Restored to quite acceptable mono sound with a lot of orchestral
detail and a great deal of power in the orchestral forte passages,
this 1955 recording can in no way compete with the spectacular
Karajan recording on Decca, set down in Vienna six years later.
On its own terms, however, it still has something to offer,
musically and theatrically. There is certainly no lack of drama,
the orchestral and choral forces of RAI in Torino are idiomatic
and Franco Capuana, a very experienced operatic conductor, keeps
the music on the move with fluent tempos. The choral sound is
thin and undernourished and thus the first act with its monumental
mass-scenes suffers. The sonorities of the chorus are also a
bit uneven with some acidulous sopranos petering out at climaxes.
Considering, though, that this is a 57-year-old recording from
a company that wasn’t famous for hi-fi and that these
sets mainly were broadcasts, performed at one go like any live
performance we have to be grateful for what we get, one soon
gets used to the limitations and the performance as such doesn’t
feel small-scale.
Among the soloists we recognize the names of some regulars at
the time. Tenors Angelo Mercuriali and Tommaso Soley, Cassio
and Rodrigo respectively, were able comprimarios and so was
Rina Corsi, who has very little to sing as Emilia, besides some
concerted scenes. Marco Stefanoni as Lodovico has a few moments
where his sonorous bass-baritone is exposed and one wishes this
role was bigger, but he still can’t erase memories of
Fernando Corena on the Karajan recording. None of these roles
are very important for the overall impression of Otello,
not even Cassio, though with a more positive and charismatic
singer he can come to life.
The one singer I was sure to find appealing was Giuseppe Taddei.
Roughly the same age as Tito Gobbi and Ettore Bastianini he
never became quite the international star as the other two.
‘The Italians gave Tito Gobbi to the world but kept Taddei
to themselves’, is a saying and there is perhaps a grain
of truth in that. He was however also a frequent guest at the
Vienna State Opera for many years and was seen in a number of
other houses as well. A further factor that made him less spectacular
for the public at large was his recorded legacy, which was fairly
small and, whereas Gobbi and Bastianini recorded extensively
for EMI and Decca respectively, Taddei stuck primarily to Cetra
with inferior sound and often with fellow soloists of lesser
stature. True, he recorded several Mozart roles for EMI, Macbeth
and Tosca for Decca and even recorded Pagliacci
for DG under Karajan.
Not blessed with the super voice of Bastianini and Merrill,
he was far more expressive than either and challenges Gobbi
in that respect. This Iago is a true evil character, and not
through high-strung histrionics but through understatements
and verbal acuity. The first act gives him few opportunities
to excel in verbal nuances; his drinking song i suitably swaggering
and malicious, but it is in the second act that he really takes
command. The opening scene where he injects his poison in the
innocent Cassio and then expresses his diabolic credo with chilling
malevolence is masterly, one can see his contorted face and
his glistering eyes and his laughter sends shivers down the
spine. Even more masterly is his way of trapping Otello, step
by step getting him under his spell and then delivering Era
la notte close to the ear of Otello, confident, insinuating
with honeyed tone. This is story telling of the highest order.
I knew nothing about the Otello, but looked him up and found
that Carlos M. Guichandut was Argentinean, born in 1914 and
started out as a baritone but later, when he came to Italy after
the war, he took on tenor roles. He sang his first Otello in
1954 and it quickly became one of his signature roles. He has
fairly little of the baritonal timbre that characterizes many
Otellos. His is a rather bright tone, a little Martinelli like
but not with the metallic intensity of his predecessor. He is
steady, he can scale down his not super-big instrument and he
has the stamina to carry through the evening without tiring,
without losing the brilliance. At times his singing approaches
shouting - at the end of act II he is very near his limits -
but he never goes over the top. In the lower reaches of the
voice the tone is on the dry side, but the top is unaffected.
Niun mi tema is sensitive and noble. Here he has freed
himself from the influence of Iago and realizes that he has
reached the final page of his life.
Cesy Broggini, singing Desdemona, was another unknown capacity
and initially I found her rather anonymous, singing well but
not more than that. She comes more on her own in the second
act, showing more soul, and in the third act, when her despair
comes really to the fore, she is deeply moving. Here she becomes
a real character, which is even more obvious in the last act,
where we peer straight into her tormented soul in the willow
song.
I approached the recording with some trepidation, suspecting
that Taddei’s Iago would be the only redeeming factor
but ended up being completely engrossed in the drama, the tenor
and soprano, previously not even names to me, leaping out of
the loudspeakers as two individuals of flesh and blood, making
this a recording to return to. I won’t give away the Panizza
set (Met, live 1939) or the Toscanini, nor the two Karajan sets
(Decca and EMI), Solti’s first (also Decca) with a marvellous
Desdemona in Margaret Price, will also stay in the collection,
where Levine (RCA) with Domingo’s first Otello and Alain
Lombard with Giacomini and again Price are mainstays and then
there is Chung’s 1994 recording (DG) with Domingo’s
third studio production. In other words, there is no lack of
good Otellos and I could also add a DVD from Verona with
Atlantov, Kiri Te Kanawa and Cappuccilli. If you are new to
this opera you could choose any of these - possibly bar Panizza
and Toscanini which are sonically not quite up to the mark -
and feel satisfied. When you want to explore alternatives this
Capuana set is more than worth its modest price. One really
can’t have two many versions of Otello to choose
from!
As usual Cetra’s original cover art has been retained,
lending period flavour to the issue. The score is recorded complete
- the only omission being the ballet music in act III, a loss
I can live with.
Göran Forsling
Carlos Guichandut (tenor) - Otello; Giuseppe Taddei (baritone) -
Jago; Angelo Mercuriali (tenor) - Cassio; Tommaso Soley (tenor)
- Rodrigo; Marco Stefanoni (bass) - Lodovico; Alberto Albertini
(bass) - Montano; Cesy Broggini (soprano) - Desdemona; Rina Corsi
(mezzo) - Emilia; Mario Conte (tenor) - Un Araldo 