Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Macbeth
Macbeth, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone); Lady Macbeth, Elena Suliotis (soprano); Banquo, Nicolai Ghiaurov (bass); Macduff, Luciano Pavarotti (tenor); Malcolm, Ricardo Cassinelli (tenor);
Dama, Helen Lawrence (mezzo-soprano); Medico, Raymond Myers (bass)
Ambrosian Opera Chorus; Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Lamberto Gardelli
rec. 1970, London, UK (issued originally by Decca)
No libretto enclosed
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
URANIA WS121.399 [2 CDs: 144]
When Verdi had finished the vocal score for his first Shakespeare opera, he sent it to his old benefactor Barezzi, with a dedication, and wrote: “Here now is this Macbeth, which is dearer to me than all my other operas, and which I therefore deem more worthy of being presented to you.” He was obviously aware of that he had created something new and more valuable than before – works that admittedly often had come
into being,
written in haste. This time he had worked slowly and refused to discuss future engagements until he was satisfied with the result. He also took intensive part in the preparation for the premiere, and even before he had finished the score he wrote several letters to the producer Lanari with detailed instructions, not least concerning the witches’ choruses that he considered of “the utmost importance”. During the rehearsals at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence he was present and supervised everything. And it paid dividends. The premiere on 14 March 1847 was an enormous success, and Verdi took thirty-eight curtain calls. And still this opera differed a lot from his previous works. There was a psychological truth in the acting of the characters that must have surprised the audience, but they must have realised that this was the beginning of a new and different way of composing operas. It is true that the next three operas implied a temporary step backwards, but Verdi had sown a seed for decades to come. Eighteen years later Verdi revised the score for Paris, but the changes were not as comprehensive as has been said. Charles Osborne investigates this in “The Complete Operas of Verdi”. The most substantial additions were Lady Macbeth’s La luce langue in the second act, which replaced a quite different aria in the 1847 score, and the ballet music in act III, which was obligatory in Paris. It is included on this recording, and the music is attractive, but it makes the drama come to an unnecessary halt for ten minutes.
Recordings of Macbeth have been relatively sparse. The earliest was in fact the RCA Victor set from 1959, which preserved the first Metropolitan Opera’s first production of the work. Conducted by Erich Leinsdorf and with Leonard Warren in the title role, it is dramatic performance, which was supposed to present Maria Callas as Lady Macbeth. Callas was, however fired, for reasons I’ve forgotten, but Leonie Rysanek was a worthy replacement, and with Carlo Bergonzi as Macduff and Jerome Hines as Banquo this is a performance worth anyone’s money more than 60 years later. It reigned supreme for half a decade, until Decca provided an alternative under Thomas Schippers. With the great singing-actor Giuseppe Taddei in the title role and Birgit Nilsson as Lady Macbeth this version has a great deal to offer. Nilsson had one of her first successes in the role at the Stockholm Opera in the late 1940s, and her laser-like tone cuts through the orchestral fabric with tremendous power, and Taddei’s expressivity gives a three-dimensioned portrayal of the mislead Macbeth, though his tone is rather rusty. In 1971 Decca issued a competitor to themselves – the recording reviewed here – led by Verdi expert Lamberto Gardelli and four star-singers in the leading roles. It was supposed to sweep the board, but unfortunately it had generally bad press, and I will try to analyse the reception and see whether it was valid. Before that I’ll just mention another three recordings of Macbeth that appeared not long after this Decca issue, two of which after 45 years still hold the laurel. The first was DG’s La Scala based recording under Claudio Abbado with Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Placido Domingo and Nicolai Ghiaurov; the second on EMI under Riccardo Muti with Sherrill Milnes, Fiorenza Cossotto, José Carreras and Ruggero Raimondi. They appeared almost simultaneous. A few years later Hungaroton intruded with again Lamberto Gardelli at the helm and, again, Piero Cappuccilli in the title role together with Sylvia Sass, Peter Kelen and Kolos Kováts. There is a plethora of live recordings and DVDs and one or two further studio sets that I haven’t heard, but principally speaking this is the competition.
Returning to the present Urania set, originally issued by Decca, poses several questions: what was not to the liking of the reviewers? In the sixties and seventies Decca’s recordings were technically speaking almost always state of the art, and this Macbeth was no exception. The Urania transfer can compete with any of the sets mentioned above. The LPO and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus were in those days featured on loads of opera recordings, and here the playing and singing is first-class . The witches’ choruses are atmospheric and frightening realistic. Lamberto Gardelli knew his Verdi inside out, to which his recorded legacy on various labels bear witness. He certainly was reliable, never erratic and idiocyncratic – but never dull.
Going then to the soloists, the secondary roles are taken by competent singers, including Ricardo Cassinelli as Malcolm. Neither Macduff nor Banquo are particularly big roles. They have one aria each, and both are vocal highlights, sung respectively by Luciano Pavarotti and Nicolai Ghiaurov, both at the hight of their youthful powers. Pavarotti at 35 is brilliant and effortless and his golden tones reveal that he has learnt a thing or two from listening to Jussi Björling, whom he allegedly adored. Ghiaurov in his early forties is noble and sonorous, his deep register impresses, but what impresses the most is brilliant top, totally free from strain. He is notably fresher than he was six years later when he recorded the role again with Abbado. This leaves us with the two central characters, and there objections begin to creep in. Elena Suliotis (she later changed the spelling to Souliotis) was a Greek soprano who made her debut as Santuzza in Naples in 1964 at the tender age of 21. A year later she recorded the role of Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco for Decca opposite Tito Gobbi and with Lamberto Gardelli conducting. It was a sensation, and the recording has become a classic, but some experts shook their heads when hearing her uninhibited action and singing, her voice like a glowing lava-stream of emotions and power. She is 22 and her voice can’t be ready for such efforts, said some. Five years later her voice was a wreck, and she withdrew from the stage for several years. When she resumed her career in 1979 she only assumed secondary roles. When this Macbeth was recorded she was already long past her best, and some of the singing is only painful, the tone sometimes decidedly ugly, intonation doubtful and some of her top note fortes are only negotiated through shouting. One can believe that Verdi wouldn’t have minded, bearing in mind a famous letter he wrote to Cammarano to describe the kind of voice he wanted Lady Macbeth to have:
“I understand you are rehearsing Macbeth; and as this opera interests me more than my others, please allow me to say a few words about it. Madame Tadolini, I believe, is to sing Lady Macbeth, and I am astonished that she should have undertaken the part. You know how highly I regard Madame Tadolini, and so does she, but for the sake of us all I feel I must say that her qualities are too fine for this role. This may sound absurd, but Madame Tadolini is a handsome woman with a beautiful voice, and I want Lady Macbeth to be ugly and evil. Madame Tadolini sings to perfection, and I don’t want Lady Macbeth to sing at all. Madame Tadolini has a wonderful voice, clear, flexible and strong, while Lady Macbeth’s voice should be hard, stifled and hard. Madame Tadolini has the voice of an angel, and Lady Macbeth’s should be that of a devil …”
Maybe Verdi wouldn’t have taken to Ms Suliotis’s accomplishment entirely – he was after all a musician first and foremost with high aesthetical ideals – but he was also a man of the theatre, and for that reason I can’t condemn her reading completely, even though I am fully aware of the fact that her “fulfilling” of Verdi’s ideals was not intentional but the result of her lack of vocal resources at this late stage of her sadly short career.
The negative reactions towards Fischer-Dieskau’s fulfilment of the title role, are of a different kind. No one denies his vocal resources or the intelligence of his readings, but to many, the hang up is his kind of voice. It is a middle-sized voice, and it is definitely not Italianate. It is worth noting that he wasn’t the first choice of singer for the recording. Gardelli, or whoever was responsible for the casting, had wanted to reunite Suliotis with Tito Gobbi after the great success with Nabucco, but Gobbi had to withdraw, and F-D was a late replacement. Considering that Gobbi was nearing 60 and hadn’t been in freshest voice for some time, the loss may not have been too damaging for the recording at large. I have, since I bought the DG Rigoletto with F-D in the title role, held him in high esteem as a Verdian, but I know there are many who don’t agree. What I really do like is his identification with the role and his Lieder-like detailed nuancing, and there are many moments in his reading here that are deeply penetrating and heartrending, sometimes moments where his Italian counterparts merely skim the surface. His final aria, Perfidi! All’ anglo contra me v’unite! (CD 2 tr. 10) is a telling example. But I admit that he sometimes overacts when his basically lyrical voice is a size too small for the role.
To sum things up: there are a lot of good things here, but when the heroine is painfully wayward and the hero controversial, it can never be a first recommendation. For me that laurel goes to Abbado, with Muti as a runner-up.
Göran Forsling
