Verdi: Aida / Levine, Millo, Domingo, Morris, Ramey, Zajick

$33.99
Label
Sony Masterworks
Release Date
September 2, 2009
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Metropolitan Opera Chorus
    • PERFORMER
      Placido, Levine, Samuel, Domingo, Charles, Ramey, Aprile, Anthony, Millo
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      September 02, 2009
    • UPC
      074644597325
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      SONY45973
    • LABEL
      Sony Masterworks
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      3
    • GENRE
      Opera / Operetta / Oratorio
    Works ⌄

    1. Prelude

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    2. Act I Scene 1: Si Corre voce che l'Etiope ardisca (Ramfis, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    3. Act I Scene 1: Se quel guerrier io fossi! … Celeste Aida (Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    4. Act I Scene 1: Quale insolita gioia nel tuo sguardo! (Amneris, Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    5. Act I Scene 1: Dessa … Ei si turba (Radames, Amneris, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    6. Act I Scene 1: Allegro sostenuto - Io stesso movimento

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    7. Act I Scene 1: Alta cagion v'aduna o fidi egizii (Il Re, Messagero, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Terry Cook, Charles Anthony, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    8. Act I Scene 1: Or, di Vulcano al tempio (Il Re, Ramfis, Aida, Radames, Amneris, Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Terry Cook, Samuel Ramey, Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    9. Act I Scene 1: Ritorna vincitor! (Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    10. Act I Scene 1: I Sacri nomi di padre, d'amante (Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    11. Act I Scene 2: Possente possente Ftha (Sacerdotessa, Ramfis, Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Hei-Kyung Hong, Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    12. Act I Scene 2: Danza sacra delle sacerdotesse (Chorus, Ramfis)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    13. Act I Scene 2: Mortal, diletto ai Numi (Ramfis, Chorus, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    14. Act I Scene 2: Nume, custode e vindice (Ramfis, Radames, Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    15. Act II Scene 1: Introduction

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    16. Act II Scene 1: Chi mai fra gl'inni e i plausi (Chorus, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    17. Act II Scene 1: Danza di piccoli schiavi mori (Chorus, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    18. Act II Scene 2: Vieni, sul crin ti piovano (Schiave, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    19. Act II Scene 2: Silenzio! Aida verso noi s'avanza (Amneris, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    20. Act II Scene 2: Fu la sorte dell'armi (Amneris, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    21. Act II Scene 2: Pieta ti prenda del mio dolor (Aida, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    22. Act II Scene 2: Su! del Nilo al sacro lido (Chorus , Amneris, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    23. Act II Scene 2: Su! del Nilo … Numi, pieta del mio martir (Chorus, Amneris, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    24. Act II Scene 2: Gloria all'Egitto (Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    25. Act II Scene 2: Marcia (Triumphal March)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    26. Act II Scene 2: Ballabille

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    27. Act II Scene 2: Vieni o guerriero vindice (Popolo, Sacerdoti)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Hei-Kyung Hong

      Conductor: James Levine

    28. Act II Scene 2: Salvator della patria io ti saluto (Il Re, Radames, Ramfis, Sacerdoti)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Terry Cook, Plácido Domingo, Samuel Ramey, Hei-Kyung Hong

      Conductor: James Levine

    29. Act II Scene 2: Che veggo! … Egli? … Mio padre! (Aida, Chorus, Amneris, Amonasro, Il Re)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick, Terry Cook

      Conductor: James Levine

    30. Act II Scene 2: Suo padre! … Anch'io pugnai (Aida, Amneris, Amonasro, Il Re, Ramfis, Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Dolora Zajick, James Morris, Terry Cook, Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    31. Act II Scene 2: Ma tu, Re, tu signore possente (All)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick, James Morris, Samuel Ramey, Terry Cook, Hei-Kyung Hong, Charles Anthony

      Conductor: James Levine

    32. Act II Scene 2: O re pei sacri numi (Il Re, Popolo)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Terry Cook

      Conductor: James Levine

    33. Act II Scene 2: Gloria all'Egitto ad Iside (All)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick, James Morris, Samuel Ramey, Terry Cook, Hei-Kyung Hong, Charles Anthony

      Conductor: James Levine

    34. Act III: Introduction - O tu che sei d'Osiride (Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    35. Act III: Vieni di'Iside al tempio (Chorus, Ramfis, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    36. Act III: Qui Radames verra! … O patria mia (Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    37. Act III: Ciel Mio padre! (Aida, Amonasro)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, James Morris

      Conductor: James Levine

    38. Act III: Su, dunque! sorgete egizie coorti! (Amonasro, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: James Morris, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    39. Act III: Ah! Pieta, pieta! pieta! (Aida, Amonasro)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, James Morris

      Conductor: James Levine

    40. Act III: Pur ti riveggo, mia dolce Aida (Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    41. Act III: Nel fiero anelito di nuova guerra (Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    42. Act III Scene 1: Ne d'Amneris paventi il vindice furor? (Aida, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    43. Act III: Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti (Aida, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    44. Act III: Sovra una terra estrania teco fuggir dovrei! (Aida, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    45. Act III: Ah, no! fuggiamo! (Aida, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    46. Act III: Nella terra avventurata de'miei padri (Aida, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    47. Act III: Ma dimmi; per qual via (Aida, Radames, Amonasro, Amneris, Ramfis)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, James Morris, Dolora Zajick, Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    48. Act III: Traditor! … La mia rival! (Amneris, Aida, Amonasro, Radames, Ramfis)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Aprile Millo, James Morris, Plácido Domingo, Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    49. Act IV Scene 1: L'aborrita rivale a me sfuggia (Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    50. Act IV Scene 1: Di mie discolpe (Amneris, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    51. Act IV Scene 1: Morire! Ah, tu dei vivere (Amneris, Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    52. Act IV Scene 1: Chi ti salva, sciagurato (Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine

