Here are riches indeed - some of the greatest performances ever
of all of Puccini’s operas with the exception of the early
Villi, Edgar and Manon Lescaut and the
neglected La rondine. All the recordings date from the
1950s, but most were, in their day, regarded as among the best
versions available, and the sound generally remains quite listenable
if not ideally rich.
Let us get the one exception to this out of the way first. The
live recording of La Fanciulla del West is interesting
for Mitropoulos’s vigorous and impassioned conducting,
but for very little else. Mario del Monaco was pretty vulgar
in his later Decca stereo reading of the opera, but here the
vulgarity is almost totally unalloyed by the slightest hint
of subtlety, and he is sometimes reduced to unmusical shouting.
Eleanor Steber, who was basically a lyric soprano and a very
good one at that, is way out of her depth in the more dramatic
sections of the score, of which there are many. The stentorian
Gian Giacomo Guelfi is just out of his depth. EMI did make a
recording of the opera five years later, with the young Birgit
Nilsson in the title role, but it would appear that Regis have
been unable to access this recording even though it would appear
to be out of copyright by now. Be that as it may, the recording
here is pretty terrible and the applause of the audience interrupts
the flow of the music too often. Even the beautiful solo for
Jake Wallace cannot survive this sort of sound. This reading
does not appear to have been made available except in this Regis
transfer, and to be frank this is not very surprising.
On the other hand the earlier Callas Tosca which we are
given here has acquired a legendary reputation, and quite rightly
too. Forget about the mono sound - which has nevertheless a
surprising degree of presence and resonance; here we have a
great artist in her absolute prime - and Callas in her prime
was great, whatever may have happened afterwards - with
her traditional sparring partner in Gobbi and her traditional
leading man in di Stefano. All three later re-recorded their
roles in stereo, but by that date the voices of Callas and di
Stefano were both in sad decline, and Gobbi, for all the increased
subtlety of his later reading, did not surpass his earlier reading
for sheer vehemence. Those who are sceptical about Callas really
need to see the video of Act Two which she recorded at Covent
Garden - for all the fallibility of her voice she really was
a superb actress - and this recording gives us a chance to appreciate
her art before her voice all too soon started to decay. By the
way, in a recent review of a Verona production on DVD I referred
to Sardou’s play as a “creaking melodrama”.
This was unjust. Sardou’s play itself was a finely woven
tissue of historical research and fictional characters; by the
time Giacosa and Illica had cut it back to its bare essentials,
nothing was left but the “melodrama” to which I
alluded so disparagingly. Callas can almost convince us that
the elaborate background of Sardou’s original was in her
mind when she delved so deeply into the dramatic aspects of
the role.
Callas’s recording of Turandot which is also included
in this collection is more of a mixed blessing. Her voice was
not really cut out for the role of the icy princess, and the
dramatic subtlety which she brought to her singing is rather
wasted here. Sutherland in her recording of more than twenty
years later showed that a dramatic coloratura could tackle
a role that is traditionally associated with Wagnerian heldensoprani
‘slumming it’ in Puccini, but Callas doesn’t
have the same steely sheen that makes Sutherland so impressive.
In the same way Schwarzkopf’s subtlety of shading is quite
out of character in the basically simple and compassionate role
of the slave girl. She does not sound even vaguely Italianate
- was her producer and husband Walter Legge trying to get her
set up for a profitable career in Italian opera? Eugene Fernandi
simply is not glamorous enough for the part of Calaf, which
really demands a dramatic Italian tenor with a melting centre;
Pavarotti and Domingo in modern days have shown us how this
can be done, and Corelli and del Monaco showed similar if rather
less nuanced aptitudes for the role in earlier generations.
Fernandi is a lyric tenor pure and simple, and he has to strain
and force uncomfortably in the many stressful climaxes; he is
ill-advised to take the optional top C towards the end of the
Second Act, which sounds as if it has been ‘spliced’
in from another take - track 4, 2.34. Giuseppe Nessi as the
Emperor adopts a ‘funny voice’ for the old man which
is neither funny, musical, nor very audible. Serafin could be
a somewhat lackadaisical conductor, but he injects plenty of
venom and energy into the score even if the end of the First
Act could do with more sheer drive and momentum. He makes all
the cuts which once used to be standard in the scene of the
Masks at the beginning of the Second Act; these are annoying
although the singing of the three ministers in the scene is
not of the best, even though they do try to produce the falsetto
sound required by the composer at places.
