Leontyne Price has moments on this record when she sounds like the greatest Verdi soprano of the age.

It was Ernani, "the one with the bandits", that the heroine of Arms and the Man went to see when she and her family were on a visit to the capital; and you would probably have to have some of her romantic, high-souled prepossessions about honour and glory to take the dramatic side of the entertainment seriously. Even so, the magnanimity of Carlo, now Charles the Fifth, becomes moving as the melody of the great ensemble in Act 3 swells and blooms, and the heart goes out to Ernani himself as his final solo "Solingo, errante e misero" captures that impassioned sense of the sadness of life which is one of the distinctive qualities of Italian opera. At a less exalted level, if one is coming upon it afresh or for the first time in recent years, a great delight is the sheer abundance of tunes, or of arias that have long been familiar as extracts and which it is now a pleasure to recognize in context.

An initial attraction of this issue over its rival must be that it is on two discs instead of three. It's a studio recording very much of its period, favouring the soloists rather than the orchestra, with the producer moving the characters about in stereophonic display of doubtful merit. The EMI recording under Muti comes live from La Scala, Milan, which means that 100 or so human feet are added to the scoring; on the other hand, there is an undeniable sense of occasion and the sound is altogether more opulent. Muti conducts with more intensity than Schippers, and the choruses and concerted work have more life and urgency. The honours are probably about equal among the two sets of soloists. Ezio Flagello is a sonorous, conventional Silva; Ghiaurov (for Muti) sings with finer care of the melodic line and bears him self with greater dignity. Mario Sereni lacks Bruson's shining tone and grandeur, but despite some rough moments sings the lyrical music well.

Leontyne Price has moments when she sounds (as she could be) like the greatest Verdi soprano of the age (the phrases where, forlornly, she asks Ernani for a smile, "il riso del tuo volto", provide an example); she is at least Mirella Freni's equal. And Bergonzi is decidedly Domingo's superior here. His singing is, to my mind, the principal recommendation of the set; not that he is particularly subtle or intense, but that he never wrenches out of shape the melodic line for which his finely produced voice is an ideal instrument. The Muti recording gives very limited satisfaction in the arias, which are such an important part of the opera; the RCA issue (textually complete), while not rising to the standard of the famous old recordings of individual items, presents an attractive alternative.

-- Gramophone [8/1988]

Pavarotti Sings Rare Verdi Arias

What a superb work this is: the quintessential Italian opera, with its absurd melodramatic plot and its wealth of glorious melody. It receives a fine, full-bloodedly Italianate performance from James Levine and his Metropolitan Opera forces, despite the fact that the international cast contains no Italians. As Manrico, Plácido Domingo compensates in musicianship, intelligence and attractive vocal quality for what he lacks in sheer visceral excitement, a quality which the other principals exhibit in abundance. Aprile Millo’s note-values may not always be exact, but she is a convincing Leonora, at her best in her Act IV scene with the villainous Di Luna, suavely characterised and sung by Vladimir Chernov. Dolora Zajick brings the gypsy Azucena to fierce and vibrant life, and the lavish casting of James Morris in the secondary role of Ferrando is a bonus. A full score is performed without any of the usual theatre cuts, and James Levine shows himself fully cognisant of the opera’s real stature. His orchestra is prominent, but not damagingly so. Indeed, a lot of orchestral detail is heard, allowing more of Verdi’s felicitous scoring to be noticed than is often the case. There are other fine performances of Il trovatore, but this one is better than most.

Performance: *****
Sound: *****

-- Charles Osborne, BBC Music Magazine

VERDI: FALSTAFF MUTI, PONS, F

Verdi: Overtures & Preludes, Vol. 2

Verdi: Messa da requiem - Rossini: Stabat Mater

Toscanini's remains one of the half a dozen greatest opera sets ever recorded. Whether it is the clarity of the ensembles, the extraordinary care taken over orchestral detail or the alert control of dynamics, Toscanini is supreme.

The Falstaff remains, as it always has been, one of the half a dozen greatest opera sets ever recorded. The Requiem is certainly among the three or four most satisfying accounts of that work ever put on disc. As each has here been remastered on CD to give clearer, more immediate sound than I have ever heard before from the originals on LP, joy at the reissue is doubled. With the Aida some caveats have to be entered. In spite of the conductor's vital contribution, this set suffers both from an indifferent cast and a less successful recording and, in this case, the transfer to digital sound seems to have added an unwanted edge to voices and instruments. Even so, here is further evidence of Toscanini's complete understanding of a composer with whom he had worked and whom he understood better than any of his successors.

