Be brutal, be brutal!
“Tell me, Roberto, does this costume make my manly butt look big?” Speaking of which, has Anthony Tommasini started writing under an assumed name? “Tell me, Roberto, does this costume make my manly butt look big?” Speaking of which, has Anthony Tommasini started writing under an assumed name?
ITDCS, don’t you think that what you said about there not being an all-around perfect recording of Don Carlo applies to just about every other opera live or recorded?
The six or seven top singers that DC requires are indeed more than the average Italian opera, but… how often do we get an all-around top cast for Traviata or Boheme or Rigoletto… etc., etc. ?
From that point of view, I’d say that we’re lucky to have at least two recordings of DC with as many good singers as you mentioned.
Looking back I think that my live performances of Don Carlo have always included at least a couple of terrific performances. Great memories come back: Bumbry, Cossotto, Veasey, Troyanos, Zajick as Eboli. Ghiaurov, Siepi, Ramey as Philip. Talvela and Hines as the Grand Inquisitor. Milnes, Merrill, Hovstorvski as Rodrigo. (Also Ryan Edwards’ best performance ever may have been as Rodrigo at Wolf Trap on tour with the Met.)
I had no problem with the Elisabettas of Freni and Caballe, although I agree with you that they were not ideal. The role was also a bit heavy for Scotto, but, man, what a performance she gave! Her expression when she realizes in the first act that her handsome Spanish gentleman is no other than the man she’s expected to marry and then a few minutes later when she’s told she’ll be marrying Philip instead is etched indelibly in my mind. Almost 30 years later I can still feel Elisabetta’s pain. Yes, Virginia, there are singers and then there are artists!
(Of course, I’ve also had my share of bad singing in this opera, e.g., Gorchakova two or three years ago. Not at their best Tucci and Jones.)
Now here are some cases custom-made for The Interpolator. At a Met broadcast some twenty years ago of DC, Caballe held on and on and on to the final high note (Bb I believe). After a while, the audience starts applauding then realize that she’s not about to stop and quiet down and then eventually the note ends. Not quite an “interpolation” and some will say totally inappropriate but I love it.
There are also a couple of Met broadcasts from the early 60′s where Corelli interpolates a Db at the end of the duo with Rodrigo. I understand that he was severely criticized for doing that in such a “serious” work, but boy, oh boy, it sure is exciting. I’d love to see those interpolations become the “norm.”
ITDG, yes, I agree that in most cases, having a perfect cast for any opera is a very rare bird to come by – but I can site a few examples now off the top of my head:
For Trav – Live Broadcast, Steber, Di Stefano, Merrill; Studio, Caballe, Bergonzi, Milnes
For Rig – Studio, Pav, Sutherland, Milnes, admittedly, the Maddalegna could be better; Video, Pav, Gruberova, Wixell
For Boheme – Video, the Baz production when it opened in Sydney. Outstanding PERFECT cast; There are also several that have Pav and Freni with some great cast members
Aida – Live Broadcast with L. Price, Bergonzi, Rita Gorr, Siepi, Sereni, Solti – AMAZING
Ballo – (and this is THE BEST EVER period) Live Broadcast with L. Price, Bergonzi, Merrill, Peters, Mignon Dunn (who sings the GREATEST Ulrica I’ve ever heard in my life! and there are some good ones out there!)
Otello – Vickers, Freni, Glossop – the movie soundtrack. Period.
Tosca – (although I would prefer Corelli, Domingo does well) – L. Price, Milnes, Domingo, with Mehta.
But there are some ‘perfect’ recordings where each cast member brings to the table exactly what is needed for the opera as whole.
Scotto was good in DC as far as drama goes – but Lord knows both she and Marilyn Horne were making it up at the Met. Poor Marilyn got lost in both of the cadenza’s in the Veil Song…I still love her though and felt that she sang very well overall, even if Eboli isn’t the perfect role for her.
And you are quite correct – my dreamcast for DC left out quite a few amazing singers for each part. I wasn’t inferring that those I listed were the ‘only’ people for the parts, just my personal favs whose voices I think would have all blended and sounded well together on the stage.
You seem to have quite the collection of recordings – we’re definitely going to have to do some trading!