Similarly incomplete, in a different way, is Belezza’s
reading of Il tabarro. In order to create a realistic
impression of Parisian city life, Puccini wrote into the score
at various points cues for motor horns and tugboat sirens. Belezza
simply omits these - did he find them ‘unmusical’?
- and thereby undermines a whole dimension of the composer’s
intentions. The sound is not really glamorous enough for this
Debussian score, with the voices set very far forward; and Giacinto
Prandelli is a very unglamorous Luigi with a voice almost totally
lacking in romantic ardour. Margaret Mas is better if somewhat
matronly, but this set is primarily recommendable for Gobbi’s
barge-master, an interpretation at once subtle and menacing.
The young Piero de Palma, the regular Italian comprimario
in so many sets of the period, displays a beautifully lyric
line as one of the offstage lovers. Belezza is quite brisk in
places - he hustles Miriam Pirazzini in her aria - but the final
scenes expand more appropriately.
The recordings of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi
were originally made separately but were included with Il
tabarro in a boxed set when they were reissued by EMI in
1976 as part of a complete Trittico. The recording of
the comedy was made in stereo, and despite a somewhat forward
placing of the voices still sounds good; that for Angelica
was mono, but the orchestral balance remains exemplary and for
once we can clearly hear the unorthodox scoring for offstage
piano duet and organ in the final scene. The performances are
both very good, with many of the best Italian singers of the
period clearly enjoying themselves in various character parts.
Victoria de los Angeles is superlative in Angelica -
although the high pianissimo at the end of Senza mamma
and her high C later clearly strain her to the utmost, and could
be more delicately poised - and nicely contrasted as Lauretta
in Schicchi; Gobbi in the latter is a model of sly humour,
recalling in many ways his Falstaff. Fedora Barbieri has the
deep notes required for the Aunt in Angelica but rises
magnificently to her climaxes in a properly implacable manner,
quite simply one of the best vocal assumptions on disc. There
is more light and shade to the character than she finds here.
The conducting on both discs is superb, a model of how these
scores should be handled; Serafin clearly and quite rightly
loves the often-underrated Suor Angelica, and gives a
magnificent performance of the atmospheric ‘intermezzo’
which leads into the final scene.
For Madama Butterfly we are given the 1954 EMI recording
with Victoria de los Angeles as opposed to that made by the
same company two years later with Callas. The Spanish soprano
cannot match Callas in the subtlety of her interpretation, but
her very feminine heroine makes a touching impression and she
rises with strength to the moments of high passion. Similarly
Gavazzeni as a conductor misses many of the points that Karajan
supplied for Callas. His reading is nevertheless nicely paced
and has plenty of atmosphere even if the recording lacks the
weight that the climactic moments ideally demand and the orchestral
playing is sometimes rather untidy. Gobbi is again a tower of
strength, making the American consul a sympathetic character
but also bringing out the strength of personality in a character
who has more moral integrity than his anti-heroic compatriot.
In that role di Stefano is at the peak of his form, and assumes
the part of the playboy with a facility that probably came only
too naturally to him.
This leaves us with the famous Beecham recording of La Bohème.
The old magician stamps his personality on the score from the
fizzing beginning - there is plenty of sly humour - and the
sound is nicely balanced if inevitably somewhat dated. Beecham
is sometimes very slow but he wrings out every ounce of emotion
from the score, and he has an exceptionally fine cast. Victoria
de los Angeles is ideal as the impoverished seamstress, and
the Bohemians are a characterful bunch even if Lucine Amara
produces a rather curdled tone as Musetta. The set - and the
bonus tracks provided - however highlight Jussi Björling,
and rightly so. “Son un poeta”, he sings, and he
is a poet indeed, phrasing with a delicate rubato and
providing plenty of passionate emotion. It is not a conventionally
Italianate voice, but it has the right sort of ring, and he
does not spoil the end with histrionic sobbing - like so many
of his rivals on disc. The bonus tracks on this CD spotlight
him in three arias from Manon Lescaut, singing with rather
more generalised ardour; two of the tracks here are drawn from
the complete RCA recording. The two tracks from Tosca
bring very good sound, but the much earlier recording of the
aria from La fanciulla suffers from a very backward orchestral
balance which detracts from Björling’s forthright
performance. The valuable collection concludes with a wartime
recording of Nessun dorma which displays a young Björling
in more lyrical mood than in his later recording with Nilsson
- no chorus. His drinking companion Grevillius conducts with
plenty of feeling for the needs of the singer.
