is an exciting singer; his baritone is a big, dark, burly growl that chugs its way through the bel canto. Licata has the orchestra sounding remarkably good, more than just another pit band (Nuova Era 7076, 2CD).
Lucia Aliberti has a voice that needs a bit of tolerance from the listener. It's not exactly ugly, but it's very strange. Every note seems to be artificially produced, with distinct breaks between vocal registers, and this makes the basically sympathetic character of Beatrice sound like a tough broad. The rest of the cast isn't very good except for the dark, chocolate-sounding baritone Paolo Gavanelli, but he's not enough to save the show. Fabio Lusi leads Berlin Opera forces in a lethargic performance with tempos slowed down, probably to accommodate Aliberti's labours (Berlin).
In a 1992 Austrian Radio broadcast led by Pinchas Steinberg, Gruberová, like Sutherland, is a dead-on-target coloratura marksman, but has sharper diction and is a more vivid vocal actress, with her voice sometimes taking on an unpleasant edgy quality. The others in the cast are unremarkable (Nightingale, 3CD). In a strange mixture of nationalities, with Italians and Eastern European singers, the Monte Carlo Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Choir are led by Alberto Zedda. Mariana Nicolesco is the star here, a Beatrice of the Gencer variety. She has strong support from her colleagues, but the competition from earlier recordings is too much (Sony, 3CD). The bargain price of June Anderson's Beatrice is its only recommendation (Opera d'Oro, 2CD).
OPERA TODAY
JAN NECKERS
2007.08.28
Beatrice di Tenda . Leyla Gencer (Beatrice), Mario Zanasi (Filippo), Antigone Sgourda (Agnese), Juan Oncina (Orombello), Mario Guggia (Anichino). Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia conducted by Vittorio Gui. Recorded live at La Fenice 10 January 1964.
Myto 2 MCD 065.334 [2CDs]
Leyla Gencer is the subject of one of the few states of the art singer biographies in Italian (by Franca Cella). Usually these Italian books are hagiographies (witness the horribly bad Azali series) where all former colleagues tell how wonderful the singer was, is and will be. Rarely do we get a glimpse of opera politics in these morose texts. Cella delved deeper and didn’t forget to consult the diva’s correspondence. The recording under review gets a prominent place as conductor Gui wrote many letters to Gencer concerning transpositions (she refuses) and the rewriting of the finale according to Bellini’s last ideas (she accepts). Gui, a renowned Rossinian, does more than that. He brings a sense of urgency, of drama that succeeds in vitalizing the somewhat lethargic long melodies of Bellini so that the opera has more in common with young Verdi than is custom with the Catanian composer (in the accompanying booklet Bellini is called a Catalonian; Barcelona will be surprised). In his endeavours Gui is magnificently supported by Gencer. Ofcourse one has to love her somewhat pale timbre and her idiosyncratic way of singing; often switching to one of her fine pianissimi by a less than fine glottal coups. She clearly relishes the conductor’s dramatic tempi and is willing to sacrifice fine sounds for dramatic effects. In short, she often makes it a different opera than Joan Sutherland does in the famous Decca recording and still Gencer’s approach sounds as valid.
Mario Zanasi uses the same method but contrary to Gencer, Zanasi never was a very stylish baritone. He offers power and rage and succeeds but this is more Amonasro and Scarpia than count Filippo. Juan Oncina on the other hand has all the necessary refinement in his lovely voice, that is until the moment arrives style alone will not do and things become a matter of voice and voice alone. Then one notes his frayed top, his lack of squillo and one realizes he was more of a lieder singer. Antigone Sgourda as Agnese sounds a bit overtaxed in the role of Agnese and her voice is too close to Gencer’s to offer the necessary contrast between the two ladies. The sound is exellent and the recording is a worthy alternative for the official Decca one. The Sony recording too with Nicolesco (very much underrated), Cappuccilli, La Scola, Toczyska, Zedda may not be forgotten as the Rumanian soprano offers some of Sutherland’s beauty of sound together with Gencer’s sense of drama.
Belisario [Live]
25.01. & 03.02.1973 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo
Carlo Franci
Giuseppe Taddei (Belisario); Leyla Gencer (Antonina); Bianca Maria Casoni (Irene); Ottavio Garaventa (Alamiro); Silvano Pagliuca (Giustiniano); Anna Maria Borelli (Eudora); Luigi Paolillo (Eutropio); n/a (Ottavio); n/a (Eusebio)
RECORDED BUT NOT PRINTED AS CD.
NOT REVIEWED IN PUPLICATIONS.
AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.
Recording Excerpts [1973.01.25]
Plauso! Voci di gioia... Sin la tomba ... Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene III
BELISARIO [1973.01.25] In House Recording
Liberi siete.. Quando di sangue tinto.. Sul campi della gloria
Part I “Il Trionfo” Scena VI
Amici, è forza separarci..
Part II “L’Esilio” Scene III
Ah, se potessi piangere... Dunque andiam...
Part II “L’Esilio” Scene IV
BELISARIO [1973.02.03]
Sin la tomba ... Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene III
Madre tu fosti, e moglie Part I “Il Trionfo” Scene X
Da quel dì che l'innocente Part III “La Morte” Scene V
Egli è spento Part III “La Morte” Scene VII Finale
14.05.1969 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Grande Teatro La Fenice
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Giuseppe Taddei (Belisario); Leyla Gencer (Antonina); Mirna Pecile (Irene); Umberto Grilli (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria (Giustiniano); Rina Pallini (Eudora); Bruno Sebastian (Eutropio); Augusto Veronese (Ottavio); Giovanni Antonini (Eusebio)
Opera d’Oro – 2 CDs
BELISARIO 1969
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario (Complete)1; Final scene (two performances)2. • Adolfo Camozzo, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Renato Bruson, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, mezzo-soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Chorus & Orchestra of Tetro Fenice, Venice. • Hunt CD586 [ADD]; two discs: 71:07, 78:49. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Live performances: Venice; May 14 and 17, 1969 2. Live performance: Bergamo; October 7, 1970 1.
I wrote at some length about Belisario in Fanfare 13:1, and I refer readers to that review for background information. That performance was from Venice in May 1969—the opera's first revival this century—and it was such a hit that Bergamo, Donizetti's birthplace, borrowed the production (and most of the cast) and presented it for three performances in October 1970. It was again a smashing success. This is a tape of one of those performances.
The cast differences are in the title role and conductor—in Venice, Giuseppe Taddei and Gianandrea Gavazzeni; here the then-just-emerging Renato Bruson and Adolfo Camozzo, respectively. Belisario is a fine work—close to major Donizetti—and it's good to have this set available.
Leyla Gencer is at her best. I wrote in 13:1 about the role of Antonina, that it “requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on rhythmic sense, agility, a ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal. ...” She is just as exciting here as she was in '69 and just as solid, if not more so. She's even more potent in the thrilling act I finale than she had been in Venice, and she sings with more subtlety at times than she previously had. And she closes the opera with a high D which is so loud that, I'm sure, it could have been heard in Milan.
Renato Bruson, an always sensitive singer, is ideal as the wronged Belisario. Taddei may have sounded more vulnerable (he was much older) and sung with more power, but Bruson is elegant and the sound itself is handsome and velvety. Umberto Grilli is still serviceable, and Mima Pecile is sweet as Belisario's loving daughter. Zaccaria does not impress. The approach of Camozzo is much like Gavazzeni's—keep it moving and exciting. The chorus and orchestra here are better than in Venice; the sound on both is good bootleg quality, with a slight edge going to this set.
The two bonus final scenes are just that, and frankly, the finale doesn't really withstand hearing three times in a row. The booklet contains some production photos, a good essay in broken English, and an Italian-only libretto. There are enough cueing points. This is an important release for the Donizettian, but in all fairness, owning either this one or the Venice '69 performance strikes me as enough. They are, as I've suggested, equally good. Buyer's choice.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
JOEL KASOW
Donizetti Belisario • Giandrea Gavazzeni, cond; Leyla Gencer (Antonina); Mima Pecite (Irene); Rina Pallini (Eudora); Umberto Grilli (Alamiro); Bruno Sebastian (Eutropio); Giuseppe Taddei (Belisario); Giovanni Antonini (Eusebio); Niccola Saccaria (Giustiniano); Augusto Veronese (Ottano); Alberto Carusi (Centurione); La Fenice O & Ch • Mondo Musica MFOH 10301 (2 CDs: 119:58)
Donizetti Messa di Requiem. Pizzetti Introduzione all'Agamennone di Eschile • Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond; Leyla Gencer (sop); Mima Pecile (mez); Armando Moretti (ten); Alessandro Cassis (bar); Eftimios Michalopoulos (bs); La Fenice O & Ch • Mondo Musica MFOH 10201 (2 CDs: 87:51)
Rossini La Cenerentola • Onissim Bron, cond; Sara Dolukhanova (Cenerentola); K. Konstantinova (Clorinda); N. Postavnicheva (Tisbe); Anatoly Orfenov (Ramiro); Evgeny Belov (Dandini); K. Poliayev (Don Magnifico); Genady Troitsky (Alidoro); Moscow RO & Ch • Myto 8 014399 500180 (2 CDs: 124:16)
Myto lives up to its name in resuscitating a treasurable recording of Rossini's Cenerentola that allows us to revel in the special qualities of Sara (aka Zara) Dolukhanova. In the two sources I consulted, the recording variously dates from 1951 or 1953, information lacking in the summary notes provided with the set. For its age, the sound is not bad: Presumably Myto had access to either original tapes or pristine masters. if it is for Dolukhanova that one is first drawn to these discs, listeners will not be disappointed. The smoothness of her singing can still be a model today, imparting character at the same time as we marvel at her way with the coloratura. Conductor Onissim Bron has the measure of the piece, but his treatment of the text has its moments of shock. While the (then) customary cuts—and others as well—are made, Cenerentola gets an extra solo before the act I finale, a cabaletta to Malcolm's aria interpolated from Donna del Lago, but that is nothing compared to the shock in store when we get to the heroine's rondo-finale, which is parcelled out between her and the tenor, negating Rossinian logic. The notes give us biographical information about soprano, tenor, and conductor, evidently forgetting that Belov had his moment as Onegin for Vishnevskaya's first recorded Tatiana. Unfortunately, Rossini's demands are not the same as Tchaikovsky's, and we hear a lot of sliding around the notes instead of cleanly articulated runs. Orfenov also has his problems dealing with Rossinian intricacies, but is a far cry from the namby-pamby hero too long perpetuated as the ideal in the West. Once over the initial shock of Clorinda's first words emerging as "Nyet, nyet, nyet, nyet" instead of "No, no, no, no," it is easy to overlook this drawback in the face of characterful singing, particularly when it is the mezzo.
Mondo Musica has been given access to the Fenice archives so that the reconstruction fund will be the beneficiary. Why, however, have they found it necessary to duplicate so much material that has already been through countless reincarnations throughout the LP and CD eras? Yes, Belisario is a product of Donizetti's maturity and worthy of study as a Verdian precursor in its treatment of father-daughter relations, but its otherwise clunky libretto shows that Cammarano, despite Lucia, still had not entirely found his way. The set is recommended only to collectors who do not already possess a copy of the performance of May 14, 1969, especially as the sound offers virtually no improvement over previous editions: Onstage movements, stagehands' conversations, and an odd occasional crackle are still present. In other respects, the performance retains its privileged status, as it is unlikely that you will hear a more representative performance from Leyla Gencer as Antonina. All the familiar elements are there, including the heavenly fil di voce, so that we are reminded of how few singers today are capable of investing themselves so totally in a performance, Nelly Miricioiu being one of the very few carrying on this tradition. Giuseppe Taddei's noble baritone in the title role is the other major attribute, leaving Mirna Pecile's tremulous, lighter mezzo Irene and Umberto Grilli's tenorino Alamiro as honourable colleagues. Once again, it is Gianandrea Gavazzeni who leads us through the work, even though he has performed various bits of surgery, though not the evisceration to which he subjected Anna Bolena; but then Belisario is considerably more concise.
Even odder is the Donizetti-Pizzetti pairing. It is difficult to be much kinder to this performance than I was to that by Alexander Rahbari on the Discover label that I reviewed in the July 1998 issue of Fanfare. Gavazzeni leads an inflamed performance that might offer more pleasure if the sound were less murky, as if it were recorded from behind the fire curtain. And despite the conductor's lifelong advocacy and defense of Donizetti, I would be curious to know the authorization for turning the tenor's solo in the Ingemisco over to the soprano, however wonderfully Gencer sings it, or allowing her some beautifully floated high notes in the "Libera Me." The other soloists are credible, but it is clear that Gencer is the star. Why, however, we are asked to purchase a double album with only 87 minutes of music to hear the Donizetti Requiem (66 minutes) and Ildebrando Pizzetti's "Introduction to Aeschylus's Agamemnon" (21 minutes) is something that defies logic. The Pizzetti starts out with brass fanfares and an impressive slow introduction, but then rapidly deteriorates into Hollywood epic background music, replete with a wordless chorus that moans and groans as well.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario. • Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Giuseppe Taddei, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice. • Verona 27048/49 [AAD]; two discs: 69:46, 56:46. (Distributed by Allegro.) LIVE performance: Venice: May 14, 1969.
This is the same performance which is available on Melodram MEL 27051 and which I reviewed in Fanfare 13:1 (but without the bonus arias the Melodram release offered). I discussed the opera at some length then and refer readers to that review for background. In any case, I liked the performance and I still do. Here's what I felt at the time: The opera has a fine lead baritone role, full of noble, moving music. Giuseppe Taddei is in strong form as Belisario, the commander-in-chief of the army of Giustiniano, the emperor of the orient. His duet with the prisoner, Alamiro, the tenor, is rousing; the long duet with Irene, his daughter, in the second act, is very touching. When he sings, softly he occasionally flats, but this is a minor quibble—it's an excellent portrayal. Tenor Umberto Grilli, normally no prize package, seems to be inspired by the role of Alamiro, and he sings handsomely and with great involvement. Soprano Mirna Pecile, a singer who otherwise has faded into oblivion, is given the role of Irene (Belisario's and Antonina's daughter). She is sympathetic and sincere, but her tone is nothing to write home about. Nicola Zaccaria is a wise Giustiniano, and the smaller parts are hard to notice.
The role of Antonina requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on rhythmic sense, agility, and ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal of an outraged, loving wife. Her part in the first-act finale is thrillingly sung, and she tops the act off with a high C which can tear the roof off. Fans of the strange Turk will not want to be without this. Gianandrea Gavazzeni leads the Venice forces with great energy, and if the chorus is a bit ragged at times, well, so what? The spirit of the work is well served.
Yes, still recommended—in one form or the other. The sound on this new release is marginally less tubby, but the Melodram does include the extended scenes from Devereux, so it's up to you.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario. Roberto Devereux: Act 1, Aria and Cabaletta; Act 3, Final Scene. • Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Giuseppe Taddei, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice; Mario Rossi, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Elisibetta); Anna Maria Rota, soprano (Sara); Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro San Carlo. • Melodram MEL 27051 [AAD]; two discs: 67:35, 72:50. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Live Performance: Naples, May 2, 1964. Live performance: Venice, May 14, 1969.
Belisario was the Donizetti work which immediately followed Lucia; it was premiered in Venice in February 1836 and it was a fabulous success. Within a year and a half, it was staged all over Italy, in England, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris, New York, and Vienna. It contains some splendid music—all of Antonina's (it was composed for the Austrian contralto Caroline Ungher, whom Rossini described as having "The ardor of the south, the energy of the north, brazen lungs, a silver voice, and golden talent"), a terrific, martial tenor-baritone duet in the first act, a hair-raising first finale, an energetic tenor aria and a lovely soprano-baritone duet in the second act, and, of course, the soprano's final scene. This performance, from twenty-five years ago in Naples, is worthy of serious attention.
The opera has a fine lead baritone role, full of noble, moving music. Giuseppe Taddei is in strong form here as Belisario, the commander-in-chief of the army of Giustiniano, the emperor of the orient. Oddly, Donizetti only allows us to know him in duets and ensembles—he has no real solo. As a hero, we hear others praise and honor him. Taddei was always a fine team player, and he is here as well. His duet with the prisoner, Alamiro, the tenor, who turns out to be his son (I only know the bare outline of the plot from fighting my way through the Italian-only libretto Melodram has so kindly provided), is rousing; the long duet with Irene, his daughter, in the second act, is very touching. When he sings softly he occasionally fiats, but this is a minor quibble—it's an excellent portrayal.
Tenor Umberto Grilli, normally no prize package, seems to be inspired by the role of Alamiro, and he sings handsomely and with great involvement. Soprano Mirna Pecile, a singer who otherwise has faded into oblivion, is given the role of Irene (Belisario's and Antonina's daughter). She is sympathetic and sincere, but her tone is nothing to write home about. (The odd construction of this opera, with seemingly two prime donne, allows Irene to have the whole second act to herself, but gives Antonina the work's aria-finale.) Nicola Zaccaria is a wise Giustiniano, and the smaller parts are hard to notice.
In the Ungher role we find Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer at her best. I doubt whether Rossini would ever describe her the way he did Ungher, but she's remarkable in her own way. The role requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on-rhythmic sense, agility, a ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal of an outraged, loving wife (Belisario, hero or not, is betrayed and dies at the opera's close and Antonina's scena is full of fury). Her part in the first-act finale is thrillingly sung—it's obvious that Ungher's strength lay in what is the middle and bottom of Gencer's voice—although she tops the act off with a high D which can tear the roof off. (Ungher was the contralto soloist at the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and she found it a bit high.) Fans of the strange Turk will not want to be without this. Gianandrea Gavazzeni leads the Venice forces with great energy, and if the chorus is a bit ragged at times, well, so what? The spirit of the work is well served.
The second CD is filled out with Gencer singing Elisabetta's first-act aria and final scene from Devereux. It is the same performance I reviewed in Fanfare 12:2 on Hunt CD 545, and I still find it an epic portrayal, full of rage and excitement.
The sound throughout is surprisingly full, prompter and all, there are plenty of cueing points, no notes, and, as mentioned above, an Italian-only libretto. But don't be deterred—this is an interesting work handled by people who love and respect it, and I recommend it.
OPERADIS
Recordings of Belisario by Gaetano Donizetti are
surveyed in the following publications:
Opéra International avril 1997 No.212 p.24
This recording is reviewed in the following publications:
Fanfare - Vol.22 No.4 March/April 1999 p.318 [JK]
Orpheus - Juli 2001 S.74 [SL]
Opera Quarterly - Vol.14 No.3 Spring 1998 p.159 [ETG]
American Record Guide - January/February 1990 Vol.53 No.1 p.43 [DA]: July/August 2000 Vol.63 No.4 p.113 (highlights) [CHP]
L'opera (Milano) - Anno XIII - N.125 gennaio 1999 p.88 [GL]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.31 enero-febrero 1999 p.79 [LB]
CD Compact (Barcelona) - No.117 enero 1999 p.52 [AV]
Fanfare - Vol.22 No.4 March/April 1999 p.318 [JK]
Orpheus - Juli 2001 S.74 [SL]
Opera Quarterly - Vol.14 No.3 Spring 1998 p.159 [ETG]
American Record Guide - January/February 1990 Vol.53 No.1 p.43 [DA]: July/August 2000 Vol.63 No.4 p.113 (highlights) [CHP]
L'opera (Milano) - Anno XIII - N.125 gennaio 1999 p.88 [GL]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.31 enero-febrero 1999 p.79 [LB]
CD Compact (Barcelona) - No.117 enero 1999 p.52 [AV]
Comments: Recording of a performance at Teatro La Fenice, Venice (May 1969, see Opera August 1969 p.719). The date given in the «EJS Discography» p.484 is 9 May 1969 whereas that given on the Mondo Musica CDs is 14 May 1969. According to «Il Teatro La Fenice - Cronologia delle Spettacoli 1938 - 1991» p.237 Belisario was performed on both of these dates.
https://operadis.com/
Opéra International avril 1997 No.212 p.24
This recording is reviewed in the following publications:
Fanfare - Vol.22 No.4 March/April 1999 p.318 [JK]
Orpheus - Juli 2001 S.74 [SL]
Opera Quarterly - Vol.14 No.3 Spring 1998 p.159 [ETG]
American Record Guide - January/February 1990 Vol.53 No.1 p.43 [DA]: July/August 2000 Vol.63 No.4 p.113 (highlights) [CHP]
L'opera (Milano) - Anno XIII - N.125 gennaio 1999 p.88 [GL]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.31 enero-febrero 1999 p.79 [LB]
CD Compact (Barcelona) - No.117 enero 1999 p.52 [AV]
Fanfare - Vol.22 No.4 March/April 1999 p.318 [JK]
Orpheus - Juli 2001 S.74 [SL]
Opera Quarterly - Vol.14 No.3 Spring 1998 p.159 [ETG]
American Record Guide - January/February 1990 Vol.53 No.1 p.43 [DA]: July/August 2000 Vol.63 No.4 p.113 (highlights) [CHP]
L'opera (Milano) - Anno XIII - N.125 gennaio 1999 p.88 [GL]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.31 enero-febrero 1999 p.79 [LB]
CD Compact (Barcelona) - No.117 enero 1999 p.52 [AV]
Comments: Recording of a performance at Teatro La Fenice, Venice (May 1969, see Opera August 1969 p.719). The date given in the «EJS Discography» p.484 is 9 May 1969 whereas that given on the Mondo Musica CDs is 14 May 1969. According to «Il Teatro La Fenice - Cronologia delle Spettacoli 1938 - 1991» p.237 Belisario was performed on both of these dates.
https://operadis.com/
7.10.1970 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo
Adolfo Camozzo
Leyla Gencer (Antonina); Renato Bruson (Belisario); Mirna Pecile (Irene); Nicola Zaccaria (Giustiniano); Umberto Grilli (Alamiro); Lina Rossi (Eudora); Bruno Sebastian (Eutropio); Virgilio Carbonari (Eusebio)
Bonus Tracks
14.05.1969 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Sin la tomba e a me negata!.. / Da quel di che l’innocente / Egli e spento
17.05.1969 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Sin la tomba e a me negata!.. / Da quel di che l’innocente / Egli e spento
25.01.1973 BELISARIO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli
Carlo Franci
Leyla Gencer (Antonina); Giuseppe Taddei (Belisario); Silvano Pagliuca (Giustiniano); Ottavio Garaventa (Alamiro); Bianca Maria Casoni (Irene); Anna Maria Borelli (Eudora); Luigi Paolillo (Eutropio)
House of Opera – 2 CDs
BELISARIO 1970
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario (Complete)1; Final scene (two performances)2. • Adolfo Camozzo, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Renato Bruson, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, mezzo-soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Chorus & Orchestra of Tetro Fenice, Venice. • Hunt CD586 [ADD]; two discs: 71:07, 78:49. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Live performances: Venice; May 14 and 17, 19692. Live performance: Bergamo; October 7, 1970 1.
I wrote at some length about Belisario in Fanfare 13:1, and I refer readers to that review for background information. That performance was from Venice in May 1969—the opera's first revival this century—and it was such a hit that Bergamo, Donizetti's birthplace, borrowed the production (and most of the cast) and presented it for three performances in October 1970. It was again a smashing success. This is a tape of one of those performances. The cast differences are in the title role and conductor—in Venice, Giuseppe Taddei and Gianandrea Gavazzeni; here the then-just-emerging Renato Bruson and Adolfo Camozzo, respectively. Belisario is a fine work—close to major Donizetti—and it's good to have this set available.
Leyla Gencer is at her best. I wrote in 13:1 about the role of Antonina, that it “requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on rhythmic sense, agility, a ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal. ...” She is just as exciting here as she was in '69 and just as solid, if not more so. She's even more potent in the thrilling act I finale than she had been in Venice, and she sings with more subtlety at times than she previously had. And she closes the opera with a high D which is so loud that, I'm sure, it could have been heard in Milan.
Renato Bruson, an always sensitive singer, is ideal as the wronged Belisario. Taddei may have sounded more vulnerable (he was much older) and sung with more power, but Bruson is elegant and the sound itself is handsome and velvety. Umberto Grilli is still serviceable, and Mima Pecile is sweet as Belisario's loving daughter. Zaccaria does not impress. The approach of Camozzo is much like Gavazzeni's—keep it moving and exciting. The chorus and orchestra here are better than in Venice; the sound on both is good bootleg quality, with a slight edge going to this set.
The two bonus final scenes are just that, and frankly, the finale doesn't really withstand hearing three times in a row. The booklet contains some production photos, a good essay in broken English, and an Italian-only libretto. There are enough cueing points. This is an important release for the Donizettian, but in all fairness, owning either this one or the Venice '69 performance strikes me as enough. They are, as I've suggested, equally good. Buyer's choice.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario (Complete)1; Final scene (two performances)2. • Adolfo Camozzo, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Renato Bruson, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, mezzo-soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Chorus & Orchestra of Tetro Fenice, Venice. • Hunt CD586 [ADD]; two discs: 71:07, 78:49. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Live performances: Venice; May 14 and 17, 1969. Live performance: Bergamo; October 7, 1970.
I wrote at some length about Belisario in Fanfare 13:1, and I refer readers to that review for background information. That performance was from Venice in May 1969—the opera's first revival this century—and it was such a hit that Bergamo, Donizetti's birthplace, borrowed the production (and most of the cast) and presented it for three performances in October 1970. It was again a smashing success. This is a tape of one of those performances. The cast differences are in the title role and conductor—in Venice, Giuseppe Taddei and Gianandrea Gavazzeni; here the then-just-emerging Renato Bruson and Adolfo Camozzo, respectively. Belisario is a fine work—close to major Donizetti—and it's good to have this set available.
Leyla Gencer is at her best. I wrote in 13:1 about the role of Antonina, that it “requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on rhythmic sense, agility, a ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal. ...” She is just as exciting here as she was in '69 and just as solid, if not more so. She's even more potent in the thrilling act I finale than she had been in Venice, and she sings with more subtlety at times than she previously had. And she closes the opera with a high D which is so loud that, I'm sure, it could have been heard in Milan.
Renato Bruson, an always sensitive singer, is ideal as the wronged Belisario. Taddei may have sounded more vulnerable (he was much older) and sung with more power, but Bruson is elegant and the sound itself is handsome and velvety. Umberto Grilli is still serviceable, and Mima Pecile is sweet as Belisario's loving daughter. Zaccaria does not impress. The approach of Camozzo is much like Gavazzeni's—keep it moving and exciting. The chorus and orchestra here are better than in Venice; the sound on both is good bootleg quality, with a slight edge going to this set.
The two bonus final scenes are just that, and frankly, the finale doesn't really withstand hearing three times in a row. The booklet contains some production photos, a good essay in broken English, and an Italian-only libretto. There are enough cueing points. This is an important release for the Donizettian, but in all fairness, owning either this one or the Venice '69 performance strikes me as enough. They are, as I've suggested, equally good. Buyer's choice.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
ROBERT LEVINE
Donizetti Belisario. Roberto Devereux: Act 1, Aria and Cabaletta; Act 3, Final Scene. • Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Antonina); Giuseppe Taddei, baritone (Belisario); Mima Pecile, soprano (Irene); Umberto Grilli, tenor (Alamiro); Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Giustiniano); Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice; Mario Rossi, conductor; Leyla Gencer, soprano (Elisibetta); Anna Maria Rota, soprano (Sara); Chorus & Orchestra of Teatro San Carlo. • Melodram MEL 27051 [AAD]; two discs: 67:35, 72:50. (Distributed by Qualiton.) Live Performance: Naples, May 2, 1964. Live performance: Venice, May 14, 1969.
Belisario was the Donizetti work which immediately followed Lucia; it was premiered in Venice in February 1836 and it was a fabulous success. Within a year and a half, it was staged all over Italy, in England, Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris, New York, and Vienna. It contains some splendid music—all of Antonina's (it was composed for the Austrian contralto Caroline Ungher, whom Rossini described as having "The ardour of the south, the energy of the north, brazen lungs, a silver voice, and golden talent"), a terrific, martial tenor-baritone duet in the first act, a hair-raising first finale, an energetic tenor aria and a lovely soprano-baritone duet in the second act, and, of course, the soprano's final scene. This performance, from twenty-five years ago in Naples, is worthy of serious attention.