Toscanini's Falstaff is, and will probably remain, unsurpassed. It is a miracle in every respect. How he loved Verdi and how he strained every sinew to fulfil this amazing score's variety in line, feeling and colour. Whether it is the clarity and discipline of the ensembles, the extraordinary care taken over orchestral detail (most arresting in the whole of the final act's first scene) or the alert control of dynamics, Toscanini is supreme, yet nothing is done for effect's sake; everything seems natural, inevitable, unforced, as though the score was being created anew before us with chamber music finesse – and the atmosphere of a live performance, caught at a 1950 broadcast, adds to the feeling of immediacy. Nobody dares, or seems to want to interrupt the magic being laid before them. Toscanini in his old age is matching the subtlety and vitality of the composer's own Indian summer – or one might say spring, so delicate and effervescent does the scoring sound.

The other overriding impression of Toscanini's reading is the perfect relationship of tempos, not always precisely Verdi's, and the way he accommodates his singers, quite putting to flight any idea of him as a strict taskmaster. If, vocally, the main glory is the wonderful sense of ensemble gained through hours of hard rehearsals (now to be heard on non-commercial discs), individual contributions are almost all rewarding. Indeed, Valdengo's Falstaff, under Toscanini's tutelage, has not been surpassed on disc even by Gobbi. Flexibility, charm, exactness, refinement inform his beautifully and wisely sung portrayal (extraordinary for a singer in his mid thirties) – listen to the whole of the monologue at the start of Act 3 and you'll hear what a great singer working with a great conductor can make of a great role – mainly by observing what the composer has written. He is no less pointed and subtle in his encounter with Frank Guarrera's imposing Ford, and Guarrera himself, again with Toscanini's help, reminds us how much the writing in the Jealousy aria relates to Otello's music. Another great joy of the set is the women's ensemble, their contribution the very epitome of smiling chatter. The Alice, Meg and Nannetta (Stich-Randall – none better) all sound, as they were, fresh and youthful, and Cloe Elmo's Quickly is as rich and ripe of voice and diction as any on disc, though a trifle coarse at times. The Fenton is sweet and Italianate in tone, but not as stylish as others. The smaller roles are all very much part of the team. ...I have no space to dwell further on the sheer pleasures to be found in these sets. They are a repository of the very best in Verdi conducting, worthy of study by aspiring (or established) conductors. More important than that, they should be a source of revelation to a new generation of collectors who may have a dim and/or wrongheaded view of what Toscanini was about.

-- Gramophone [5/1990]

Of Georg Solti’s two recordings of the Verdi Requiem, I slightly prefer this later one, though I realize that this isn’t received wisdom. The Decca recording, after all, features Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti, and Talvela as soloists, and while Sutherland arguably is not the right voice for the part, everyone else is very good indeed. On the other hand, Leontyne Price, even toward the end of her career, certainly does have the right voice, as does Veriano Luchetti, while Baker and Van Dam are very intelligent singers by any measure, and they do a good job here. Besides, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow at the generic complaint that “singer X lacks a true Italianate timbre” when the words being sung are in Latin and the drama (such as it is) occurs entirely within a devotional framework. The music certainly can take many different approaches, particularly when there’s so little actual agreement on what a “true Italianate timbre” is.

Also compared to the Decca recording, Solti here has the finer chorus, a better orchestra (for this work at least), and strangely enough, better (meaning less gimmicky) sound. Solti’s interpretation remains consistent, exciting, and direct, with a particularly thrilling account of the brief Sanctus and a Dies Irae chorus that is as violent as anyone could want without ever turning merely brutal or hysterical. A work as rich as this one always excites a wide range of opinions, and personal preferences tend to vary substantially. My personal favorite, all things considered, is the first Muti on EMI, with Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti, Nesterenko, and the Philharmonia Orchestra; but either of Solti’s recordings are definitely among the select few. [12/17/2004]

– Classics Today (David Hurwitz)

DER JUNGE DOMINGO VOL 4

Verdi almost called his Egyptian opera Amneris, and it is this proud, calculating but vulnerable character who often stays in the mind at the end of a performance of Aida; she is the one who travels the greatest emotional distance over the course of the opera and with the right interpreter she can steal the show from the slightly self-obsessed lovers.

Classical Music

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

LA TRAVIATA

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.