The bonus tracks are otherwise of variable importance. It seems
odd to include excerpts from the Beecham Bohème
at the end of Suor Angelica when we already have the
complete performance elsewhere in this collection, but presumably
this reflects the original single issue of that opera. We have
two versions of Donde lieta usci. Olivero is set very
forward in a pretty abysmal recording - the sound in the arias
from Manon Lescaut is no better, although somewhat stronger
in Sola, perduta, abbandonata - and her voice sounds
unnaturally thin in the 1949 tracks if rather better in the
1950 recording. Victoria de los Angeles, in different readings
to those on the Beecham recording, is more substantial in tone
but the orchestra is rather backwardly placed. We also have
Welitsch and Tucker in the love duet from Tosca, a very
good recording for its date (1950) with the two singers giving
a beautifully nuanced performance, although Welitsch in Vissi
d’arte pales next to Callas. Bidù Sayao in
O mio babbino caro produces a very ‘period’
sound and her performance is very straightforward. The recorded
sound is good for its period.
The box contains neither synopses, nor texts/translations, but
presumably those wishing to collect these operas and these recordings
will already have these available elsewhere. Those wanting a
‘bumper box’ of Puccini operas in more modern sound
could perhaps be more safely directed to Decca’s ‘definitive
collection’ which includes Sutherland and Pavarotti under
Mehta in Turandot (highly recommendable), Karajan’s
Butterfly and Bohème with Freni and Pavarotti
(both extremely good), the same singers with Rescigno in Tosca
and with Levine in Manon Lescaut. They will need to look
elsewhere for a Fanciulla del West, but the same could
be said of this collection; and for the Trittico operas
Pappano’s EMI set is probably the best of those currently
available.
This Regis collection does not include Manon Lescaut,
but it does have all the other mature Puccini works. The performances
as a whole would be a valuable supplement to any opera-lover’s
collection, not just for a reminder of how things were done
in the 1950s but as priceless documents in their own right.
We must be grateful for the opportunity to acquire these recordings
in such a convenient format and at such a reasonable cost.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Masterwork Index: La
Bohème
Details
La Bohème (1896)
Jussi Björling (tenor) - Rodolfo; Victoria de los Angeles
(soprano) - Mimi; Robert Merrill (baritone) - Marcello; John
Reardon (baritone) - Schaunard; Lucine Amara (soprano) - Musetta;
Giorgio Tozzi (bass) - Colline; Fernando Corena (bass) - Alcindoro,
Benoit; William Nahr (tenor) - Parpignol; Thomas Powell (bass)
- Customs officer; George del Monte (bass) - Sergeant; Columbia
Boychoir, RCA Victor Chorus and Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham,
RCA recording, 1956
Tosca (1900)
Maria Callas (soprano) - Tosca; Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor)
- Cavaradossi; Tito Gobbi (baritone) - Scarpia; Franco Calabrese
(bass) - Angelotti; Melchiorre Luise (baritone) - Sacristan;
Angelo Mercuriali (tenor) - Spoletta; Darlo Caselli (bass) -
Sciarrone, Gaoler; Alvaro Cordova (treble) - Shepherd boy; La
Scala Chorus and Orchestra/Victor de Sabata (not as shown in
the booklet), EMI recording, 1953
Madama Butterfly (revised version, 1904)
Victoria de los Angeles (soprano) - Butterfly; Giuseppe di Stefano
(tenor) - Pinkerton; Tito Gobbi (baritone) - Sharpless; Anna
Maria Canali (mezzo) - Suzuki; Maria Huder (mezzo) - Kate Pinkerton;
Renato Ercolani (tenor) - Goro; Arturo la Porta (bass) - Bonze;
Bruno Sbalchiero (bass) - Imperial commissioner; Rome Opera
Chorus and Orchestra/Gianandrea Gavazzeni, EMI recording, 1954
La Fanciulla del West (1910)