    53. Act IV Scene 1: E la morte u n ben suprem (Radames)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    54. Act IV Scene 1: Scene del giudizio

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Conductor: James Levine

    55. Act IV Scene 2: La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse (Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    56. Act IV Scene 2: Presago il core della tua condanna (Aida, Radames, Chorus)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo

      Conductor: James Levine

    57. Act IV Scene 2: Morir, si pura e bella (Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    58. Act IV Scene 2: Vedi? Di morte l'angelo (Radames, Aida)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Plácido Domingo, Aprile Millo

      Conductor: James Levine

    59. Act IV Scene 2: Act I Scene 2: Immenso Ftah, del mondo (Chorus, Ramfis)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Samuel Ramey

      Conductor: James Levine

    60. Act IV Scene 2: O terra addio; addio valle di pianti (Aida, Radames, Amneris)

      Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

      Ensemble: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

      Performer: Aprile Millo, Plácido Domingo, Dolora Zajick

      Conductor: James Levine


This is a distinctively sung, vigorously, often sensitively conducted and played, faithfully recorded reading of the old favourite that should please anyone looking for a well-integrated modern version. My enthusiasm goes rather further in the case of Millo's reading of the title role. In the interview on page 1968, the diva tells us that she has listened to most of the notable interpreters from the past, distant and not so distant, and the study shows not in any imitative way but in an authentically spinto kind of singing that has been hard to discern in other recent renderings. The firm yet vibrant, dark-hued, voluptuous tone is leavened by an appealing brightness at the top and an ability to float that is wholly natural, never contrived. Listen to "Pieta ti prenda" in the scene with Amneris or "Numi pieta" at its end and you'll hear how Millo is able to shade her timbre and her phrasing in a way that ideally matches the music.

The conflicting emotions of "Ritorna vincitor" are faithfully delineated, the reflective, elegiac mood of "0 patria mia" perfectly caught, with the final awkward passage managed par excellence. Still better is the instinctively right shading in "La, tra, foreste vergine" in the Act 3 duet with Radames and the poised singing of "0 terra addio" in the finale (although she here fails one dolcissimo test). In these examples the voice is all of a piece and the legato seamless. All this confirms the excellent impression Mil lo made on me when the opera was televized from the Metropolitan a couple of years back, a performance that delighted not a few seasoned buffs. After hearing the whole interpretation, I took down from the shelves some famous prima donne on disc: Millo was shown to be more youthful than Milanov on the Perlea/RCA (but it's that great diva at her best that Millo most potently recalls), more vocally appealing than Tebaldi for Karajan (Decca), more reliable in voice than Callas for Serafin/EMI (though not so unique in accents), more involved and as technically skilled than Price (in her first version on Decca under Solti), fuller in tone than Caballe (Muti/EMI). I wouldn't claim that in every respect Millo is superior to these formidable sopranos or to Giannini on the old HMV set now on Rodolphe/Harmonia Mundi and Pearl, simply that she is at least their peer on this evidence.

Millo is the most urgent reason for acquiring this set, but she is worthily supported by Domingo, offering his fourth and, I would judge, best Radames to date. Try "Celeste Aida", or even better the start of the final scene, to learn how much more refined the great tenor's reading has become. In the latter passage, he sings in a mezza voce he has never attempted in the past; indeed, throughout, the approach is more thoughtful. In forte the voice may be very marginally more stretched than, say, in Muti's 1974 set, still a very strong contender, but the difference is slight. When he is finally gone from the scene, we shall treasure his sterling performances, even if we shall still think in this instance that Pertile (Sabajno), Corelli (Mehta/EMI) and Vickers (Sol ti) are the ones with true Radames voices. By the way, at the end of his aria Levine and Domingo opt for the Toscanini solution—forte high B flat followed by a piano B flat an octave lower.

So much more at home in Verdi than he is in Mozart and Wagner, James Levine conducts a performance that captures the cut and thrust of the public scenes in the first part of the opera and the private anxieties and confrontations of the second. Learning a great deal from Toscanini's reading (RCA), he reveals details of orchestration often overlooked by other conductors though certainly not by Muti. His matching of tempos and general pacing (though some speeds, like that for the final scene, are on the slow side) seem to me well conceived and attentive to the histrionic needs of the well-tried piece. He is supported by the Met orchestra, once more in splendid form. The chorus is, for better and worse, not Italianate, that is to say it is more precise, less wobbly than the choruses on some other versions, but also wanting a shade in pungency.

I shall not be dispensing with my Callas/Serafin set or my Caballe/Muti or the readings headed by Giannini (Sabajno) and Milanov (Perlea), all of which are well-tried, treasurable experiences. But the new contender, which has many similarities with the grandly sung Solti (down to the feeling that one is sitting rather near the brass), deserves to be heard in their company, most of all for its very special Aida.

-- Gramophone [5/1991]