}Gramophone (1/97, p. 102) "A welcome extension of this fine singer's repertoire on record, the programme exploits much that is best in her voice and also affords her a range of characterization..."{

THE VOICES OF LIVING STEREO VO

ZINKA MILANOV - BELLINI, VERDI

Verdi: La traviata (The Fallen Woman)

VERDI: REQUIEM DAVIS, VANESS,

Toscanini first conducted this work when he was 19 at Rio in 1886. In the succeeding years in Italy and elsewhere he conducted it dozens of times with singers of the calibre of Bellincioni, Bori, Dalla Rizza and Muzio as Violetta. He came to record it, at live broadcasts, in 1946, an incredible 60 years after he first directed the opera in the theatre and 20 after he last conducted it there, at La Scala. Received opinion has always given his reading the thumbs down as being too fast and peremptory, unheeding of his singers, and altogether too dictatorial. I have never adhered to that view and renewed listening has only enhanced my admiration for Toscanini's reading of the score. As Harvey Sachs points out in his invaluable note for this reissue, Toscanini followed the traditional theatre cuts (approved by Verdi?) and tinkered with the orchestration. So much for him keeping to Holy Writ.

That said, his interpretation, and this is what matters, fulfils Verdi's intentions to the hilt. The work is surely conceived through the nervous, overheated passions and feelings of the heroine. From first to last we are enveloped in her world—hectic in Act 1, desperate for true love in Act 2 scene 1, lonely and rejected in scene 2 (where Toscanini, by keeping Violetta up to the mark, never allows for sentimentality) and tragic in Act 3. By his close observation of the instrumental nuts and bolts, and by his highly individual and inspiriting control of his orchestra, the feeling of desperation on Violetta's part that courses through the score, which is of the essence, is always there, felt in stabbing string phrases and plangent wind. The sound is lean, tense and excitable. Listen to the gambling duel between Alfredo and the Baron—has it ever sounded as taut and menacing as this?

No, the trouble with this set is not Toscanini but his singers, none of whom is near ideal. What one would give for a Toscanini recording with Bori, Muzio, Callas or Scotto! Albanese catches Violetta's desperation but only by adding lacrymose touches to the line, itself often bumpy (three breaths in the first phrase of ''Addio del passato''), actually sobbing in Acts 2 and 3, and seldom producing the full tone many passages require. In sum, the performance is melodramatic in the wrong way, nowhere more so than in the letter reading. Peerce sings strongly and with due passion, but shows no sense of a Verdian style—practically everything is punched out in a monotonous forte—and pays no attention to Verdi's dynamic markings. By contrast, Merrill is too subdued and detached. His young baritone is mellow and pleasing, but the authority and eloquence of an experienced Giorgio Germont, such as Amato (who once sang the role with Toscanini), Tibbett or Bruson is missing. All the smaller roles are inadequately cast.

As Kleiber (DG, 3/86) and Muti (EMI, 11/87) come close to achieving Toscanini's incandescence and have far superior casts, they must remain recommendations for a conductor's Traviata. Kleiber makes the same cuts as Toscanini; Muti plays the score exactly as Verdi wrote it. Of course, if you want the greatest Violetta you must go to Callas (EMI, 11/87 and 2/91). Even so, I wouldn't want to be without Toscanini's version because of its historic importance and because of his blazing, uncompromising sincerity of purpose. The new transfers do what they can to ameliorate the close, confined recording in the notorious Studio 8-H, but, of course, nothing can eradicate Toscanini's own singing 'counterpoint' to some passages.'

-- Alan Blyth, Gramophone [4/1992]

Selections recorded 1908-1919.
Enrico Caruso is still considered the most famous operatic tenor of the 20th century. He was certainly the highest paid, and most adored singer of his time. In this fascinating recording, remastered, of course, from 78 rpms, Caruso is showcased in a series of short excerpts.
The power and beauty of his voice is evident even in these very early recordings. Spanning from 1908 through 1919, the disc captures Caruso in concert with other famous singers of the day, including Guiseppe de Luca, Luisa Tetrazzini, Geraldine Farrar, and Amelita Galli-Curci. Walter B. Rogers, Josep Pasternack, and Gaetano Sconamiglio conduct.
There are some unusual, rarely heard selections by Antonio Gomes and Friedrich Flotow, for example, as well as excerpts from the standard repertory. All in all, this is a fine compilation, a "blast from the past," as it were, that gives the listener much pleasure.