Wow, a young singer familiar with the past generation! ITDG, you’re a rare person indeed. Some of the performances you mention are from when I was first introduced to opera.
That Aida with Price, Gorr, et al was my first Met broadcast and my first Aida. How could I not become an opera fan? And yes, I do have that CD.
That was the cast of my first ever live Ballo. I remember the NYTimes reviewer suggesting that the Met tape that performance and make it required listening to every singer aspiring to sing Verdi. I wish they’d do it.
I didn’t know these operas at all at that time, wasn’t familiar with most of the music, and as I’ve said before I’m not musically trained, but I sure knew that those were formidable performances.
As for the Traviata broadcast with Steber, it sure was a revelation. And no, that one I did not see live! I never heard Steber live – not even at the Baths – and had not expected such a beautiful Violetta and Verdi singing. Have you heard her Ernani Involame?
I’ve heard the Tosca recording that you mention but I don’t have it. (My very first Tosca was with Tebaldi, Corelli and Gobbi. Awesome.)
I have a tape of the DC broadcast with Scotto and Horne and should probably listen to it again. I’m a total Horne fan but what I remember mostly from that performance was that by transposing down the Don Fatale the whole opera took an unremitting somber or dark tone. On the other hand, I did like her Amneris a year or two earlier very much. (Yes, I have a recording of that broadcast. I was a standee at that performance.)
One broadcast that I remember vividly and for which I do not have a tape is an Otello with Vickers and Zylis-Gara from the early 70′s. I was emotionally overwhelmed by Vickers in the 3rd act. I heard him in the role several other times and he was always good, but that one broadcast remained unique in my memory.
Before I go back to the Yankees game, I agree with your comment about Mignon Dunn as Ulrica. A good singer can make a small role very special. She was the Madelon for my very first live Andrea Chenier, also a broadcast performance. (At the old house, far up there in the family circle.)
Memories..
Ah, ITDG, we have already become such good friends in my mind!! Yes yes yes yes yes to everything – Yes, Eleanor Steber’s ‘Ernani involami’ is to die for. I have even heard the actual recording of her performance of that when she won the Met competition. I aspire to sing like that (just without the contanst supply of a liquid diet, if you catch my drift. Poor dear was always hitting the bottle, but sang like an angel!). Did you know that Steber was (and I believe might still hold the record) for being the only singer to ever sing a matinee and evening performance at the Met? I forget the actual order of performances, but I believe I am correct in saying that she sang her first Desdemona during the matinee and then sang a Fiordiligi in the evening – it might be the other way around though, but either way, that’s a HELL of a lot of singing! I would PASS OUT!
Speaking of Otello’s, I have also heard the recording of Del Monaco’s very first two performances of that opera. One was with Raina Kabaivanska – *sigh* The kids today barely know Del Monaco let alone the beauty that was Raina! I have an amazing Thais of her’s – she doesn’t do the optional Db’s, but those are some kick-ass Bb’s!!!!
Mignon Dunn rocks my world – I need to hear more of her!
Another great but highly underrated Mezzo is Elena Obrazstova – talk about a beast – she’s like a wild animal and it is AWESOME.
I too have Horne singing Amneris – which I think she did well given that it’s such a heavy role – she’s has a large voice, but the weight needed for Amneris isn’t quite where Jackie’s weight is. She does well though – I have the Price, Domingo, MacNeil, Horne recording from the Met – fierce!
Oh, but back to Ernani for a moment:
I have two of Leontyne’s recordings of that – one with Bergonzi and another bootleg with Corelli – both fantastic – but I’ll tell you, you have never heard some singing like she and Corelli do in this opera – just high and loud and big all the damn time – it’s fabulous!
As for the aria – some other great contenders for the prize, along with Miss Steber and Miss Price are Rosa Ponselle, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Cristina Deutekom, and, dare I say it (I do b/c I have the recording of it), Grace Bumbry sings the mess out of it too!
Tenore di Coloratura Superba:
Strange question, so please forgive it: it concerns your recent mention of Elenor Steber’s Traviata.
