Andrea Chenier, part 2 Reduced price ----------------- Andrea Chenier (1955). 112m. Stella, Del Monaco, Taddei; Questa. Chorus and Orchestra of RAI. B&W (transferred from a kinescope) DVD (includes synopsis and a 24-page booklet with essays and photos) #D3 DVD $12.95 belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php?products_id=1192 Use the link above to hear a free sample from the performance. For more titles with Del Monaco use this link: belcantosociety.org/store/advanced_search_result.php?search_in_artists=1&keywords=monaco -------------------- Stefans New Book Franco Corelli and a Revolution in Singing: Fifty-Four Tenors Spanning 200 Years, vol. 1 by Stefan Zucker, 6 X 9 X 384 pp., with nearly 200 lithographs and photographs. Please read the free samples and look at the photographs. belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=1543 --------------------- Alan Blyth, reviewing in Gramophone I have never enjoyed Chenier as much as on this video, another of the 1950s films made expressly for Italian television. In what we can now hear and see as a golden era for the performance of Italian opera, an almost ideal cast was assembled under the well-routined baton of Questa. The staging is conventional in the best sense, catching much of the frisson of the French revolutionary drama while concentrating rightly on the principals--and what principals! Del Monaco, in his prime, is perfect casting for the title-role and conveys Cheniers ardent, fiery nature in his acting and singing. In spite of his reputation for unremittingly forte delivery, he here tempers his stentorian outbursts--the best of which is Si, fui soldato before the revolutions tribunal--with singing of a subtler hue in the romantic passages in which the part abounds. As his beloved Maddalena, Stella was also at the height of her appreciable, underrated powers, equal to all the considerable demands of her role and deeply moving in La mamma morta, her explanation of her plight to the complex character (most interesting in the work) of Gerard. Their scene in Act 3 is the heart of the piece and Taddei is superb in his part of it. He gives ample profile to Nemico della patria and thereafter explores every facet of the role as his lust for Maddalena is sublimated into platonic affection. His warm, pliant voice is ideally employed throughout and he acts with patent sincerity--a great assumption. Theres no weakness, many strengths in the all-Italian support, with special praise due to the blind Madelon whose beseeching solo is movingly done. ---------- Joe Pearce, President of the Vocal Record Collectors Society: Chenier can be a powerhouse opera with the right cast. This is that cast, all in their absolute prime. The opera is sung gloriously from beginning to end; the acting is excellent throughout. Never a great favorite of mine, Taddei nevertheless sings better here than in anything else of his Ive heard. The young Stella is lovely to look at, and she is certainly an affecting actress. She sings beautifully throughout, including some high pianissimos that come as surprises as she certainly didnt use them much in her Met years. She takes that always dangerous and almost always problematic top note in La mamma morta perfectly and is alert at all times to her partners nuances. Nuance is hardly the first thing youd think about when discussing Del Monaco, but excellent as the others are, this is his show and he brings it off splendidly--better than any other Chenier I have ever seen. He has been criticized for a lack of nobility in his art, and if one only is hearing him that criticism at least is understandable. As with his Otello, however, seeing him is another matter, and I have no hesitation in proclaiming him, at least in this role, equal to the most noble vision to emanate from an operatic stage in my time. (Martinelli was before my time.) From his first appearance through the final duet he is the personification of the French poet. There is not a dishonest or overacted moment. While singing up a storm in the Improvviso, he acts with extraordinary restraint, but his eyes blaze forth his rage in keeping with his stentorian sounds. His look of disappointment at Maddalenas frivolity as he sings O giovinetta bella is worthy of Olivier--no joke! I found my eyes welling up with tears as this aria was concluding, a situation I rarely have encountered with pile-driving dramatic tenor voices but one which I experienced twice more here--in the final duet and in the entire Si, fui soldato! the latter on a dramatic par with anything I ever have encountered from any singer from a visual standpoint. This is a well-directed television production, with the voices nicely synchronized. Once you get into the spirit of this performance all external considerations will dissipate immediately. Very highly recommended! ---------- A letter from a customer: I am an Andrea Chenier fanatic, and this is the most satisfying production of that opera Ive ever heard or seen-- and Ive seen many. I bought this DVD on the strength of the clip offered on Bel Canto Societys Web page and was pleasantly surprised to find that the clip is representative of the high level of singing in this production. Probably the first reason most people will buy this DVD is the interpretation of Mario Del Monaco in the title role. He does not disappoint. This tenor role is a tough one, with a high tessitura, and requires a lot of powerful singing and considerable stamina. Del Monaco fits the bill perfectly. His Colpito qui mavete... Un di allazzurro spazio is a tour de force--and the best part is after the teaser clip on the Website. Despite the fact that many observers feel Del Monaco is monochrome and continually loud, this is not the case here. In the second-act duet, Ora soave, he shows some very nice shading and gracefully eases into the initial phrase in a musically sympathetic way. His phrasing is truly incredible! There are several phrases where I find myself (Im a singer too) going, How did he do that? But this is only noteworthy if youve never heard him sing. Del Monaco was famous for his tremendous support and long phrasing. His acting is more than adequate in this role. He surely cuts a dashing figure as Chenier. Other than the occasional meaningless movement, his portrayal is a committed one and believable. To hear Taddei in this DVD when he is young (39) and his voice is in full bloom and his face boyish is a tremendous delight for me. His performance is one of the best reasons to own this DVD. As Gerard his voice is powerful and warm, with a very nice legato. His high notes are unforced and free. To me, this always has been one of the best baritone roles in all opera. Hes a poor mans hero; hes lecherous; hes a fallen, fallible human being who ultimately redeems himself. And that aria, Nemico della patria, is one of the best collaborations between libretto and music ever to have been penned. It is the best of music and mankind together for a few minutes, and Taddeis rendition truly is enthralling. His acting is overall quite good--although his natural facial expression seems to be one of mirth, so there are a few times where hes not quite convincing as the serious revolutionary. But this is a quibble--overall this is one of the best Gerards Ive ever heard. I had never heard of Antonietta Stella (I may have just disqualified all my opinions by admitting my ignorance), but I was blown away by her performance as Maddalena. Only 26 when this was filmed, her voice is bright, fresh and equal to the power of Del Monacos. She also displayed a very nice free and uncovered pianissimo in Ora soave. Her La mamma morta is stirring and vocally all that one could hope for. Her voice has a very lovely quality and is very similar to Tebaldis but with none of the occasional harshness. The last-act duet with Del Monaco also is absolutely spine tingling! They are both pouring it on for all its worth, and the duet really is exiting and fun to watch. In addition, all the supporting roles, Roucher, Bersi, Incredibile, etc. are very well sung. The costumes are really beautiful, noticeably so even in black and white. And the sets are some of the most believable Ive ever seen and actually help in the telling of the story instead of hindering it. The camera work would make Brian Large proud. Despite some infrequent claustrophobic scenes, the person directing or wielding the camera knows the story line well enough to assist in its telling. For example, in the first act, during Un di allazzurro spazio, when Chenier sings, Sol locchio vostro esprime umanamente qui un guardo di pieta (in your eyes alone did I see an expression of human compassion) the camera goes from a full frontal view of Del Monaco to pan around the back of Stellas head, so that you see him addressing himself to this young girl--perfectly done. Remembering that this Chenier was from a 1955 kinescope, the quality of the DVD is really surprisingly good, and the sound quality is even better than I expected. There are occasional fluctuations in the audio and some blips in the picture but nothing that would prevent the enjoyment of the moment. There are no subtitles, but the booklet provides a very good synopsis, and the acting is so well done that you really dont need the distractions of subtitles. This is a historical recording, in the best meaning of the term, and so very worth owning--youll never see another Chenier like this one. Susan Bernard Phoenix, AZ ---------- From the Booklet Antonietta Stella (born 1929) made her debut, in Spoleto, in 1950, as Leonora, in Il trovatore and repeated the role the following year at the Teatro dellOpera, in Rome. In 1951 she also appeared in Stuttgart, Munich and Wiesbaden and then Florence, Naples, Rome, Catania, Parma, Turin, Lisbon and Perugia. In 1953 she made her debut not only at the Verona Arena but also at La Scala, where she remained until 1963. She made frequent appearances at the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, Paris, Brussels and Chicago. Her Met debut, in 1956, was in Trovatore. She continued to appear there until 1960. At the time of Stellas debut her middle voice had both darkness and shine, a savory combination rarely encountered. The sound was ample down to D or C below the staff, where she didnt have to use chest resonance. (Most sopranos have no power there without it.) Above high A, however, the sound was less voluptuous. Still, no soprano in Italy had a more resplendent voice, not excepting Anita Cerquetti or Caterina Mancini. Stella didnt inflect her tone, singing Butterfly with the same all-purpose color as Minnie. When music suited her sound she was hair-raising, as in Respighis La fiamma (she told me, however, that she had been overcoached by the composers widow). At the time of her discovery Stella was working in a bakery. She never learned to care for her voice. Most singers are fastidious about avoiding certain foods, but she complained to me after a performance of La forza del destino that she would have sung better had she eaten her accustomed salami for breakfast. A great natural, Stella lacked the technique to preserve her voice, and by her late 20s it was less luminous, the career fading when she was in her 30s. Rosina Wolfs repertoire ranged from Carmen to the Queen of the Night to Butterfly, Salome, Isolde, Brunnhilde and Norma. With Stefan Zucker she appeared on RAI, Italian state television, in music from I puritani. She is to be heard on Stefan Zucker: The Worlds Highest Tenor (currently out of print). Giuseppe Taddei (born 1916) made his debut, in 1936, at the Teatro dellOpera, as the Herald in Lohengrin. During the war the Germans arrested him, in the Italian Alps, on the grounds that he was a member of the Resistance. In 1946 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera. In 1947 he appeared as Figaro, in Le nozze di Figaro, at the Salzburg Festival. In that year he also sang at the Cambridge Theatre, London. He performed on all the principal Italian stages, also at Covent Garden and in Paris, Buenos Aires and Rio. Making his Met debut in 1951, he returned there in 1985, for the title role in Falstaff. A remarkably versatile artist, Taddei excelled not only as a dramatic baritone but also as a buffo. He is the Dulcamara on a 1955 kinescope of Lelisir damore. This is available as as download only, Bel Canto Society #MV12, at the link below: belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php?&products_id=1385 --------------------------------------------- To see all our downloads, please use this link: belcantosociety.org/store/index.php?cPath=27 To see all our products, please use this link: belcantosociety.org/store/all_products.php To contribute to Bel Canto Society: belcantosociety.org/store/index.php?cPath=30 --------------------------------------------- Bel Canto Society, a not-for-profit corporation, offers more than 400 opera videos, CDs, DVDs, books, downloads and webcasts on its website. Our homepage is BelCantoSociety.org.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 18:13:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015