VERDI: BALLET MUSIC ROBERTO A

2 CD 1 CD-ROM.

2014 Maria Callas re-mastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz re-master, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. Callas only sang Gilda in Rigoletto in one run of performances, in Mexico City in 1952, and she recorded the role three years later. She moves beyond the girlish tone and sparkling coloratura of the character's first scenes to create a figure of tragic stature as events unfold. 'Once heard, this rendering is never likely to be forgotten, ' was Gramophone's judgment on her interpretation, and the same could apply to Tito Gobbi's, embodying every aspect of the accursed court jester.

Such moments as the legato of the prayer in La vestale and the beauty and control of the soft major-key phrases in La Gioconda proclaim the truth of the general verdict that at her best Ponselle stood supreme among the sopranos as Caruso did among tenors.

RCA's return to the historical field is as welcome as it is timely; timely, that is, in showing a renewed interest in their own priceless archives and, particularly with this Ponselle recital, in providing the listener with a choice. Ponselle was one of the three singers honoured by Nimbus with a complete recital devoted to her recordings in the launch of their highly publicized Prima Voce series. This (0 NI7805, 10/89) includes six items that are also to be heard on the RCA disc (seven with the Ernani aria, of which Nimbus have the pre-electrical version and RCA the better-known remake of 1928). The choice, then, lies between contents as far as the rest of the programme is concerned, and between quality of transfer throughout.

To take repertoire first; both concentrate on opera but add a few songs. The Nimbus disc scores with two charming Italian ones by De Curtis and Di Capua from 1924, rare in their original form and sung with the incomparable beauty of the young voice. RCA have two fascinating items from the series made at the singer's home in 1954, 17 years after her retirement: they are well chosen, both of them showing how much of the rich, powerful tones had survived and how vividly communicative her art had become. Among early operatic recordings Nimbus have the magnificent Nile duet from Aida with Martinelli, while RCA select the solo from L'Africaine, a glorious piece of singing and all that survives of one of Ponselle's most accomplished performances at the Metropolitan. From the later and more famous series comes the excellent "Ritorna vincitor" on RCA, so much more expressive than one tends to remember, and on Nimbus there is the Norma duet with Marion Telva. With the rival merits balanced so evenly a deciding factor might be RCA's inclusion of the final trio from La forza del destino, but Nimbus also have a place for that on their Martinelli recital (0 NI7804, 10/89), which has its own attractions as yet without competition from the American company.

What, then, of the transfers? RCA's are certainly better at picking up the consonants and at bringing the singer into sharp focus in a face-toface relationship. The Nimbus disc takes her away from us to the extent of placing her in a hall or opera house resonance—which, one could argue, is where she belongs. One of the complaints about her recordings always used to be that they are too confined and boxy: listening to the RCA transfers I see, very clearly, and in the 1939 song recordings with uncomfortable closeness, a singer in a studio, whereas with Nimbus I see a figure on the stage. Both have their advantages, and both, it should be added, very successfully lift the voice out and free from all the gubbins of the old 78rpm surfaces.

Ponselle, of course, was one of the great singers of the century, and acquisition of either of the recitals is quite likely to lead to that of the other. This will be in spite of some frustrations, for not everything in the singing is as the heart desires and she was always considered difficult to catch adequately under recording conditions. Yet the first note of "Pace, pace, mio Dio", with its long steady swell and retraction, the trill and magically light staccatos of Ernani, the legato of the prayer in La vestale, the beauty and control of the soft major-key phrases in La Gioconda: all of these moments and so many others proclaim the truth of the general verdict that at her best Ponselle stood supreme among the sopranos as Caruso did among tenors.

-- Gramophone [1/1990]

From a live 1960 performance at the Teatro Roma and featuring Mario Del Monaco as Otello, a role he would record over a dozen times in his career and Tito Gobbi as perhaps the quintessential Iago along with Floriana Cavalli as Desdemona. Verdi’s Shakespearean tale once again comes to life in a production that includes the Teatro della Roma Orchestra and Choir led by Franco Capuana. Released to commemorate the 100th birthday of Del Monaco this live recording has been long out of print.

This selection features Leontyne Price reading the story of 'Aida' along with highlights from the opera.
REVIEWS:
Opera News (5/00, p.82) - "...The narrative itself is completely successful. The plot has been reduced for clarity, but the characters maintain individuality....Most importantly, the directness, warmth and drama of Price's storytelling involve the listener irresistibly..."

Verdi: La Traviata (Live)

VERDI - KALUDI KALUDOW - TENOR