A Tribute to Mirella Freni
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858 – 1924)
La bohème (1896)
Mirella Freni (soprano) – Mimi; Luciano Pavarotti (tenor) – Rodolfo; Sandra
Pacetti (soprano) – Musetta; Gino Quilico (baritone) – Marcello; Nicolai Ghiaurov
(bass) – Colline; Stephen Dickson (baritone) – Schaunard; Italo Tajo (bass)
– Benoit/Alcindoro;
Chorus and Orchestra of the San Francisco Opera/Tiziano Severini
Stage Director: Francesca Zambelli; Set Design: David Mitchell; Costume Design:
Jeanne Button and Peter J Hall; Directed for video by Brian Large
rec. San Francisco Opera, 1988
PCM Stereo, Dolby Stereo; Picture format: 4:3
ARTHAUS MUSIC 100 047 [116:00]
Umberto GIORDANO (1867-1948)
Fedora (1898)
Mirella Freni (soprano) – Princess Fedora Romanov; Adelina Scarabelli (soprano)
– Countess Olga Sukarev; Plácido Domingo (tenor) – Count Loris Ipanov; Alessandro
Corbelli (baritone) – De Siriex, diplomat; Silvia Mazzoni (contralto) – Dimitri;
Ernesto Gavazzi (tenor) – Desiré; Aldo Bottoni (tenor) – Baron Rouvel; Luigi
Rono (baritone) – Cirillo, coachman; Alfredo Giacomotti (bass) – Gretch, police
officer and others
Coro and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala/Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Directed for Stage and TV by Lamberto Puggelli; Set and Costume Design: Luida
Spinatelli
rec. live, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, May 1993
Sound Format: DD 5.1; DTS 5.1; LPCM STEREO; Picture Format: 4:3 NTCS
ARTHAUS MUSIC 107 143 [113:00]
Mirella Freni: A Life Devoted to Opera
featuring Placido Domingo, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Herbert von Karajan, Luciano
Pavarotti
PCM Stereo; Picture format 16:9
ARTHAUS MUSIC 101 519 [58:00]
ARTHAUS MUSIC 101 485 [3 DVDs: 116:00 + 113:00 + 58:00]
Mirella Freni, born in Modena, Italy, on 27 February 1935, became one of the
best-loved sopranos during the second half of the 20th century.
She made her stage debut in 1955 at Modena, singing Micaëla in Carmen,
a role that was to be one of her signature roles during most of her career.
Her final appearance was in April 2005 in Washington, where, aged 70, she
sang the role of the teenage Joan of Arc in Tchaikovsky’s Orleanskaya Deva.
This box, issued in 2005, is thus a triple celebration of milestones.
The DVD A Life Devoted to Opera was, I understand, produced specifically
for these anniversaries and as portrayed in scenes from stage productions,
through interviews, extracts from her master-classes and appreciations from
friends and colleagues, she stands out as just as nice and lovely as we have
already realized in articles and, most of all, on her many superb recordings.
I see no need to review that disc but recommend it heartily to all her many
admirers.
Mimi in La bohème was another of her great roles, which she recorded
commercially twice, first for EMI in the early 1960s opposite Nicolai Gedda
(who by the way said in an interview a while ago that Mirella was his favourite
soprano) and a decade later for Decca under Herbert von Karajan and opposite
Luciano Pavarotti, with whom she grew up. This has, ever since it was new,
been regarded as the classic recording of the opera, rubbing shoulders
with Sir Thomas Beecham’s EMI recording with Jussi Björling and Victoria de
los Angeles. On this DVD from San Francisco 1988 Pavarotti and Freni again
join forces, together with Freni’s husband Nicolai Ghiaurov, who also took
part in the Karajan recording.
At the time more than fifteen years had passed since the Decca recording but
it is remarkable how well preserved the voices are. They were well past fifty
and Pavarotti had, during most of the 1980s, been accused of lack of subtlety
and striving more for volume and brilliance. The volume is there, the brilliance
as well, but we need only hear a few bars of Che gelida manina to realize
that here is a singer still in his prime and with a willingness to adjust
himself to the role, not adjust the role to himself. The nuances are there,
he sings a beautiful pianissimo and though he is impressive at the climax
he has no wish to be showy. Tiziano Severini favours rather swift tempos –
not in the Toscanini class – but Beecham and Karajan both afford the singers
more time to mould the phrases. When Mirella Freni takes over the baton for
Mi chiamano Mimi she is as fresh as ever, bar signs of wear on some
high-lying notes, but this is negligible when her acting is so enchanting.
The love duet is tender and soft – no showing off here. The third act, which
for many lovers of this opera is even more touching, goes extremely well too.
The blind infatuation of the first meeting has turned into harsh reality and
the vulnerability of both characters is tangible. Surely hankies are in hand
among the San Francisco audience.
But the real flood of tears comes in the final act, where the two children
of Modena surpass themselves. I believe that so tight were their bonds since
childhood that they inspired each other to great things when they met on stage.
It goes without saying that the main interest with this issue is focused on
Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti, but we must not forget the rest of the
cast. Sandra Pacetti is a slightly larger than life Musetta – and she should
be a more outgoing contrast to the timid Mimi. Gino Quilico is a youthful
and hot-tempered Marcello and sings well. Stephen Dickson manages to make
Schaunard really interesting, while Ghiaurov has lost some of the bloom in
his voice but still sings a noble coat aria. Veteran Italo Tajo is excellent
in the double bill of creating Benoit and Alcindoro.
The sets are very traditional which doesn’t bother me. Good lighting, especially
at the opening of act IV, where Rembrandt seems to have been the model.
The recording of Fedora was also issued in a similar box with Placido
Domingo as the common denominator and readers are referred to my review.
Mirella Freni, at the time approaching sixty, was beginning to show signs
of ageing but apart from a widening vibrato she is her usual self and the
interplay with Domingo is superb, the two having worked together on stage
on so many occasions.
I believe that I don’t need very much persuasiveness to convince readers that
La bohème with Freni and Pavarotti is a good bait. Maybe Fedora
is less enticing. Giordano and Puccini have at least one thing in common:
they take some time to warm up before things start to happen. But when all
the preparations are done with this is also a captivating opera and Freni
and Domingo are no doubt the equals of Freni and Pavarotti. The portrait of
Freni on the third DVD is so charming a bonus and the box is favourably priced
– so why hesitate?
Göran Forsling
Charming … and the box is favourably priced – so why hesitate?