The opera has a fine lead baritone role, full of noble, moving music. Giuseppe Taddei is in strong form here as Belisario, the commander-in-chief of the army of Giustiniano, the emperor of the orient. Oddly, Donizetti only allows us to know him in duets and ensembles—he has no real solo. As a hero, we hear others praise and honour him. Taddei was always a fine team player, and he is here as well. His duet with the prisoner, Alamiro, the tenor, who turns out to be his son (I only know the bare outline of the plot from fighting my way through the Italian-only libretto Melodram has so kindly provided), is rousing; the long duet with Irene, his daughter, in the second act, is very touching. When he sings softly, he occasionally fiats, but this is a minor quibble—it's an excellent portrayal.
Tenor Umberto Grilli, normally no prize package, seems to be inspired by the role of Alamiro, and he sings handsomely and with great involvement. Soprano Mirna Pecile, a singer who otherwise has faded into oblivion, is given the role of Irene (Belisario's and Antonina's daughter). She is sympathetic and sincere, but her tone is nothing to write home about. (The odd construction of this opera, with seemingly two prime donne, allows Irene to have the whole second act to herself, but gives Antonina the work's aria-finale.) Nicola Zaccaria is a wise Giustiniano, and the smaller parts are hard to notice.
In the Ungher role we find Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer at her best. I doubt whether Rossini would ever describe her the way he did Ungher, but she's remarkable in her own way. The role requires great exclamatory powers, a right-on-rhythmic sense, agility, a ferocious middle and bottom voice, melting pianissimi, and (optional, I presume) high notes—Gencer has them all. Yes, the register breaks are in evidence and the raw, nasty low notes may annoy some, but this is a great portrayal of an outraged, loving wife (Belisario, hero or not, is betrayed and dies at the opera's close and Antonina's scena is full of fury). Her part in the first-act finale is thrillingly sung—it's obvious that Ungher's strength lay in what is the middle and bottom of Gencer's voice—although she tops the act off with a high D which can tear the roof off. (Ungher was the contralto soloist at the premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and she found it a bit high.) Fans of the strange Turk will not want to be without this. Gianandrea Gavazzeni leads the Venice forces with great energy, and if the chorus is a bit ragged at times, well, so what? The spirit of the work is well served.
The second CD is filled out with Gencer singing Elisabetta's first-act aria and final scene from Devereux. It is the same performance I reviewed in Fanfare 12:2 on Hunt CD 545, and I still find it an epic portrayal, full of rage and excitement.
The sound throughout is surprisingly full, prompter and all, there are plenty of cueing points, no notes, and, as mentioned above, an Italian-only libretto. But don't be deterred—this is an interesting work handled by people who love and respect it, and I recommend it.
OPERADIS
Recordings of Belisario by Gaetano Donizetti are
surveyed in the following publications:
Opéra International avril 1997 No.212 p.24
This recording is reviewed in the following publication:
Opéra International - avril 1997 No.212 p.24, p.52
L’OPERA IN CD E VIDEO
1995
 |
Belisario
(tragedia lirica in tre parti di Salvatore Cammarano)
Venezia 4 febbraio 1836
Personaggi: Belisario, Antonina, Alamiro, Giustiniano, Irene
1970 - Renato Bruson, Leyla Gencer, Umberto Grilli, Nicola Zaccaria, Mirna Pecile; coro e or chestra del teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, direttore Adolfo Camozzo (dal vivo, Bergamo) Arkadia (2 CD) ✰✰
Le recite bergamasche costituirono l'appendice di quelle veneziane che per prime riproposero l'ennesima partitura dimenticata, nel pieno della tumultuosa (e disordinata, considerando le spesso affrettate preparazioni) Donizetti-renaissance. Nel passare da Venezia a Bergamo, tuttavia, l'operazione perdette Gavazzeni: e fu perdita grave. Camozzo non riesce difatti a essere altro che una pallida ombra rispetto al vibrante e incisivo Gavazzeni (è possibile un paragone diretto, anche se circoscritto alle due arie di Antonina, entrambe proposte in chiusura del secondo CD), senza contare il pallore davvero esorbitante dell'orchestra e le molte sgangheratezze corali.
Nella parte del protagonista, viceversa, ci fu un miglioramento. Taddei, difatti, era stato come sempre grandissimo artista sulla scena, ma vo calmente alquanto fuori forma: laddove con queste recite Bruson s'affermava definitivamen te come il miglior baritono che la musica di Donizetti potesse sperare negli anni Settanta. Vero è che la più bella pagina dell'opera è contenuta nel duetto di Belisario cieco con la figlia che, novella Antigone, ne accompagna gli incerti passi, e che in esso la Pecile è d'una modestia senza rimedio: ma quando Bruson attacca lo splendido «Ah se potessi piangeres, l'emozione d'udire un timbro tanto bello espandersi in una linca così sorvegliata, morbida, austeramente espressiva, si ripete all'ascolto discografico non meno di quanto avvenne allora nella viva realtà teatrale.
C'è solo Bruson, tuttavia: e non basta. Grilli non mostra di reggere appieno una parte impegnativa come Alamiro, e giunto alla famosa cabaletta «Trema Bisanzio!» che è una sorta di pira verdiana ante litteramla sensazione di sforzo comunicata da questa piccola voce, che vuole caricarsi d'un vigore epicizzante di cui è del tutto sprovvista, rende ancor più sgradevole il timbro grigiastro e ingrato. Zaccaria è un Giustiniano il cui eloquio giustificherebbe una deposizione. La Gencer aveva ormai tante voci che la loro fusione in un'unica linea riesce solo riducendo quest'ultima a un esile filo cui il tipico morso gutturale con cui vengono aggredite tutte le consonanti iniziali si sforza di conferire un'illu sione di robustezza. L'accento, ancorché sempre sopra le righe, è spesso suggestivo, ma l'in stabilità dell'emissione è ormai troppo pronunciata, i cambi di registro - tutti sottolineati dai famosi colpi di glottidesono oltremodo sgradevoli: basta ascoltare la frase ela speranza dell perdono sol mi regge in vita ancore che conclude la prima parte dell'aria finale.
(tragedia lirica in tre parti di Salvatore Cammarano)
Venezia 4 febbraio 1836
Personaggi: Belisario, Antonina, Alamiro, Giustiniano, Irene
1970 - Renato Bruson, Leyla Gencer, Umberto Grilli, Nicola Zaccaria, Mirna Pecile; coro e or chestra del teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, direttore Adolfo Camozzo (dal vivo, Bergamo) Arkadia (2 CD) ✰✰
Le recite bergamasche costituirono l'appendice di quelle veneziane che per prime riproposero l'ennesima partitura dimenticata, nel pieno della tumultuosa (e disordinata, considerando le spesso affrettate preparazioni) Donizetti-renaissance. Nel passare da Venezia a Bergamo, tuttavia, l'operazione perdette Gavazzeni: e fu perdita grave. Camozzo non riesce difatti a essere altro che una pallida ombra rispetto al vibrante e incisivo Gavazzeni (è possibile un paragone diretto, anche se circoscritto alle due arie di Antonina, entrambe proposte in chiusura del secondo CD), senza contare il pallore davvero esorbitante dell'orchestra e le molte sgangheratezze corali.
Nella parte del protagonista, viceversa, ci fu un miglioramento. Taddei, difatti, era stato come sempre grandissimo artista sulla scena, ma vo calmente alquanto fuori forma: laddove con queste recite Bruson s'affermava definitivamen te come il miglior baritono che la musica di Donizetti potesse sperare negli anni Settanta. Vero è che la più bella pagina dell'opera è contenuta nel duetto di Belisario cieco con la figlia che, novella Antigone, ne accompagna gli incerti passi, e che in esso la Pecile è d'una modestia senza rimedio: ma quando Bruson attacca lo splendido «Ah se potessi piangeres, l'emozione d'udire un timbro tanto bello espandersi in una linca così sorvegliata, morbida, austeramente espressiva, si ripete all'ascolto discografico non meno di quanto avvenne allora nella viva realtà teatrale.
C'è solo Bruson, tuttavia: e non basta. Grilli non mostra di reggere appieno una parte impegnativa come Alamiro, e giunto alla famosa cabaletta «Trema Bisanzio!» che è una sorta di pira verdiana ante litteramla sensazione di sforzo comunicata da questa piccola voce, che vuole caricarsi d'un vigore epicizzante di cui è del tutto sprovvista, rende ancor più sgradevole il timbro grigiastro e ingrato. Zaccaria è un Giustiniano il cui eloquio giustificherebbe una deposizione. La Gencer aveva ormai tante voci che la loro fusione in un'unica linea riesce solo riducendo quest'ultima a un esile filo cui il tipico morso gutturale con cui vengono aggredite tutte le consonanti iniziali si sforza di conferire un'illu sione di robustezza. L'accento, ancorché sempre sopra le righe, è spesso suggestivo, ma l'in stabilità dell'emissione è ormai troppo pronunciata, i cambi di registro - tutti sottolineati dai famosi colpi di glottidesono oltremodo sgradevoli: basta ascoltare la frase ela speranza dell perdono sol mi regge in vita ancore che conclude la prima parte dell'aria finale.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
2002
 |
Belisario. This is the third of Donizetti's operas in which the baritone Faliero).
The effect is a shift in the usual vocal arrangements. The prima is the
principal character (preceded by Torquato Tasso and Marino donna appears only
in the first act and the final scene of the opera; her music is more for
display than characterization, and the tenor ends up paired with the mezzo. Although the soprano lead has
been called unsympathetic, the title and mezzo roles are more engaging, their
duets prefiguring Verdi's father-daughter duets.
A 1969 performance from Venice makes a strong case for the opera's revival (Melodram 27051; Mondo Musica 10301; 2CD). Taddei is a dramatically strong Belisario, covering all emotions from tender to martial, singing strongly with fine musicality. Mirna Pecile, appropriately sympathetic and concerned, has a tight, fast vibrato with a rapid flutter and cutting edge a marked contrast to Taddei; their ducts sound too unblended. Gencers Antonina is hardly a good example of lyricism: her voice is in big trouble, but her dramatic instincts remained strong. Gavazzeni leads a vigorous performance.
Belisario of Bruson-finely shaded, shattered and weak when first A 1970 performance from Bergamo features the elegant and sensitive blinded, regaining strength as the story proceeds, again becoming the noble warrior (Hunt 586, 2CD). A cast almost identical to the 1969 Venice performance is heard here. Pecile's Irene, now a contrast to Bruson's warm, soft timbre, retains the felicities of her earlier performance. Gencers all prima donna, wowing her way into the affections of the audience, in splendid, huge voice, capping the show with a massive high B-flat. Adolfo Camozzo doesn't have the authority of Gavazzeni, but his leadership will suffice. The recorded sound is trifle elderly.
Caterina Cornaro [Live]
28.05.1972 CATERINA CORNARO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro di San Carlo di NapoliCarlo Felice Cilario
Leyla Gencer (Caterina Cornaro); Luigi Risani (Andrea Cornaro); Jaume Aragall (Gerardo); Renato Bruson (Lusignano); Plinio Clabassi (Mocenigo); Fernando Iacopucci (Strozzi); Eva Ruta (Matilde); Claudio Terni (un cavaliere) Giocomo Maggiore, maestro del coro
Memories – 2 CDs
CATERINA CORNARO 1972
FANFARE MAGAZINE
BOB ROSE
Donizetti Caterina Cornaro. Lucrezia Borgia: Excerpts. • Carlo Felice Cillario, cond; Leyla Gencer (Caterina); Giacomo Aragall (Gerado); Renato Bruson (Lusignano); Luigi Risani (Andrea); Plinio Clabassi (Mocenigo); Fernando Jacopucci (Strozzi); Teatro San Carlo di Napoli O & Ch; Adolfo Camozzo, cond;1 Leyla Gencer (Lucrezia);1 Umberto Grilli (Gennaro);1 Federic Davià (Gubetta);1 Gianfranco Casarini (Don Alfonso);1 Bruno Sebastian (Rustighello);1 Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo O1 • Myto 5 (2 CDs: 156:53) Live: Naples 5/28/72; Bergamo 10/4/711
This is a reissue, Myto having previously released this performance on CD. Caterina Cornaro is one of the more obscure Donizetti operas; however, there have been several recordings. This performance was released on LP by MRF; it featured a booklet with commentary, plot summary, and libretto in Italian and English. Shortly afterwards, MRF released another recording featuring Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras. On a Phoenix CD another performance featuring Caballé and Giacomo Aragall was released. Recently, Bongiovanni released yet another recording featuring Margherita Rinaldi and Ottavio Garaventa that was reviewed by David L. Kirk in Fanfare 30:4, which I have not heard.
Caterina Cornaro was a historical figure born in Venice in 1454; at the age of 14, she was contracted to marry James de Lusigan, who was the king of Cyprus. They were married four years later in 1472. James died within the year of the marriage from an illness, not in battle, as portrayed in the opera. The story of Caterina Cornaro inspired several operas, Lachner’s Catharina Cornaro, Halévy’s La reine de Chypre, Balfe’s The Daughter of St. Marks, which was issued on LP by Rare Recorded Editions, and Pacini’s La regina di Cipro.
Donizetti’s version begins with a two-scene prologue. Scene 1 takes place in the ballroom of the Cornaro Palace in Venice. It is the wedding day of Caterina and a young French nobleman, Gerardo. A stranger approaches Caterina’s father, Andrea and orders him to cancel the wedding. The stranger reveals himself as Mocenigo, a member of the ruling Counsel of Ten, and the Counsel has demanded that Caterina marry Lusignano, the King of Cyprus. Andrea is forced to cancel the proposed wedding. The second scene takes place in Caterina’s apartment. Her maid arrives with a message from Gerardo that he is coming to free her from the orders of the Counsel. Andrea warns her that if she does not agree to marry Lusignano, Gerardo will be executed. When Gerardo arrives, Caterina, in despair, declares that she no longer loves him, and Gerardo curses her.
In the first act, Mocenigo, in a square in Nicosia, dreams of the day when the whole island of Cyprus will fall under the domination of Venice. He is informed that Gerardo is in the city. Lusignano enters and expresses his sorrow for Caterina, who has been a victim of political intrigue. Mocengio’s henchman, Strozzi, and his band of assassins have orders to find Gerardo and kill him. Their attempt fails due to the assistance of Lusignano, who explains to Gerardo that Caterina had to obey the orders of the Counsel of Ten. The two men make a vow of friendship.
In the second scene Caterina’s attendants try to comfort her. Lusignano enters and tells her that a visitor requests an audience. The visitor is Gerardo; they both confess that they still love each other. Mocenigo enters and denounces Caterina as an adultress. Lusignano calls for the guards to arrest Mocenigo, who leaps to a balcony and waves a scarf signaling people to start a rebellion, but the soldiers arrive to take him prisoner. In the final act, set in the hall of the Royal Palace, Gerardo calls on soldiers to follow him into the battle in the streets between the Cypriots and Venetians. Caterina offers a prayer for victory. Her prayer is answered, but Lusignano is carried in, mortally wounded. In her final aria, Caterina asks the people to swear faith to her as Queen.
This performance of Caterina Cornaro was reviewed in Opera by Enrico Tellini. He said that it was one of the most important happenings of the year. He wrote: “The title role was sung by Leyla Gencer who was in glorious voice. Giacomo Aragall sang with enthusiasm and clear pronunciation, while Renato Bruson was so elegant in his phrasing that his singing appeared a lesson.” Tellini was less enthusiastic about Plinio Clabassi, but I admire him. However, I certainly agree with Tellini in regard to the other singers. Carlo Felice Cillario’s conducting is excellent.
Caterina Cornaro was premiered on January 18, 1844. It was not a success. The last 19th-century performance was at Parma on February 2, 1845. This performance was the first revival of the opera since that date. In Fanfare 10:5, Anthony D. Coggi [Fanfare] reviewed the recording issued on Rodolphe featuring Montserrat Caballé, Giacomo Aragall, and Ryan Edwards. (That performance was also issued on CD by Phoenix.) In his review he stated that this Gencer/Aragall/Bruson performance was superior, although at that time it was only on LP. While this is not one of Donizetti’s best operas, it does have striking moments, and is certainly well worth having. The audience is loud and enthusiastic; there is much applause and shouts of bravo.
Since Caterina Cornaro is a short opera, there are 14 bonus tracks from a live performance of Lucrezia Borgia given in October 1971. Both Gencer and Grilli are very good in their roles. On both the Caterina Cornaro complete opera, and the Lucrezia Borgia excerpts the sound is good. Unfortunately, there is no booklet, only a list of bands.
OPERADIS
Recordings of Caterina Cornaro by Gaetano Donizetti are surveyed in the following publications:
Celletti p.195; Giudici p.221; Opéra
International avril 1997 No.212 p.25
This recording is reviewed in the following publications:
Opera News - May 1994 p.48
Orpheus - Juni 1993 S.61
Opéra International - No.184 octobre 1994 p.77
Diapason - janvier 1993 p.112
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
1992.08.04
Releasing the demons
Neeme Järvi, the Estonian-born conductor who seems to have no limits to his repertory, has recorded Mozart's Don Giovanni for Chandos with a cast led by the distinguished Italian bass-baritone, Renato Bruson, in the title role.
This is a set with a big orchestral sound combined with immediate presence for the voices, inclining towards a romantic interpretation of the opera in its deliberation and emphasis.
Bruson's Giovanni is dark-toned and calculating, minimising the charm and gaiety found by many singers in the music. Nicola Ghiuselev gives a strongly flavoured portrayal of Leporello, sounding slower-witted than some
impersonations of this part. Sona Ghazarian's Donna Anna is assured in technique, though her tone seems to lack a true centre in many phrases. Gertud Ottenthal is a very serious Donna Elvira, struggling to reclaim her elusive lover with no hint of self-parody.
Giuseppe Sabatini's accomplished Ottavio, Patrizia Pace as Zerlina and Stefano Rinaldi-Miliani as Masetto, contribute effectively towards an over-ridingly sombre conception clearly deriving from the conductor.
The Cologne Radio Choir and Orchestra make disciplined contributions to this revival of Don Giovanni as demonic allegory rather than as a comedy of bravado.
Mercadante was a 19th century Italian opera composer whose gifts were considerable but who had the misfortune to be almost perpetually overshadowed, first by Rossini and then by Donizetti, Bellini and the young Verdi.
Is there any point to discovering him via an occasional modern recording, such as the Nuova Era set of II Bravo? Unless we insist on an exclusive diet of certified masterpieces, I think the answer is yes: full understanding of the achievement of the major figures demands some knowledge of their talented but lesser contemporaries.
Mercadante writes superbly for singers as soloists. His ability to put together a rousing extended ensemble is not to be despised, as witness the powerful finale of Act 1 of this opera. The Nuova Era recording, made at
actual performances at the 1991 festival of the Valle d'Itria, comes complete with the usual thumps’ inseparable from stage movement and some inevitable small imperfections, but Janet Perry as the young heroine and Dino di Domenico in the title role are joined by some worthy colleagues in an often-ardent performance.
The story concerns Venetian political and personal intrigue in the era of rule by the Council of Ten. Oddly, it comes from a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, best known for his tales of the American frontier.
Could this be a complete recording of Donizetti's renowned opera Caterina Cornaro? you might be inclined to wonder, as you look at the slim CD box virtually the size of one holding a single disc that houses its reissue under the Memories label. The economy of the packaging is at the opposite extreme to those boxes that enclose a couple of discs in a swollen extravagance of cardboard, paper and plastic. But the plastic covers of these thin boxes are so thin and brittle that you have to be ultra-careful releasing the two bargain-priced discs inside.
This is one of a series in which instrumental tone quality is usually at a discount. The orchestra of San Carlo in Naples plays alertly but (in the strings at least) none too unanimously for a conductor very familiar to Australian opera audiences, Carlo Felice Cillario.
The real point of this recording of a 1972 performance is the quality of the cast. Leyla Gencer as Caterina (a Venetian who became Queen of Cyprus), Renato Bruson as the principal baritone and Giacomo Aragall as the tenor lover, Gerardo, are a superb trio. If you saw and heard Aragall sing at the Olympic Games opening, you will have realised how far he now outranks Carreras.
The opera, despite the fact that it was a failure at its first performance in Naples in 1844, is well worth getting to know, and the firepower of the performance is high. Be warned, however, that there is a low-level but almost continuous hum of voices stagehands, prompter, the conductor? - throughout the opera.
For listeners who imagine that a religious silence is invariably maintained backstage in big theatres, the muttered hubbub will be a revelation. It is, of course, magnified by the presence of microphones focused on the stage area.
A similar undercurrent of backstage sound accompanies the Memories reissue of a performance of Cimarosa's comedy of young love outwitting elderly strategy, Le Astuzie Femminili (Feminine Wiles), made in Naples in 1959. Again, the cast is a brilliant one led by Graziella Sciutti, Luigi Alva and Sesto Bruscantini - and again the band, this time the Alessandro Scarlatti N orchestra of RAI Napoli, makes a hard and wiry sound.
There is a text booklet in each of these reissues, but it is, not surprisingly, limited to the Italian text, cued with CD numbers. Where else, how- ever, will you find famous rarities like these with casts of this order?
L’OPERA IN CD E VIDEO
1995
 |
Caterina Cornaro
(opera seria in un prologue e due atti di Giacomo
Sacchero)
Napoli 18 gennaio 1844
Personaggi: Caterina, Gerardo, Lusignano, Mocenigo
1972-L.Gencer, G.Aragall, R.Bruson, P.Clabassi; coro e orchestra del teatro San Carlo di Napoli, direttore Carlo Felice Cillario (dal vivo) Myto (2 CD) ✰✰
1973-M.Caballé, G.Aragall,
R.Edwards, G.Howell; coro e orchestra della Radio- televisione francese,
direttore Gianfranco
Masini (dal vivo) Rodolphe (2 CD) ✰✰
1972 Myto Leyla Gencer,
Giacomo Aragall, Renato Brason, Plinio Clabassi; direttore Carlo Felice
Cillario (dal vivo, Napoli)
Nel pieno dell'entusiastica ma sovente raffazzonata
smania di riscoprire opere dimenticate di Donizetti, ogni volta inneggiandoquasi
sempre a tortoal capolavoro ritrovato, quello che all'inizio era lodevole
interesse maturato dallo studio e dall'accuratezza musicologica, degenerò in
moda.
Un Donizetti «nuovo» s'impone va ogni anno, e ovviamente
aveva spesso al suo centro quella Gencer che sulla scia della Callas aveva
contribuito più d'ogni altra a coltivare tale disordinato interesse.
Ma nel '72 era ormai tardi: e tanto più emerge
l'incapacità della Gencer di reggere l'impegno di una parte piuttosto gravosa,
quanto maggiore è il bandistico schiamazzo d'un'orchestra in libera uscita
dalla rinunciataria direzione di Cillario.
La Cornaro tutto è fuorché un capolavoro: ma anche le
poche cose buone della parte della protagonista, che un accento sempre
interessante e partecipe fa intravedere, svaporano nell'inconsistenza d'una
linea vacillante, nella crudezza di acuti taglienti e acuminati, nella
gutturalità di note gravi intubate, in una parola nell'artificiosità d'una
linea tutta costruita, risultante di voci diverse nessuna delle quali sotto
stretto controllo.
Accanto, la musicalità scarsa e intermittente d'un
Aragall che ha perso gli acuti e cerca di rimediare con la foga ar tificiale
d'un accento generico e con la bellezza sempre strepitosa d'un timbro
privilegiato come pochi; e l'onesto mestiere di Clabassi, che tutta via non
riesce a mascherare come la parte non se condaria di Mocenigo sia troppo larga
per le con dizioni vocali in cui ormai si trova.
A parte, solitario, sta il Lusignano di Bruson. Nel
prologo non compare, ma quando nel primo atto entra e attacca «Da che sposa
Caterina», subito, pur in un'aria che non è nulla di speciale, ci met te
davanti un personaggio: il fiato perfettamente appoggiato consente un legato
eccellente che enfatizza l'afflato melodico; la linea fluisce senza strappi o
cesure, omogenea nel colore d'un timbro bellissimo e nella coerenza ritmica
d'un'emissione morbida, in cui i suoni vengono rinforzati e smorzati senza mai perdere ricchezza di vi
brazioni. Su una linea di tal fatta, l'intensità del l'accento produce come
logica conseguenza una patina di sofferta commozione, una sorta d'austerità
dolorosa in grado d'umanizzare compiutamente la figura che così s'esprime. Non
è una grande figura, Lusignano, ma cantato come lo canta Bruson dà l'illusione
di esserlo: e non credo che un interprete possa proporre alla propria statura
d'artista risultato più ambizioso.
1973 Rodolphe Montserrat
Caballé, Giacomo Aragall, Ryan Edwards, Gwynne Howell; diret tore Gianfranco
Masini (dal vivo, Parigi)
Se Sparta piange... Ovvero nulla di molto diverso
passando da Napoli a Parigi. Dove quanto detto per Bruson si può applicare pari
pari alla Caballé: salvo notare che nel canto di Bruson tutto appare spontaneo,
intensamente comunicativo; mentre nella Caballé l'artificio della maniera
s'infiltra nelle preziosità calligrafiche dei suoi celebri pia nissimi, che non
sempre riescono a fungere da ingredienti narcotizzanti per nascondere acuti lievemente
troppo aspri. Si fa per dire, naturalmen te, giacché quelle stesse note, ove
confrontate con i suoni prodotti dalla Gencer, appaiono immediatamente
paradisiache. Pure, la sensazione è sempre quella d'un'agape canora più che
d'una vera interpretazione: e una figura tutto sommato modesta come Caterina,
non fornisce sufficiente materiale vocale per giustificare una simile impostazione.
Attorno, poco o niente. Aragall ripete il suo Gerardo
dell'anno avanti, con identico splendore di timbro e identica modestia
musicale. Il baritono Ryan Edwards è sommario, squadrato e prosaico pur non
cantando del tutto male. Howell è meglio di Clabassi sul piano vocale ma non su
quello dell'accento, e Masini dirige con scrupolo e competenza un'orchestra
quanto me no professionale.
GUÍA UNIVERSAL DE LA ÓPERA
2001
Caterina Cornaro
Opera en un prólogo y dos actos, con los de Ga como Sacchero, basada en un dransa do vemos de Saint-Georges, estrenada en el ferro San Caro de Napoles, el 18 de enero de 1844
Esta fue le tima opera estrenada por Gaetano Donets artes de que se deciarase la en fermadad degenerativa que lo levaria a la tumba on sólo sutro años, aunque continuo dva su act wdad teatral y composta durante un sempo dbra tiene muchas de las caracteristicas de los dr mes preverdianos de la drama etapa del compos for hors siniestras, amores posibles, perso scus No tene la estatura de aguras otras operas tree feces del compositor con tod hoy momentos muy leon desde punto de vista vocat Donkiem nunca abandono el espi del bel cam Pero la opera quedo odada, en apariencia pera sempre hasta que los estudos de fueno Prna partitura del olvido y Leyla Gener y Mont Cate hicieron de ella un nuevo on dxectivos carreras.
1. ✰✰✰ Leyla Gencer, Jaume Aragall, Renato Bruson, Plinio Clabai. Curo y Orquesta del Teatro San Carlo de Nipoles dirigidos por Carlo Felice Cillario. Myto. 2 CD. 1972. (En vivo)
La grabación (1) de Leyla Gencer con Jaune Aragall corresponden al redescubrimiento de esta ópera en Nápoles. La Gencer canta el col con una vor todos atractiva y aunque des igual veces en el color of emp tiene el inmenso factor de su personalidad y de su timber peculiar. Aragall está en buena formay da un relieve especial al galán de la opers. Renato Bruson canta el papel de Lusigna no con esplendidez y ese timbre oscuro que lo caracteriza se viene bien con la historie nee brosa y oscura que narra la ópera, Plinio Cla bassi está ya muy maduro, pero aún canta con suficiencia, Carlo Felice Gillario on code reper torio siempre resultó funcional, y se nota.
Montserrat Caballé se interesó muy pronto por el complejo papel de Caterina, del que dio interpretaciones ejemplares. En la primers (2), junto a Josep Carreras, lace sus habituales habilidades en el terreno belcantista: frases de fuerza, junto con otras de levisimo flame, que todavía hoy causon un efecto espectacular en quien los aye. En la segunda (3), el resultado es aún mejor y Ja me Aragall repite con alguna vacilación el buen nivel vocal de la primera grabación. El baritono Ryan Edwards cumple como La signano, y Gwynne Howell canta con seg ridad el rol menor de Mocenign.
