It is nice to see the three Verdi operas with Franco Bonisolli back
in circulation again - and at such a give-away price! Originally these were
soundtrack recordings to German TV-productions and released on LP by Acanta.
They have also been available on CD, not long ago, on Arts. The quality of
the recording is good with the voices more forward than ideal but not
disturbingly so. With top-notch German orchestras - Staatskapelle Dresden
and Staatskapelle Berlin - conducted by some of the foremost Italian opera
conductors of the period and two of the most prestigious European opera
choruses, the prerequisites for successful end-products are well cared for.
So let’s see what swings and roundabouts there may be concerning
execution.
Franco Bonisolli had a reputation for being the typical Italian
tenor with voluminous long-held top notes, eccentric behaviour and
temperamental tendencies - at least during the latter part of his career. I
heard him several times in the late 1980s. In particular at the Arena di
Verona he sometimes lived up to his nickname “Il Pazzo” (The
Madman). He still had a marvellous voice, and in the 1970s, when these three
operas were recorded he was at the height of his powers and actually very
disciplined.
In
Rigoletto he introduces himself as a virile Duke of Mantua
in
Questa o quella and when he meets Gilda in the second scene he
sings
E il sol dell’anima with warmth and sensitivity. The
pianissimo end in unison is very well executed and he bids farewell with a
thrilling
Addio!
In the second act
Ella mi fu rapita he tends to over-sing,
but he is far from un-nuanced and his brilliant high notes are as thrilling
as those of any other tenor. There is glow in
Parmi veder but the
cabaletta is rather heavy-handed. In the third act
La donna e mobile
lacks the elegance of Bergonzi and Kraus but it is gloriously sung in terms
of sheer volume and brilliance. The quartet is excellent.
Rolando Panerai was one of the best Italian baritones during the
second half of the 20
th century, having made his debut in 1947
and having appeared as Germont in a French TV-production of
La
traviata in 2000 when he was 76. As recently as 2011 he sang Gianni
Schicchi in Genova, aged 87. As Rigoletto he doesn’t seem quite as
inside the character as his colleagues Gobbi and Taddei but is far more
involved than the stentorian Bastianini. His
Cortigiani is deeply
felt and in the previous act he is sonorous and intense, both in
Pari
siamo and in the long duet with Gilda - intense but with a lack of
nuance. Back to the second act - his
Piangi in that duet with Gilda
is more like a public proclamation than a private rage over the Duke.
It’s gloriously sung but I miss some softer undertones.
Si,
vendetta is suitably furious. The caring father is more present at the
beginning of the last act and the horror when he finds that it is Gilda and
not the Duke that is in Sparafucile’s sack, is movingly depicted.
His daughter Gilda is competently sung by Margherita Rinaldi, who
has solid technique but a not very pleasing tone. She is sensitive in her
phrasing and negotiates the coloratura with aplomb in
Caro nome. Most
memorable is her
Lassù in cielo in the final scene.
Bengt Rundgren is an imposingly malicious and ominous Sparafucile
and Viorica Cortez is a classy Maddalena in the last act. This is in fact
the best singing on this set and one wishes that the role had been much
bigger.
In the minor roles Antonin Svorc’s Monterone is worth noting
while some others are rather mediocre. Molinari-Pradelli’s conducting
is highly professional - he recorded the opera a decade earlier for EMI with
Cornell MacNeil and Nicolai Gedda - but not in the same league as Serafin,
Solti and Giulini.
Il trovatore was one of Bonisolli’s signature roles and
he recorded it twice, the second time for EMI under Karajan with Leontyne
Price as Leonora. Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic are the Rolls Royce
among orchestras but Staatskapelle Berlin, the orchestra of der Staatsoper
Unter den Linden, is at least in the Bentley class. Under the eminent
Bartoletti, associated with Lyric Opera of Chicago for 51 years and for some
periods artistic director of the Rome Opera and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino,
they play with gusto but also refinement. Bartoletti, whose
Manon
Lescaut with Caballé and Domingo I praised recently, again shows
good feeling for the ebb and flow of the music. This is no hard-driven
run-through of a score that has its fair share of blatant rum-ti-tum - the
galley years are not so far away after all. It is however a flexible
reading, where he is lenient with the singers’ wish to expand a phrase
here and press ahead there. Bartoletti was underrated, otherwise there would
have been many more recordings with him.
