RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Otello [2:16:00]
Otello - Ramon Vinay (tenor); Iago - Giuseppe Valdengo (baritone); Desdemona
- Herva Nelli (soprano); Emilia - Nan Merriman (mezzo); Casio - Virginio Assandri
(tenor); Roderigo - Leslie Chabay (tenor); Montano - Arthur Newman (bass);
Lodovico - Nicola Moscona - (bass)
Mixed Chorus; NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini
rec. live broadcast, Studio 8-H Radio City, New York. with audience. Acts I and
II on 6 December 1947. Acts III and IV on 13 December 1947.
XR Remastering from various sources by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, August
2009
PRISTINE AUDIO PACO033 [69:21 + 66:31]
This was one - or, more accurately, two - of the all-time classic nights in American
opera. Toscanini famously played the cello in the La Scala orchestra at the world
premiere of Otello and his authority in this work has to be acknowledged,
even by those who might not prefer his style. The merits of this performance
hardly need rehearsing: it has been reviewed many times before on this site.
Suffice it to say that Vinay’s Otello remains one of the great interpretations
of the role, heroic yet vulnerable, while Nelli’s Desdemona manages to
combine beauty, strength and vulnerability in miraculous fashion. I’ve
never been as convinced by Valdengo’s Iago, not least for his mistimed
entries in Acts 1 and 2 - can you imagine what Toscanini must have said to him
at the end - but he certainly has character to spare.
The real interest here is in the remastering. Pristine Audio has been doing fantastic
work recently breathing new life into agèd recordings that are well loved.
Their website is well worth a look
and they also offer downloads of fabulous quality. Andrew Rose has managed to
achieve astonishing clarity with this issue. Yes, there are still occasional
hisses and crackles, but how could there not be in a recording of this age? He
has managed to, as it were, strip away the varnish that has accumulated in other
issues and there are plenty of things that are freshly audible here which may
well have passed the listener by before, such as the clarity of the big tuttis
in the storm scene, or the bubbling woodwinds at the third verse of Iago’s
drinking song. Nelli’s top notes are captured without a hint of strain
or interference, yet the passage at the beginning of Act 4 flows with openness
and not a hint of congestion. Rose has used “a number of sources from various
avid Toscanini collectors” - how mysterious! His aim was to find the best
recording of each section of the opera and then edit them together to produce
the finest possible version of the performance. Without doubt he has succeeded
mightily. To my ears at any rate it was impossible to hear the joins and the
whole performance flowed beautifully from one moment to the next. He finished
his note by saying “I am convinced that this release has succeeded in making
great sonic advances over all previous issues, both on LP and CD.” I certainly
haven’t heard any other version to make me disagree. As a fun little extra
we’re also given the original radio commentary and audience applause.
This is a performance which every lover of the opera has to have. Love him or
hate him, Toscanini has an unending ability to surprise: listen to the way he broadens
out the tempo for the climax of the storm yet speeds up for the conclusion
of the love duet, and the way he plays around with the textures of the Willow
Song is quite remarkable. Extraordinary, maybe: perverse, arguably: but effective?
Certainly. This, to my mind, is the clearest version of this performance that
you’re likely to find, so if you’re choosing between versions then
you can pick this one with confidence.
Simon Thompson