Fortunately a number
of Prandelli’s biggest recording commitments
have become widely available of late.
His La Bohème with Renata
Tebaldi is on Naxos whilst his Adriana
Lecouvreur with Carla Gavazzi is
on Cetra Warner Fonit. There’s also
the Guild 1948 Boito Memorial concert
under Toscanini, a live performance
that’s well worth getting to know –
Prandelli sings Act III of Mefistofele.
Nevertheless this does
perhaps give a slightly slanted view
of his career; he simply didn’t record
as widely or as deeply as his talent
deserved and this makes the restoration
of his Aria Antiche album for
Vox the more valuable. It was made in
1953 with pianist Dick Marzollo. Prandelli
employs a litany of expressive and romanticised
gestures to bring warmth and drama to
these frequently well-loved and oft-sung
pieces. Naturally this brings with it
Old School metrical disruptions galore;
rallentandi, frequent visits to the
head voice, and a battery of colouristic
inflexions.
In Scarlatti’s Su,
venite a consiglio for example we
find ritardandi and a considerable variety
of dynamic shading the better to convey
the emotive narrative of the song. These
constant changes of colour and depth
of attack, some notes punched out, others
caressed, do bring a reservoir of feeling
and character – Prandelli is hugely
characterful – but can also be a touch
disruptive to the actual line, something
that I feel most strongly occurs in
the Lotti. But of warmth and romance,
of gallantry, there is a profusion.
Caldara’s Sebben, crudele has
a really glamorous sense of narrative
conviction, of emotions conveyed with
striking immediacy. And there’s something
more than a touch Puccinian in his singing
of Cesti’s Intorno all’idol mio where
we find ardour and legato phrasing on
a grand scale. The mezza voce is deployed
with care and sincerity – it’s not a
mere gadget – and this is fused with
reserves of dignity in Caro mio ben.
Maybe the Gluck is a touch heavy
in places and yes, there’s a dose of
verismo exaggeration in the Pergolesi,
but I for one forgive him when the results
are so personal – and personable. And
what a way to end – a stridently macho
Vittoria, mio core!
The "fillers"
are substantial. There are scenes from
the 1956 Remington Lucia di Lammermoor
with Renata Ferrari Ongaro to the fore.
This is a real rarity never re-released
in its entirety to my knowledge. Prandelli
is an assured presence and is entirely
as impressive as on the two complete
opera sets cited above. The voice is
well projected and very immediately
– in fact too immediately – recorded.
All the voices suffer the same overgenerous
projection however and we can note that
Ongaro’s tone is rather thin in comparison
with Prandelli’s vibrant and masculine
one.
This is the second
of Preiser’s Prandelli volumes. It’s
well documented – his career really
did embrace some out-of-the-way things
– and finely transferred. At the time
of writing Prandelli is still with us
so let’s hope more volumes will emerge
to celebrate his small but valuable
recorded legacy.
Jonathan Woolf
Giacinto Prandelli (tenor) 
