Nessun dorma - The art of the tenor.
track details below
DG 463 783-2 [73.12]
This is an essential purchase for anyone who cares about the future of recorded
music, even those (quite a few) who are not always drawn to vocal CDs. It
should lead the way to what can now be expected of the sensational recent
developments in recording technology, with its multitude of features which
purchasers may come to insist upon as routine in the foreseeable, and hopefully
not far distant, future.
The huge importance of this release is the quantum leap forward of its
pluscore
features. Web surfers will have no difficulty
in navigating the many features with which it is packed, following the
performances on the score (with a cursor that helpfully keeps your place)
alongside full texts (in the language of your choice) with conveniently
accessible background information about each aria and performer, with
photographs.
The packaging and presentation of this compilation of operatic arias and
scenes by a dozen fine tenors is blatantly populist, but if it brings in
huge sales I would not grudge its heavy bias and emphasis on the Big Three
(Nessun dorma is sung by Domingo, not Pavarotti), Wunderlich &
Bergonzi whose names alone appear on the cover. No one should be disappointed
and it may bring new converts to early opera with such delectable 'authentic'
performance excerpts with period orchestras as the Monteverdi (Rolf
Johnson/Gardiner) & Handel (Richard Croft/Minkowski), and welcome first
acquaintances with less famous tenors such as Frank Lopardo (Rossini) and
Neil Shicoff (Tchaikovsky).
The tracks have been intelligently selected from DG's huge archive of recordings
dating from 1964-98 and the overall standard is predictably high, so that
it serves also as a sampler for the CDs from which the performances have
been taken. The scores can be edited and printed, and the whole thing is
a bargain at any price. This approach will lead to a new level of appreciation
of music in home listening and study, and it will be indispensable for students.
Peter Grahame Woolf
Details
Monteverdi: Rosa del ciel (Orfeo) Anthony Rolfe Johnson The
English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner
Handel: Tu vivi, e punito (Ariodante) Richard Croft Les Musiciens
du Louvre Marc Minkowski
Rameau: Ah! faut-il, en un jour, perdre tout ce que j'aime?
(Hippolyte et Aricie) Jean-Paul Fouchécourt Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski
Mozart: Wenn der Freude Tränen fliessen Die Entführung
aus dem Serail) Fritz Wunderlich Bavarian State Opera Orchestra Eugen Jochum
Mozart: Dalla sua pace (Don Giovanni) Christoph
Prégardien John Eliot Gardiner
Mozart: Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Die
Zauberflöte) Fritz Wunderlich Berlin Philharmonic Karl Böhm
Rossini: Ecco ridente in cielo (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Luigi Alva London Symphony Orchestra Claudio Abbado
Rossini: Oh, come il cor di giubilo (L'Italiana in Algeri)
Frank Lopardo Wiener Philharmoniker Claudio Abbado
Donizetti: Una furtiva lagrima (L'elisir d'amore) Luciano
Pavarotti Metropolitan James Levine
Verdi: La donna è mobile (Rigoletto) Luciano Pavarotti
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra James Levine
Verdi: Se quel guerrier io fossi!... Celeste Aida (Aida)
Plácido Domingo Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Claudio Abbado
Verdi: Lunge da lei... De' miei bollenti spiriti (La
traviata) Luciano Pavarotti Metropolitan Opera Orchestra James Levine
Meyerbeer: Pays merveilleux... O paradis (L'Africaine)
Plácido Domingo Los Angeles Philharmonic Carlo Maria Giulini
Offenbach: Il était une fois à la cour
d'Eisenach (Les Contes d'Hoffman) Plácido Domingo Orchestre National
de France Seiji Ozawa Chorus of Radio France
Bizet: La fleur que tu m'avais jetée (Carmen)
José Carreras Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan
Tchaikovsky: Kuda, kuda, kuda vi udalilis (Lenski's aria) (Eugene
Onegin) Neil Shicoff Staatskapelle Dresden James Levine
Leoncavallo: Recitar! ...Vesti la giubba (Pagliacci) Carlo
Bergonzi Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Herbert von Karajan
Puccini: E lucevan le stelle (Tosca) José Carreras
Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan
Puccini: Nessun dorma (Turandot) Plácido Domingo
Vienna State Opera Chorus Wiener Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan
