I do not know if this release was in the planning or a rush job when the
news came through of the great tenor’s death on 25 July 2014. Nevertheless
it carries an
In Memoriam sticker on the case with the statement
"The ultimate highlights from his RCA and Columbia recordings".
Without doubt the death of Carlo Bergonzi (1924-2014) marked the passing of
arguably the finest Italian tenor of the second half of the twentieth
century. Fortunately for us his recorded legacy is extensive. He never was a
contracted artist for one label, as so many were in the period from 1950 to
1980.
It seems strange to label him as such a fine tenor when his stage debut
was as a baritone. For a period during World War 2 he was a German prisoner
of war and interned after which he studied first at the Parma Conservatory
and then at the Boito Conservatory before making his stage debut as Mozart’s
Figaro. Other baritone parts followed such as Germont in Verdi’s
La
Traviata, Marcello in Puccini’s
La Bohéme and standing in for
Tito Gobbi, no less, as
Rigoletto. Perhaps it was the last of those
roles that convinced him that his future lay as a tenor. Recognising his
ease with the relatively high tessitura of the former roles and the lack of
heft and depth of tone demanded by the latter, he withdrew from the stage.
He retrained his voice himself, emerging as a tenor in
Andrea
Chenier in 1951. In that same year, the fiftieth anniversary of Verdi’s
death, he also appeared in a number of the composer’s early works that made
it onto record on the Italian Cetra label. Later in the 1960s I heard
examples of those recordings when Rare Records of Manchester hit problems
with their franchise of the Cetra label and stock became available at
somewhat less than the normal LP price.
Having made his La Scala debut in 1953, interest in his strong lyric voice
with
spinto potential quickly took him to London and the USA
singing roles including Alvaro in
La Forza del Destino and Radames
in
Aida at the Met in 1956, the former being his Covent Garden
debut in 1962. His recorded repertoire blossomed during the 1960s as the
various labels sought to provide stereo recordings of the mainstream
operatic repertoire. RCA, a major player at the time, started making studio
recordings of successful opera productions largely with the casts seen at
the Met. One of the earliest was that of
Macbeth in 1959 with
Leonard Warren, who was to die tragically on the stage of the Met, in the
title role. Bergonzi was there as Macduff (tr.9) and his strong characterful
lyric voice is clearly evident. RCA, quickly recognising the costs of studio
recordings at home in America quickly transferred to Rome. As the Rome Opera
House forces were contracted elsewhere they invented the name RCA Opera
Orchestra and Chorus for essentially the same forces. Many of the opera
recordings present in this collection originated from the above
arrangement.
The obvious advantage of the recordings was the use of star singers well
versed in their roles. The downside is the use of conductors such Leinsdorf
and Prêtre who were less than sympathetic to the Verdi idiom than Giulini,
and later Gardelli, who were recording elsewhere. Also, until RCA’s brief
liaison with Decca, the sonic quality of the recordings was not of the very
best. The better side of this arrangement was the presence of an idiomatic
Italian chorus, always essential in Verdi, and casts that matched Bergonzi’s
elegance and sense of Italianate style. Names such as Leontyne Price and
Montserrat Caballé feature alongside Renata Scotto, Anna Moffo, Shirley
Verrett and the ever-reliable Robert Merrill.
From the days of LP and later CD I have owned, and still own in the case
of CD, nearly all of the complete versions from which the operatic extracts
on CD 1 are taken. My favourites for exemplifying the qualities of
Bergonzi’s singing, vocal elegance, characterisation and phrasing, along
with the burnished golden tone and perfect legato, are heard to perfection
in the extracts from the more lyric roles such as Alfredo in
La
Traviata, Riccardo in
Un Ballo in Maschera and Edgardo from
Donizetti’s
Lucia di Lammermoor. As I have noted above, and unusual
in his voice type, it was Bergonzi’s ability to bring those same skills to
the heavier demands of Alvaro in
La Forza del Destino and Radames
in
Aida, which he recorded for EMI and Decca respectively. These
mark him out as a paragon of tenors of his generation. He only attempted
Otello in a concert performance after he retired from the stage.
Although he got through rehearsals he cracked in the performance itself. On
record he notably appeared in Erik Smith’s early Verdi recordings for
Philips of
Attila and
I Masnadieri in 1972 and 1974
respectively. These led to his recording of thirty-one Verdi arias, all
conducted by Nello Santi except the two early Verdi pieces which were under
Lamberto Gardelli. The thirty-one include
Dio! mi potevi scagliar
and
Niun mi tema from
Otello along with Fenton’s lyric
Dal labbro il canto from
Falstaff; the later three wholly
different in vocal demand yet met superbly (Philips 432 486-2 - 3 CDs). A
decade later he and Joan Sutherland sang Lucia and Edgardo from
Lucia di
Lammermoor at Covent Garden. According to contemporary accounts in
Opera Magazine and elsewhere they sang everybody off the stage, this
confirmed by the not wholly independent conductor of the performances,
Richard Bonynge, in a conversation with me in 2014 when discussing Bergonzi
and contemporary tenors.
On stage Bergonzi was not one of nature's natural actors. He tended
to be rather static, often caressing the note with one hand as he sang. An
apocryphal story went the rounds: the famous Italian director Zeffirelli
pleading with him to "usa da other hand", to which Bergonzi was
said to have replied "I keepa dat for Tosca". I was lucky enough
to hear him live as Riccardo, a role ideally suited to him. I did not worry
about his non-acting. I just closed my eyes and gloried in his wonderful
golden tone, elegant phrasing and nuanced way with Verdi’s words to build
the perfect picture in my mind.
The second disc of this double set takes in Bergonzi singing Italian songs
with John Wustman accompanying. Recorded in Carnegie Hall in April 1977 it
finds the singer in top form. Listening to his phrasing and legato brought
back memories of listening to Schipa and Gigli on Red Label 78s. He could
stand comparison with those masters, the former of whom would never have
dared assay the
spinto roles that Bergonzi undertook with so much
distinction. If restricted to utmost brevity I would choose one word to
accompany the vocal virtues I indicate above, it would be "taste".
Bergonzi was the antithesis of the "can belto" Italian tenors of
the period.
In view of my eulogistic comments as to Bergonzi’s singing, you may ask
why no imprimatur of
Recording of the Month? The fact is RCA have
spoiled the ship for a pennyworth of thought. Why not set the extracts from
each opera in sequence rather than spread them throughout CD1. They could
have achieved cohesion either in order of composition or recording date but
above all keeping the extracts from each opera together. To have this
sublime singing of Alfredo scattered between tracks 4, 5, 10, 13 and 18 is a
travesty of taste. Likewise the sequencing that has his first RCA recording,
from
Macbeth at tr.9, sandwiched between Riccardo’s act 1 canzone
Di’ tu se fedele from
Ballo in Maschera recorded in 1966
(tr.6) and the
Lucia di Lammermoor extracts of 1965 (trs.7-8)
followed by
Lunge da lei from the
La Traviata recorded in
1967 (tr.9). Verdian style and the singer’s maturity could have been issues
better addressed in the sequencing of the extracts. The Decca two CD issue
titled
The Sublime Voice of Carlo Bergonzi covers a generous
selection of the tenor’s opera recordings for the company. It spans his
first duo recordings of
Madama Butterfly and
La Boheme,
published in 1958-59, to that of
La Gioconda of 1967. It also takes
in his
Ballo under Solti,
Traviata with Sutherland under
Pritchard and
Rigoletto and
Don Carlo, among others. This
is a veritable feast of well recorded extracts, those from each opera set
together and with published dates and other singers readily identified.
Bergonzi also recorded for EMI, notably as Cavaradossi to Callas’ Tosca in
her 1964 stereo recording and, more importantly, as Alvaro in the
unsurpassed 1969 recording of
La Forza del Destino under Gardelli
(EMI. 7 64646 2. 3 CDs). He also recorded a selection of
Neapolitan
Songs in Madrid in 1972 that appeared on the
Ensayo label
(ENY-CD-3416).
The accompanying leaflet has an essay, in English, titled
The Great
Carlo Bergonzi along with a track-list and haphazard presentation of
recording dates, conductors and other singers involved.
Robert J Farr
Contents
CD 1
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Luisa Miller
Scene ed aria: Oh! Fede negar potessi ... Quando le sere al placido
[5.38]
Ernani
Mercè, diletti amici: Come rugiada al cespite [4.22]
Dell' esiglio nel dolore[3.26]
La Traviata
Libiamo ne' lieti calici [3.03]
Un dì felice eterea [3.18]
Lunge da lei; De' miei bollenti spiriti [4.07]
Parigi, o cara [4.24]
Oh, mio rimorso! [2.59]
Un ballo in Maschera
Di' tu se fedele [3.10]
E scherzo, od è follia [3.29]
Ma se m'è forza perderti [2.48]
La rivedra nel' estai [2.10]
Macbeth
O figli; Ah, la paterna mano [3.53]
Messa da Requiem
Dies irae, Ingemisco [3.50]
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848)
Lucia di Lammermoor
Tombe degli avi miei [3.59]
Fra poco a me ricovero [3.22]
Sulla tomba che rinserra [3.04]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
Edgar (conclusion), Bella signora [5.44]
CD 2
VARIOUS
1. Vaga luna che inargenti (Bellini) [3.37]
2. Stornello (Verdi) [1.51]
3. Se…Luigi Denza (Mancini) [4.41]
4. Me voglio fa'na casa (Donizetti) [2.19]
5. O del mio amato ben (Donaudy) [3.45]
6. Vaghissima sembianza (Donaudy) [2.45]
7. O primavera! (Bonetti) [2.31]
8. Occhi di fata (Denza) [3.42]
9. La promessa from Les soirées musicales (Rossini) [3.42]
10. Serenata (Mascagni) [3.26]
11. Tormento! (Tosti) [4.33]
12. L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra (Tosti) [2.45]
13. Ideale (Tosti) [3.37]
14. Lolita (Peccia) [2.38]
15. Non ti scordar di me (De Curtis) [3.13]
16. La danza from Les soirées musicales (Rossini) [3.04]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
Edgar
17. Orgia, chimera dall'occhio vitreo [5.46]
