Il trovatore Corelli, Parutto, Barbieri, Bastianini, Ferrin; De Fabritiis ---------- Il trovatore (2 CDs) with Corelli, Barbieri #OF5: $14.95 belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php… ---------- (Berlin, October 1, 1961). Corelli, Parutto, Barbieri, Bastianini, Ferrin; De Fabritiis; Chor. and Orch. of the Rome Opera. This Trovatore is now available not only on CD but also as an M4A or MP3 Download! belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php… New: Save when ordering this as part of one of our value sets: on CD: Two Corelli Trovatores belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php… as a download: Bel Canto Society Corelli Collection: 4 Operas belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php… For more titles with Corelli please use this link: belcantosociety.org/…/advanced_search_result.php… ---------- 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, beautifully reproduced. Please read the free samples and look at the photographs. belcantosociety.org/store/product_info.php… ---------- This performance is very serious business. The singers feel their parts as if their lives depended on it. Franco is aflame (much more so than in the Salzburg Trovatore, with Karajan). He sings his scenes with Azucena with warmth, fervor and, in Act II, frenzy. His high notes are very brilliant. Because of animosity resulting from the Naples Trovatore Corelli and Barbieri didnt speak backstage at this one, which makes his tenderness for her Azucena all the more remarkable--listen to the phrase Potrei negarlo? in Act II. Yet his singing also is incisive, with quick rise times that result in swift attacks, in Perigliarti ancor languente. He may sing with a little more accuracy of intonation and control over dynamics when he is using mask placement, as in OL-6010, Il trovatore, but when he lowers his larynx, as he does in most of this Trovatore (OF5), he conveys more excitement. He does use mask placement in Londa de suoni mistici (which comes afterAh! si, ben mio) but otherwise, to use his expression, floats his larynx. In the recitative to Ah! si, ben mio he has shifts of timbre resulting from covering and uncovering his tone, and in the aria itself he makes some random and misplaced accentuations. He also does some mellow singing without darkening as much as in Eracle. (The most compelling Ah! si, ben mio is Björlings, in tune and sensitively phrased, in #5000, Il trovatore, from The Royal Opera House, 1939.) In the Pira of OF5 Corelli sings with tremendous urgency in his tone. Despite his downward transposition of a half step and some inaccuracies of little consequence I know of no more exciting version. He is at his zenith both vocally and emotionally. In Parlar non vuoi? uttered with his larynx all the way down, his sings his most overwhelming Intendo! Intendo! No wonder Gramophone in its July, 2013 edition proclaimed OF5 the Best Live Trovatore! The last quarter hour makes me tremble and weep every time. For the benefit of a Russian mezzo-soprano, I recently compared and discussed Stride la vampa and Condotta ellera in ceppi as sung by Minghini Cattaneo, Zinetti, Pederzini, Elmo, Stignani, Barbieri, Simionato, Cossotto, Wettergren and others. The Barbieri version I chose was from this performance. Of all the versions, we both found it the most vivid and fervid. In addition, she observes more of the dynamic markings and accentuations than the others do. (Barbieri told me Azucena was her best role.)--Stefan Zucker ---------- Alan Blyth, reviewing in Gramophone Corellis fans will be satisfied with his viscerally thrilling interpretations of both Manrico and Cavaradossi [in Tosca, BCS #5013], but in the case of Trovatore the fact that we can hear five Italians in the major roles, virtually an impossibility today, is of even greater significance. It lends the performance an authenticity and flavour others simply cannot equal now, let alone surpass. Fabritiis is, as he always was, a splendid exponent of Verdi, energising the score from within. Apart from some distortion on the sopranos louder notes, the sound is good. Indeed, I very much enjoyed both sets for their idiomatic delivery of words and notes. ---------- Mike V. Ashman, writing in International Record Review The Rome Opera--at a time when its orchestra and chorus were much in record company demand--enjoys itself hugely on a Gastspiel in Berlin. De Fabritiis uses all the traditional broadenings (and cuts) but has it quite well under control. It includes the blade-like instrument of Corelli--he gives himself two goes at that most famous C--the hugely effective (if slightly schizophrenic) Azucena of Barbieri and the immense authority of Bastianini. Mirella Parutto, lesser known than her colleagues, fields a pleasingly darker Leonora than one often hears. There is so much applause that one suspects the Berliners of 1961 were starved of true bel canto. The recording presumably is from a radio broadcast. For Corelli and Bastianini, this set is worth hearing more than once. Please use the following linke for an additional review, by John T. Hughes in Classic Record Collector: belcantosociety.org/pages/hughes.html#trova If you want this performance in the best sound available at this time, get the BCS. You will be pleasantly surprised.--Nicholas E. Limansky, Opera News. Use the link below for full review: belcantosociety.org/pages/limansky.html --------------------------------------------- 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: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 16:23:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015