Eleanor Steber (soprano) - Minnie; Mario del Monaco (tenor)
- Johnson; Gian Giacomo Guelfi (baritone) - Rance; Piero de
Palma (tenor) - Nick; Vito Susca (baritone) - Ashby; Enzo Viaro
(bass) - Sonora; Brenno Ristori (tenor) - Trin; Lido Pettini
(tenor) - Sid; Virgilio Carbonari (bass) - Bello; Valiano Natali
(bass) - Harry; Enzo Guagni (baritone) - Joe; Agostino Ferrin
(tenor) - Happy; Giorgio Giorgetti (baritone) - Larkens; Paolo
Washington (bass) - Billy; Laura Didier (mezzo) - Wowkle; Giorgio
Tozzi (bass) - Jake; Mario Frosini (bass) - Castro; Alberto
Lotti Camici (Post rider) Chorus and Orchestra of Maggio Musicale
Fiorentini/Dimitri Mitropolous, live recording, 1954
Il tabarro (1918)
Tito Gobbi (baritone) - Michele; Margaret Mas (soprano) - Giorgetta;
Giacinto Prandelli (tenor) - Luigi; Piero de Palma (tenor) -
Tinca, Lover; Plinio Clabassi (bass) - Talpa; Mariam Pirazzini
(contralto) - Frugola; Renato Ercolani (tenor) - Song-seller;
Sylvia Bertona (soprano) - Lover; Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Vincenzo
Bellezza, EMI recording, 1956
Suor Angelica (1918)
Victoria de los Angeles (soprano) - Angelica; Fedora Barbieri
(mezzo) - Zia Principessa; Lidia Marimpietri (soprano) - Genovietta;
Santa Chrissari (Osmina; Mina Doro (contralto) - Abbess; Rome
Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Tullio Serafin, EMI recording, 1957
Gianni Schicchi (1918)
Tito Gobbi (baritone) - Schicchi; Victoria de los Angeles (soprano)
- Lauretta; Carlo del Monte (tenor) - Rinuccio; Anna Maria Canali
(mezzo) - Zita; Lidia Marimpietri (soprano) - Nella; Paolo Montarsolo
(bass) - Simone; Adelio Zagonara (baritone) - Gherardo; Claudio
Cornoldi (treble) - Gherardino; Saturno Meletti (bass) - Betto;
Fernando Valentini (bass) - Marco; Giuliana Raymondi (mezzo)
- Ciesca; Rome Opera Orchestra/Gabriele Santini, EMI stereo
recording, 1958
Turandot (1926)
Maria Callas (soprano) - Turandot; Eugenio Fernandi (tenor)
- Calaf; Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) - Liu; Nicola Zaccaria
(bass) - Timur; Giuseppe Nessi (tenor) - Altoum; Mario Borriello
(baritone) - Ping; Renato Ercolani (tenor) - Pang; Piero de
Palma (tenor) - Pong, Prince of Persia; Giulio Mauri (baritone)
- Mandarin; Elisabetta Fusco and Pinuccia Perotti (sopranos)
- Voices; La Scala Chorus and Orchestra/Tullio Serafin, EMI
recording, 1954
Bonus Tracks listed at the end of review
Bonus Tracks
Manon Lescaut
Donna non vidi mai
Jussi Björling, Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra/Nils Grevillius
rec. 1948
In quelle trine morbide: Sola, perduta, abandonnata
Magda Olivero, RAI Turin Orchestra/Alfredo Simonetti rec. 1949
Ah! Manon, mi tradisce: Presto in fila…No! Pazzo son!
Jussi Björling, Licia Albanese, Franco Calabrese, Enrico
Campi, Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Jonel Perlea rec. 1954
La Bohème
Si, mi chiamano Mimi: Donde lieta usci
Victoria de los Angeles, Rome Opera Orchestra/Giuseppe Morelli
rec. 1954
Si, mi chiamano Mimi: O soava fanciulla: Addio…Donde
lieta usci
[from the Beecham recording listed above]
Donde lieta usci
Magda Olivero, RAI Turin Orchestra/Alfredo Simonetti rec. 1949
Tosca
Recondita armonia: E lucevan le stelle
Jussi Björling, Swedish Radio Orchestra/Nils Grevillius
rec. 1950
Love duet: Vissi d’arte
Ljuba Welitsch, Richard Tucker, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Max
Rudolf rec. 1950
La Fanciulla del West
Ch’ella mi creda
Jussi Björling, Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra/Nils Grevillius
rec. 1937
Gianni Schicchi
O mio babbino caro
Bidù Sayao, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Pietro Cimara
rec. 1947
Turandot
Signore, ascolta: Tu che di gel sei cinta
Maria Callas, Philharmonia Orchestra/Tullio Serafin rec. 1954
Nessun dorma
Jussi Björling, orchestra/Nils Grevillius rec. 1944
REGIS RRC 9011 [13 CDs: c.14:00:00] 