The level of the singing is more constantly on a higher plane here
than in
Rigoletto. In fact there is not a weak link in the line-up.
Giancarlo Luccardi is an expressive Ferrando when he relates the background
to his fellow soldiers.
Raina Kabaivanska’s Leonora is superb. She never possessed the
alternately creamy or smoky seductiveness of Leontyne Price, but she could
make every word tell in a way that was second only to Maria Callas.
Everybody who saw her filmed Tosca opposite Domingo will know what I mean.
Tacea la notte is wonderfully phrased and the cabaletta is a
tour
de force.
Giorgio Zancanaro is a vital Luna, a role he later recorded also for
Deutsche Grammophon under Giulini with Domingo, Plowright and Fassbaender.
Il balen is manly and nuanced and his scene with Leonora in the last
act (CD 8 tr. 5) finds both singers on top. This is Verdi singing at its
best.
Viorica Cortez again shows what a tremendously magnificent and
charismatic singer she was. Her Azucena ranks with the very best. Just
listen to her
Stride la vampa (CD 7 tr. 4) in act II and the rest of
that scene and again in the long finale (CD 8 tr. 6).
In act II Bonisolli also shows what a great singer he was in his
heyday.
Mal reggendo has rarely been better executed and in act III,
when his show-off moments come, he is not exactly well-behaved - Manrico is
a soldier. That said, it is a deeply infatuated man who sings
Ah, si ben
mio with lyric inwardness to begin with and then with glowing expansion.
Di quella pira is what one expects: a leather-lunged commander
signalling an imminent attack and his magnificent voice is just as
bloodcurdlingly heated as the flames rising at the horizon. The unauthentic
high C cuts through the air like a welding flame. No subtleties here; just
lots of emotion.
‘All you need for a successful
Trovatore is the four
greatest voices in the world’: a famous remark attributed to Caruso.
What we have here may not be exactly that, but very close. To me this
recording now joins the top five
Trovatores
.
With the same Berlin forces under the baton of one of the foremost
Verdi conductors of the post-war years, Lamberto Gardelli, the prerequisites
for an above average
La traviata are also well furnished. This is the
earliest recording of the three and Bonisolli, who started out singing roles
like Nemorino and Alfredo, is here at his most lyrical and youthful. He has
a lightness of approach that totally eluded a singer like Richard Tucker,
who managed to bark through the role and crush the frail Anna Moffo on an
RCA recording from around 1960. Bonisolli is flexible and human and it is
only in parts of his act II aria that he attempts to put more weight on the
music than necessary. On the other hand it is sheer gain to have spinto
resources for the big outbreak in the Flora scene in the same act. The
reunion with the dying Violetta in act III is also well handled.
In this opera the tenor unavoidably plays a secondary role to
Violetta, and Mirella Freni’s reading is second to none. On my
shortlist I have Callas, de los Angeles, Scotto and Cotrubas as finalists,
with the likes of Sutherland, Caballé, Sills, Moffo and Scotto II
eliminated in the semi-finals. Freni is a definite candidate for the
shortlist. A marvellous Mimi in
La bohème she is also ideal
casting for the other consumptive heroine in the world of opera. She blends
so well with Bonisolli in their duets. She manages the big act I aria with
the changes of moods in exemplary fashion. The distraught Violetta in the
Flora scene is greatly touching. In the last act, where she gradually leaves
this world but has a last eruption of life and hope before she dies, had me
struggling to stem the tears. The real greatness, however, lies in the long
scene with Giorgio Germont in act II. This is one of the most
psychologically credible scenes in all opera and she catches every facet.
Moreover she is at her creamiest vocally speaking, which makes this a
recording to return to over and over again - together with the other
finalists.
The third main soloist is also an asset. Veteran Sesto Bruscantini,
best known for his many buffo parts, was probably chosen for the film at
least as much for his acting abilities as for his singing. His vocal acting
is also considerable and though it can’t be denied that his many years
in the limelight had begun to take its toll on his vocal cords, resulting in
a slight unsteadiness, this is no serious drawback for the elderly gentleman
that Giorgio Germont is. The Violetta-Germont confrontation in act II,
referred to above, becomes uncommonly intense and charged with emotion in
this reading.
The various secondary roles are ably taken by German singers and by
the once famous Czech baritone Rudolf Jedlicka, who is an expressive Baron
Douphol.
The remaining operas are live recordings of two relatively early
works.