La versión más reciente (4) de la Maco launa de las últimas dirigidas por Gian drea Gavareni (que se casó con esta cantan te a una avanzada edad) no vale, en verded gran cosa. Ni siquiera Gavazzeni consigue dirigir ordenadamente una orquesta de poco calado y la Mariola joven nunca ho sido ni la sombes de una Gencer o una Caballé maduras.
La grabación (5) es el fruto de una iniciativa del Hellenic Centre de Londres, que tomó la decisión de patrocinar una audición de esta ópera en el Queen Elizabeth Hall de Londres que fue anunciada por la prensa omo si fuera la resurrección de una ópera perdida (Evening Standard, Londres, 26 de junio de 1998, plg. 15) a pesar de que dingia Richard Bonynge, que tenis que saber muy bien que esto no era asi. Sin dudas presencia es la mejor garantia de la calidad de cea grabación, que incluye a Julia Mige nes (la célebee Carmen del film de Rosi) en el papel principal. Richard van Allan demuestra también profesionalidad en el rol de Mocenign.
Opera en un prólogo y dos actos, con los de Ga como Sacchero, basada en un dransa do vemos de Saint-Georges, estrenada en el ferro San Caro de Napoles, el 18 de enero de 1844
Esta fue le tima opera estrenada por Gaetano Donets artes de que se deciarase la en fermadad degenerativa que lo levaria a la tumba on sólo sutro años, aunque continuo dva su act wdad teatral y composta durante un sempo dbra tiene muchas de las caracteristicas de los dr mes preverdianos de la drama etapa del compos for hors siniestras, amores posibles, perso scus No tene la estatura de aguras otras operas tree feces del compositor con tod hoy momentos muy leon desde punto de vista vocat Donkiem nunca abandono el espi del bel cam Pero la opera quedo odada, en apariencia pera sempre hasta que los estudos de fueno Prna partitura del olvido y Leyla Gener y Mont Cate hicieron de ella un nuevo on dxectivos carreras.
1. ✰✰✰ Leyla Gencer, Jaume Aragall, Renato Bruson, Plinio Clabai. Curo y Orquesta del Teatro San Carlo de Nipoles dirigidos por Carlo Felice Cillario. Myto. 2 CD. 1972. (En vivo)
La grabación (1) de Leyla Gencer con Jaune Aragall corresponden al redescubrimiento de esta ópera en Nápoles. La Gencer canta el col con una vor todos atractiva y aunque des igual veces en el color of emp tiene el inmenso factor de su personalidad y de su timber peculiar. Aragall está en buena formay da un relieve especial al galán de la opers. Renato Bruson canta el papel de Lusigna no con esplendidez y ese timbre oscuro que lo caracteriza se viene bien con la historie nee brosa y oscura que narra la ópera, Plinio Cla bassi está ya muy maduro, pero aún canta con suficiencia, Carlo Felice Gillario on code reper torio siempre resultó funcional, y se nota.
Montserrat Caballé se interesó muy pronto por el complejo papel de Caterina, del que dio interpretaciones ejemplares. En la primers (2), junto a Josep Carreras, lace sus habituales habilidades en el terreno belcantista: frases de fuerza, junto con otras de levisimo flame, que todavía hoy causon un efecto espectacular en quien los aye. En la segunda (3), el resultado es aún mejor y Ja me Aragall repite con alguna vacilación el buen nivel vocal de la primera grabación. El baritono Ryan Edwards cumple como La signano, y Gwynne Howell canta con seg ridad el rol menor de Mocenign.
La versión más reciente (4) de la Maco launa de las últimas dirigidas por Gian drea Gavareni (que se casó con esta cantan te a una avanzada edad) no vale, en verded gran cosa. Ni siquiera Gavazzeni consigue dirigir ordenadamente una orquesta de poco calado y la Mariola joven nunca ho sido ni la sombes de una Gencer o una Caballé maduras.
La grabación (5) es el fruto de una iniciativa del Hellenic Centre de Londres, que tomó la decisión de patrocinar una audición de esta ópera en el Queen Elizabeth Hall de Londres que fue anunciada por la prensa omo si fuera la resurrección de una ópera perdida (Evening Standard, Londres, 26 de junio de 1998, plg. 15) a pesar de que dingia Richard Bonynge, que tenis que saber muy bien que esto no era asi. Sin dudas presencia es la mejor garantia de la calidad de cea grabación, que incluye a Julia Mige nes (la célebee Carmen del film de Rosi) en el papel principal. Richard van Allan demuestra también profesionalidad en el rol de Mocenign.
15.04.1973 CATERINA CORNARO
USA Premier
New York, Carnegie Hall
Orchestra and Chorus of the New Jersey Opera
Alfredo Silipigni
Leyla Gencer (Caterina Cornaro); Samuel Ramey (Andrea Cornaro); Giuseppe Campora (Gerardo); Giuseppe Taddei (Lusignano); James Morris (Mocenigo); John Sandor (Strozzi); Maria di Giglio (Matilde)
House of Opera – 2 CDs
CATERINA CORNARO 1973
OPERADIS
Recordings of Caterina Cornaro by Gaetano Donizetti are surveyed in the following publications:
Celletti p.195; Giudici p.221; Opéra International avril 1997 No.212 p.25
This recording is reviewed in the following publications:
Orpheus – Juni 1996 S.63
https://operadis.com/
Cavalleria Rusticana [Live]
18.04.1964 CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli
Giuseppe Patané
Daniele Barioni (Turiddu); Leyla Gencer (Santuzza); Giangiacomo Guelfi (Alfio); Bianca Berini (Lucia); Rina Corsi (Lola)
House of Opera – 1 CD
OPERADIS
Recordings of Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni are surveyed in the following publications:
High Fidelity November 1962 p.53; Harris p.64; Opera on Record p.542; Celletti p.380; Marinelli p.435; Opera on CD (1) p.114 (2) p.126 (3) p.141; L'Avant-Scène Opéra No.50 p.130; MET p.220; MET (VID) p.124; Penguin p.195; Giudici p.140; Opéra International mai 1999 No.235 p.66; Répertoire No.130 décembre 1999 p.86; American Record Guide September/October 2000 Vol.63 No.5 pp.73-83
20.02.1971 CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli
Umberto Cattini
Amadeo Zambon (Turiddu); Leyla Gencer (Santuzza); Carlo Meliciani (Alfio); Giuliana Ricciardi (Lola)
Opera Depot – 1 CD
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA 1971
Dite Mamma Lucia Scene II
Inneggiamo Scene III
Voi lo sapete Scene IV
Tu qui, Santuzza? Scene V
Oh! il Signore vi manda Scene VIII
Der Freischütz [Live]
18.01.1956 DER FREISCHÜTZ
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Verdi, Trieste
Mario Rossi
Alessandro Zilliani (Max); Leyla Gencer (Agathe); Boris Christoff (Kaspar); Renata Scotto (Annchen)
On Stage – 2 CDs
DER FREISCHÜTZ 1956
OPERADIS
Recordings of Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber are surveyed in the following publications:
Opera on Record p.131; Celletti p.1170; Opera on CD (1) p.26 (2) p.30 (3) p.33; L'Avant-Scène Opéra No 105-106 p.162; MET 740; MET (VID) p.453; Penguin p.561; Opera on Video p.40; Giudici p.1170 (2) p.1835; American Record Guide May/June 1996 Vol.59 No.3 p.63; Répertoire No.95 octobre 1996 p.13; International Record Collector November 2000 pp.20-25; American Record Guide March/April 2008 Vol.71 No.2 pp.44-53
Comments: Recording of part of a performance in Trieste (18 January 1956). Caspar's aria, sung by Boris Christoff, is from a broadcast (RAI Torino, 12 November 1956) conducted by Vittorio Gui. Mario Petri sang Caspar in Trieste.
https://operadis.com/
Don Carlos [Live]
07.11.1964 DON CARLOS
Orchestra and Chorus of Lyric Opera of Chicago
Bruno Bartoletti
Richard Tucker (Don Carlos); Leyla Gencer (Elisabetta di Valois); Tito Gobbi (Rodrigo); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Filippo); Grace Bumbry (Eboli); Bruno Marangoni (Grand Inquisitor); Raymond Michalski (Monk)
House of Opera – 3 CDs
DON CARLOS 1964
OPERADIS
Recordings of Don Carlos [Don Carlo] by Giuseppe Verdi are surveyed in the following publications:
High Fidelity January 1960 Vol.10 No.1 p.97; Harris p.78; Opera May 1958 p.292; Opera on Record p.292; Celletti p.859; Opera on CD (1) p.56 (2) p.63 (3) p.70; L'Avant Scène Opéra No.90-91 p.160, mise à jour janvier 2001 p.2; No.244 p.136; Der Opernführer Ausgabe Nr.1/2 S.180; MET p.639; MET (VID) p.396; Penguin p.472; Classic CD April 1993 p.34; Giudici p.996 (2) p.1606; Newton (Verdi) Vol.2 p.252; Répertoire No.121 février 1999 p.18; Orpheus April 2001 S.52; Opéra International No.259 juillet-aoüt 2001 p.20; BBC Music Magazine June 2006 p.58; Gramophone January 2007 p.48
https://operadis.com/
24.04.1968 DON CARLOS
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Fernando Previtali
Bruno Prevedi (Don Carlos); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Filippo II); Sesto Bruscantini (Rodrigo, marchese di Posa); Leyla Gencer (Elisabetta de Valois); Fiorenza Cossotto (La principessa d'Eboli); Luigi Roni (Il Grande Inquisitore); Franco Pugliese (un frate); Virginia de Notaristefani (Tebaldo); Rita Misiano (La contessa d'Aremberg); Athos Cesarini (Il conte di Lerma); Fernando Jacopucci (un araldo reale); Giovanna di Rocco (una voce dal cielo)
Melodram - 3 CDs
DON CARLOS 1968
FANFARE MAGAZINE
HENRY FOGEL
Verdi Don Carlo 1. Soprano Arias. • Bruno Prevedi, tenor (Don Carlo); Leyla Gencer, soprano (Elisabetta); Sesto Bruscantini, baritone (Rodrigo); Nicolai Ghiaurov, bass (Philip); Luigi Roni, bass (Inquisitor); Rome Opera Chorus & Orchestra, conducted by Fernando Previtali 1. • Melodram 37022 (three compact discs, mono [AAD]; 71:39, 69:03, 70:40) [distributed by Qualiton]. Arias: From La forza del destino; Jerusalem, Macbeth; and Il trovatore (Leyla Gencer, soprano).
The Don Carlo performance was given April 24, 1968 in Rome, and is of the Italian five-act version of the opera. Although my interest was first ignited by the presence of Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer (always an interesting, alive performer), it is the remarkable Rodrigo of Bruscantini that stays longest in the memory. He brings a nobility of phrase, a steadiness of tone, and a variety of intensity to his singing that can serve as a lesson to baritones more famous for Verdi singing than he was. His singing announces itself as important the minute he opens his mouth.
Gencer doesn't disappoint either, although at times the tone is a bit steely (whether due to her own problems or recording quality is hard to determine). She floats some of her trademark pianissimi, and sails into the role with utter abandon.
Unfortunately, Elisabetta and Rodrigo cannot carry this opera and the level drops once away from Bruscantini and Gencer. Ghiaurov was an important Philip in the 1960s, but seems to have phoned this performance in, and Roni lacks the vocal stature for his big scene. Any performance of Don Carlo ultimately stands or falls on two principals: the tenor and the conductor. In both of these areas, this performance is at its weakest.
Bruno Prevedi's tenor, unvarying in its sound, used at a single dynamic level (forte) almost throughout, and unpleasantly whiny in quality, wears out its welcome early on. Prevedi made a decent career in the 1960s and '70s because his voice carried well and had a certain impact due to its size and brilliance, and because he reliably never sank below an acceptable level. But listening to any of his recordings gives meaning to the damning phrase “useful tenor.” In the Don Carlo/Rodrigo scenes the difference in utterance of phrases between Bruscantini and Prevedi serves to magnify the latter's inadequacy.
Fernando Previtali's conducting, especially when combined with the dry Italian broadcast sound heard here and scraggly orchestral execution, is lacking in colour and dramatic or musical specificity. His musical gestures are satisfactory in a generalized way, but with the availability of performances led by Giulini, Solti, Karajan, and Abbado, the routine nature of his conducting is made even more apparent.
The arias used to fill out the third disc (thus giving us three generously packed CDs) are stunningly sung by Gencer; all are from complete performances that have circulated on “private label” LPs for years and would be better found in that form (particularly the Trovatore and Macbeth). No notes or libretto are included; there is a listing of each of the tracks used for access (a total of 21 in the opera—not particularly generous).
OPERADIS
Recordings of Don Carlos [Don Carlo] by Giuseppe Verdi are surveyed in the following publications:
High Fidelity January 1960 Vol.10 No.1 p.97; Harris p.78; Opera May 1958 p.292; Opera on Record p.292; Celletti p.859; Opera on CD (1) p.56 (2) p.63 (3) p.70; L'Avant-Scène Opéra No.90-91 p.160, mise à jour janvier 2001 p.2; No.244 p.136; Der Opernführer Ausgabe Nr.1/2 S.180; MET p.639; MET (VID) p.396; Penguin p.472; Classic CD April 1993 p.34; Giudici p.996 (2) p.1606; Newton (Verdi) Vol.2 p.252; Répertoire No.121 février 1999 p.18; Orpheus April 2001 S.52; Opéra International No.259 juillet-aoüt 2001 p.20; BBC Music Magazine June 2006 p.58; Gramophone January 2007 p.48
https://operadis.com/
L’OPERA IN CD E VIDEO
1995
Don Carlo (Don Carlos)
(opera in cinque atti di Joseph Méry e Camille du Locle
Parigi 11 marzo 1867
Seconda versione Milano 10 gennaio 1884
Personaggi Carlo, Elisabetta, Filippo, Posa, Eboli Inquutore, Frate
1950- J.Björling,
D.Carral, C.Siepi, R.Memill, F.Barbieri, J.Hines, L. Vichegonov, coro e or
chestra del Metropolitan, direttore Fritz Stiedry (dal vivo) Myto (2 CD)
✰✰
1954- M.Filippeschi,
A.Stella, B.Christoff T.Gobbi, E. Nicola, G. Neri, PCabassi, coro e orchestra
dell'Opera di Roma, direttore Gabriele Santini Emi (3CD) ✰✰
1958- J.Vickers,
G.Brouwenstijn, B.Christoff, TGobbi, F.Barbieri, M.Langdon, J.Rouleau; coco e
orchestra del Covent Garden, diremore Carlo Maria Giulini (dal vivo) Myto
(3 CD) ✰✰
1958- E.Fernandi,
S.Jurinac, C.Siepi. E.Bastianini, G.Simionato, M.Stefanoni, NZaccaria, coro
della Staatsoper di Vienna, or- chestra Filarmonica di Vienna, direttore
Herbert von Karajan (dal vivo) Arkadia (2 CD) ✰✰
1961- F.Labo, A.Stells,
B.Christoff, E. Bastianini, F.Cossotto, L.Vinco, A.Mad- dalena; coro e
orchestra Teatro Alla Scala, diret sore Gabriele Santini DG (3 CD) ✰✰
1965- C.Bergonzi, R.
Tebaldi, N.Ghiaurov D.Fischer-Dieskau, G.Bumbry, M.Talvela, TFranc; coro e
orchestra del Covent Garden, direttore Georg Solti Decca (3 CD) ✰✰✰✰
1968- B.Prevedi,
L.Gencer, N.Ghis S.Bruscantini, F.Cossotto, L.Roni. F.Pugliese coro e orchestra
dell'Opera di Roma, direttore Fernando Previtali (dal vivo) Melodram (3 CD) ✰✰
1968- B.Prevedi,
R.Orlandi-Malaspina, N.Ghiaurov, P.Cappuccilli, E.Cossotto, M.Talvela, A.
Zerbini, coro e orchestra Teatro Alla Scala, direttore Claudio Abbado (dal
vivo) Claque (3 CD) ✰✰
1970- P.Domingo,
M.Caballé, R.Raimondi, S.Milnes, & Verrett, G.Foiani, S.Estes; coro e
orchestra del Covent Garden, direttore Carlo Maria Giulini
Emi (3 CD) ✰✰✰✰
1972- F.Corelli,
M.Caballé, C.Siepi, S.Mines, G.Bumbry. J.Macurdy, P.Plishka, coro e orchestra
del Metropolitan, direttore Francesco Molinari Pradelli (dal vivo) Foyer
(2 CD) ✰✰
1978- J.Carreras, M.
Freni, N.Ghiagrov, PCappuccilli, A. Baltsa, R.Raimondi, J.van Dam, coro della
Deutsche Oper di Berlino, or chestra Filarmonica di Berlino, direttore Herbert
von Karajan Emi (3 CD) ✰✰✰✰
1983-84 (in francese)- P.Domingo,
K.Ricciarelli, R.Raimondi, L. Nucci, L. Valentini Terrani, N.Ghiauroy, N
Seorje, coro e orchestra Teatro Alla Scala, direttore Claudio Abbado DG (4 CD) ✰✰✰
1983- P.Domingo, M.
Freni, N.Ghiaurov, Quilico, G.Bumbry, FFurlaneno, J.Robbins coro e orchestra
del Metropolitan, direttore James Levine, regia John Dester, scene David Repps,
costumi Ray Diffen, regia televisiva Brian Large LD Pioneer (NTSC) ✰✰✰✰
1986- J.Carreras, F. Izzo
D'Amico, F.Furlanetto, P.Cappuccilli, A.Baltsa, M.Salminen, FDe Grandis cori
dell'Opera Nazionale di Sofia e della Staatsoper di Vienna, orchestra
Filarmonica di Berlino, diremore Herbert von Karajan, regia teatrale e
televisiva Herbert von Karajan, scene Günther Schneider-Siemssen, costumi
Georges Wakhevitch LD Sony Classical ✰
1992- M.Sylvester, A.
Millo, F.Furlanetto, V.Chemov, D.Zajick, S.Ramey, P.Plishka, como e orchestra
del Metropolitan, direttore James Levine Sony Classical (3 CD) ✰✰✰
1992- L.Pavarotti,
D.Dessi, S.Ramey, P.Coni, LD'Intino, A.Anisimov, A.Silvestrelli, coro e
orchestra Teatro Alla Scala, direttore Riccardo Muti (dal vivo) Emi (3 CD)
✰✰
1992- case, coro e
orchestra come sopra diret tore Riccardo Muti, regia teatrale e televisiva, scene
Franco Zeffirelli, costumi Anna Anni LD Emi ✰✰
Ci sono capolavori che nascono di getto, perfetti e
compiuti in ogni loro parte; e ce ne sono altri che costruiscono la propria
statura attraverso una gestazione laboriosa, ricca di ripensamenci a volte
anche contradditori. Alla seconda care- goria appartiene senza dubbio il Don
Carlo che, come nessun'altra opera sua, spinse Verdi al tor mento di rielaborazioni
o di totali riscritture, spie di quanto profonda fosse la rispondenza trapropria
sensibilità e il coacervo drammatico del lavoro di Schiller Un sormento,
tuttavia, con cretato alla fine in un'opera che a mio parere no solo sopravanza
di non poco-in termini di drammaturgia e di psicologia dei caratteri-quel la
dello stesso Schiller, ma sta in cima al pur tan to ricco e variegato corpus
del teatro verdiano.
La complessità della gestazione non ha mancato di
riflettersi sulla storia esecutive stentata, giacché il pubblico ha tardato ad
accorgersi della grandezza dell'opera (negandole tutiora, se è per questo,
l'adesione spontanea riservata invece a titoli sicuramente inferiori), in ciò
po co aiutato dalla critica e pochissimo dalla musicologia, responsabile fino a
tutti gli anni Cinquanta-soprattutto in Germania e in Inghilterra-di edaioni,
non solo teatrali ma addirittura editoriali, a dir poco obbrobriose nel loro
disinvolto impiego di tagli, rielabora zioni e spostamenti intemi. Sicché non
mi pare fuor di fuogo un rapido riassunto dell'odiema situazione editoriale del
Don Carlo, dal momento che questa, come ovvio, getta importanti riflessi sulla
saa discografia
1) Prima versione. L'11 marzo 1867 andò in sce na a
Parigi il Don Carlor, opera in cinque atti sa testo francese di Camille du
Locle, che giunse in Italia-a Bologna-il 26 ottobre dello stesso an no,
tradotta in italiano da Achille de Lauzières e col titolo mutato in Don Carlo
2) Prima versione (modifica). Nel 1872, sul con po
musicale della versione italiana, Verdi intervenne in occasione della prima
rappresentazione a Napoli, modificando profondamente il duetto Filippo-Posa e
praticando un taglio nel duetto Elisabetta Carlo dell'ultimo atto
3) Seconda versione. Nel 1882, in vista delle recite
previste a Vienna, Verdi ritornò con tagli e sostituzioni sullo spartito
(attenzione: spartito francese) dell'opera, facendosi compone novi versi da
Camille du Locle, che vennero subito tradotti in italiano da Zanardini, il
quale per l'occasione revisionò a fondo la precedente ver sione ritmica di de
Lauzières, con interventi che divennero definitivi per tutte le successive rappresentazioni.
Fu un lavoro che tenne Verdi impegnato per ben nove mesi, e che si concluse non
più a Vienna ma a Milano, dove alla Scala e in traduzione italianasi ebbe, nel
gennaio 1884, un secondo battesimo dell'opera: tanto incisive ne erano le
modifiche, tutte condotte su nodi drammatici vitali. Come puntualizza la
musicologa Ursula Günther, difatti, con la sua radicale revisione Verdi elimino
più della metà dell'opera precedente, e cioè: l'atto primo; i duetti
Carlo-Rodrigo e Filippo Rodrigo dell'at to secondo, inizio dell'atto terzo col
successive balletto; gran parte della scena Filippo Elisabetta dell'atto quarto
col successivo Quar tetto; alcune battute della scene Elisabetta Eboli il
finale quarto, a partire dalla morte di Rodrigo, la conclusione dell'atto
quinto. Al posto di questi brani, vennero inserite in una copia della stesura
francese del 1867 sette nuovi bea ni, per complessive 268 pagine autografes.
4) Seconda versione (modifica). Nel dicembre 1886 infine,
a Modena, senza intervento diretto di Verdi ma ovviamente con la sua approvazio
ne, andò in scena un Don Carlo che ripristinava il primo atto così come era
stato pubblicato da Ricordi-in traduzione italiana-subito dopo la prima
parigina, e seguendo in ogni punto, dal second atto in poi, le modificazioni
apportate per la versione scaligera di due anni prima.
5) Brani espunti dalla prima versione. Ai nostri giorni,
i musicologi Andrew Porter, Ursula Günthere David Rosen, concluse le proprie
bril lanti ricerche negli archivi dell'Opéra, hanno ri portato alla luce otto
brani musicali- di ben 304 battute complessive- mai eseguiti perché Verdi, alla
vigilia della prima, fa forzato a expungere dall'opera quasi venti minuti in
quanto lo spetta colo non sarebbe altrimenti terminato in tempo per consentire
agli spettatori di salire sugli ultimi treni in partenza per le periferie.
Da questi ritrovamenti, di cui si rendeva urgen te la
pubblicazione, prese le mosse la decisione di riorganizzare tutto il materiale
esistente del l'opera un poderoso ed esemplare lavoro portato a termine- nella
sua veste per canto e pia noda Ursula Ginther e Luciano Pentazioni, edito dalla
Ricordi in due volum. E dunque d sponibile a tutti l'intero materiale musicale
esi stente del Don Carlos e del Dow Carlo, con ogni loro brano - ciascuno
completo di eventuali va rianti-inserito nella posizione che aveva in ori gine,
il tutto con testo francese e italiano (Piero Faggioni ha curato la traduzione
ritmica degli otto brani ritrovati a Parigil: tale pubblicazione, capitale per
ogni appassionato, permette quindi ogni sorta di reinserimento o di passaggio
dall'una all'altra delle quattro successive tappe compositive (e difatti
compresa anche quella napoletanal.
Ma circa la versione da seguire, integralmente oppure con commistioni, i
pareri sono stati e tutto sono assai controversi.
Prima di tutto, la versione parigina. In essa non credo
possa esserci ombra di dubbio che doca distribuiti pegli otto brani espunti, e
che sp partengono de iure a questa versione e solo a questa, aggiungerei,
giacché mi pare avesse per fettamente ragione Fedele D'Amico quando, criticando
l'inserimento di alcuni di essi nel cor po della versione dell'84 (on corpo
dalle forme assal mutate rispetto a quelle del '67), defini il ri sultato
finale un deplorevele ircocervo.
E stato sostenuto che nel francese Don Carlos Verdi
pagasse un pesante tributo alle conven zioni e costrizioni dell'ambiente
musicale pari gino, montando di malavoglia un grand-père la cui struttura gli
sarebbe stata estranea, appunto smantellandola nell'italiano Dow Carlo d dicias
sette anni dopo. La musicologia recente ha fatto giustizia di tante
approssimazioni e inesattezze, tra l'altro evidenziando come tutto quanto di Schiacciante,
al riguardo, il confronto coi restanti componenti del cast, e segnatamente con
quelli maschili.
L'Infante di Carlo Bergonai è a parer mio quello di
sicuro riferimento: non c'è frase, nota, inflessione che Bergonzi non dico
stiri viasamteggia mento mai rintracciabile nell'intera so carrierama per la
quale non sappia trovare l'accento gi sto e invariabilmente rivelatore. Merito,
ancora una volta, della sbalceditiva sapienza con cui con trolla appoggio ed
emissione del fiano, che gli permettono l'inesauribile varietà nel timbro e
nello spessore d'un suono sempre incisivo e vi brante pur nell'assoluta
omogeneità d'una linea vocale dove la perfezione del legato assurge a ver tici
strumental, consentendo all'interprete di tra durla in vero e proprio tracciato
psicologico, d'e nceme suggestione.
Considerazioni analoghe rendono grandissimo Posa di
Fischer-Dieskau Timbeo povero, se confrontato non dico alla strepitosa
ricchezza sfoggiata da un Bastianini, ma anche solo alla grana più vida ma
comunque di bel colore e compattezza d'un Cappuccili: Taccento, però, che un
controllo del fiato paragonabile a quello di Bergonai rende analogamente vario,
sfumato e insinuante, gli conferisce una statura interpre tativa che rispetto
agli altri doe è decisamente superiore. Dovessi fare un solo esempio tra i molti
possibili, citerei l'inimitabile spessore conferito, nella frase obentosto
brillerá la mia di sangue intrisas del doetto Posa-Filippo, quel pronome mi
riferito alla propria spada e alla mano che la brandisce basta quel solo accento,
e davanti ci si scolpisce l'altera aristocra ticità d'un Grande di Spagna, di
quelli che tri loro diritti più gelosamente custoditi avevano lo stare a capo
coperto innanzi al Re.
Opulenta e sensualissima, ancorché un tantino
superficiale anche per un personaggio in defini tiva lineare, la Bumbry era
allora agli inizi della was carriera e quindi nella piena integrità d'un timbro
stupendo che, vers Cossotto d'oltreoceano, orgogliosamente ostenta fino in
fondo ad ogni frase. Anche al solo ascolto, Talvela confe risce all'Inquisitore
le stesse sovrumane dimen sioni che la sua figura imponente incideva per sempre
nella memoria sal vivo del palcoscenico, allorché sapeva diventare una sorta di
mostruo sa, implacabile macchina del potere, tanto più disumana perché
appassionatamente lucida e ratiocinante cel proprio pagno di ferro in guanto di
ferro anche più duro, e col quale affronta una folla in rivolta con lo stesso
disumano orgo glio di sée di quanto rappresenta con cui fronteggia un Re.
