magnum “forza”
La Cieca is delighted to present, by special arrangement with VAI, the legendary “New Orleans Forza” as the latest installment of Unnatural Acts of Opera. This live performance was recorded in March of 1953 and stars Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco and Leonard Warren. You can hear the first act after the jump. La forza del destino (Verdi) Part 1
This podcast is based on VAI AUDIO CD 1252-3, which is available from amazon.com
Harry, it wouldn’t have been ‘Parch-J, Parch-J’ at the Coli, it would have been some vague English equivalent, probably ‘Pardon, Pardon’. I actually saw Dame Jo’s Amelia (in Italian) at Salzburg, about which I remember nothing, I’m afraid. It was the series in which Solti substituted for the recently deceased HvK.
10. What nonsense. The conductor was Our Own Howard Williams.
How nice of the powers that be at VAI to let our omniscient Cieca present this recordng here. Thanks Ernie & Co.
Santo nome di Dio! I’m very impressed with the Padre Guardiano! What a nice, buzzy, black bass! William Wilderman?? I had barely heard of him except as Sam in a Met video of Ballo, but I’ll be sure to remember him now.
How silly of them to have done it on Shaftesbury Avenue. Nobody in the Coliseum will have been able to hear them from so far away.
Thanks for posting! Milanov is such a powerhouse!
Wilderman was a very good bass who never quite got to be a star. In the US at least. His Daland was excellent.
I got to chat with him a couple of times in the late 70′s and he was perplexed at the Met casting him as Sam for the next season. He was to be paid his usual fee so it was fine with him. He saw it as another example of Schyler Chapin’s idiocy.
Will, re #2, as La Cieca says this was indeed a “magnum” Forza. Considering the cuts, not a “magnum XL”, though…
(Post July 4 attempt at humor)
This recording is available from Berkshire on G.O.P. for $3.98.
William Wildermann, who I first ran across in that same Met Ballo with Pavarotti, Ricciarelli, Quilico, Berini and Blegen, sang some major (and not so major) Verdi bass roles in Buenos Aires in the 60′s. There are some recordings around of his Guardiano and his Fiesco. He also sang the Grand Inquisitor and, if I’m not mistaken, Sparafucile.