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Renata
Tebaldi - Voice of Gold
Giuseppe
VERDI (1813 - 1901) Son giunta!...Madre pietosa Vergine (La Forza
del Destino) (1862) [6.31] (1) Le vergine degli angeli (La Forza del Destino)
(1862) [3.27] (1) Pace, pace mio Dio (La Forza del Destino) (1862)
[5.59] (1) Timor di me...D'Amor sull'ali rosee (Il Trovatore)
(1853) [4.56] (2) O patria mia (Aida) (1871) [6.53] (3) Addio del passato (La Traviata) (1853) [4.29]
(4) Era pių calma…Canzone del Salce ... Ave Maria (Otello)
(1887) [11.48] (5) Umberto GIORDANO (1867
- 1948) La mamma morta (Andrea Chenier) (1896) [6.00]
(6) Franceco CILEA (1866
- 1950) Ecco: respiro appena…Io son l'umile ancella (Adriana
Lecouvreur) (1902) [3.33] (7) Poveri fiori (Adriana Lecouvreur) (1902) [3.17]
(7) Alfredo CATALANI (1854
- 1893) Nč mai dunque avro pace (La Wally) (1892) [3.39]
(8) Pietro MASCAGNI (1863
- 1945) Ah! il suo nome…Flammen, perdonami (Lodoletta)
(1917) [4.32] (9) Giacomo PUCCINI (1858
- 1924) Sola, perduta, abbandonata (Manon Lescaut) (1893)
[3.21] (10) Signore, ascolta (Turandot) (1924) [2.45] (11) Tu che di gel sei cinta(Turandot) (1924)
[2.51] (12)
Renata
Tebaldi (soprano)
Luisa Ribacci (mezzo) (5)
Ugo Savarese (baritone) (6)
Mario del Monaco (tenor) (12)
Chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (1, 12); Orchestra
of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome/Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
(1, 10); Orchestra of the Grand Theatre, Geneva/Alberto
Erede (2); Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia,
Rome/Alberto Erede (3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12); Orchestra
of La Scala, Milan/Antonino Votto (4); Orchestra of RAI,
Turin/Arturo Basile (6)
rec. 1952 (3,4); 1953 (6, 11, 12); 1954 (5,10); 1955
(1,7,8,9); 1956 (2) REGIS RRC1297 [73.59]
The
careers of Renata Tebaldi's and Maria callas ran in parallel
and they had a number of roles in common. But whereas
Callas made her Italian debut in the dramatic title role
of La Gioconda, Tebaldi only moved into the more
dramatic repertory in the 1960s after a year off attending
to vocal problems.
This
new disc from Regis samples a selection of her main roles,
with arias all taken from a series of complete recordings
made for Decca in the 1950s. Often recordings were made
back to back during those summer months.
The
disc opens with three arias from La Forza del Destino.
As transferred here, the recordings themselves seem to
be showing their age. But once the ears are accustomed
to the orchestral sound, we can begin to appreciate what
made Tebaldi such a fine recording soprano.
Her
performance is not about the vividness of the moment,
such as with Callas's best recordings. Instead she gives
us strong musicianship, a fine silvery voice with a remarkable
range of power and a superb sense of line. You might
miss Callas's attention to detail, but Tebaldi is generous
with tone, superb of line - no squalling or wobbling
here - and able to deliver ravishing pianissimos. Though
not as detailed in characterisation as Callas, she does
not turn in a generic performance - her Leonora comes
over as a real person.
In D'Amore
sull'ali rosee, the other Leonora's aria from Il
Trovatore,Tebaldi's soft singing is superb
but her louder passages tend towards the steely. This
aria is followed by a touching account of O patria
mia from Aida. Tebaldi's bright, forward
vocal placement suggests Aida's youth, with a fine
flexibility of line. Though again the top is not quite
relaxed enough. Her Desdemona is near ideal, fragile
but not too girlish, distinctly womanly but still very
touching.
In La
mamma morta from Andrea Chenier Tebaldi
shows her fire. Here she is as vivid and dramatic as
one could wish, whilst retaining her fine sense of
line. This continues into the two items from Adiana
Lecouvreur where Tebaldi has the gift of seeming
to make the music more than it really is. The extract
from La Wally is the less familiar Ne
mai dunque avro pace and this is followed by the
equally unknown Flammen, perdonami from Mascagni's Lodoletta.
Both receive lovely musical performances.
Manon
Lescaut is represented
by Sola, perduta abbandonata, in which Tebaldi
displays her generous tone. Finally two items from Turandot where
she makes a touching Liu, but with a thread of steel
running through.
This
is an ideal disc for anyone unfamiliar with Tebaldi's
art. Whilst you may not wish to buy the complete recordings
you can hear the soprano in all her youthful prime.
Robert Hugill
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