Il quale è Nicolai Ghiauro, all'inizio d'un arco
interpretativo stupendo che lo porterà a essere il più grande Filippo dei
nostri tempi. Re, sullo sfondo del fastoso cerimoniale officiato dall'oe
chestra di Solti, d'una tragica Spagna identificatasi con la Santa Chiesa
Militante, quella che ha cacciano gli arabi e innalza roghi santi, quella intrisa
del maestoso orgoglio emanato dalle im mense cattedrali ispaniche coi loro
etabli terri bili che escono da cupe penombre. La potenza vocale di
quest'imperionificazione, tra le prime d'una nutritissima serie con la quale
Ghiauroy simporrà sui palcoscenici di tutto il mondo, è da ascrivere al
fenomeni della natura. Ma una potenza tutta incanalata in una linea vocale il
cu dominio del legato (sentire, nella grande aria, come si sonola T'allargando
delle otso note di languenti) e la cui bellezza, pastosità e morbi dezza
timbrica non sopportano paragoni. Voce arricchita poi da un fraseggio
indirizzato verso un ritratto nel qualecomplice o meno la visio ne di Solti,
nonché una tal quale suggestione esercitata dall'esempio di Christoff, cui
canto non ha però mai avuto la vellutata ricchezza di quello di Ghiaurov- tinta
dominante delle pur ricchissime modulazioni e ombreggiature è l'imponenza del
monarca piuttosto dei dubbi che in tale grandiosità insinua la coscienza di
un'umanità sopita ma non cancellata. Visione, quest'ultima, cui come vedremo
Ghiaurov sapeà tuttavia giungere nelle incisioni con Karajan e con Levine.
1968 MELODRAM (edizione 3)
Bruno Prevedi, Leyla Gencer, Nicolai Ghieuroe, Sesto Brisconti, Fiore Consotto
Luigi Rom diver tore Francesco Previtali (dal vivo, Roma)
Ad onta d'un'orchestra e di un coeo parecchio deficitari,
che la solida professionalità e l'ancor più salda musicalità di Previtali
tengono solo fa ticosamente in riga, questo documento d'ottimo suono offre
diversi motivi d'interesse
Più che mai esibita la sontuosità timbrica d'una Cossotto
per la quale Eboli era ormai un caval lo di battaglia al pari di Amneris e
Azucena. Ammirevole anche se inevitabilmente datano l'onesto professionismo di
Prevedi. Ma impres sienante l'autorità d'un Ghiaro che aveva or mai fatto
interamente suo il personaggio, sta gliato con una dovizia timbrica che poteva
a vol te sconfinare un po' sul modello Comotto-in un'eccessiva ostentazione
troppo paga di sé, ma che qui viene invece arricchita da una libertà di
fraseggio ricca di notazioni espressive interes santissime: anche perché, nel
duetto con Rodrigo, la strapotenza vocale di Ghiaurow si trova davanti uno spessore
timbrice mingheri no, si, ma governato dalla strapotenza ben più incisiva di
un'intelligenza artistica cui si rende conto di non poter replicare solo con
l'autorità vocale (pena i soccombere, sul terreno espressi vol, bensi
mobilitando le intere risorse della propria intelligenza artistica.
Posa è difatti Bruscantini, che di questa regi strazione
costituisce a parer mio la maggiore at trattiva Sesto Bruscantini passerà
senz'altro alla storia come il maggiore buffo degli ultimi cin quant'anni: il
che non toglie fosse artista completo, grande anche nel repertorio serio, le
cui documentazioni vanno però ricercate unicamente nei cataloghi live. Il suo
Posa, ad esem pio, è del massimo interesse, oltre a costituire in pratica
l'unica risposta -per quanto attiene alle risorse expressive dell'accento-che
il canto ita liano abbia saputo dare alla lezione di Fischer-Dieskau. A sentire
l'eccezionale ricchera del suo fraseggio (un esempio solo: cosa riesce a
esprimere in quel sup Non abbia mai di voi l'Istoria a dire), dove logicamente
viene sfruttata a fondo la molto maggiore spontaneità e abilità
nell'articolazione sillabica della frase, c'è an ida ritenere che, in un
contesto privilegiato quale una direzione autorevole comporta, Bruscantini
avrebbe lasciato tutti indietro.
Cosa che non vale, invece, per la Gencer. La cui
Elisabetta è regale, si (per quel poco o punto che vale, in questo
personaggio); ricerca inflessioni e accenti di teatrale effetto, anche. Ma non
c'è niente da fare, la fusione dei diversi registri vo cali è arruffata al
punto da configurare una voce da paghi una e prendi quattro tante voci pochissimo
integrate tra loro, nelle quali l'emissione viaggia non sui binari d'un coeremo
legato ma sul brivido del famoso colpo di glottide til «Non pianger mia
compagna è veramente insoppor table), e il cui fraseggio sa d'antico e d'imme
diabilmente superato, impostato com'è a ritrar re una regalità di maniera
attraverso accenti e inflessioni molo d'anta ancorché tanto cari a certo canto
logonismo.
GUÍA UNIVERSAL DE LA ÓPERA
2001
 |
Don Carlos
Opera en cinco actos, basada en el libreto francés de
Joseph Moy y Camille du Locle Version italiana en cuatro actos, Don Carlo,
adaptada por el propio Verdi (1884), con ibreto traducido y adaptado por
Achille de Lauzières Estrenada en francés en la Opera de Paris, el 11 de marzo
de 1867
Don Carlos es una ópera que tiene varios problemas en
primer lugar, aceptar o no la mutilación del primer acto, dándole unas
proporciones más acordes con el tiempo de que disponemos; en segundo lugar,
intentar digeriry esto no tiene so lución el horrendo final de la opera, en
tercero hallar el preciso equilibrio entre los intérpretes, para lograr una
grabación de gran clase.
1. ✰✰ Jussi
Björling, Delia Rigal, Cesare Siepi, Robert Merrill, Fedora Barbieri, Jerome
Hines. Coro y Orquesta del Metropolitan de Nueva York dirigidos
por Fritz Stiedry. Myto. 2 CD. 1950. (En vivo.)
2. ✰✰ Mirto Picchi,
Maria Caniglia, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Paolo Silveri, Ebe Stignani, Giulio Neri.
Coro y Orquesta de la RAI de Roma dirigidos por Francesco Previtali. Fonit-Cetra.
3 CD. 1951. (En vivo.)
3. ✰✰ Mario
Filippeschi, Antonietta Stella, Boris Christoff, Tito Gobbi, Elena Nicolai,
Giulio Neri. Coro y Orquesta de la Ópera de Roma dirigidos por
Gabrielle Santini. Emi. 3 CD. 1954.
4. ✰✰ Richard Tucker, Eleanor Steber,
Jerome Hines, Ettore Bastianini, Blanche Thebom, Nicola Moscona. Coro y Orquesta
del Metropolitan de Nueva York dirigidos por Kurt Adler. Myto. 3 CD.
1955. (En vivo.)
5. ✰✰
Angelo Lo Forese, Anita Cerquetti, Cesare Siepi, Ettore
Bastianini, Fedora Barbieri. Coro y Orquesta del
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino dirigidos por Antonino Votto, Myto. 3 CD.
1956. (En vivo.)
6. ✰✰
Jon Vickers, Gré Brouwenstijn, Boris Christoff, Tito
Gobbi, Fedora Barbieri. Coro y Orquesta del Covent Garden dirigidos por Carlo
Maria Giulini. Myto. 3 CD. 1958. (En vivo.)
7. ✰✰
Eugenio Fernandi, Sena Jurinac, Cesare Siepi, Ettore
Bustinini, Giulietta Simionato, Marco Stefanoni. Coro de la Staatsoper de Viena y Orquesta Filarmónica de Viena dirigidos
por Herbert von Karajan. DG. 2 CD. 1958. (En vivo.)
8. ✰✰
Eugenio Fernandi, Sena Jurinac, Boris Christoff, Ettore
Bastianini, Regina Resnik. Coro de la Staatsoper
de Viena y Filarmónica de Viena dirigidos por Nello Santi. Melodram-Bellavoce.
2 CD. 1960. (En vivo.)
9. ✰✰
Flaviano Labò, Antonietta Stella, Boris Christoff, Ettore
Bastianini, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de la Scala de Milán dirigidos por Gabriele
Santini. DG. 3 CD. 1961.
10. ✰✰✰✰
Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi, Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Grace Bumbry, Martti Talvela. Coro y Orquesta del
Covent Garden dirigidos por Georg Solti. Decca. 3 CD. 1965.
11. ✰✰
Franco Corelli, Raina Kabaivanska, Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Oralia Domínguez, Louis Quilico, Nicolai Ghiuselev Coro y Orquesta de la
Hartford Opera Association dirigidos por Anton Guadagno. Melodram 2 CD.
1996. (En vivo.)
12. ✰
Sándor Kónya, Gwyneth Jones, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Sesto
Bruscantini, Bi serca Cvejic. Coro y Orquesta de la NHK dirigidos por Oliviero
de Fabritiis. On Stage 3 CD. 1967. (En vivo.)
13. ✰✰
O Bruno Prevedi, Leyla Gencer, Nicolai Ghiaurow, Sesto
Bruscantini, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luigi Roni. Coro y Orquesta de la Opera de Roma dirigidos por Francesco Previtali. Melodram.
3 CD. 1968. (En vivo.)
14. ✰✰
Plácido Domingo, Sena Jurinac, Cesare Siepi, Mario
Sereni, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco. Coro y
Orquesta de la Ópera de Viena dirigidos por Silvio Varviso. Standing Room
Only. 2 CD. 1968. (En vivo.)
15. ✰✰✰ Bruno Prevedi, Rita Orlandi-Malaspina, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero Cappuccilli,
Fiorenza Cossotto, Martti Talvela Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de la Scala de
Milin dirigidos por Claudio Abbado. Claque. 3 CD. 1968. (En vivo)
16. ✰✰
Placido Domingo, Montserra Caballé, Dimiter Petkos, Piero
Cappucci lli, Fiorenza Cossotto, Giovanni Foini Coro y Orquesta de la Arena de
Verona dirigidos por Eliahu Inhal. Melodram. 3 CD. 1969. (En vivo)
17. ✰
Juan Oncina, Maria Candida, Boris Christoff, Mario Petri,
Mirella Paruto, James Maddalena. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro La Fenice de
Venecia dirigidos por Carlo Franci. Mondo Musica 3 CD. 1969. (En vivo)
18. ✰✰
Placido Domingo, Rita Orlandi-Malaspina, Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verret, Martti Talvela. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro
de la Scala de Milan dirigidos por Claudio Abbado, Arkadia 3 CD. 1970.
(En vivo)
19. ✰✰✰ Franco Corelli, Gundula Janowitz, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Eberhard
Wächter, Shirley Verret, Martti Talvela. Coro y or questa de la Staatsoper de
Viena dirigidos por Horst Stein. Myto. 3 CD. 1970. (En vivo.)
20. ✰✰✰✰ Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé, Ruggero Raimondi,
Sherrill Milnes, Shirley Verret, Giovanni Foiani Coro y Orquesta del Covent
Garden dirigidos por Carlo Maria Giulini. Emi. 3 CD. 1970.
21. ✰✰
Franco Corelli, Montserrat Caballé, Cesare Siepi,
Sherrill Milnes, Grace Bumbry, John Macurdy. Coro y Orquesta del Metropolitan
dirigidos por Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. Arkadia 2 CD. 1972. (En vivo)
22. ✰✰
Verino Luchetti, Katia Ricciarelli, Nicolai Ghiuros,
Piero Cappucci, Fiorenza Cossotto, Gianfranco Casarini. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro La Fenice de Venecia dirigidos por Georges
Prêtre. Mondo Musica. 3 CD. 1973. (En vivo)
23. ✰✰
André Turp, E. Tremblay, Joseph Roulem, R. Savoie,
Michèle Vilma, Richard van Allan Coro y Orquesta de la BBC de Londres dirigidos
por J. Matheson Voce. 3 CD. 1973. (Versión en francés)
24. ✰✰✰✰ Josep Carreras, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero
Cappuccilli, Elena Obratsova, Evgeny Nesterenko. Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de
la Scala de Milin. Myto. 3 CD. 1977. (En vivo)
25. ✰✰✰
Josep Carreras, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Chiaro, Piero
Cappuccilli, Agnes Balts, Ruggero Raimond. Coro de la Deutsche Oper de Berlin y Orquesta Filar mies de Berlin
dirigidos por Herbert von Karajan. Emi. 3 CD. 1978.
26. ✰✰✰
Placido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Ruggero Raimondi, Leo
Nucci, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Nicolai Ghiaurov Coro y Orquesta del Teatro de
la Scala de Milin dirigidos por Claudio Abbado. DG. 4 CD. 1981-1984. (Versión en francés)
27. ✰✰
Jaume Aragall, Montserrat Caballe, Simon Estes, Renato
Bruson, Grace Bumbry, Luigi Roni. Coro de la Radio France y Orquesta National
de France drigidos por Thomas Fulton. Ornamentl 3 CD. 1985. (En vivo)
28. ✰✰
Michael Sylvester, Aprile Millo, Ferruccio Furlanetto,
Vladimir Chernow, Dolors Zajick, Samuel Ramey Corey Or questa del Metropolitan
de Nueva York dirigidos por James Levine. Sony Classsical. 3 CD. 1992.
29. ✰✰
Luciano Pavarotti, Daniella Dessi, Samuel Ramey, Paolo
Coni, Luciana D'Intino, Alexander Anisimos. Coro y Or questa del Teatro de la Scala de Milán Dirigidos por Riccardo
Muti. Emi. 3 CD. 1992. (En vivo)
30. ✰✰✰
Roberto Alagna, Karita Mat tila, José van Dam. Thomas
Hampson, Waltraute Meier, Eric Halfvarson. Coro del Teatro Chatelet de París y
Orquesta de Paris dirigidos por Antonio Pappano Emi 3 CD. 1996. (Versión
en francés en vivo.)
31. ✰✰
Richard Margison, Galina Gorchakova, Roberto Scandurei,
Dmitri Hvorostovski, Olga Borodina, Robert Lloyd Cory Orquesta del Covent
Garden diri gidos por Bemard Haitink. Philips. 3 CD. 1996
De la malad de grabaciones existentes, po demos
seleccionar uns cuantos segin sa for mato e idioma, y distinguir las que tienen
in tepectes de primer nivel. Dejamos de lado los problemas que en algunas
grabaciones se tan los cortes, y la supresión casi grnerd d haller -La
Peregrina al principio del tercer acto.
Para abrirse puso en la selva de registros que existen de
esta opera será bueno tener presente que, descentando las tres grabaciones
históricas que abren la lista, y cuyo interés esti centrado sobre todo en eso,
el hecho de ser hintiricas, hay tres versiones en el original francés de 1867:
las grahociones (1), dey (90). De éstas la más notable es la de Plácido
Domingo, con Katia Ricciarelli y dirigids por Clodio Abbado, un álbum de lujo y
de unido excelente. La versións (30) de Roberto Nagn con Karita Mattila y José
van Dam es la últim aportación a esta versión, en la que sobresale dirección orquestal
de Antonio Pappano.
Entre los intérpretes del sentido y emocio nante rol de
don Carlos se han distinguido vorios cantantes que figuran dos o más veces en
Jos registros procedentes chemos a Eugenio Ferrandi-otrora compañero de canto
de la Tebaldi-que aparece en dos versiones (7 y 8) ambas en compañia de Sena
Jurinac commo semble y emocionumme Elisabetta. También Bruno Prevoli aparece en
dos registros (13 y 15), en el primero con Leyla Gencer y la solemne presencia
de Nicolai Ghiuro, que cantó el Filippo Il en ambos registros, uno de los
papeles que mayor prestigio le valieron de cuantos cad. No puede dejarse sin
citar la fabels Eboli de Fiorenza Cossotto de ambas graluciones La Cossotto lo
tenia todec voe inmarcele, estura amplia y temperanc En el segundo registro
(15) aparece la formi dubie voz de Rita Orlandi-Malaspina.
El más frecante don Carlos de la historia docs cedente ha
sido Pucido Domingo que aparece en cinen grabaciones (14, 16, 18, 20 y 26, em
dia ya citada, en francés) En la primers Domingo acababa de salir del nido y
grabo un joven y impetuoso Carlo (14) on el que alcasa a compartir reparto
sodavia con Seno Jerinar La sigaente (16) lo halla en com paña de Mine Caballé
en la Arens de Ve rona: nou gran versión por el sonido más bien flojo del
registro. En la grabación (18) - Domingo con Rica Orlandi-Malaspina, pero en la
(20) vokáó a emparejar con la Caballé. Dejaría buen recuerdo en esta vasión,
pero la mejor es la primers. Finalmente en 1964 canaria todavia el quinto De
Car ka ya repetidamente citado (26).
Franco Corelli cantó tres don Carlos dis tintos (11, 19 y
21), un rol que amenió bastante tarde (1966), pero es que antes esta ópera se
cantaba menos frecuentemente. Corelli canó un don Carlos bastante bello, pero
el rol nunca le resulti congenial y en las dos grabacions priores-la segunda
con Gundula Janowita y la tercera (1) con Montserrat Caballé se montró un tanto
ireeguro, Las dos primera versiones tienen el lujo de un faboloso Nicola
Chinos, la tercera el también notable rey Felipe de Cesare Siepi.
Sefalemos finalmente la presencia de Carreras on dos registrus
(24 y 25), a diferencia de Corelli, el papel le caia bien al tenor catalin, que
realiza una buena labor junto a Mirella Freni, la primera vex en vivo y ke segunde
en estudio, Por sapuesto que lo realmente fabuboso de ambas versiones es sta luminosi,
sensacional Flisabetta de Mirella Freni. Ambos registros cuentan con el excelente
Posa de Piero Cappuccilli, que nunca fue un estilisca, pero si un cantante solado.
Entre los divos que silo aparceen una ver en la lista de grabaciones,
es de rigor mencionar a Jon Vickers (6), con Gré Brouwenstijn, con Fedora Barbéeri
como Eboli y la elegunte direccién orquestal de Carlo Maria Giulini; citemos tambiena
Carlo Bergonai, el artifice de la primera grabecién realmence atendible de esta
Opera de Verth, com la Plisabetta magnifica de Renata Tebaldi y la excelente y poderosa
Eboli de Grace Burnbry, ademas del referente del magnitico Filippo Ul de Ghiaurov.
Pucstes a citar intérpretes de muchas versiones, inepcionaremas
la importante presenia de Cappucailli como Posa en nada menos que seis grahaciones
(15, 16, 18, 22, 24 y 25).
05.05.1970 DON CARLO
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Giuseppe Patané
Flaviano Labo (Don Carlos); Nicolai Ghiuselev (Filippo II); Lino Puglisi (Rodrigo, marchese di Posa); Leyla Gencer (Elisabetta de Valois); Shirley Verrett (La principessa d'Eboli); Giovanni Foiani (Il Grande Inquisitore); Gianicola Pigliucci (un frate); Wilma Candida (Tebaldo); Gianfranco Manganotti (Il conte di Lerma); Piero de Palma (un araldo reale); Maria Candida (una voce dal cielo)
RECORDED BUT NOT PRINTED AS CD.
NOT REVIEWED IN PUPLICATIONS.
EXCERPT AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE.
DON CARLO 1970
Tu che le venita Act IV
Don Giovanni [Studio]
26.04.1960 DON GIOVANNI
Orchestra della RAI di Milano
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Mario Petri (Don Giovanni); Teresa Stich-Randall (Donna Anna); Leyla Gencer (Donna Elvira); Sesto Bruscantini (Leporello); Luigi Alva (Don Ottavio); Renato Cesari (Matteo); Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina); Heinz Borst (Il Commendatore); Giulio Bertola, maestro del coro
Datum – 3 CDs
DON GIOVANNI 1960
Overture Act I
Notte e giorno faticar Act I Scene I
Ma qual mai s’offre, o die Act I Scene I
Orsu, spiciati presto Act I Scene II
Ah, chi mi dice mai Act I Scene II
Madamina, il catalogo e questo Act I Scene II
Giovinette che fate all'amore Act I Scene III
Manco male e partita Act I Scene III
Ho capito, Signor, si! Act I Scene III
Alfin siam liberati Act I Scene III
La ci darem la mano Act I Scene III
Ah! Fuggi il traditor! Act I Scene III
Mi par ch'oggi il demonio si diverta Act I Scene III
Non ti fidar, o misera Act I Scene III
Don Ottavio, son morta! Act I Scene III
Come mai creder deggio Act I Scene III
Io deggio ad ogni patto Act I Scene III
Finch'han dal vino, "Champagne Aria" Act I Scene III
Masetto, senti un po'! Act I Scene IV
Batti, batti, o bel Masetto Act I Scene IV
Presto, presto, pria ch'ei venga Act I Scene IV
Riposate, vezzose ragazze! Act I Scene V
Eh via, buffone, non mi seccar! Act II Scene I
Ah! Taci ingiusto core Act II Scene I
Deh, vieni alla finestra Act II Scene I
Meta di voi qua vadano Act II Scene I
Vedrai, carino Act II Scene I
Di molte faci il lume Act II Scene II
Sola, sola in buio loco Act II Scene II
Ah, pieta, signori miei! Act II Scene II
Il mio tesoro intanto Act II Scene II
In quali eccessi, o Numi Act II Scene II
Ah, ah, ah questa buona! Act II Scene III
O statua gentilissima Act II Scene III
Calmatevi, idol mio! Act II Scene IV
Non mi dir, bell'idol mio Act II Scene IV
Gia la mensa e preparata Act II Scene V (Finale)
Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m'invitasti Act II Scene V (Finale)
Ah, dove e il perfido? Act II Scene V Epilogue
26.04.1960 DON GIOVANNI
Orchestra della RAI di MilanoFrancesco Molinari-Pradelli
Mario Petri (Don Giovanni); Teresa Stich-Randall (Donna Anna); Leyla Gencer (Donna Elvira); Sesto Bruscantini (Leporello); Luigi Alva (Don Ottavio); Renato Cesari (Matteo); Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina); Heinz Borst (Il Commendatore); Giulio Bertola, maestro del coro; Giacomo Vaccari, regia
Vai - Rai – 1 DVD
DON GIOVANNI 1960
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
1960.04.27
GUÍA UNIVERSAL DE LA ÓPERA
2001
Don Giovanni
Opera en dos actos, con libreto de Lorenzo Da Ponte, lejanameme basada en El burlador de Sevilla, estrena da en el Teatro Tyl de Pragi, el 29 de octubre de 1787.
Las interpretaciones mozartianas han cambiado mucho en los casi setenta años que llevamos de ediciones completas de Den Govern, une opera que es sumamente dificil regstrar satisfactoriament por el cúmulo de exigencias que presenta, la variedad de sus escenas, el crecido número de intérpretes que tienen intervenciones importantes en la acción y las limitaciones que impone el movimiento solnico ala obra mozartiana La personalidad del temible prot gonista, la asociación a esta de un Laporelo que debe, sin embargo, conservar su propia identicad, as tremendas dificultades de la figura femenine de Don- na Anna, y las considerables de las dos restantes $ guras femeninas, tan diversas y sin embargo con una personalidad escénica imprescindible para que sus papeles resulten convincentes, todo se conjuga para que el resultado discográfico de los mejores conjun tos, orquestas y directores acabe siendo finalmente aceptable, pero no perfecto
1. ✰✰✰ John Brownlee, Salvatore Baccaloni, Koloman von Pataky, Roy Henderson, David Franklin, Ina Souez, Luise Helletsgruber, Audrey Mildmay. Coro y Orquesta del Festival de Glyndebourne dirigidos por Fritz Busch. Emi 3 CD. 1936.
27. ✰✰ Thomas Hampson, László Polgir, Hans-Peter Blochwitz, Anton Scharinger, Robert Holl, Edita Gruberová, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney. Coro de la Nederlandse Opera. Concertgebouw Orkest, Amsterdam dirigidos por Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Teldec. 3 CD. 1988
Böhm, el primero en so tiempo en dar un Moart instrumentalmente vivo y con una trans parencia muy reveladors.
También remita de interés, a pesar del nido mediocre de la registración en vivo, la versión de Mitropoulos en Salzburgo (9). Fue Tamado al festival por su prestigio, pero no era un morartiano en aleclato, lo que no le impidió de una versión francamente buena, y con la ventaja de evitar algunos clichés de aquellos años. Cesare Siepi supera todavio sas interpectaciones anteriores y es un don Gio vanni brillante. Listima que Corena no era un Figaro adecuado, y la relación entre ambos personajes queda coja. Magnifico como siem pre Léopold Simonezu, y sólo relativamente bien la Donna Elvira de Lis Della Casa y la Donna Anna de la Grimmer, que dio otra lección de profesionalidad pero con sce wagheroides.
La grabación del Festival de Aix-en-Provence (10) nos destes que a pasar de que el chaninismo francés crela finnemence emer en este Festival na contrapartida del Mar de Salzburgo, low ovalados no estan a la ala suficiente. Y cos todo, de las tres grabs ciones de Aix de estos años ya se han comen tado en lugar en el eras y Len di Figa), é de Dew Gal es bastante mejo Hans Rosband dice con mejores y más interesantes con la orquesta, y el equipo de cantantes est is equilibrado Sobrele Antonio Campo, cantante español que logró aquí un nivel excelente, cu Là di darem la asano es una exceleme meara de sa musica idad Marcello Cortis es un poco más basto como Leporellolo cual no es, en principio, erróneoy lirea Stich-Randall can mara villosamente coso Donna Anna Suzanne Danco es una Elvis un poco tensa y no muy precisa. Anna Moffo, en cambio, es una buena Zerins. Nicolai canta un Ontario mary perive to pero frío. No sé quién dio a André Vesse res licencia para cantar un Masetto tan boso y grosero su frase Accopanelo meco tutti i tre parece surgida de un salvaje convulso. La grabación, en directo, conserva alguna virtady algin defecto teatral (en-Metà di voi qua vadanow orquesta y Campo se pierden un poco). El coro funcions bestance bien Lon aplausos revelon por parte del público un entusiasmo limitado pero una indudable cortesia
Ferenc Fricsay ya orquesta RIAS de Ber lin nos recuerdan aquellos aos cincuenta de los vuelos Panam, de la guerra fría y del apoyo incondicional a aquella formación pars que diere vida a la población civil encerradaya antes del muro lo estala, de hecho en la ciudad dividida La labor de Fricsay for francamente buem, y su Dow Gici de 1956 (11) se sumala saga de sus excelentes gribeciones, en las que demostra tener un concep to más moderno de Moeart que son contem porinc, como defecto se pode decir que siempre aparecían en el reparto, fara o no conto, algunos de sus cantantes preferidos en esta en Maria Stader como Donna Elvira Irmgard Seefried repitiendo su Zerlina de alocada muchachita. Para don Giovanni un cantante poco latino y ponderoso, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskan, que sabe sin uburyo dar una personalidad al tipo lascivo y amenazador que se celta hujo la riera faz del aristocran sevillano. E. G. lama la atención sobre el tono cen que canta -Deh vieni alla finestra, de verdadero ser mahaks. Es listima que un don Galbenga su servicio un Leporello tan poco inspirado como el de Karl Koha. Sera Jurine deleó haberse quedado con s Dones Elvis, porque en el rol de Donn Anna no slon nivel. Ben el don Otavin de Eiger.
Se ha alabado universalmente la grabación (12) con el don Giovanni de Eberhard Wich ter, pero en moestra opinión tiene muchos de fectos, entre ellos el de la voe. Menos mal que Giuseppe Taklei está ahí para darnos un Figaro vital y de vor hermosa, aunque algunos lo encontraron un poco vulgar, porque demos tabula ristics como la que se pone propia de un criado aventurero. Cappuc cill, en plenitud de forma, da por una vera.
Masetto una vor lamina y llena de gra Algo que no le falta, en un sentido muy distin to, pero en esto coincidente, a la vou de Jos Sutherland, que comenzaba entonces se ray dio la talla completa en una Donna Anne de fabulosa capacidad vocal. La Schwarzkop resultó un elegante Elvira, marcadamente sopranillo que no ocurre siempre La Sciutti repitió su deliciosa Zerlina. La orques ta, que había sido destinada a Klemperer, fue a alma hora traspasada a Carlo Maria Giulini, y no es ésta una de las menores simades de es tos discos, pues su labor con la Philharmonis Orchestra es de ensueño.
La grabación en vivo (13) de Francesco Molinari-Pradelli ofrece varios curiosidades: el Figaro de Sesto Bruscan, algo francamente digno de ser conocido, el don Giovanni de Mario Petri, muy personal, y la infrooste Doma Ebira de Leyla Gencer Luigi Ala canta un elegante don Ottavio y'lere Stich Randall hace lo que puede con el dificil rol de Donna Anna. La Soumi canta un ver mis sa deliciosa Zerlina.