Ernani, premiered in March 1844 was a great success and was
Verdi’s most popular opera until nine years later when it was
superseded by
Il trovatore. It was also in 1904 the first opera to be
recorded complete.
I due Foscari was first seen in November 1844 and
was also quite popular, though not in the
Ernani class.
Live recording almost invariably means that there are intrusive
noises, caused by stage activity, audience reactions and so on. Movements of
the actors can also result in imbalance between stage and pit, when a singer
gets too far from the microphone. In this
Ernani these problems are
almost negligible, the orchestra well recorded and the singers life-like.
The opera as such is a bit uneven but there is quite a lot of top drawer
early Verdi. In particular his orchestral writing is far more sophisticated
than in the earlier works. The prelude to act III is so beautifully
orchestrated (CD 2 tr. 6). Giuliano Carella chooses sensible tempos -
nothing extreme. It seems that the work is in safe hands but not very
adventurous - not necessarily a bad thing.
The solo singing is also attractive. Vincenzo la Scola is musical,
intelligent and smooth-voiced but vocally a little weak. This is most
noticeable in his opening aria
Mercé, diletti amici ... Come
rugiada al cespide (CD 1 tr. 3), where I have been used to larger voices
like Bergonzi, Domingo and the stentorian but thrilling Mario Del Monaco. By
their side he tends to pale, but in his own right he is still an asset and
in the last act’s scene with Elvira,
Cessaro i suoni (CD 2 tr.
14) both he and Daniela Dessì are at their lyrical best. Dessì
has her great showpiece
Surte è la notte ... Ernani involami
also in the first act (CD 1 tr. 5-6). Technically she is excellent but there
are signs of strain. Michele Pertusi as Silva is also rather lyrical and
sings
his showpiece
Infelice (CD 1 tr. 11) very well, but his
voice is more baritone than true bass - the lowest notes are sketchy. The
best singing comes in the third act when Paolo Cono, (Don Carlo) has
his great moments in
Oh de’ verd’anni miei (CD 2
tr. 8). He sings like someone from the golden age with admirable legato and
thrilling top.
For those seeking a library recording of
Ernani this offering
is not the answer, though it is well worth a listen. Thomas Schippers’
RCA recording from 1967 with Leontyne Price, Carlo Bergonzi, Mario Sereni
and Ezio Flagello is probably the best - at present not available separately
as far as I have been able to find out; only included in a 30 CD Verdi box
from Sony. A more modern alternative, which
is available, is a La
Scala recording under Riccardo Muti (EMI) with a dream cast of Mirella
Freni, Placido Domingo, Renato Bruson and Nicolai Ghiaurov.
The recording of
I due Foscari from Torino is also noisy but
the sound in itself is clear and allows the listener to enjoy the many
touches of mastery in the orchestral writing. Here, in the mid-1840s, Verdi
was making advances for every new opera - unless he had too little time at
his disposal and resorted to more routine writing.
Maurizio Arena, who fittingly enough has been a recurring conductor
at the Arena di Verona, is a good advocate for this opera, which is a good
deal better than its reputation. The singers are more variable. Lorenza
Canepa, a soprano hitherto unknown to me, makes a shaky start, but later
turns out to have a quite beautiful voice, albeit a shade uneven. Nicola
Martinucci, one of those longstanding favourites at the Arena, is strong and
confident. Never the subtlest of singers he still has a brilliant voice of
the type that we seldom encounter today. Pertile, between the wars, and Del
Monaco, Corelli and Bonisolli come to mind. Martinucci and his close
contemporary Lamberti were also able to fill the enormous space of the Arena
with golden tone. Just listen to Martinucci in
Brezza del suol
natio(CD 3 tr. 3) to get a hint of his greatness. Just as in
Ernani it is the baritone who offers real greatness. Renato Bruson
was, for sure, approaching his fifties when this recording was made, but his
marvellous voice was still in wonderful shape.
Eccomi solo alfine ... O
vecchio cor, che batti (CD 3 tr. 6) with its evocative orchestral
introduction, is Verdi at his early best, and the music here is unmistakably
Verdian. The aria has probably never been so well sung, at least not in
modern times. In the act I finale Bruson also inspires the otherwise
variable Lorenza Canepa to surpass herself.
