Alfredo Kraus was considered the “grand seigneur” among the tenors of his time, an outstanding stylist, an unrivalled knight of high C (and above) - an aristocrat of tenor bel canto … there were and are certainly more famous tenors, but hardly any have reached the class of Alfredo Kraus, the lightness, elegance and sensual charisma of his voice. The present 20-CD-set documents Kraus’ early years from 1958-1963 in live recordings. After his stage debut in 1956 in Cairo, his career took off very quickly: Traviata alongside Maria Callas in Lisbon in 1958, followed by Rigoletto, Lucia, Barbiere at the great houses of Italy. In these early years Kraus also sang the typical tenore lirico and tenor di grazia roles documented in this box, such as Nadir in Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” (at that time in Italian) or Ernesto in “Don Pasquale”, the barely singable role of Arturo in Bellini’s “I Puritani”, whose high D he well knew how to master, or the Nadir in Cherubini’s rare “Alì Babà.”

REVIEW

‘Alfredo Kraus: The Early Years’ gathers a number of memorable productions from the period 1958–63 including performances of Rigoletto from 1960 and 1961, the former a stereo studio recording conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni featuring Kraus in his youthful prime and a pure-voiced Renata Scotto as Gilda. The 1961 live recording from Trieste (where Francesco Molinari-Pradelli conducts) features the lovely singing of Gianna D’Angelo. Other highlights include an electrifying 1958 São Carlos La traviata under Franco Ghione with Maria Callas (who opens the broadcast with a radio message), sounding virtually as good as the Warner Classics release of the same recording. More problematic is an enjoyable Barber of Seville from Naples (1958, with Scotto and Alfredo Protti): enjoyable, except that during the Overture a low-flying aircraft all but obliterates the sound of the orchestra, which earns a loud round of applause nonetheless. Another stereo production is a 1960 radio recording of The Pearl Fishers, Kraus’s Nadir quite glorious in the great duet (with Giuseppe Taddei) and ‘Mi par d’udir ancora’ (there’s a beautiful if quite different version of both in an alternative mono recording of the first act from 1959 under Oliviero De Fabritiis, where Ferruccio Tagliavini sings the role of Nadir). Other featured operas are La sonnambula (with Scotto, 1961), I puritani (with Mirella Freni, 1962), Cherubini’s Ali-Baba (1963, with Teresa Stich-Randall and where Kraus is at his exceptional best in the Prologue), Lucia di Lammermoor (with Scotto and Sesto Bruscantini, 1963) and Don Pasquale (Gianna D’Angelo and Fernando Corena under Alberto Erede in 1963). In general, enthusiastically recommended.

— Gramophone