En su grabación (14) de 1960, Karjun dirige aduirablemente bien la partitara, Confa el papel principal al yo mencionado Eberhard Wachter canta realmente con vitalidad y la Schwarzkopf alcanza su mejor momento da cográfico como Donna Elvira.
Con todo, la versión Klemperer (15) tiene parecidos o mayores atractivos en la presencia del propio y premioso director de orquesta, ya may trabajado por accidentes y graves enfermedades. Pero el gran director extrae de la orquesta una armonis enriquecido per ese lentitud, que en definiva fascina, que pueda acabar cansando. El don Giovanni de esta versión es el magnifico Nicolai Chiuro entonces en la cima de su juventud. Wider Berry canta un excelente Leporello y Mirella Freni se destapa como Zerlina graciosa y maliciosa, musical y exquisita. Christo Ladwig esti menos beillante en Donna Elvira de lo que podiamos haber esperado. Nicolai Geda canta un don Ottavio frio y reservad.
Aunque la idea de grabar don Giovanni en Praga (16), la ciudad donde esta opera vio lalar, podia parecer original, lo cierto es que la orquesta del Teatro Nacional de Praga (Narodní Divadlo) en la era de la frustrada primavera de Praga no fue muy buena idea, porque la orquesta no estaba al nivel ni de las más modestas formaciones de festival veraniego. Tampoco tiene mucho sentido que se grabara la versión de Viena en lugar de la original de Prags. En total, poes, un despropósito que se refleja incluso en la dirección orquestal de Karl Böhm, como es lógion. La muerte de Frice Wunderlich abrió paso a la colaboración de Peter Schreier, mucho me nos interesante que su predecesoe. Birgit Nilson, combrada al repertorio wagneriano, se defiende solo medianamente como Donna Anto. Muy bien en cambio la Donna Elvis de Martina Arroyo.
En la grabación siguiente (18) volvemos a los verdaderos lujos de la discografia de esta 6pers, sun admitiendo que estamos lejos de la perfección abwls Gandala Janowits tiene la unidad y la calider interior propias de una Donna Anna ofendida y amorosa. Sena Jarinac repite una vez más su magics Elvis (que contarla en Viena hasta el año 1980) Olvera Miljakovich canta una graciosa Zerlina. Nicola Ghiaro ex un solemne don Giovanni y Sesto Bruscantisi demuestra me calidad como Leporello, uno de los mejores del disco.
Menos interés tiene la grabación (19) dirigida por Sir Colin Davis, quien lleva la or questa con un alto grado de musicalidad, pero no crea el ambiente adecuado entre los cantantes, aunque buenos, de su reparto, en el que se distingue Mirella Freni, ahora en el papel.
Opera en dos actos, con libreto de Lorenzo Da Ponte, lejanameme basada en El burlador de Sevilla, estrena da en el Teatro Tyl de Pragi, el 29 de octubre de 1787.
Las interpretaciones mozartianas han cambiado mucho en los casi setenta años que llevamos de ediciones completas de Den Govern, une opera que es sumamente dificil regstrar satisfactoriament por el cúmulo de exigencias que presenta, la variedad de sus escenas, el crecido número de intérpretes que tienen intervenciones importantes en la acción y las limitaciones que impone el movimiento solnico ala obra mozartiana La personalidad del temible prot gonista, la asociación a esta de un Laporelo que debe, sin embargo, conservar su propia identicad, as tremendas dificultades de la figura femenine de Don- na Anna, y las considerables de las dos restantes $ guras femeninas, tan diversas y sin embargo con una personalidad escénica imprescindible para que sus papeles resulten convincentes, todo se conjuga para que el resultado discográfico de los mejores conjun tos, orquestas y directores acabe siendo finalmente aceptable, pero no perfecto
1. ✰✰✰ John Brownlee, Salvatore Baccaloni, Koloman von Pataky, Roy Henderson, David Franklin, Ina Souez, Luise Helletsgruber, Audrey Mildmay. Coro y Orquesta del Festival de Glyndebourne dirigidos por Fritz Busch. Emi 3 CD. 1936.
27. ✰✰ Thomas Hampson, László Polgir, Hans-Peter Blochwitz, Anton Scharinger, Robert Holl, Edita Gruberová, Roberta Alexander, Barbara Bonney. Coro de la Nederlandse Opera. Concertgebouw Orkest, Amsterdam dirigidos por Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Teldec. 3 CD. 1988
Böhm, el primero en so tiempo en dar un Moart instrumentalmente vivo y con una trans parencia muy reveladors.
También remita de interés, a pesar del nido mediocre de la registración en vivo, la versión de Mitropoulos en Salzburgo (9). Fue Tamado al festival por su prestigio, pero no era un morartiano en aleclato, lo que no le impidió de una versión francamente buena, y con la ventaja de evitar algunos clichés de aquellos años. Cesare Siepi supera todavio sas interpectaciones anteriores y es un don Gio vanni brillante. Listima que Corena no era un Figaro adecuado, y la relación entre ambos personajes queda coja. Magnifico como siem pre Léopold Simonezu, y sólo relativamente bien la Donna Elvira de Lis Della Casa y la Donna Anna de la Grimmer, que dio otra lección de profesionalidad pero con sce wagheroides.
La grabación del Festival de Aix-en-Provence (10) nos destes que a pasar de que el chaninismo francés crela finnemence emer en este Festival na contrapartida del Mar de Salzburgo, low ovalados no estan a la ala suficiente. Y cos todo, de las tres grabs ciones de Aix de estos años ya se han comen tado en lugar en el eras y Len di Figa), é de Dew Gal es bastante mejo Hans Rosband dice con mejores y más interesantes con la orquesta, y el equipo de cantantes est is equilibrado Sobrele Antonio Campo, cantante español que logró aquí un nivel excelente, cu Là di darem la asano es una exceleme meara de sa musica idad Marcello Cortis es un poco más basto como Leporellolo cual no es, en principio, erróneoy lirea Stich-Randall can mara villosamente coso Donna Anna Suzanne Danco es una Elvis un poco tensa y no muy precisa. Anna Moffo, en cambio, es una buena Zerins. Nicolai canta un Ontario mary perive to pero frío. No sé quién dio a André Vesse res licencia para cantar un Masetto tan boso y grosero su frase Accopanelo meco tutti i tre parece surgida de un salvaje convulso. La grabación, en directo, conserva alguna virtady algin defecto teatral (en-Metà di voi qua vadanow orquesta y Campo se pierden un poco). El coro funcions bestance bien Lon aplausos revelon por parte del público un entusiasmo limitado pero una indudable cortesia
Ferenc Fricsay ya orquesta RIAS de Ber lin nos recuerdan aquellos aos cincuenta de los vuelos Panam, de la guerra fría y del apoyo incondicional a aquella formación pars que diere vida a la población civil encerradaya antes del muro lo estala, de hecho en la ciudad dividida La labor de Fricsay for francamente buem, y su Dow Gici de 1956 (11) se sumala saga de sus excelentes gribeciones, en las que demostra tener un concep to más moderno de Moeart que son contem porinc, como defecto se pode decir que siempre aparecían en el reparto, fara o no conto, algunos de sus cantantes preferidos en esta en Maria Stader como Donna Elvira Irmgard Seefried repitiendo su Zerlina de alocada muchachita. Para don Giovanni un cantante poco latino y ponderoso, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskan, que sabe sin uburyo dar una personalidad al tipo lascivo y amenazador que se celta hujo la riera faz del aristocran sevillano. E. G. lama la atención sobre el tono cen que canta -Deh vieni alla finestra, de verdadero ser mahaks. Es listima que un don Galbenga su servicio un Leporello tan poco inspirado como el de Karl Koha. Sera Jurine deleó haberse quedado con s Dones Elvis, porque en el rol de Donn Anna no slon nivel. Ben el don Otavin de Eiger.
Se ha alabado universalmente la grabación (12) con el don Giovanni de Eberhard Wich ter, pero en moestra opinión tiene muchos de fectos, entre ellos el de la voe. Menos mal que Giuseppe Taklei está ahí para darnos un Figaro vital y de vor hermosa, aunque algunos lo encontraron un poco vulgar, porque demos tabula ristics como la que se pone propia de un criado aventurero. Cappuc cill, en plenitud de forma, da por una vera.
Masetto una vor lamina y llena de gra Algo que no le falta, en un sentido muy distin to, pero en esto coincidente, a la vou de Jos Sutherland, que comenzaba entonces se ray dio la talla completa en una Donna Anne de fabulosa capacidad vocal. La Schwarzkop resultó un elegante Elvira, marcadamente sopranillo que no ocurre siempre La Sciutti repitió su deliciosa Zerlina. La orques ta, que había sido destinada a Klemperer, fue a alma hora traspasada a Carlo Maria Giulini, y no es ésta una de las menores simades de es tos discos, pues su labor con la Philharmonis Orchestra es de ensueño.
La grabación en vivo (13) de Francesco Molinari-Pradelli ofrece varios curiosidades: el Figaro de Sesto Bruscan, algo francamente digno de ser conocido, el don Giovanni de Mario Petri, muy personal, y la infrooste Doma Ebira de Leyla Gencer Luigi Ala canta un elegante don Ottavio y'lere Stich Randall hace lo que puede con el dificil rol de Donna Anna. La Soumi canta un ver mis sa deliciosa Zerlina.
En su grabación (14) de 1960, Karjun dirige aduirablemente bien la partitara, Confa el papel principal al yo mencionado Eberhard Wachter canta realmente con vitalidad y la Schwarzkopf alcanza su mejor momento da cográfico como Donna Elvira.
Con todo, la versión Klemperer (15) tiene parecidos o mayores atractivos en la presencia del propio y premioso director de orquesta, ya may trabajado por accidentes y graves enfermedades. Pero el gran director extrae de la orquesta una armonis enriquecido per ese lentitud, que en definiva fascina, que pueda acabar cansando. El don Giovanni de esta versión es el magnifico Nicolai Chiuro entonces en la cima de su juventud. Wider Berry canta un excelente Leporello y Mirella Freni se destapa como Zerlina graciosa y maliciosa, musical y exquisita. Christo Ladwig esti menos beillante en Donna Elvira de lo que podiamos haber esperado. Nicolai Geda canta un don Ottavio frio y reservad.
Aunque la idea de grabar don Giovanni en Praga (16), la ciudad donde esta opera vio lalar, podia parecer original, lo cierto es que la orquesta del Teatro Nacional de Praga (Narodní Divadlo) en la era de la frustrada primavera de Praga no fue muy buena idea, porque la orquesta no estaba al nivel ni de las más modestas formaciones de festival veraniego. Tampoco tiene mucho sentido que se grabara la versión de Viena en lugar de la original de Prags. En total, poes, un despropósito que se refleja incluso en la dirección orquestal de Karl Böhm, como es lógion. La muerte de Frice Wunderlich abrió paso a la colaboración de Peter Schreier, mucho me nos interesante que su predecesoe. Birgit Nilson, combrada al repertorio wagneriano, se defiende solo medianamente como Donna Anto. Muy bien en cambio la Donna Elvis de Martina Arroyo.
En la grabación siguiente (18) volvemos a los verdaderos lujos de la discografia de esta 6pers, sun admitiendo que estamos lejos de la perfección abwls Gandala Janowits tiene la unidad y la calider interior propias de una Donna Anna ofendida y amorosa. Sena Jarinac repite una vez más su magics Elvis (que contarla en Viena hasta el año 1980) Olvera Miljakovich canta una graciosa Zerlina. Nicola Ghiaro ex un solemne don Giovanni y Sesto Bruscantisi demuestra me calidad como Leporello, uno de los mejores del disco.
Menos interés tiene la grabación (19) dirigida por Sir Colin Davis, quien lleva la or questa con un alto grado de musicalidad, pero no crea el ambiente adecuado entre los cantantes, aunque buenos, de su reparto, en el que se distingue Mirella Freni, ahora en el papel.
VAI CATALOGUE
2005
DAGSAVISEN
2012.07.28
KJELL HILLVEG
Jeg har vært en uke på fjellet. Med musikalske venner og god mat og drikke. Og en reisebag stappfull av CD-er og DVD-er.
Greit å kunne tilbringe noen dager på en hytte med lyd og bildeutstyret i orden. Fikk riktignok tid til utendørssysler, med en «promenade» fra Geitryggen til Finse, som selve clouet. Og seiv om været ikke var helt på G, var det desto mer varme innomhus. Der kom tre opera-DVD-er av «gammel årgang» i fokus. Her er en situasjonsrapport.
IL SETTECENTO BY ELVIO GIUDICI
2016
Don Giovanni
(dramma giocoso in due atti di Lorenzo Da Ponte)
Praga, 29 ottobre 1787
Praga, 29 ottobre 1787
1954 - Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni), Otto Edelmann (Leporello), Anton Dermota (Ottavio), Walter Berry (Masetto), Dezsö Ernster (Commendatore), Elisabeth Grümmer (Donna Anna), Lisa Della Casa (Donna Elvira), Erna Berger (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera di Vienna, orchestra Wiener Philharmoniker, direttore Wilhelm Furtwängler, regia Herbert Graf; regia video Paul Czinner DG (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin) ✩✩
1960 - Mario Petri (Don Giovanni), Sesto Bruscantini (Leporello), Luigi Alva (Ottavio), Renato Cesari (Masetto), Heinz Borst (Commendatore), Teresa Stich- Randall (Donna Anna), Leyla Gencer (Donna Elvira), Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina); coro e orchestra Rai di Milano, direttore Francesco Molinari Pradelli, regia Giacomo Vaccari Vai (1 dvd) 4:3 (ingl/fr/ted) ✩✩✩✩
1966 (in tedesco) - György Melis (Don Giovanni), Rudolf Asmus (Leporello), John Moulson (Ottavio), Fritz Hübner (Masetto), Herbert Rössler (Commendatore), Klara Barlow (Donna Anna), Anny Schlemm (Donna Elvira), Eva-Maria Baum (Zerlina); coro e orchestra della Komische Oper di Berlino, direttore Zdeněk Košler, regia Walter Felsenstein Arthaus (2 dvd) 4:3 (ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩½
1977 - Benjamin Luxon (Don Giovanni), Stafford Dean (Leporello), Leo Goeke (Ottavio), John Rawnsley (Masetto), Pierre Thau (Commendatore), Horiana Brănişteanu (Donna Anna), Rachel Yakar (Donna Elvira), Elizabeth Gale (Zerlina); coro del Festival di Glyndebourne, orchestra London Philharmonic, direttore Bernard Haitink, regia Peter Hall; regia video Dave Heather Arthaus (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩½
1978 - Ruggero Raimondi (Don Giovanni), José van Dam (Leporello), Kenneth Riegel (Ottavio), Malcolm King (Masetto), John Macurdy (Commendatore), Edda Moser (Donna Anna), Kiri Te Kanawa (Donna Elvira), Teresa Berganza (Zerlina); coro e orchestra dell'Opéra di Parigi, direttore Lorin Maazel, regia Joseph Losey Gaumont (3 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩✩✩
1987 - Håkan Hagegård (Don Giovanni), Erik Sædén (Leporello), Gösta Winbergh (Ottavio), Tord Wallström (Masetto), Bengt Rundgren (Commendatore), Helena Döse (Donna Anna), Birgit Nordin (Donna Elvira), Anita Soldh (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro di Drottningholm, direttore Arnold Östman, regia Göran Järvefelt; regia video Thomas Olofsson Arthaus (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩
1987 - Thomas Allen (Don Giovanni), Claudio Desderi (Leporello), Francisco Araiza (Ottavio), Natale De Carolis (Masetto), Sergej Koptchak (Commendatore), Edita Gruberová (Donna Anna), Ann Murray (Donna Elvira), Susanne Mentzer (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, direttore Riccardo Muti, regia Giorgio Strehler; regia video Carlo Battistoni
Arthaus (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩
Arthaus (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩
1990 - Eugene Perry (Don Giovanni), Herbert Perry (Leporello), Carroll Freeman (Ottavio), Elmore James (Masetto), James Patterson (Commendatore), Dominique Labelle (Donna Anna), Lorraine Hunt (Donna Elvira), Ai Lan Zhu (Zerlina); coro Arnold Schönberg, orchestra Wiener Symphoniker, direttore Craig Smith, regia Peter Sellars Decca (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin) ✩✩✩✩
1991 - Samuel Ramey (Don Giovanni), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Leporello), Gösta Winbergh (Ottavio), Alexander Malta (Masetto), Paata Burchuladze (Com- mendatore), Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Donna Anna), Júlia Várady (Donna Elvira), Kathleen Battle (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera di Vienna, orchestra Wiener Philharmoniker, direttore Herbert von Karajan, regia Michael Hampe; regia video Claus Viller Sony (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩½
1991 - Andrei Bestchastny (Don Giovanni), Luděk Vele (Leporello), Vladimír Doležal (Ottavio), Zdeněk Harvánek (Masetto), Dalibor Jedlička (Commendatore), Nadezhda Petrenko (Donna Anna), Jiřina Marková (Donna Elvira), Alice Randová (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro Nazionale di Praga, direttore Charles Mackerras, regia David Radok; regia video Michal Caban Am@do (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩
1991 - Thomas Allen (Don Giovanni), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Leporello), Kjell Magnus Sandve (Ottavio), Reinhard Dorn (Masetto), Matthias Hölle (Commendatore), Carolyn James (Donna Anna), Carol Vaness (Donna Elvira), Andrea Rost (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera di Colonia, orchestra Gürzenich di Colonia, direttore James Conlon, regia Michael Hampe; regia video José Montes-Baquer Arthaus (1 dvd) 16:9 (ingl/fr/ted/sp/ol/giap) ✩✩½
1995 - Gilles Cachemaille (Don Giovanni), Steven Page (Leporello), John Mark Ainsley (Ottavio), Roberto Scaltriti (Masetto), Gudjon Oskarsson (Commendatore), Hillevi Martinpelto (Donna Anna), Adrianne Pieczonka (Donna Elvira), Juliane Banse (Zerlina); coro del Festival di Glyndebourne, orchestra The Age of Enlightenment, direttore Yakov Kreizberg, regia Deborah Warner; regia video Derek Bailey Warner (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩½
1999 - Carlos Álvarez (Don Giovanni), Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Leporello), Michael Schade (Ottavio), Lorenzo Regazzo (Masetto), Franz-Josef Selig (Commendatore), Adrianne Pieczonka (Donna Anna), Anna Caterina Antonacci (Donna Elvira), Angelika Kirchschlager (Zerlina); coro e orchestra dell'Opera di Vienna, direttore Riccardo Muti, regia Roberto De Simone; regia video Brian Large Arthaus (1 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩½
2000 - Bryn Terfel (Don Giovanni), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Leporello), Paul Groves (Ottavio), John Relyea (Masetto), Sergej Koptchak (Commendatore), Renée Fleming (Donna Anna), Solveig Kringelborn (Donna Elvira), Hei-Kyung Hong (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Metropolitan, direttore James Levine, regia Franco Zeffirelli; regia video Gary Halvorson DG (1 dvd) 4:3 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin) ✩½
2001 - Rodney Gilfry (Don Giovanni), László Polgár (Leporello), Roberto Saccà (Ottavio), Oliver Widmer (Masetto), Matti Salminen (Commendatore), Isabel Rey (Donna Anna), Cecilia Bartoli (Donna Elvira), Liliana Nikiteanu (Zerli na); coro e orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Zurigo, direttore Nikolaus Harnoncourt, regia Jürgen Flimm; regia video Brian Large Arthaus (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩½
2002 - Peter Mattei (Don Giovanni), Gilles Cachemaille (Leporello), Mark Padmore (Ottavio), Nathan Berg (Masetto), Gudjon Oskarsson (Commendatore), Alexandra Deshorties (Donna Anna), Mireille Delunsch (Donna Elvira), Lisa Larsson (Zerlina); coro del Festival di Aix-en-Provence, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, direttore Daniel Harding, regia Peter Brook; regia video Vincent Bataillon Virgin (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩✩
2005 - Carlos Álvarez (Don Giovanni), Lorenzo Regazzo (Leporello), José Bros (Ottavio), José Antonio López (Masetto), Alfred Reiter (Commendatore), María Bayo (Donna Anna), Sonia Ganassi (Donna Elvira), María José Moreno (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro Real di Madrid, direttore Víctor Pablo Pérez, regia Lluís Pasqual; regia video Robin Lough OpusArte (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩✩½
2006 - Wojtek Drabowicz (Don Giovanni), Kwangchul Youn (Leporello), Marcel Reijans (Ottavio), Felipe Bou (Masetto), Anatoli Kotscherga (Commendatore), Regina Schörg (Donna Anna), Véronique Gens (Donna Elvira), Marisa Martins (Zerlina); coro da camera del Palau de la Música Catalana, orchestra Academy del Gran Teatre del Liceu, direttore Bertrand de Billy, regia Calixto Bieito; regia video Toni Bargalló OpusArte (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cat) ✩✩½
2006 - Thomas Hampson (Don Giovanni), Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Leporello), Piotr Beczala (Ottavio), Luca Pisaroni (Masetto), Robert Lloyd (Commendatore), Christine Schäfer (Donna Anna), Melanie Diener (Donna Elvira), Isabel Bayrakdarian (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera di Vienna, orchestra Wiener Philharmoniker, direttore Daniel Harding, regia Martin Kušej; regia video Karina Fibich DG (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin) ✩
2006 - Johannes Weisser (Don Giovanni), Marcos Fink (Leporello), Werner Güra (Ottavio), Nikolay Borchev (Masetto), Alessandro Guerzoni (Commendatore), Malin Byström (Donna Anna), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Donna Elvira), Sunhae Im (Zerlina); coro del Festival di Innsbruck, Freiburger Barockorchester, direttore René Jacobs, regia Vincent Boussard; regia video Georg Wübbolt Harmonia Mundi (3 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩✩½
2006 - Simon Keenlyside (Don Giovanni), Anton Scharinger (Leporello), Piotr Beczala (Ottavio), Reinhard Mayr (Masetto), Alfred Muff (Commendatore), Eva Mei (Donna Anna), Malin Hartelius (Donna Elvira), Martina Janková (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Zurigo, direttore Franz Welser-Möst, regia Sven-Eric Bechtolf; regia video Felix Breisach Emi (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩½
2007 - Pietro Spagnoli (Don Giovanni), José Fardilha (Leporello), Marcel Reijans (Ottavio), Roberto Accurso (Masetto), Mario Luperi (Commendatore), Myrtò Papatanasiu (Donna Anna), Charlotte Margiono (Donna Elvira), Cora Burggraaf (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera Nazionale Olandese, Nederlands Kamerorkest, direttore Ingo Metzmacher, regia Jossi Wieler e Sergio Morabito; regia video Misjel Vermeiren Arthaus (1 dvd) 16:9 (ingl/ol) ✩
2008 - Christopher Maltman (Don Giovanni), Erwin Schrott (Leporello), Matthew Polenzani (Ottavio), Alex Esposito (Masetto), Anatoli Kotscherga (Commendatore), Annette Dasch (Donna Anna), Dorothea Röschmann (Donna Elvira), Ekaterina Siurina (Zerlina); coro dell'Opera di Vienna, orchestra Wiener Philharmoniker, direttore Bertrand de Billy, regia Claus Guth; regia video Brian Large DG (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin) ✩✩✩✩
2009 - Simon Keenlyside (Don Giovanni), Kyle Ketelsen (Leporello), Ramón Vargas (Ottavio), Robert Gleadow (Masetto), Eric Halfvarson (Commendatore), Marina Poplavskaya (Donna Anna), Joyce DiDonato (Donna Elvira), Miah Persson (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Covent Garden, direttore Charles Mackerras, regia Francesca Zambello; regia video Robin Lough Arthaus (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩½
2009 - Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Don Giovanni), Andrea Concetti (Leporello), Marlin Miller (Ottavio), William Corrò (Masetto), Enrico Iori (Commendatore), Myrtò Papatanasiu (Donna Anna), Carmela Remigio (Donna Elvira), Manuela Bisceglie (Zerlina); coro Lirico Marchigiano Vincenzo Bellini, orchestra Regionale delle Marche, direttore Riccardo Frizza, regia Pier Luigi Pizzi; regia video Davide Mancini C-Major (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin/cor/giap) ✩✩✩
2010 - Bo Skovhus (Don Giovanni), Kyle Ketelsen (Leporello), Colin Balzer (Ottavio), David Bižić (Masetto), Anatoli Kotscherga (Commendatore), Marlis Petersen (Donna Anna), Kristine Opolais (Donna Elvira), Kerstin Avemo (Zerlina); coro English Voices, Freiburger Barockorchester, direttore Louis Langrée, regia Dmitrij Černjakov; regia video Andy Sommer
BelAir (2 dvd) 16:9 (ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩✩½
2010 - Gerald Finley (Don Giovanni), Luca Pisaroni (Leporello), William Burden (Ottavio), Guido Loconsolo (Masetto), Brindley Sherratt (Commendatore), Anna Samuil (Donna Anna), Kate Royal (Donna Elvira), Anna Virovlansky (Zerlina); coro del Festival di Glyndebourne, orchestra London Philharmonic, direttore Vladimir Jurowski, regia Jonathan Kent; regia video Peter Maniura Warner (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩✩½
2011 - Peter Mattei (Don Giovanni), Bryn Terfel (Leporello), Giuseppe Filianoti (Ottavio), Štefan Kocán (Masetto), Kwangchul Youn (Commendatore), Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna), Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira), Anna Prohaska (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, direttore Daniel Barenboim, regia Robert Carsen; regia video Patrizia Carmine DG (2 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp/cin/cor) ✩✩✩✩
2014 - Mariusz Kwiecień (Don Giovanni), Alex Esposito (Leporello), Antonio Poli (Ottavio), Dawid Kimberg (Masetto), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Commendatore), Malin Byström (Donna Anna), Véronique Gens (Donna Elvira), Elizabeth Watts (Zerlina); coro e orchestra del Covent Garden, direttore Nicola Luisotti, regia Kasper Holten; regia video Jonathan Haswell
OpusArte (1 dvd) 16:9 (it/ingl/fr/ted/sp) ✩½
A condizionare pesantemente la messinscena di Don Giovanni è stata, ma per molti versi ancora è, la sua valenza mitica: e il relativo rapporto che con essa stabiliscono - o scelgono di non stabilire - i suoi interpreti.
C'è da sottolineare subito, allora, come all'origine il protagonista non fosse affatto aureolato di mito, bensì si trovasse al centro di un'azione dove giocava ruolo essenziale l'elemento derisorio, col suo impasto continuamente cangiante di buffoneria e d'ironia. L'intento moralizzante, che muoveva la vecchia favola tutta intessuta d'elementi cattolici, il secolo dei Lumi non poteva difatti non porlo in secondo piano. Così come l'intervento del sovrannaturale aveva del tutto perso i connotati mirabolanti impartitigli dalle antiche rappresentazioni popolari secentesche: semmai, inclinavano verso il comico. In Molière, gli ingredienti che l'annosa tradizione attribuiva a Giovanni per farne - assai esagerando - una figura mefistofelica sono ricollocati su un piano umano: diventando d'estrazione esclusivamente razionale. Lo zolfo che avvolge Giovanni è la sua inesausta e soprattutto onnicomprensiva speculazione intellettuale di tipo agnostico: che la satira del gentiluomo malvagio tinge del nero dell'ipocrisia e della falsa devozione, affinché meglio possa mordere. Questi ingredienti Da Ponte li impiega. Però, oltre a sfrondarli parecchio, li pone in secondo piano per via della distanziazione che all'interno della vicenda produce il rilievo fatto assumere alle figure che circondano Giovanni: e la cui moralità - vedi Leporello o Zerlina - è dubbia almeno quanto quella del protagonista.
La musica, e in ispecie una musica come la mozartiana, introduce poi cospicui elementi d'ambiguità giocando moltissimo sul fatto di non attribuire tunque decorosa. A cantare proprio male è solo l'Elvira di Anny Schlemm, stridula in alto, linea la cui durezza a lama di coltello viene sottolineata dalla fissità su cui s'imposta l'emissione: il taglio di «Mi tradì» (di conserva a quello di «Dalla sua pace», proponendosi così la versione di Praga) ci risparmia i problemi della coloratura e dell'estensione, ma anche così il danno auricolare è cospicuo.