There are more good things to come in the other two acts. The deep
strings of the opening introduction to act II are atmospheric and
Jacopo’s aria that follows (CD 3 tr. 8) is another highlight in this
overlooked opera. Martinucci sings it with heroic conviction. Canepa veers
between squalliness and true spinto tones in the following scenes, but the
tenor and baritone both offer Verdi singing of distinction. There is some
quite good comprimario singing in the act II finale. In the third act Bruson
seems a bit off form - his vibrato is markedly wider. I don’t know
whether he tired or whether this act was recorded at another performance.
The soprano is however just as shaky as before.
Martinucci and Bruson should definitely be heard but for a library
version I would unhesitatingly advise readers to get the Gardelli recording
from 1977 with Ricciarelli, Carreras, Cappuccilli and Ramey. This is also
included in an even bigger Verdi box with 75 CDs but luckily also available
separately, at some dealers anyway.
None of the recordings in this box are really top contenders, though
Trovatore and
Traviata should satisfy discriminating
listeners. At the price - 10 CDs for little more than one full price CD, and
I have found the box advertised on German sites for 10 Euros - impecunious
readers can get five operas in decent sound and with several world class
singers in top shape.
Göran Forsling
Contents
CDs 1-2 [73:42 + 65:49]
Ernani
Vincenzo la Scola (tenor) - Ernani; Daniela Dessì (soprano) - Elvira;
Paolo
Coni (baritone) - Don Carlo; Michele Pertusi (bass) - Silva; Marina Giorgio
(soprano)
- Giovanna; Diego Cossu (tenor) - Don Riccardo; Riccardo Ristori (bass) -
Jago;
Coro da Camera di Bratislava, Orchestra Internazionale
d’Italia/Giuliano
Carella
rec. Live, 28-30 July, 2-4 August 1991
CDs 3-4 [76:46 + 32:35]
I due Foscari
Renato Bruson (baritone) - Francesco Foscari; Nicola Martinucci (tenor) -
Jacopo
Foscari; Lorenza Canepa (soprano) - Lucrezia Contarini; Armando Caforio
(bass)
- Jacopo Loredano; Redente Comacchio (tenor) - Barbarigo; Maria Gabriella
Onesti
(mezzo) - Pisana; Aurelio Faedda (tenor) - A servant of the Council of Ten
and
of the Senate; Bruno Marangoni (bass) - A doge’s servant; Orchestra e
Coro
del Teatro regio di Torino/Maurizio Arena
rec. live, December 1984
CDs 5-6 [62:21 + 51:31]
Rigoletto
Franco Bonisolli (tenor) - Duke of Mantua; Rolando Panerai (baritone) -
Rigoletto;
Margherita Rinalsi (soprano) - Gilda; Bengt Rundgren (bass) - Sparafucile;
Viorica
Cortez (mezzo) - Maddalena; Ilona Papenthin (mezzo) - Giovanna; Antonin
Svorc
(bass) - Count Monterone; Horts Lunow (baritone) - Marullo; Henno Garduhn
(tenor)
- Borsa; Peter Olesch (bass) - Count Ceprano; Maria Corelli (soprano) -
Countess
Ceprano; Silvia Pawlik (soprano) - a page; Chor der Staatsoper Dresden;
Staatskapelle
Dresden/Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
rec. 1977
CDs 7-8 [68:50 + 63:05]
Il trovatore
Franco Bonisolli (tenor) - Manrico; Raina Kabaivanska (soprano) - Leonora;
Giancarlo
Luccardi (bass) - Ferrando; Viorica Cortez (mezzo) - Azucena; Gisela Pohl
(soprano)
- Ines; Giorgio Zancanaro (baritone) - Count di Luna; Johannes Bier (tenor)
-
Ruiz; Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin; Staatskapelle Berlin/Bruno
Bartoletti
rec. 1975
CDs 9-10 [57:08 + 63:39]
La traviata
Mirella Freni (soprano) - Violetta Valery; Hania Kovicz (mezzo) - Flora
Bervoix;
Gudrun Schäfer (soprano) - Annina; Franco Bonisolli (tenor) - Alfredo
Germont;
Sesto Bruscantini (baritone) - Giorgio Germont; Peter Bindszus (tenor) -
Gastone;
Rudolf Jedlicka (baritone) - Barone Douphol; Heinz Reeh (bass) - Marchese
d’Obigny;
Hans Joachim Lukat (bass) - Dottore Grenvil; Chor der Staatsoper Berlin;
Staatskapelle
Berlin/Lamberto Gardelli
rec. 1973
