Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Cellini, Milanov, Bjoerling

$17.99
Label
RCA
Release Date
May 31, 2011
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • PERFORMER
      Mascagni, Bjorling, Merrill
    Product Details ⌄
    Works ⌄

    1. Prelude

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    2. O Lola ch'ai di latti fior di spino, "Siciliana" (Turiddu)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    3. Gli aranci olezzano (Villagers)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    4. Dite, Mamma Lucia (Santuzza, Mamma Lucia)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov, Pantelis Varvakis

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    5. Il cavallo scalpita (Alfio, Villagers)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Robert Merrill

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    6. Beato voi, compar Alfio (Mamma Lucia, Alfio, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Pantelis Varvakis, Robert Merrill, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    7. Regina coeli (Chorus, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    8. Voi lo sapete (Santuzza, Mamma Lucia)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov, Pantelis Varvakis

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    9. Tu qui, Santuzza? (Turiddu, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    10. Battimi, insultami (Santuzza, Turiddu)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov, Jussi Björling

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    11. Fior di giaggiolo (Lola, Turiddu, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Margaret Roggero, Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    12. Ah! lo vedi! (Turiddu, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    13. Turiddu, ascolta! (Turiddu, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    14. Oh! il Signore vi manda (Santuzza, Alfio)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov, Robert Merrill

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    15. Il ver (Santuzza, Alfio)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Zinka Milanov, Robert Merrill

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    16. Intermezzo

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    17. A casa, a casa (Villagers, Turiddu, Lola)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Margaret Roggero

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    18. Intanto amici, qua (Turiddu, Lola, Chorus)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Margaret Roggero

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    19. A voi tutti, salute! (Alfio, Turiddu, Lola)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Robert Merrill, Jussi Björling, Margaret Roggero

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    20. Compar Turiddu (Alfio, Chorus, Turiddu)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: Robert Shaw Chorale, RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Robert Merrill, Jussi Björling

      Conductor: Renato Cellini

    21. Mamma, quel vino e generoso (Turiddu, Mamma Lucia, Santuzza)

      Composer: Pietro Mascagni

      Ensemble: RCA Victor Orchestra

      Performer: Jussi Björling, Pantelis Varvakis, Zinka Milanov

      Conductor: Renato Cellini


This is verismo singing on the grandest, most authentic scale.

Milanov may sound a trifle mature for Santuzza, but who today, or in any day, fills Mascagni's grateful phrases with quite such full, lustrous tone and with such a wealth of feeling for the text? This is verismo singing on the grandest, most authentic scale and very welcome back to the catalogue as such. Björling may be a trifle too gentlemanly for Turiddu, as is Bergonzi on the Karajan version (DG), but better that than too much overt passion perhaps and—like his soprano—his singing is an exemplar of the spinto style at its best, with much fine shading of the tone and an inward feeling for the part. As Alfio, Merrill turns in one of his most considerable performances on disc. Indeed these three non-Italians prove the exception to the rule that Italians are essential in Italian repertory, but then all three were brought up in a stricter school than that pertaining today.

Cellini's conducting is no more than adequate. The recording is very restricted in range and unatmospheric in sound. For a fuller, more sonorous account of the score, in stereo, the Karajan is hard to equal, but his spacious version is twinned with Pag. If you want this opera alone I would suggest this version.

-- Gramophone [8/1988]