Gli altri, viceversa, compongono una compagnia di livello ragguardevole. L'Anna di Klara Barlow, voce ampia e timbratissima, linea un po' dura come tutti ma ferma e omogenea in ogni registro; il Leporello di Rudolf Asmus, robusta voce di basso dal timbro notevole; György Melis, voce non bella ma di e spessore, senza nessun problema tanto in alto quanto in basso salvo in un «Fin ch'han dal vino» un po' affannato nonostante il tempo più che comodo staccatogli dal direttore; John Moulson (favorito anche lui dal taglio della sua prima e più difficile aria) è un Ottavio duro, corrucciato fin quasi alla via, cui si chiede una coloratura insolitamente di forza nel «Mio tesoro», che regge con sufficiente disinvoltura. Ma quello che davvero conta è la loro assoluta musicalità per quanto concerne la parte vocale, e il loro stare in scena come una vera compagnia, in seno alla quale ciascuno ha un ruolo e lo svolge impeccabilmente: così che, come sempre avviene in casi consimili, il risultato finale eccede di parecchio la semplice somma degli addendi.
1960 VAI - Mario Petri (Don Giovanni), Sesto Bruscantini (Leporello), Luigi Alva (Ottavio), Renato Cesari (Masetto), Heinz Borst (Commendatore), Teresa Stich-Randall (Donna Anna), Leyla Gencer (Donna Elvira), Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina); coro e orchestra Rai di Milano, direttore Francesco Molinari Pradelli, regia Giacomo Vaccari
Può parere boutade d'uno sciovinista impenitente, preferire alla testimonianza d'uno dei registi incontestabilmente più significativi del dopoguerra tedesco un documento televisivo realizzato con due lire in uno studio dove vengono riciclati molti elementi figurativi provenienti da diverse trasmissioni di varietà, teatro, sceneggiati, persino spettacoli per ragazzi e, ciliegina finale, qualcosa che somiglia dappresso all'immortale sigla di Carosello col suo celebre belvedere rococò. Ma anche documento di quanto, al contrario di oggi, la fantasia riuscisse a sopperire alla mancanza di mezzi: da cui il rischio sentimentale di un'acritica nostalgia del buon tempo che fu. Sentimento comunque non disprezzabile, il ricordare che c'era una volta la televisione italiana attenta anche - non solo: anche, però, sì - alla cultura. Vediamo, dunque.
Innanzi tutto, Giacomo Vaccari si dimostra - anche alla cartina al torna sole costituita dalla distanza di decenni - l'ottimo regista televisivo di cui avevo memoria.
Il suo terreno d'elezione credo ancora adesso fosse però essenzialmente lo sceneggiato. Dove difatti fornì ottimi risultati a partire dal suo capolavoro Mastro Don Gesualdo (in cui dirigeva con estrema sensibilità un mostro sacro come Enrico Maria Salerno), tra i primi di quel glorioso genere a uscire dal chiuso dello studio: e con magnifiche soluzioni in fatto di sagacia nelle riprese, ritmo impresso dal montaggio a una narrazione asciutta, incisiva, capace di «aprire» l'impianto in massima parte ancora teatrale verso un realismo epico di grande e – per una volta, il termine mi pare l'unico proponibile - popolarissima presa. Ma anche nel chiuso d'uno studio di posa (dove, come dicevo prima, convivevano generi i più disparati), chi possieda l'estro istintivo dell'affabulatore - che o ce l'hai dentro, o allinei immagini - e in più abbia la giusta professionalità tecnica indispensabile, cavarsela saprà sempre. Certo, cinquant'anni sono tanti, e in un prodotto audiovisivo - come a teatro, d'al- tronde - sono addirittura un'era geologica. Nessun paragone, quindi, sarebbe lecito con una ripresa odierna che tra l'altro avviene sul vivo d'un palcoscenico, con o senza pubblico. Ecco però che se il paragone lo facciamo con la ripresa firmata da Felsenstein, il risultato s'attesta su una sostanziale parità: non è poco, considerando che Felsenstein aveva alle spalle una propria produzione teatrale, provata lungo un arco proverbialmente lunghissimo. E se poi - come si deve, trattandosi di un'opera - giudichiamo il prodotto finale come un'interpretazione, e quindi un qualcosa in cui s'integrino scena e musica, l'ago della bilancia per me si sposta senza ombra di dubbio al di qua delle Alpi.
Comincia a scorrere la tipica locandina Rai di quegli anni: un rullo parecchio tremolante ma ben leggibile nei suoi grandi caratteri, cui succede Molinari Pradelli di spalle su fondo bianco, che dà l'attacco a un'orchestra mantenuta invisibile e che svolge l'ouverture col suo tipico gesto limpido, dettagliato ma asciutto ed essenziale, dove prevale senz'altro il lato solenne e maestoso, accentuato dalla parsimonia in fatto di variabilità dinamica e contrasti agogici, ma nondimeno ricco di dettagli in un arco dove la tensione regge da cima a fondo. E dove il suono è più che apprezzabile. È d'uso, nelle critiche soprattutto francesi, parlare con estrema sufficienza del valore dell'orchestra Rai, che compare in moltissime registrazioni dal vivo di cui si compongono i cataloghi di quasi tutte le etichette private: consiglierei a costoro ascolto più attento e possibilmente obiettivo, lasciando lo sciovinismo al guardaroba.
Il Molto Allegro che segue all'Andante viene illustrato da un turbinio di veli neri e mani tese: immagine un filo criptica, a dire il vero, ma visivamente intrigante anche perché pian piano si trasforma nella figura elegantissima, altera, carismatica come poche, di Petri vestito di bianco con arabeschi neri e mantello nero svolazzante. Più o meno, è Giovanni finito all'inferno che ci racconta la sua storia.
Il carattere impresso all'ouverture dalla direzione viene poi mantenuto nel prosieguo. Ed è uno stile che, lungi dall'essere invecchiato, risulta al contrario pienamente moderno soprattutto nel suo valorizzare quegli stilemi connaturati all'opera buffa napoletana che, nel teatro di Mozart, hanno sviluppato fronde e foglie ben più rigogliose ma le cui radici sempre in quel fertilissimo humus affondano: atteggiamento che trova Molinari Pradelli in sintonia con quanto era andato proponendo Vittorio Gui, laddove Carlo Maria Giulini tendeva a guardare più verso il sinfonismo tedesco. Donde tempi per lo più spediti. Sonorità piene e frizzanti. Ma soprattutto, quel grandissimo mestiere nel valorizzare canto e fraseggio squisitamente italiani di gran parte del cast, che in quegli anni invano si cercherebbero nelle incisioni provenienti dalla tradizione anglo-austro-tedesca regnante pressoché incontrastata nelle case discografiche: con gli esiti musicalmente straordinari che tuttora s'apprezzano, ma coi connotati espressivi oltremodo discutibili che hanno regnato per decenni e sono tuttora lungi dall'essere stati archiviati.
L'estrazione da studio televisivo emerge dallo stile bizzarramente eterogeneo delle scene: un po' di Rinascimento italiano, un pizzico di Spagna nell'alhambresca fontana con leoni al centro d'una piazza circondata da portico neoclassicheggiante, alberelli stilizzati sullo sfondo a circondare un capriccio rococò (riecco il Carosello!), siepi di bosso a creare ambienti e percorsi. Il deciso preponderare di primi e primissimi piani rispetto a piani americani e meno che mai a totali da una parte rimedia alla spartana penuria in fatto di scene e oggetti, dall'altra recupera la derivazione teatrale col porre al centro d'ogni stazione narrativa sempre e solo il personaggio. Decisione ripagata da una recitazione che, fatta eccezione per Elvira e Anna, non solo è straordinaria di per sé, ma è di modernità portentosa.
Al centro, uno o fors'anco due gradini al di sopra di tutti gli altri, Mario Petri e Sesto Bruscantini.
È restata celebre l'ammirazione suscitata in Karajan dal Don Giovanni di Mario Petri, da lui indicato come «ideale» proprio ai Filarmonici viennesi. Con questo documento, possiamo adesso renderci conto di quanto fondata fosse un'ammirazione originata dal sensazionale mix di accento e carisma espresso da una figura sexy come poche altre tra quante abbiano frequentato questo personaggio: cui per giunta si sommavano un modo di recitare dalla comunicativa debordante, e un timbro vocale personalissimo nei suoi colori ruvidi, scabri, nient'affatto «belli» secondo i canoni classici ma intrisi, dal primo all'ultimo, di fascino conturbante.
Certo, su un piano squisitamente vocale (tecnica d'emissione, qualità timbrica, estensione, controllo del fiato così da produrre linea morbida, pastosa e favolosamente omogenea), nessun dubbio che un eventuale paragone con Cesare Siepi, all'epoca e il Giovanni per antonomasia, si rivelerebbe perdente: e neppur di poco. Ma a differenza di questi, Petri fin dalle prime battute fa valere le ragioni d'una personalità sulfurea, mossa da vitalità straordinariamente <<seduttiva», cui sulla scena contribuiva in modo decisivo il fascino del fisico e del grande attore. Fin dal suo comparire in scena, che - sia merito suo o del suggerimento di Vaccari - è strepitoso. Una sorta di balzo animalesco da un lato, che lo porta al centro dell'inquadratura: le sapienti luci di taglio provvedendo a mantenere in ombra il viso sotto l'ampia falda del cappello, ma anche a sottolineare col gioco d'ombre i movimenti felini che, come obbedendo a un insopprimibile istinto, gli fanno pure in quel frangente accarezzare spalle e braccia di Anna. E nel canto, notiamo subito l'abilità portentosa di screziare ogni frase, ogni parola, ogni fonema, d'un colore o inflessione capaci di dar loro senso: e senso sempre diverso.
La sincronia che fin da subito si stabilisce tra padrone e servo è al riguardo esemplare: basta sentire il modo continuamente diverso con cui Giovanni e Leporello reiterano «mi farà precipitar». E dunque, fin da subito emerge quanto rende preziosissimo questo documento: la dimostrazione di cosa significhino dizione e accento; quanto valgano entrambi, ma anche in cosa differiscano tra loro.
Una dizione perfetta è cosa senza dubbio buona e giusta: sotto questo profilo, passi da gigante sono stati compiuti negli ultimi tempi, che certi orrori del passato sembrano aver definitivamente archiviato. Ma la dizione, di per sé, non basta. Al punto che, per molti versi, a dizione perfetta ma accento piatto meglio pervale l'inverso, ove si abbia come fine la definizione della fisionomia del sonaggio. Ma laddove dizione e accento facciano una cosa sola, e questo sappia servirsi di quella: in tal caso si tocca con mano come proprio la struttura musicale sia stata pensata attorno al corretto valore dei toni lunghi e brevi (eh, quando al liceo ci facevano studiare la metrica! gran rottura, certo, ma quanto serviva); del tempo necessario per pronunciare correttamente una doppia; del come un determinato colorito strumentale si sposi - non certo casualmente: non ci si chiama Mozart per nulla - allo spontaneo scurirsi o schiarirsi della voce, impegnata a dipanare correttamente l'articolarsi dei singoli dittonghi. Questo, mentre in simultanea l'accento pone in evidenza un termine rendendolo chiave di volta espressiva della frase, trovando immediata corrispondenzanella scrittura musicale: sia essa la scelta d'un impasto strumentale, un'armonia, una repentina modulazione.
Cambia tutto, ove si verifichi la fortunata circostanza di una compagnia capace di muoversi in tale direzione. Se poi si dà il caso della presenza in essa di due interpreti al riguardo geniali come Petri e Bruscantini, non c'è parola o frase che non riceva il giusto rilievo, la loro somma fornendo all'azione, e quindi ai rispettivi personaggi che la portano avanti, connotati teatrali sovente rivelatori.
Un esempio, tra i mille: il recitativo di Giovanni al termine del quartetto, là dove si congeda da Donna Anna. L'accento di Petri scivola come lasciva carezza (e qui proprio la roca ruvidezza timbrica diventa un atout) su «bellissima Donn'Anna» e ancor più su «in mia casa v'aspetto», intridendo i due termini d'una vera e propria colata di rapinosa sensualità che fa tutt'uno col protervo inchinarsi di quella figura così irresistibilmente attraente. E allora sì, è inevitabile che lei riconosca di colpo il suo notturno assalitore. Sono quelli «gli ultimi accenti che l'empio proferì»: è l'invito a casa sua, a «richiamar nel cor» un ben preciso ricordo. Ricordo lascivo senz'altro, ma orribile? lo è o si vuole lo sia? nulla ci viene detto, molto ci vien fatto supporre, e in quest'ambiguo ponte che può sospendersi su una profonda dignità morale ma anche su abissi oscuri sta la perenne modernità del teatro mozartiano. Se tale percezione manca, mancano anche quel ponte e quell'abisso spalancato al di sotto. E difatti, novantanove volte su cento (una figura come quella di Petri non è facile da trovare, d'accordo, ma ben più difficile sembra trovare un interprete capace d'accentare come lui), questa mancanza fa svilire tale decisivo snodo drammatico a potere divinatorio di Anna, oppure a una serie accessoria - quindi non spontanea e naturale - di gesti più o meno malaccorti, dalla pregnanza teatrale infinitamente minore rispetto a un personaggio che sappia di colpo rivelare cosa davvero abbia entro di sé. Un semplice recitativo, due frasette da niente. Ma se le sai impiegare, metti a nudo un carattere. Si chiama teatro.
Strepitosi anche - perché acutamente diversi - gli assalti amorosi a Donna Elvira nel terzetto (certo che cede, nel sentire un simile «Elvira, idolo mio»!) e all'ignota cameriera: cui una voce insolitamente tenebrosa indirizza una serenata, l'aspra ruvidezza timbrica della quale diventa morbida e insinuante, nel tono in generale ma soprattutto nel modo d'indugiare impercettibilmente sulle consonanti onde più sottolineare l'espansione sulla vocale subito seguente, in guisa di libidinosa, esplicita carezza. E la scena della morte, priva della titanica protervia d'un Ghiaurov o della fermezza aristocratica d'un Siepi, sprigiona tuttavia fascino conturbante: apportatogli proprio dall'inesausta, animalesca febbre di vita di cui più che mai il suo canto è intriso.
Accanto a protagonista simile, un Leporello di pari statura artistica. Il disco ufficiale ha scandalosamente ignorato il Leporello di Sesto Bruscantini, che si prende tuttavia una rivincita maiuscola proprio grazie alla Rai, con la quale realizza questo video cui farà seguire - dopo dieci anni giusti giusti - un'esecuzione in forma di concerto diretta da Carlo Maria Giulini e con un cast stellare capitanato da Nicolai Ghiaurov. Stile e tecnica di canto sono come al solito irreprensibili. Ma è ancora una volta l'accento, esaltato dalla sensazionale dizione, a trasformare una voce di per sé non memorabile nella vera e propria miniera di colori, inflessioni, chiaroscuri: in un'esplosione - controllatissima e proprio per questo tanto più efficace, come sempre avviene allorché l'intelligenza la vince sulle doti naturali - d'incontenibile vivacità teatrale. Potendolo poi anche vedere, con quegli occhi mobilissimi e quella mimica mai esagerata, mai caccolosa, pervasa invece da un non so che di scettica ironia così connaturata all'anima popolare dell'opera buffa napoletana (e che appunto per questo trova posto con estrema naturalezza nel gran teatro mozartiano): potendolo anche vedere, dicevo, sprizza per ogni dove la connotazione portentosamente teatrale che sempre possedevano i personaggi in cui il sommo Sesto decideva d'incarnarsi.
C'è anzi un momento davvero impietoso, in cui due modi diversi di far teatro si confrontano facendo toccar con mano come a identica distanza di tempo - un'interpretazione sia così antica da correre sul crinale del comico involontario, mentre un'altra la s'avverte come pienamente contemporanea: le poche battute che seguono l'entrata di Elvira «Ah, chi mi dice mai» e, dopo la fuga di Giovanni, avviano all'aria del Catalogo.
Leyla Gencer è nel più puro stile Gran Gesto Tragico esemplificato dal lavoro di braccia e mani secondo i sacri dettami dell'Accademia. Sicché, giunta a <<ma il giusto Cielo volle», il braccio s'alza e la mano si chiude facendone emergere l'indice puntato in alto; e dopo, a «Stelle! L'iniquo fuggì! Misera me», ancora braccio levato all'altezza del capo, ma mano in avanti con palma rivolta languidamente in fuori. A fronte, lui, Leporello. Un sorriso impertinente, un gesto solo a «Eh, lasciate che vada», come a dire «ma piantala di far tante gnagnere»: e simultaneamente Bruscantini definisce il proprio personaggio ma dà anche un avvertimento implicito - be', non tanto implicito, a me pare chiarissimo - di quanto antiquato sia uno stile tanto diverso dal suo, improntato allo scialo di manieristiche «scene del secolo passato».
Pleonastico, a questo punto, sarebbe parlare di quanto fenomenale sia il Catalogo. Indico però la diabolica sottigliezza messa in campo da Bruscantini nel valorizzare l'abilità con cui Mozart ha impresso andamento diverso - e quindi significato parimenti diverso - al sostituirsi di ottonari ai due gruppi di deentrate at Leporello nel finale primo. Dei suoi contrappunti vocali e scenici nel terzetto. Di quel «Ah pietà, signori miei» tutto in punta di sospiro e in cui il saettare per ogni dove dei suoi occhi nerissimi dalle pupille dilatate a scrutare le tenebre in cerca d'una via di scampo marca ogni volta un tempo forte della battuta: con una corrispondenza tra accento vocale e gesto scenico che tu rischi di semrennon cogliere proprio perché perfetto, e come tutte le cose troppo perfette bra semplice e ovvio. Ancora, di come - nella scena del cimitero - sappia r dere l'addensarsi tenebroso di qualcosa d'incomprensibile, che via via oscura l'indifferenza un po' cinica e molto scettica di cui il servo, uso a vederne di tutti i colori, ha fatto la propria regola di vita. Di quanto fenomenale sia l'antinomia tra faceto nonostante tutto e drammatico per forza di cose, con cui il Leporello di Bruscantini controcanta la proterva eppur sempre fascinosa alte- rigia del Don Giovanni di Petri nell'ultima scena: con un «Dite di no, dite di no» da porre quale pietra di paragone per tutti gli altri.
Graziella Sciutti replica la sua giustamente celebre Zerlina. Trovo vocalmente logica e scenicamente più ricca di possibilità la tendenza moderna di affidare tale elusivo personaggio a voce più carnosa schietto soprano lirico qualora si disponga di un'Anna e un'Elvira di peso vocale in proporzione; oppure un mezzosoprano acuto - anziché alla limpida ed esile emissione d'un soprano leggero. Ma questo nulla toglie al canto squisito e alla vivida intelligenza d'artista tanto personale: capace di caricare le sue due arie della stessa sensualità tutta di testa, eppure mai manierata o peggio che mai cincischiata, di cui sapeva intridere la sua adorabile Susanna. Erano d'altronde sempre, i personaggi di Graziella Sciutti, mix perfetto d'acuta definizione teatrale e impeccabile resa musicale. E quanto ciò fosse utile nel caso di Zerlina, personaggio all'epoca massacrato nove volte su dieci da un'erratissima concezione, se ne rendeva perfettamente conto lei stessa, come ho avuto modo di constatare in una conversazione della quale mi pare utile riportare un estratto.
«Zerlina è una popolana che certi fatti della vita li ha chiarissimi in testa. Nel Don Giovanni, i tre strati sociali dell'epoca sono le tre donne a definirli: e per farlo, Mozart ha scelto proprio il terreno dell'amore per non dire del sesso, facendone parte attiva i personaggi femminili. Ma è molto difficile scansare certi stereotipi che sembrano ormai radicati nell'interpretazione delle donne di Mozart, quelle non-tragiche in modo particolare. Per Zerlina, ad esempio, ho avuto un vivace dissenso con Zeffirelli, che mi aveva vestita come una pastorella dell'Arcadia, damina bionda coi boccoli, tutta pizzi e scarpine d'argento che mi obbligavano a camminare impettita e a passettini, una cosa assurda ma che soprattutto avrebbe fatto a pugni col canto come lo intendevo io. Allora meglio Wakhévitch, che la vedeva un po' contadinotta russa col grembiulone a colori vistosi e gli zoccoli, ma almeno ero una popolana. Perché Zerlina dice frasi anche volgarotte e che si devono intendere proprio come tali: quelle espressioni esplicite quali "Sentilo battere, toccami qua", oppure i doppi sensi come "non è gran mal se il resto è sano", sono inequivocabili e vanno sottolineati come si deve, senza pudibonde mossettine.»
Adorabile Graziella. Poterti anche vedere, mentre dipani linee vocali di puro argento con quel viso serio sotto al quale brilla il sorriso ironico di un'intelligenza vivissima, è un ricordo che personalmente conservo con infinito amore.
Alva canta con garbo ed eleganza, e certo non si può dire sia inespressivo: ma i suoi sono accenti alquanto risaputi oltre che un po' troppo evanescenti. Cesari ha timbro discreto e una sorta di rustica comunicativa molto adatta al personaggio, che gli fa in parte perdonare talune durezze vocali.
La Gencer è un caso a sé. La sua voce originaria nel '60 stava già mutando sotto la spinta di un'intelligenza artistica che aveva perfettamente compreso come voci troppo chiare si trovassero spiazzate dopo il passaggio del tifone- Callas. Da qui l'artificioso allargamento del registro centrale (sempre pernicioso per quanto attiene all'uguaglianza e compattezza della linea vocale): che rendeva poi intubati i gravi, già dal mi in primo rigo dove prevale l'aria calda della nota gutturale su quella invece ben timbrata perché ben sostenuta dal fiato. E da qui, anche, laddove la scrittura preveda ampie campiture vocali dal basso all'alto, evitare opportunamente, sì, la spinta da sotto che nel prosieguo di carriera diverrà il suo marchio Doc: ma già adesso arpionare la nota superiore lanciando la voce senza rete, ovvero con appoggio precario per non dire inesistente. Come s'ascolta non solo nel salto d'ottava verso il la acuto di «è colpa aver pietà», ma come ancor più crudamente emerge dai salti sila bemolle coi quali, in «Mi tradi», vengono aggrediti gli ampi intervalli su cui si distendono «infelice, o Dio, mi fa» e, più oltre, «abbandonata, provo ancor per lui pietà». A fronte, la forza d'un accento che sa sempre cogliere il cuore del momento scenico: a costo però, molto spesso, d'una frantumazione della linea vocale; fastidiosa sempre, ma letale in una musica come questa.
Cui, purtroppo, dà il colpo di grazia la recitazione. La comune vulgata, nel caso della Gencer, la presenta quale attrice di levatura superiore. Certamente imparò a stare in scena in modo un tantino più moderno, nel lungo sodalizio soprattutto con Giorgio De Lullo col quale non certo per caso realizzò i suoi personaggi di gran lunga più riusciti: ma altrettanto certamente non lo era agli inizi di carriera italiana, infarcita dei gesti enfatici e degli atteggiamenti da «datemi le tende» mutuati dal cinema muto. Atteggiamenti tanto graditi a certo loggionismo che crede ancora a stereotipi quali la «regalità», il «gran no solo il dato esteriore, ricalcato sull'estetica dei romanzi d'appendice per si signore», la «nobiltà», da connaturarsi a personaggi di cui in tal modo c gnorine nel migliore dei casi, e dei fotoromanzi alla Grand Hotel nei peggiori. Ma atteggiamenti, ciò nonostante, del tutto estranei al teatro vero. E Mozart ha fatto sempre e solo teatro verissimo, che in quanto tale è agli antipodi della miniera di fasulli orpelli: piazzarci i gesti di quest'Elvira significa appunto ridurre un grande personaggio a una macchietta. Come sempre accade, d'altronde, allorquando la diva prende il posto del carattere in cui si cala: un ben definito genere di pubblico ama la diva perché, in fondo, del teatro che dichiara d'amare tanto non gliene importa niente. Non solo per questo, ma certamente anche per questo, si spiega il perché da noi si faccia tanto di rado quel grande teatro musicale che all'estero è merce ben più comune.
Piuttosto alieni anche Anna e Commendatore. Lei, una Stich-Randall dalla coloratura arruffata al pari della pronuncia, cui fanno riscontro acuti fissi e taglienti che affossano un fraseggio già scostante e gelido, fratello siamese d'u no stare in scena privo, è vero, dei manierismi da Gran Tragica Ridicola della Gencer, ma sempre fisso, a occhi sbarrati, tesa verso un «altrove» mai esplicitato. Lui, un Borst troppo giovanile, dalla voce troppo chiara e dalla personalità troppo piccina, specie avendo a fronte il gigantesco carisma di Petri.
THE ARTMUSIC LOUNGE
LYNN RENE BAYLEY
2019.09.10
A Surprisingly Excellent 1960 “Don Giovanni”
Mario Petri, bar (Don Giovanni); Sesto Bruscantini, bar (Leporello); Teresa Stich-Randall, sop (Donna Anna); Leyla Gencer, sop (Donna Elvira); Luigi Alva, ten (Don Ottavio); Heinz Borst, bass (Commendatore); Graziella Sciutti, sop (Zerlina); Renato Cesari, bar (Masetto); RAI Milan Chorus & Symphony Orchestra; Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond (live: Milan, April 26, 1960) also available as a Dvd on Vai 4314
Bonus tracks on CD only: Mozart: Idomeneo: Solitudini amiche, aure amorose / Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, sop; RAI Turin Symphony Orch.; Mario Rossi, cond / Le nozze di Figaro: Non più andrai / Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, bass; RAI Milan Symphony Orch.; Angelo Questa, cond / Porgi amor / Lisa Della Casa, sop; RAI Milan Symphony Orch.; Franco Mannino, cond / Dove sono / Teresa Stich-Randall, sop; RAI Rome Symphony Orch.; Mario Rossi, cond / Aprite un pó quegli occhi / Tito Gobbi, bar; RAI Milan Symphony Orch.; Alfredo Simonetto, cond / Deh’ vieni non tardar / Sena Jurinac, sop; RAI Rome Symphony Orch.; Mario Rossi, cond / Don Giovanni: Madamina / Boris Christoff, bass; RAI Turin Symphony Orch.; Mario Rossi, cond / Batti, batti o bel Masetto / Alda Noni, sop; RAI Turin Symphony Orch.; Nino Sanzogno, cond / Il mio tesoro / Cesare Valletti, ten; RAI Rome Symphony Orch.; Bruno Rigacci, cond / Cosí fan tutte: Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo / Italo Tajo, bass; RAI Turin Symphony Orch.; Mario Rossi, cond / Die Entführung aus dem Serail: Martern aller arten (in Italian) / Leyla Gencer, sop; RAI Milan Symphony Orch.; Alfredo Simonetto, cond / Datum DAT 12321 (live: dates and locations not listed)
This splendid Don Giovanni was apparently first issued on CDs by Opera d’Oro in 2003, followed as a DVD from VAI in 2005 (since it originates from Milan television). Datum apparently also issued it earlier, since I found an alternate cover online, but this particular incarnation came out two years ago with all of the live bonus tracks used to fill out the third CD (the performance runs just 23 minutes too long to fit onto two CDs). Somehow, I missed all of these other releases, however; the major classical magazine I wrote for was much too busy sending me recordings of Chopin (which generally turns me off) and Liszt (with whom I became well over-saturated…he wasn’t that great of a composer) to review.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. It’s mono broadcast sound, and occasionally, as in the overture, the orchestra can sound a trifle scrappy. Teresa Stich-Randall’s laser-focused, virtually non-vibrato voice is not to everyone’s taste (which I was stunned to discover, since I’ve always loved her, and she would surely be a major star in today’s HIP Mozart performances), and openly dramatic singing never was her forte, but I find her much more exciting here than on the Hans Rosbaud performance (more on that below). Leyla Gencer also tends to underplay Donna Elvira a bit; she’s not the firebrand here that one heard in her performances of Il Trovatore or La Vestale. But that’s about all you can say to criticize it. Considering its time and place, the conducting is surprisingly brisk; only “Il mio tesoro” is slowed down a bit, and that was probably because tenor Luigi Alva couldn’t sing his runs and divisions at the quicker tempo. In many ways, this recording surpasses Rosbaud’s famous recording with Stich-Randall as Anna, a performance that suffered from the simply awful singing of Antonio Campo as Don Giovanni and Marcello Cortis as Leporello. The reason why the Rosbaud performance is more famous is partly due to his high reputation, especially in Europe, as a great architectural conductor, and partly due to the much more glamorous names (and voices) of Suzanne Danco as Donna Elvira, Anna Moffo as Zerlina and Nicolai Gedda as Don Ottavio—but Danco wasn’t any more dramatic than Gencer, and Gedda also slowed down “Il mio tesoro” and had a terrible time with the runs.