On a recent excursion (a few months ago) to FNAC under the Bastille in Paris, I came across one of those old “oddities” discs, where well-known singers are pusblishe singing bizarre reperoire. Well…
This one (among MANY others we must discuss immediately, as you would just eat it up!) was a recording of Steber singing “Sempre Libera” with orchestra. The slip-sheet did not say whether it was from a staged performance or from an orchestral concert of aria excerpts…but:
It is truly PHENOMENAL!! The Interpolator shall refrain from simply using all available superlatives to describe the minutiae of each act. He must, however, mention one:
Miss Steber takes a FEARLESS (demented?) high E-flat at the end of Sempre Libera, while the orchestra sawed away on the dominant five chord (of E-flat, G, B-Blat, and D-flat) waiting for the soprano to portamento down to the A-flat. The crowd went WILD!! Just WILD!!
How did you find her singing on the recording you have (a live broadcast, I think)? Did she pull out the stops and toss in the high E-flat. Frankly, this surprised the Interpolator — but what a WELCOME one!!! She TRULY pulls it off, and never stops sounding like a lyric Verdi singer. Fab, FAB, FFFAAABBB!!!
Now — tell us about yours!
THEN we’ll get down to more busines and talk about Alessanrda Marc, Studer, Cotrubas, Don Carlos, and the filth and dementia of Strauss’ “Brautnacht” from Die Aegyptische Helena — and there’s lots more where that came from. In fact:
…Someone just pop the Interpolator ONE question on the board using ONE famous singer and ONE famous recording and let’s see how far the Interpolator can take it>
Challengers?
Bring on the dish!! The interpolator is safe, sound, snug in his bed after the horrendous crossing over the Gulf of Mexico from South America — and he is READY to PARTY at La Cieca’s Place!!
Bon soir, mes beaux garcons! La boite est ouverte; donc allez-y et commencez!
ITDCS, Steber was not the only singer to do two performances at the Met. Tucci did Faust and Boheme in the fall of 1966. I remember reading that in appreciation Rudolf Bing gave her the very last complete opera performance at the old house – Boheme.
I also sort of remember seeing a newspaper picture of Scotto being given a vitamin shot to help her get through two performances in one day. I think it was at the Met and the operas were Boheme and Lucia but I’m not sure.
A most interesting case was when the Washington Opera had prepared a production of Manon Lescaut with Teresa Stratas back in the 60′s. (That was before I came to the Washington area but it was highly publicized.) There had been a lot of anticipation because the company had announced that a film of Manon and Des Grieux nude in bed would be shown during the second act duet. (Hey, got to sell tickets.) Surprise, Stratas cancelled the morning of the performance. Raina Kabaivanska was the only soprano who knew the role and was readily available but she was singing in the broadcast matinee performance of Don Carlo at the Met that day. She finished her Elisabetta, was rapidly flown to Washington, and then she was Manon Lescaut that evening. I think she got to sing the remaining performances. And no, the film was not shown.
Just remembered another one while writing this. I once saw the day-time dress rehearsal of a Met Rosenkavalier with Pavarotti as the Italian Singer and then saw him in I Puritani with Sutherland that evening. Does this count? Incidentally, that was Troyanos’ debut at the Met.
It was also a memorable opera marathon for me. After seeing those two performances, the following day I saw the Aida with Price and Horne that we’ve chatted about in the afternoon and Norma with Caballe and Verret in the evening.
A century ago singers used to sing a lot more frequently than they do now and I’d love to hear why all you boggers think that has changed. Just think of the first performance of Trovatore when the entire fourth act was encored. And I assume that all those cabalettas and second verses that are omitted now were sung at least during the first run of performances.
But that’s enough chatting. Now I must get ready to go to the opera for real. Manon and Falstaff await for me. It’ll be my first time to hear Manuel Alvarez.
Au revoir.
i thought troyanos made her debut as the composer, not octavian
never mind, checked the research, it was octavian
Cher Interpolator,
moi aussi je suis pres a faire la fete avec toi, surtout que je viens a New York Mercredi. Peut-etre aurais-je l’occasion, en Novembre et a New York, de me faire rechauffer ma petite main froide?
Just Another Tenor: By all means keep The Interpolator’s gelida manina warm but I hope you do not interfere with his high notes.
I can’t avoid remembering the anecdote of Mario del Monaco’s wife complaining to Rudolf Bing about her husband’s schedule. He was too nervous the day before singing Otello and two tired the day after. This was ruining their sex life.