Here, everyone is in good or great voice; Petri is not only a much better singer than Campo but a first-rate vocal actor; Bruscantini leans towards humor as Leporello but doesn’t ham it up; and more importantly is the way all the voices line up. What I mean by that is that every singer here has a “lean” timbre, tightly focused and projected like laser beams, which makes all the different lines in the fast-faced ensembles “sound” clearly and cleanly. You just don’t get that in recordings where the singers have rich, creamy voices, because rich, creamy voices have overtones that often overlap the other singers. Even in Riccardo Muti’s recording of the opera, which I consider to be a great one, you have such rich vocalists as Cheryl Studer (Donna Anna), Suzanne Mentzer (Zerlina) and Samuel Ramey (Leporello), and such voices, when singing together with others, create a blend and not a separation of sound in one’s ear. In many operas, particularly Italian and German operas of the mid-19th century, such a blend is not only welcome but preferred, but in Mozart it can sometimes obscure the fine filigree of the vocal writing. Listening to this performance is, to quote Arturo Toscanini, “like reading the score,” if you know what I mean, and that in itself makes this a truly valuable performance, especially for musicians and those of us who treasure clarity in Mozart’s vocal ensembles. Indeed, the singers’ perfect diction allows Molinari-Pradelli to take “Giovinette che fate all’amore” and “Ho capito, Signor, si!” at a very brisk pace, similar to what we hear nowadays from many HIP performances, except with much better string tone and better voices. The only cast member I’ve never heard of before is Heinz Borst as the Commendatore, and although he’s not the darkest or most dramatic singer I’ve heard in the role, he’s sinister enough in the final scene to get by.
It also helps that most of the cast, excepting Stich-Randall, Gencer and bass Heinz Borst as the Commendatore, are of Italian descent—and that includes Luigi Alva who, though born in Peru, had Italian parents and grew up speaking Italian. This also makes a difference, since Italian-speaking singers have much more perfect diction in that language and can make the words “tell” with greater force. I can’t even recall seeing another Don Giovanni with so many Italians in the cast, though I admit that I haven’t heard every single performance floating around.
The orchestra is just a mite heavier than we’re used to hearing it today, although by 1960 musicians had learned that you shouldn’t use a full symphony orchestra to play Mozart. With that being said, it’s the orchestra more so than the singers that suffers most from the mono TV sound, but it’s reproduced well enough here that it’s not a consistent problem.
One thing that surprised me was how firm Leyla Gencer’s voice sounds here. I’ve gotten so used to hearing her with that unusual flutter in the voice, not quite a wobble but still noticeable, that I didn’t realize that she could sing with a firmly solid tone. Although this was a televised broadcast, there was no audience present, thus you will listen in vain for bursts of applause after the arias and duets.
As for the conducting, Molinari-Pradelli actually takes much of the opera at quicker tempi than Rosbaud did, all to the music’s benefit. The only exception is “Il mio tesoro,” which Luigi Alva was used to taking at a somewhat relaxed tempo because he could just barely get through the runs at that speed without messing them up.
Probably the most surprising casting choice in this performance will be, for many listeners, that of comic baritone, Sesto Bruscantini, as Leporello. Although several baritones have sung this role, they have all been ones with richer voices, such as Giuseppe Taddei on the 1959 Giulini recording. Most of the time it is sung by basso cantates; earlier generations were used to Salvatore Baccaloni, audiences around the time of this performance were used to Fernando Corena, and in later years it was sung by Wladimiro Ganzarolli, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Samuel Ramey, all of whom had richer voices. Bruscantini manages the part pretty well, but the attentive listener will note that he just barely gets most of his low notes, and at least once during “Madamina” he sings an alternate higher note. But you surely can’t complain that you can’t distinguish between the voices of the Don and his servant—they surely sound entirely different, and he certainly sounds like a servant. Moreover, in those massed ensembles Bruscantini’s brightly-focused voice helps us hear the various lines of the music more clearly. (As an historical footnote, one should remember that, in the 18th century, baritones were considered to be a species of bass, since basso roles in operas didn’t often go down as low as those of Osmin or Sarastro, and baritones seldom went up to a high A, usually stopping at G or Ab.) There’s also a bit of luxury casting here with the excellent baritone Renato Cesari, who often sang leading roles, as Masetto. Petri, excellent throughout, sings the most seductive performances of “La cì darem la mano” and “Deh’ vieni alla finestra” I’ve ever heard.
The natural reverb of the empty theater also greatly helps the voices of Alva and Graziella Sciutti, which often sounded shrill and nasty on records. Here, you realize that Alva had a very nice-sounding tenor voice and Sciutti, though still penny-bright, was not as naggingly brittle as she sometimes sounded on discs, which goes to prove that records sometimes lie to you.
As for the bonus tracks, most of them are very good and all are extremely interesting. We start with Lizzie Schwarzkopf singing an aria from Idomeneo, and she’s in excellent voice, displaying a nice trill and without the annoying mannerisms that later crept into her singing (I don’t know the year of the performance; my download had no booklet). Nicola Rossi-Lemeni singing “Non più andrai” was a real surprise, but he does a very fine job with it, and Angelo Questa’s conducting is alert and lively. Lisa Della Casa sings a fine “Porgi amore,” but the conductor, one Franco Mannino, gives new meaning to the word “lugubrious.” Stich-Randall’s “Dove sono” is beautiful as expected, and Mario Rossi gives her a better tempo than Mannino did for Della Casa. Stich-Randall does sneak a couple of little catch breaths in, but gives the illusion of singing it in one continuous line. Absolutely stupendous. Tito Gobbi sounds like his usual self-singing “Aprite un po’ quegli occhi,” which is a little snarly but still rhythmically alert and enjoying himself. But nearly all of these tracks are interesting and revealing of the different artists involved, the only disappointment being the in-one-ear-and-out-the-other Alda Noni. The most unusual performances are Boris Christoff singing Leporello’s catalogue aria (much livelier than on his studio recording ofit) and Gencer singing “Martern aller arten” in Italian. Except for the fact that she only sang one trill (near the end), she did a good job with it.
Bottom line: except for the sometimes-scrappy sound of the orchestra, which unfortunately can’t be fixed (I’ve read online that the DVD has even poorer sound than this CD incarnation), this is a Don Giovanni for the ages. It is now my historical performance of preference, even over the Busch, Krips and Giulini recordings, the latter of which I always felt was over-hyped. I highly recommend it.
Don Giovanni [Live]
19.02.1962 DON GIOVANNI
Orchestra of the Royal Opera HouseDouglas Robinson, chorus master
Georg Solti
Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni); Leyla Gencer (Donna Anna); Sena Jurinac (Donna Elvira); Mirella Freni (Zerlina); Richard Lewis (Don Ottavio); Geraint Evans (Leporello); Robert Savoie (Masetto); David Ward (Il Commendatore)
Royal Opera House – 3 CDs
DON GIOVANNI 1962
FANFARE MAGAZINE
RAYMOND TUTTLE
Mozart Don Giovanni • Georg Solti, cond; Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni); Leyla Gencer (Donna Anna); Sena Jurinac (Donna Elvira); Richard Lewis (Don Ottavio); Mirella Freni (Zerlina); Geraint Evans (Leporello); Robert Savoie (Masetto); David Ward (Commendatore); Covent Garden Op Ch & O • Royal Opera House 7, mono (3 CDs: 172:30) Live: London 2/19/1962
Solti and several of the singers in this performance made commercial recordings of Don Giovanni—sometimes more than one—so I suppose the main draw of this release is the opportunity to hear those who didn’t (Gencer in particular), or to hear otherwise unpreserved cast combinations. This performance is a curious mixture of ingredients—old stylistic practices and new, the local and the international, and so on. The mixture is inconsistently successful because the ingredients sometimes clash, but one good thing that can be said about this Don Giovanni is that it won’t put you to sleep. It’s an exciting if often shaggy performance, with the emphases on wit and beauty rather than on the score’s seriousness. This is not its first time on CD, although this might be its most affordable incarnation so far.
It’s best to discuss Solti first, because I think he sets the tone for this performance more than any of his singers do. There’s no precious understatement to his conducting; he lays his cards on the table right from the outset and gives us a reading of considerable red-bloodedness. While not precisely hard driving—the start of the act I finale is more Rossini than Mozart—he nevertheless pushes the music along with few breathing points, and he allows the standard cuts. Both of these factors make this a good Don Giovanni to hear when you’re in a hurry, but not so good if you like real dramatic weight and the occasional Mozartean still-point. Unanimity of ensemble singing is not a strength of this performance either. One doesn’t expect perfection outside of the recording studios, but by the same token, one doesn’t necessarily want to hear the same imperfections over and over again on a CD.
Siepi was a fine Giovanni in Krips’s studio recording from the previous decade. Here, he is more of a bastard than before, although he maintains the suave veneer of a gentleman. The voice still is in excellent shape, and so Siepi’s Giovanni is a powerful sun around which the other singers’ planets can rotate. Evans contributes the standard comic Leporello, healthily sung, with the buffo elements bumped up a little for the entertainment of the locals. He’s funny but not very likeable, particularly in his bullying of Masetto. Lewis’s Ottavio is noble and sensitive, and not as effete as many. In fact, “Dalla sua pace” is memorably handsome, although even at Solti’s efficient tempo, “Il mio tesoro” starts to stretch him. As Masetto, the capable Savoie otherwise makes little impression one way or another, although Ward’s vengeful Commendatore is distinctive.
Turning to the women, interest centers on Gencer’s Anna, because she made so few studio recordings. Predictably, she’s no wilting violet, and her big sound helps her to create a character who is strong enough to stand up to Giovanni, to say nothing of Ottavio. Again, her first aria is more successful than her second, as her voice and temperament are better at projecting righteous indignation than conciliation. With such a forward Anna, it’s harder to create a contrast between Anna and Elvira, and Jurinac really isn’t successful doing so. One way to play this role is to make her into a crazy woman, a sort of Holy Roller, which I don’t include among Jurinac’s skills. “Mi tradì” is a passionate outpouring of hurt love, but elsewhere, Jurinac seems uncomfortable, as if she wanted to be in a more classically proportioned performance than the one in question. Freni’s sweet Zerlina provides plenty of contrast with Gencer and Jurinac, but the performance is only two-dimensional. Arguably, a Don Giovanni in which Zerlina and Masetto don’t matter very much is lamed in one of its limbs. To my mind, that is what happens here.
The sound is not particularly good, which suggests that it was taken not from a broadcast but from an in-house job. It’s muffled, peaky, and sometimes unsteady. In addition to pre-echo, there are extraneous noises typical of reused and imperfectly erased recording tape. None of these faults is fatal. If the performance were astonishing, I’d probably overlook them entirely. However, as the performance is merely interesting, they’re a little intrusive. There’s little applause between numbers; I can’t tell if it has been edited out, where possible, or if Solti’s precipitous conducting discouraged it.
As is typically the case with Opera d’Oro’s cheaper line, there’s no libretto, just a brief introduction and a plot synopsis. The low price might make this set attractive to first-time collectors, but that would be false economy: I can recommend this set only to those who know this opera well, and who are looking for something specific from this particular performance. As for the rest, almost any of the stereo studio recordings by Krips, Giulini, Karajan, Solti, and so on would be a safer bet.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
RAYMOND TUTTLE
Mozart Don Giovanni • Georg Solti, cond; Cesare Siepi (Don Giovanni); Leyla Gencer (Donna Anna); Sena Jurinac (Donna Elvira); Richard Lewis (Don Ottavio); Mirella Freni (Zerlina); Geraint Evans (Leporello); Robert Savoie (Masetto); David Ward (Commendatore); Covent Garden Op Ch & O • Royal Opera House 7, mono (3 CDs: 172:30) Live: London 2/19/1962
I reviewed this performance in the November/December 2006 issue after it was released on Opera d’Oro 1452. I refer readers to that review for detailed comments about the performance itself. There are good reasons to consider the present release, though, even if you’ve already acquired the Opera d’Oro discs. Primary among these is that the sound has been greatly improved. Opera d’Oro’s sound was muffled, sometimes unsteady in pitch, and occasionally disturbed by tape artifacts such as print-through. Roger Beardsley is responsible for the re-mastering on the present release, and he has nearly worked wonders. Although the sound is monaural, and one would not mistake it for a studio recording of the period, it is much easier to enjoy. I think most listeners will be able to listen through the sonic anomalies with no trouble. Contrary to what I had guessed in the earlier review, this is not an in-house recording, but one made “off-air” by an unidentified enthusiast. What a long life it has had!
Royal Opera House (the label, not the house itself!) has packaged this release lavishly, with a slipcase housing the jewel box, and a thick booklet containing both an essay about the performance and a complete Italian-English libretto. (Opera d’Oro’s booklet contains just a track listing and a plot summary.) Furthermore, Royal Opera House retains a post-opera address made to the audience by the company’s General Administrator Sir David Webster, in which tribute is paid to Bruno Walter who had died two days earlier. Webster’s remarks (rather pompous, I must admit), are followed by Solti conducting the orchestra in the March of the Priests from Die Zauberflöte. None of this appears on the Opera d’Oro discs. Perhaps it will help the reader to know that, having reviewed the present set, I am going to keep it and retire the Opera d’Oro discs. The price of the Royal Opera House set is midline; the Opera d’Oro is budget. Spend the extra money if you really want to hear this performance.
I suspect that Gencer is the curiosity that will draw most listeners in, since she made so few (any?) studio recordings. It is also interesting to hear performers who made studio recordings of this opera, but not with each other. As I said last time, this performance is a curious mixture of stylistic practices old and new, and although the ingredients sometimes clash, the performance is undeniably lively. There’s more humor and surface beauty than depth.
While not insensitive, Solti is red-blooded and driven, in his typical manner. Siepi is meaner and more reckless than he was on the Krips recording, and he is complemented by a frankly buffo Evans as Leporello—a man who can laugh at Donna Elvira’s discomfort at hearing the contents of Don Giovanni’s little black book. Richard Lewis sounds a little over-parted in “Il mio tesoro,” but otherwise, he is a noble Don Ottavio. Robert Savoie is a whimpering, blustering Masetto, and Ward is a distinctive Commendatore, once he reaches the afterlife.
Among the women, the ballsy Gencer is more successful than Jurinac, who sometimes sounds a little uncomfortable, and fails to create a defined character. I like Freni (and Masetto) better than I did before. (I found her two-dimensional, but now I appreciate both her sweetness and her cleverness—another benefit of the improved sound?)
Studio recordings by Krips, Giulini, Karajan, Solti, and so on remain a better first-choice for those who are making their first acquaintance with this opera, but those who are curious about any aspect of the present performance—or who (like me) simply can’t get enough of Don Giovanni—probably will find the Royal Opera House set very enjoyable.
FANFARE MAGAZINE
JAMES MILLER
Mozart Don Giovanni, K. 527. • Sir Georg Solti, conductor; Cesare Siepi, bass (Don Giovanni); Sir Geraint Evans, bass-baritone (Leporelló); Leyla Gencer, soprano (Donna Anna); Sena Jurinac, soprano (Donna Elvira); Mirella Freni, soprano (Zerlina); Richard Lewis, tenor (Don Ottavio); Robert Savoie, baritone (Masetto); David Ward, bass (The Commendatore); Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. • Giuseppe di Stefano Records GDS 31024 [AAD]; three monaural discs: 60:55, 62:20, 53:50. (Distributed by Qualiton.)
Mozart Don Giovanni, K. 527. Thamos, King of Egypt, K. 3452. • Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor; Nicolai Ghiaurov, bass (Don Giovanni); Sesto Bruscantini, bass-baritone (Leporelló); Gundula Janowitz, soprano (Donna Anna); Sena Jurinac, soprano (Donna Elvira); Olivera Miliakovic, soprano (Zerlina); Alfredo Kraus, tenor (Don Ottavio); Walter Monachesi, baritone (Masetto); Dimiter Petkov, bass (The Commendatore); RAI Chorus & Orchestra of Rome 1; Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor; Jolanda Meneguzzer, soprano; Elena Zilio, mezzo-soprano; Tommaso Frascati, tenor; Leonardo Monreale, bass; RAI Chorus & Orchestra of Turin 2. • Classica Musica 3 CDLSMH 34059 [AAD]; three monaural discs: 78:15, 71:05, 65:30. (Distributed by Qualiton.)
One formula for putting on a good Don Giovanni during the 60s: get Cesare Siepi and surround him with worthy colleagues. In London in February 1962, the formula worked as expected. Solti's leadership strikes me as a bit hard-driven and heavy-handed but it bristles with nervous energy most of the time and the singers can cope with his tempos: the various pitfalls are overcome . . . with distinction, in some cases. Two of them are the Anna and Elvira of, respectively, Gencer and Jurinac, performances of such musical and technical accomplishment that they stand out even in these surroundings. O.K., let's nitpick: in “Mi tradi,” Jurinac runs short of breath but still brings the aria off brilliantly. Nine years later, in another country under another conductor, her age is starting to catch up with her, but she's still a very respectable Elvira . . . better than most that you've heard. I might as well mention that Giulini induces Gundula Janowitz to give her all as Anna, but her all isn't quite enough in “Non mi dir.”
Back to the Solti performance: Geraint Evans gives Leporelló a nastier edge than Siepi's frequent partner, Fernando Corena, and manages it convincingly. The others in the cast sing as you'd expect them to (if you don't know what to expect from Robert Savoie, he's a good Masetto). The frequency range seems limited. Is this twenty copies removed from the original? Anyway, the sound is much duller than it should be on a 1962 broadcast, which is what I assume this to be.
As a bonus, GDS gives us Gencer as Elvira in ten minutes' worth of music from a 1960 RAI broadcast. She should be quite a good one, but her low notes seem weak to me. The CDs have all the cueing access you need with the “sidebreaks” occurring after the two tenor arias. Neither of Siepi's commercial Dom satisfies me and I'm not sure which one I like better, but I think he and Corena are in absolutely prime form on the later RCA Victor one. If that performance had Gencer and Jurinac instead of Birgit Nilsson and Leontyne Price, the choice would be a lot easier. This performance's pluses and minuses (very few) make it quite competitive, but the annoyingly dull sound is an ever-present anchor, dragging it down.
The sound is brighter and clearer, if not without a little distortion, on the 1970 Giulini broadcast. If you know the conductor's EMI recording of a decade earlier, you'll know what a compliment I'm paying him when I say that he's almost as good here as he was there, held back a bit by the RAI orchestra. In the title role, Nicolai Ghiaurov is a hearty sort of Don Giovanni with a big, healthy voice; I sometimes found myself picturing Henry VIII on a spree (Robert Shaw, not Charles Laughton). He sounds like he's having a grand time until the very end. No seduction here: he expects them to just collapse before him. No Don has sounded more sincere in “Vivan le femmine! Viva il buon vino! Sostegno e gloria d'umanità!” Sesto Bruscantini is the conventional, buffo sort of Leporelló and does it well enough, given an inclination to vocal mugging. The rest of the cast, given my reservations about Janowitz and Jurinac, is good enough.
As a generous and, possibly, not-to-be-appreciated bonus, we get seven excerpts from Mozart's incidental music to the play, Thamos, King of Egypt, rendered in Italian with a narrator setting each scene (but in Italian) for us. Leonardo Monreale has little to do here, but is in excellent voice. Giulini follows the procedure some other conductors have used, having soloists sing the parts of the Priests and Sun Maidens and using the chorus when both groups sing together. I wonder if he would conduct this music with as much vitality now. Fernando Cajati is the narrator and Maria Grazia Marescalchi speaks the very brief part of Sais, one of the characters in the play (because she speaks during one of musical interludes).
Consuming about two-and-a-quarter CDs, Don Giovanni has sixty-six cueing points. The Thamos excerpts have one each.
OPERADIS
Recordings of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are surveyed in the following publications:
High Fidelity November 1960 Vol.10 No.11 p.127: November 1965 Vol.15 No.11 pp.71-72, pp.128-132; Opera on Record p.71; Celletti p.467; Opera on CD (1) p.19 (2) p.23 (3) p.24; L'Avant-Scène Opéra No.24 p.132, No.172 p.178 ; MET p.299; MET (VID) p.168; Penguin p.231; Classic CD September 1993 p.32; Opera on Video p.26; Giudici p.451 (2) p.766; International Opera Collector Winter 1997 No.6 p.18; Diapason No.450 juillet-aoüt 1998 p.50; Le Monde de la Musique No.223juillet-aoüt 1998 p.56; l'opera (Milano) Anno XII - N.124 dicembre 1998 - Speciale Scala - Stagione 1998/99 p.111; Répertoire No.131 janvier 2000 p.20, No.132 février 2000 p.20; American Record Guide January/February 2002 Vol.65 No.1 pp.56-57; International Record Review February 2002 p.22
This recording is reviewed in the following publications:
(The) Gramophone - September 2007 pp.90-91 [JBS]
Opera - August 2007 p.1004 [AB]
Opera News - January 2008 pp.60-61 [RP]
Fanfare - Volume 30 No.2 November/December 2006 pp.212-213 [RT]; Vol.31 No.3 January/February 2008 pp.191-192 [RT]
Orpheus - März + April 2007 S.58 [GH]
Diapason - No.550 S septembre 2007 p.128 [JC]
International Record Review - July/August 2007 p.79 [PB]
American Record Guide - January/February 2008 Vol.71 No.1 pp.133-134 [RVL]
Classic Record Collector - Spring 2008 pp.94-95 [TP]
Classica Répertoire - No.75 septembre 2005 p.106 (mention) [AT]: No.95 septembre 2007 p.77 [AT]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.107 enero-febrero 2008 p.90 [JR]
Opera News - January 2008 pp.60-61 [RP]
Fanfare - Volume 30 No.2 November/December 2006 pp.212-213 [RT]; Vol.31 No.3 January/February 2008 pp.191-192 [RT]
Orpheus - März + April 2007 S.58 [GH]
Diapason - No.550 S septembre 2007 p.128 [JC]
International Record Review - July/August 2007 p.79 [PB]
American Record Guide - January/February 2008 Vol.71 No.1 pp.133-134 [RVL]
Classic Record Collector - Spring 2008 pp.94-95 [TP]
Classica Répertoire - No.75 septembre 2005 p.106 (mention) [AT]: No.95 septembre 2007 p.77 [AT]
Ópera Actual (Barcelona) - No.107 enero-febrero 2008 p.90 [JR]
Comments: Recording of a performance at Covent Garden (19 February 1962). This performance was broadcast by the BBC Third Programme. See Radio Times Issue dated February 17-23 1962 p.18, p.23. The performances on 9 and 26 February are reviewed in Opera April 1962 p.271 (see also the front cover and pp.224-225)
https://operadis.com/
ALLEGRO MAGAZINE
2005 May
OPERA MAGAZINE
2007 June
CLASSIC TODAY
ROBERT LEVINE
2007 August
Mozart: Don Giovanni, ’62/Solti
Artistic Quality: 9
Sound Quality: 6
OPERA MAGAZINE
2007 August
MUSICAWEB
GÖRAN FORSLING
2007.08.07
It was in September 1961 that Georg Solti became musical director at Covent Garden. The third new staging under his aegis was Don Giovanni in February 1962, a production directed by Franco Zeffirelli. This recording was made at the premiere, which took place two days after the demise of Bruno Walter. The performance was dedicated to his memory and as bonus tracks on the last disc we can hear Sir David Webster’s speech and the march of the priests from Die Zauberflöte, which was played to a standing audience.
The BBC broadcast the performance but unfortunately the original tapes have been lost and what we have on these discs is a private off-air recording, which has its limitations. The sound in general is small-scale and congested, there is a great deal of distortion in forte passages, some variation in tape speed and also some drop-outs. The orchestral sound is scrawny and undernourished but the voices are, in the main, well caught, even though they vary in strength due to the singers’ positioning on stage. The Stone Guest, who should be a thundering experience in the church yard scene in act 2, is very distant and doesn’t convey the frightening situation. The recording is also afflicted with stage noises, which quite often heighten the live feeling. One example is after the sextet in act 2 when Leporello eventually manages to run away from Don Ottavio, Masetto et al and we vividly hear Geraint Evans’ footsteps disappearing. Audience reactions are also captured; sometimes laughter, obviously as a reaction to visual gags.
Georg Solti recorded Don Giovanni twice commercially, first in the 1970s and again in the 1990s; the latter being the most successful. As can be expected from him this early reading is dynamic and occasionally hard-driven, sometimes also a bit heavy-handed. This was long before period performance practice had made its entrance. It was obviously a lavish production but it was criticized at the time because it took so long to change the scenes. This is nothing that the listener needs to worry about, and provided one can accept the mono sound and the shortcomings I have listed above there is a lot to enjoy. Zeffirelli-Solti had picked a cast that is among the best on any recorded performance.
Four of the singers are represented on ‘regular’ recordings of this opera. Cesare Siepi sang the title role twice for Decca under Josef Krips and Erich Leinsdorf. He was a great favourite, not least at the Metropolitan, both for his dashing stage appearance and for his superb singing and acting. He was a master at adapting his voice to the differing moods and attitudes of this many-faceted character. Listen for example to the recitative in the first act when he tries to ensnare Zerlina. In the duet La ci darem la mano his voice shivers with passion. Elsewhere he can be menacing, cynical, proud or just good-humoured. He sings a rousing Champagne aria. He is wheedling and sly in the scene where, disguised as Leporello, he coaxes Masetto to hand over his weapons. The serenade has been more honeyed in other versions. This Don Giovanni is so self-assured that he doesn’t need to be ingratiating. He sings it rather quickly and straightforwardly. Sometimes he and Geraint Evans’ Leporello deliver their lines in recitatives at machine-gun rattle speed, which may have been effective on stage but on record it tends to sound merely breathless. Geraint Evans – the knighthood lay in the future when this recording was made - set down this role for EMI under Barenboim in 1975. Alongside Figaro and Falstaff this was one of his signature roles. With his crystal-clear enunciation and perfect Italian – Italians thought him Sicilian – he is ideal in the role. He makes the most of his solo scenes, wringing the last drop of meaning out of the catalogue aria. Mirella Freni, very early in her career, is a fresh, lyrical and lovely Zerlina, Batti, batti, o bel Masetto wonderfully nuanced. She also recorded it twice: for EMI with Klemperer in the mid-1960s and a decade later for Philips with Colin Davis. Philips also recorded the opera in conjunction with the Mozart celebrations in 1956 with Rudolf Moralt conducting and Sena Jurinac singing Donna Elvira. She catches to perfection the vacillating feelings of this unhappy character and the aria Ah, fuggi il traditor boils with anger, sorrow and frustration. Her voice seems to have hardened a little and acquired an edge, compared to the Philips recording but it is still a fine achievement. In the late 1950s she also recorded Donna Anna for DG under Fricsay, a role that was a size too big for her, even though she sang it with style. Solti’s Donna Anna is, however, superbly suited to the part and she is probably the main reason for acquiring this set. Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer was for many years regarded as one of the greatest singers of her generation but for some reason she was almost totally ignored by the record companies. Was her voice badly suited to the microphone? Judging from this recording it wasn’t at all. On the contrary hers is one of the most consummate readings ever, both interpretatively and vocally. She was often compared to Callas and she has the same identification, the same intensity but has none of the defects of Callas, no disfiguring vibrato, no shrillness and a better feeling for Mozartean style. Try her in the recitativo accompagnato and aria Don Ottavio, son morta! … Or sai chi l’onore (CD1 tr. 22-23) and I am sure you will be convinced of her greatness. At her side Richard Lewis’s Don Ottavio tends to pale, but on his own he is excellent: stylish, nuanced and with a fine legato. His Dalla sua pace (CD1 tr. 25) is on a par with Anton Dermota’s, which is praise indeed. Robert Savoie is a good Masetto and he sounds so miserable after he has been beaten up by Don Giovanni that one almost feels his pain. David Ward is a monumental Commendatore.
There are good notes by Patrick O’Connor and the booklet also has the full libretto with English translation, as is the rule with these issues in the Royal Opera House Heritage Series.
Not a first or only choice but a splendid complement to a recording in modern sound. First class singing by all hands and one of the best Donna Annas anywhere.
GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE
2018.02.06
THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
No single stage production can handle all the facets
of this fascinating opera buffa (or dramma giocoso), so imagination must come
into play. Richard Lawrence selects the best recordings of the different
versions.
Mozart’s letter of January 15, 1787, to his pupil and friend Gottfried von Jacquin is well known, but still worth quoting: ‘Here they talk about nothing but Figaro. Nothing is played, sung or whistled but Figaro. No opera is drawing like Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro.’ Le nozze di Figaro had been premiered in Vienna on May 1, 1786, but it was the production in Prague later that year, mounted by Pasquale Bondini’s Italian opera company, that was the greater success. Mozart and his wife travelled there in January 1787, and it was from Prague that the composer wrote to Jacquin. By the time he and Constanze left for Vienna on February 8 he had secured a commission to write a new opera for Bondini. That opera was Don Giovanni, with Lorenzo da Ponte again providing the libretto. It was to be a busy year for both men; moreover, Mozart had to deal with the emotional shock of his father’s death in May. The Mozarts returned to Prague in early October 1787 with some of the music still to be composed. Mozart knew all but one of the singers and, as usual, he tailored his music to their voices. He even celebrated – or teased – Teresa Saporiti, who sang Donna Anna, by having Giovanni sing the word saporito (‘tasty’) four times in rapid succession. After two postponements, the opera was given on October 29. It ran for many performances, and its success led the Emperor Joseph II to command a production in Vienna. This took place on May 7, 1788; and the changes that Mozart made caused a problem that is still with us. Don Ottavio was given a new aria (‘Dalla sua pace’) in Act 1, but his Act 2 aria was replaced by an aria for Donna Elvira which followed a new comic scene for Zerlina and Leporello. Recordings and stage productions almost always conflate both Prague and Vienna, without the comic scene. My own preference is for the original Prague version. In the composite one, Ottavio’s gentle ‘Dalla sua pace’ is an anticlimax after Donna Anna’s fiery ‘Or sai chi l’onore’, while the inclusion of both Ottavio’s ‘Il mio tesoro’ and Elvira’s ‘Mi tradì’ holds up the action which should be moving inexorably to the denouement. Moreover, one could argue that ‘Mi tradì’ is inconsistent with the portrayal of lovable, gullible Elvira, whose first appearances in each act are subverted by their being overheard by Giovanni and Leporello. Of the recordings detailed in the discography, Östman offers Prague, with the Vienna numbers in an appendix, Gardiner and Jacobs vice versa. Mackerras’s CD recording cleverly incorporates alternative versions, the cemetery scene appearing twice. Jurowski’s DVD follows Prague. The others go for the traditional conflation, Furtwängler and Sawallisch omitting ‘Dalla sua pace’. THE PIONEER There seem to be few available recordings from before the war. Unlike his 1937 Die Zauberflöte (Preiser, 1/96), Joseph Keilberth’s Don Giovanni from Stuttgart (Walhall, sung in German) is only of curiosity value. But the same year, 1936, saw the third Mozart recording conducted by Fritz Busch to emerge from Glyndebourne. Though made under studio conditions, it has all the vigour and flow of a live performance. Led by John Brownlee’s elegant Giovanni and Salvatore Baccaloni’s knowing Leporello, the performance still affords enormous pleasure. As for Busch’s superb conducting, just relish his steady tempos and – a single example – the sobbing violins in the recitative preceding ‘Mi tradì’. STILL IN MONO Skating over Wilhelm Furtwängler (to whom I’ll return in the DVD section), we come to Dimitri Mitropoulos. The hollowness of the acoustic (from the Salzburg Felsenreitschule during the 1956 festival) doesn’t detract from an excellent performance. Giovanni is sung by Cesare Siepi, who pretty well owned the part for 20 years. Like so many, before and since, he is a bass in a baritone role. His sidekick is another veteran, Fernando Corena. As recorded, there’s a slight edge – not unpleasing – to the tone of Elisabeth Grümmer’s Anna. In a starry cast that includes Lisa Della Casa as Elvira, the Ottavio of Léopold Simoneau stands out with his two arias phrased to perfection. Mitropoulos will have you on the edge of your seat with a spine-chilling orchestral crescendo before the Commendatore’s ‘Ferma un po’ in the finale. There’s a small cut in the exchange between Anna and Ottavio during the final sextet. Siepi, Corena and Della Casa also appear in a powerful account from the New York Met in 1957 conducted by Karl Böhm (Andromeda); and it’s Siepi again in the 1962 performance from Covent Garden. Here the Leporello is the incomparable Geraint Evans, and it’s a joy to hear how he and Siepi play off each other, especially in the recitatives. Leyla Gencer is a forceful Anna, and Richard Lewis shows off his wonderful breath control in Ottavio’s arias. If you think that everything conducted by Sir Georg Solti is hard-driven, this may surprise you. THE STEREO ERA Solti’s Elvira, Sena Jurinac, had already recorded the part at least twice; for Ferenc Fricsay in 1958 she switched to Donna Anna. Irmgard Seefried is a warm, charming Zerlina, but despite the casting of Dietrich FischerDieskau as Giovanni the performance never takes wing (DG, 11/59). It’s outclassed by Carlo Maria Giulini’s recording of the following year, a set that it is almost impossible to overpraise. Eberhard Waechter and Giuseppe Taddei are excellent as master and man: the former both romantic and dangerous, the latter ironic, with a real feeling for the words in the ‘Catalogue’ aria. Joan Sutherland in full cry shows what a terrific Wagnerian she could have been, while Elisabeth Schwarzkopf proceeds from a formidable, stately entrance to a fluent, seamless ‘Mi tradì’. The Philharmonia plays beautifully and Giulini’s pacing is faultless, the balance between comedy and wistfulness just right in the trio ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core’. Another trio, the woodwind-accompanied ‘Protegga il giusto cielo’, is exquisite. And to have Gottlob Frick as the Commendatore is just the cherry on the cake. The worst that can be said is that the pauses between some of the numbers are a reminder that this is not a production from the theatre There were, however, two associated concert performances at the Royal Festival Hall, London, for which Sir Colin Davis stepped in. His own recording dates from 1972, shortly after he succeeded Solti at Covent Garden. It’s interesting to note that Davis follows Giulini in treating the tutti ‘Viva la libertà … la libertà!’ as one phrase, something he must have remembered from sitting in on Giulini’s recording sessions. Apart from a delayed entry at Elvira’s return to rescue Zerlina, Davis’s recording does have the feel of a theatrical performance, helped along by John Constable’s stylish harpsichord continuo. The woodwind chortle delightfully in the ‘Catalogue’ aria, and the strings in ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core’ are beautifully pointed. The fine cast includes a honeyed Ottavio from Stuart Burrows. Honeyed is not the word for Nicolai Ghiaurov’s performance for Herbert von Karajan in 1970 – from Salzburg again, but this time at the Grosses Festspielhaus. Ghiaurov was another bass, and I suspect he found the part uncomfortably high: he snatches at the phrases in an overfast ‘Champagne’ aria and sounds ungainly rather than seductive in the serenade. Karajan’s speeds for their respective arias in Act 2 allow Teresa ZylisGara and Gundula Janowitz to phrase unhurriedly, the pianissimo reprise of the former’s ‘Mi tradì’ almost thoughtful. Splendid turns from the Welsh team of Burrows and Evans. Another live recording from Orfeo, Wolfgang Sawallisch in Munich in 1973, was issued only recently. If Ruggero Raimondi is rather bland, Stafford Dean as Leporello is ample compensation: his dark bass, with a pleasing slight vibrato, makes for a treasurable ‘Catalogue’ aria, and his vocal impersonation of Raimondi is hilarious. Margaret Price negotiates the coloratura of ‘Non mi dir’ very well; Lucia Popp is an enchanting Zerlina and there’s a powerful Commendatore from Kurt Moll. Back in Salzburg in 1977 in yet another venue, the Kleines Festspielhaus, the octogenarian Karl Böhm inclines to slow speeds, even in the minuets. Better too slow than too fast, but it comes across as ponderous. The voices are often distant, and the flow of the action is not helped by the disc change after the unmasking of Leporello. Nearly 20 years later, in 1995, Sir Charles Mackerras brings his feeling for 18th-century practice to a performance on modern instruments (but with natural trumpets): the bass minims at the beginning of the overture are shortened, the reprise of ‘Dalla sua pace’ is decorated, Masetto and the Commendatore are (as in Mozart’s time) taken by the same singer. It is all very well done, with excellent performances all round, and the layout of the alternative versions is a distinct bonus (remember to omit ‘Dalla sua pace’ for the authentic Prague experience!). In his recording taken from concert performances, Yannick Nézet-Séguin permits some wild decoration from Diana Damrau as Donna Anna, but Mojca Erdmann embellishes Zerlina’s arias charmingly. Joyce DiDonato is dignified, even regretful at the opening of ‘Non ti fidar, o misera’. Her wonderful ‘Mi tradì’ is succeeded by a no less intense ‘Non mi dir’ from Damrau. Luca Pisaroni delivers a serious, almost sinister ‘Catalogue’ aria, and Rolando Villazón brings a welcome virility to ‘Il mio tesoro’. The subtlety of Nézet-Séguin’s conducting is breathtaking. PERIOD-INSTRUMENT RECORDINGS The trailblazer here is Arnold Östman’s 1989 recording from Drottningholm. As noted above, it is Prague plus Vienna appendix; but Elvira’s recitative ‘In quali eccessi’ has been omitted, presumably in order to squeeze the opera on to two discs. Östman’s tempos range from fast to turbocharged, the whole opera (excluding the appendix) over in less than two and a half hours. It’s all a bit too much. SirJohn Eliot Gardiner in 1994 is a much safer bet, though if you want the Prague version you need to programme tracks 17 to 21 and 9 (not 8) to 16 on CD3. Like Mackerras, Gardiner shortens the bass minims in the overture (and again in the Act 2 finale). Rodney Gilfry is soft and intimate in ‘Là ci darem la mano’, forceful elsewhere, with Ildebrando D’Arcangelo a properly bass Leporello. Luba Orgoná≈ová is made to take the Allegretto of ‘Non mi dir’ so fast as to trivialise Anna’s (admittedly tiresome) despair. Charlotte Margiono, on the other hand, is a gentle, unhysterical Elvira, beautifully sung. The recording from the Ludwigsburg Festival has all the tension and flow of a theatre performance. (I recall the concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, when Andrea Silvestrelli’s Commendatore marched down the steps of the auditorium with three trombones in tow.) Twelve years on, René Jacobs also opts for the Vienna version. Others will enjoy his very individual conducting more than I do. He plays about with the tempo in Masetto’s aria, speeds up at the end of Giovanni’s ‘Metà di voi qua vadano’, slows down when Ottavio and Anna enter in the sextet, and speeds up again at Leporello’s ‘Perdon, perdono’. Apart from an unthreatening Commendatore, the cast does well and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is splendid. As so often in Jacobs’s work, the continuo player is hyperactive: he twiddles throughout, and introduces the cemetery scene as though accompanying a silent film. Jacobs finds a ready disciple in Teodor Currentzis (2015), who offers the composite version including, unusually, the scene for Zerlina and Leporello, with a gratuitous solo violin added to the recitative. The accompaniment to the serenade becomes a duet for lute and fortepiano. But there are enough good moments – Anna bursting headlong into ‘Or sai chi l’onore’, the repose of ‘Protegga il giusto cielo’ – to make this worth hearing.
Mozart’s letter of January 15, 1787, to his pupil and friend Gottfried von Jacquin is well known, but still worth quoting: ‘Here they talk about nothing but Figaro. Nothing is played, sung or whistled but Figaro. No opera is drawing like Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro.’ Le nozze di Figaro had been premiered in Vienna on May 1, 1786, but it was the production in Prague later that year, mounted by Pasquale Bondini’s Italian opera company, that was the greater success. Mozart and his wife travelled there in January 1787, and it was from Prague that the composer wrote to Jacquin. By the time he and Constanze left for Vienna on February 8 he had secured a commission to write a new opera for Bondini. That opera was Don Giovanni, with Lorenzo da Ponte again providing the libretto. It was to be a busy year for both men; moreover, Mozart had to deal with the emotional shock of his father’s death in May. The Mozarts returned to Prague in early October 1787 with some of the music still to be composed. Mozart knew all but one of the singers and, as usual, he tailored his music to their voices. He even celebrated – or teased – Teresa Saporiti, who sang Donna Anna, by having Giovanni sing the word saporito (‘tasty’) four times in rapid succession. After two postponements, the opera was given on October 29. It ran for many performances, and its success led the Emperor Joseph II to command a production in Vienna. This took place on May 7, 1788; and the changes that Mozart made caused a problem that is still with us. Don Ottavio was given a new aria (‘Dalla sua pace’) in Act 1, but his Act 2 aria was replaced by an aria for Donna Elvira which followed a new comic scene for Zerlina and Leporello. Recordings and stage productions almost always conflate both Prague and Vienna, without the comic scene. My own preference is for the original Prague version. In the composite one, Ottavio’s gentle ‘Dalla sua pace’ is an anticlimax after Donna Anna’s fiery ‘Or sai chi l’onore’, while the inclusion of both Ottavio’s ‘Il mio tesoro’ and Elvira’s ‘Mi tradì’ holds up the action which should be moving inexorably to the denouement. Moreover, one could argue that ‘Mi tradì’ is inconsistent with the portrayal of lovable, gullible Elvira, whose first appearances in each act are subverted by their being overheard by Giovanni and Leporello. Of the recordings detailed in the discography, Östman offers Prague, with the Vienna numbers in an appendix, Gardiner and Jacobs vice versa. Mackerras’s CD recording cleverly incorporates alternative versions, the cemetery scene appearing twice. Jurowski’s DVD follows Prague. The others go for the traditional conflation, Furtwängler and Sawallisch omitting ‘Dalla sua pace’. THE PIONEER There seem to be few available recordings from before the war. Unlike his 1937 Die Zauberflöte (Preiser, 1/96), Joseph Keilberth’s Don Giovanni from Stuttgart (Walhall, sung in German) is only of curiosity value. But the same year, 1936, saw the third Mozart recording conducted by Fritz Busch to emerge from Glyndebourne. Though made under studio conditions, it has all the vigour and flow of a live performance. Led by John Brownlee’s elegant Giovanni and Salvatore Baccaloni’s knowing Leporello, the performance still affords enormous pleasure. As for Busch’s superb conducting, just relish his steady tempos and – a single example – the sobbing violins in the recitative preceding ‘Mi tradì’. STILL IN MONO Skating over Wilhelm Furtwängler (to whom I’ll return in the DVD section), we come to Dimitri Mitropoulos. The hollowness of the acoustic (from the Salzburg Felsenreitschule during the 1956 festival) doesn’t detract from an excellent performance. Giovanni is sung by Cesare Siepi, who pretty well owned the part for 20 years. Like so many, before and since, he is a bass in a baritone role. His sidekick is another veteran, Fernando Corena. As recorded, there’s a slight edge – not unpleasing – to the tone of Elisabeth Grümmer’s Anna. In a starry cast that includes Lisa Della Casa as Elvira, the Ottavio of Léopold Simoneau stands out with his two arias phrased to perfection. Mitropoulos will have you on the edge of your seat with a spine-chilling orchestral crescendo before the Commendatore’s ‘Ferma un po’ in the finale. There’s a small cut in the exchange between Anna and Ottavio during the final sextet. Siepi, Corena and Della Casa also appear in a powerful account from the New York Met in 1957 conducted by Karl Böhm (Andromeda); and it’s Siepi again in the 1962 performance from Covent Garden. Here the Leporello is the incomparable Geraint Evans, and it’s a joy to hear how he and Siepi play off each other, especially in the recitatives. Leyla Gencer is a forceful Anna, and Richard Lewis shows off his wonderful breath control in Ottavio’s arias. If you think that everything conducted by Sir Georg Solti is hard-driven, this may surprise you. THE STEREO ERA Solti’s Elvira, Sena Jurinac, had already recorded the part at least twice; for Ferenc Fricsay in 1958 she switched to Donna Anna. Irmgard Seefried is a warm, charming Zerlina, but despite the casting of Dietrich FischerDieskau as Giovanni the performance never takes wing (DG, 11/59). It’s outclassed by Carlo Maria Giulini’s recording of the following year, a set that it is almost impossible to overpraise. Eberhard Waechter and Giuseppe Taddei are excellent as master and man: the former both romantic and dangerous, the latter ironic, with a real feeling for the words in the ‘Catalogue’ aria. Joan Sutherland in full cry shows what a terrific Wagnerian she could have been, while Elisabeth Schwarzkopf proceeds from a formidable, stately entrance to a fluent, seamless ‘Mi tradì’. The Philharmonia plays beautifully and Giulini’s pacing is faultless, the balance between comedy and wistfulness just right in the trio ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core’. Another trio, the woodwind-accompanied ‘Protegga il giusto cielo’, is exquisite. And to have Gottlob Frick as the Commendatore is just the cherry on the cake. The worst that can be said is that the pauses between some of the numbers are a reminder that this is not a production from the theatre There were, however, two associated concert performances at the Royal Festival Hall, London, for which Sir Colin Davis stepped in. His own recording dates from 1972, shortly after he succeeded Solti at Covent Garden. It’s interesting to note that Davis follows Giulini in treating the tutti ‘Viva la libertà … la libertà!’ as one phrase, something he must have remembered from sitting in on Giulini’s recording sessions. Apart from a delayed entry at Elvira’s return to rescue Zerlina, Davis’s recording does have the feel of a theatrical performance, helped along by John Constable’s stylish harpsichord continuo. The woodwind chortle delightfully in the ‘Catalogue’ aria, and the strings in ‘Ah taci, ingiusto core’ are beautifully pointed. The fine cast includes a honeyed Ottavio from Stuart Burrows. Honeyed is not the word for Nicolai Ghiaurov’s performance for Herbert von Karajan in 1970 – from Salzburg again, but this time at the Grosses Festspielhaus. Ghiaurov was another bass, and I suspect he found the part uncomfortably high: he snatches at the phrases in an overfast ‘Champagne’ aria and sounds ungainly rather than seductive in the serenade. Karajan’s speeds for their respective arias in Act 2 allow Teresa ZylisGara and Gundula Janowitz to phrase unhurriedly, the pianissimo reprise of the former’s ‘Mi tradì’ almost thoughtful. Splendid turns from the Welsh team of Burrows and Evans. Another live recording from Orfeo, Wolfgang Sawallisch in Munich in 1973, was issued only recently. If Ruggero Raimondi is rather bland, Stafford Dean as Leporello is ample compensation: his dark bass, with a pleasing slight vibrato, makes for a treasurable ‘Catalogue’ aria, and his vocal impersonation of Raimondi is hilarious. Margaret Price negotiates the coloratura of ‘Non mi dir’ very well; Lucia Popp is an enchanting Zerlina and there’s a powerful Commendatore from Kurt Moll. Back in Salzburg in 1977 in yet another venue, the Kleines Festspielhaus, the octogenarian Karl Böhm inclines to slow speeds, even in the minuets. Better too slow than too fast, but it comes across as ponderous. The voices are often distant, and the flow of the action is not helped by the disc change after the unmasking of Leporello. Nearly 20 years later, in 1995, Sir Charles Mackerras brings his feeling for 18th-century practice to a performance on modern instruments (but with natural trumpets): the bass minims at the beginning of the overture are shortened, the reprise of ‘Dalla sua pace’ is decorated, Masetto and the Commendatore are (as in Mozart’s time) taken by the same singer. It is all very well done, with excellent performances all round, and the layout of the alternative versions is a distinct bonus (remember to omit ‘Dalla sua pace’ for the authentic Prague experience!). In his recording taken from concert performances, Yannick Nézet-Séguin permits some wild decoration from Diana Damrau as Donna Anna, but Mojca Erdmann embellishes Zerlina’s arias charmingly. Joyce DiDonato is dignified, even regretful at the opening of ‘Non ti fidar, o misera’. Her wonderful ‘Mi tradì’ is succeeded by a no less intense ‘Non mi dir’ from Damrau. Luca Pisaroni delivers a serious, almost sinister ‘Catalogue’ aria, and Rolando Villazón brings a welcome virility to ‘Il mio tesoro’. The subtlety of Nézet-Séguin’s conducting is breathtaking. PERIOD-INSTRUMENT RECORDINGS The trailblazer here is Arnold Östman’s 1989 recording from Drottningholm. As noted above, it is Prague plus Vienna appendix; but Elvira’s recitative ‘In quali eccessi’ has been omitted, presumably in order to squeeze the opera on to two discs. Östman’s tempos range from fast to turbocharged, the whole opera (excluding the appendix) over in less than two and a half hours. It’s all a bit too much. SirJohn Eliot Gardiner in 1994 is a much safer bet, though if you want the Prague version you need to programme tracks 17 to 21 and 9 (not 8) to 16 on CD3. Like Mackerras, Gardiner shortens the bass minims in the overture (and again in the Act 2 finale). Rodney Gilfry is soft and intimate in ‘Là ci darem la mano’, forceful elsewhere, with Ildebrando D’Arcangelo a properly bass Leporello. Luba Orgoná≈ová is made to take the Allegretto of ‘Non mi dir’ so fast as to trivialise Anna’s (admittedly tiresome) despair. Charlotte Margiono, on the other hand, is a gentle, unhysterical Elvira, beautifully sung. The recording from the Ludwigsburg Festival has all the tension and flow of a theatre performance. (I recall the concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, when Andrea Silvestrelli’s Commendatore marched down the steps of the auditorium with three trombones in tow.) Twelve years on, René Jacobs also opts for the Vienna version. Others will enjoy his very individual conducting more than I do. He plays about with the tempo in Masetto’s aria, speeds up at the end of Giovanni’s ‘Metà di voi qua vadano’, slows down when Ottavio and Anna enter in the sextet, and speeds up again at Leporello’s ‘Perdon, perdono’. Apart from an unthreatening Commendatore, the cast does well and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is splendid. As so often in Jacobs’s work, the continuo player is hyperactive: he twiddles throughout, and introduces the cemetery scene as though accompanying a silent film. Jacobs finds a ready disciple in Teodor Currentzis (2015), who offers the composite version including, unusually, the scene for Zerlina and Leporello, with a gratuitous solo violin added to the recitative. The accompaniment to the serenade becomes a duet for lute and fortepiano. But there are enough good moments – Anna bursting headlong into ‘Or sai chi l’onore’, the repose of ‘Protegga il giusto cielo’ – to make this worth hearing.
17.02.1963 DON GIOVANNI
Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Manno Wolf-Ferrari
Renato Capecchi (Don Giovanni); Ilva Liguabue (Donna Elvira); Giovanni Foiani (Il Commendatore); Leyla Gencer (Donna Anna); Richard Holm (Don Ottavio); Geraint Evans (Leporello); Renato Cesari (Masetto); Mariella Adani (Zerlina)
House of Opera – 3 CDs
DON GIOVANNI 1963
OPERADIS
Recordings of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are surveyed in the following publications:
High Fidelity November 1960 Vol.10 No.11 p.127: November 1965 Vol.15 No.11 pp.71-72, pp.128-132; Opera on Record p.71; Celletti p.467; Opera on CD (1) p.19 (2) p.23 (3) p.24; L'Avant-Scène Opéra No.24 p.132, No.172 p.178 ; MET p.299; MET (VID) p.168; Penguin p.231; Classic CD September 1993 p.32; Opera on Video p.26; Giudici p.451 (2) p.766; International Opera Collector Winter 1997 No.6 p.18; Diapason No.450 juillet-aoüt 1998 p.50; Le Monde de la Musique No.223juillet-aoüt 1998 p.56; l'opera (Milano) Anno XII - N.124 dicembre 1998 - Speciale Scala - Stagione 1998/99 p.111; Répertoire No.131 janvier 2000 p.20, No.132 février 2000 p.20; American Record Guide January/February 2002 Vol.65 No.1 pp.56-57; International Record Review February 2002 p.22
Comments: Recording of a performance in the Salle Garnier, Théâtre de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo (17 Februar 1963). The cast listed above is that given in the chronology section of the web-site: http://www.leylagencer.eu. The Compact Cassettes issued by Lyric Distribution Incorporated are listed in «New Audio Cassette Listing - March 1996».
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... nella Cattedrale had its premiere at La Scala on March 1, 1958, with bass Nicola
Rossi-Lemeni in the role of Thomas Becket and soprano Leyla Gencer as the ...
Assassinio nella Cattedrale > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... In her topmost notes she may not quite equal the late Leyla Gencer, who created
the role, or Virginia Zeani, who quickly took it up; but Marrocu is one of few ...
ATTILA
Grandissimo Maestro > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... I conducted Attila for the first time in Florence in the early '70s [1972], with
[Nicolai] Ghiaurov as Attila and, as Odabella, Leyla Gencer. ...
Conquering Attila > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... Sandro Sequi's 1972 Florence production of Attila, below, with Veriano Luchetti
(Foresto) and Leyla Gencer (Odabella) Foto Marchiori/Opera News Archives. ...
BELISARIO
DONIZETTI: Belisario
... Alaimo and Joyce El-Khoury; for thrilling drama, find Gianandrea Gavazzeni’s
rough-and-ready 1969 Venetian performance with Giuseppe Taddei and Leyla Gencer. ...
Opera News - Belisario
... Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury operates on a narrower format than did Leyla Gencer, the best-known Antonina of the late-twentieth-century Donizetti revival. ...
CATERINA CORNARO
Opera News - Caterina Cornaro
... After 1845, no performances of the opera were given until 1972, when it
was resurrected in Naples for Leyla Gencer. It has yet to ...
Caterina Cornaro, Castor et Pollux I Festival de Radio France et ...
... The proud title role attracted two great divas in the twentieth century, Leyla Gencer
and Montserrat Caballé, both of whom revived the work with success. ...
DON GIOVANNI
Don Giovanni > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... Richard Lewis's mild-mannered Ottavio, singing sweetly in all-too-English
Italian, is no match for Leyla Gencer's awe-inspiring Anna. ..
The Practice > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... Similarly, we have Leyla Gencer, a soprano not given to pulling punches, cast as
an emotive Donna Elvira in a terrific Don Giovanni conducted by Francesco ..
Don Giovanni > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
... edgy at the top. Leyla Gencer displays much agility, not much expressive
urgency, as Donna Elvira. Graziella Sciutti, the sweetest ...,
ABBREVIATIONS OF OPERADIS
(SE), "STUDIO" Recording of Excerpts
(STC), Composite "STUDIO" Recording made up from more than one source
(SCE), Composite "STUDIO" Recording of Excerpts from more than one source
(LI), "LIVE" Recording
(LE), "LIVE" Recording of Excerpts
(LC), "LIVE" Composite Recording from more than one performance
(LCE), Excerpts from more than one "LIVE" Performance
(RA), A Radio Performance
(RE), Excerpts from a Radio Performance
(RC), Composite Radio Performance from more than one broadcast
(RCE), Excerpts from more than one broadcast performance
(FI), Film or/and sound track of a film
(FE), Excerpts of an opera from a film or/and the sound track of a film
Celletti, Il Teatro d'Opera in Disco by Rodolfo Celletti - Rizzoli - 1988
EJS Discography, EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings - The Golden Age of Opera, 1956-71 by William Shaman, William J. Collins, and Calvin M. Goodwin - GreenwoodPress - 1994
Giudici, L'Opera in CD e Video by Elvio Giudici - il Saggiatore Milano - 1995. Second Edition - 1999 - is indicated by (2)
Harris, Opera Recordings - A Critical Guide by Kenn Harris - David and Charles - 1973
MET, The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera - edited by Paul Gruber - Thames and Hudson - 1993
MET (VID), The Metropolitan Guide to Opera on Video - edited by Paul Gruber - W.W. Norton & Co. Ltd. - 1997
More EJS, More EJS: Discography of the Edward J. Smith Recordings by William Shaman - William J. Collins - Calvin M. Goodwin - Greenwood Press 1999
Newton (Verdi), Verdi - Tutti i libretti d'opera edited by Piero Mioli
Penguin, The Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Discs by Edwin Greenfield - Robert Layton - Ivan March - Penguin Books 1993
Discos Gramófono (Barcelona), Compañía del Gramófono Sociedad Anónima Española
Gramófono (Barcelona), Compañía del Gramófono Sociedad Anónima Española
