http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqzZtMMylYw

DiStefano, Corelli, Bergonzi, Tebaldi, Scotto….it’s not a matter of “things were always better in the past.” The fact is that no one has come along yet to equal them. Just listen.

Nevertheless, I think that clip shows that she was a lot more involved in the drama that she’s often given credit for.

The scream? Ah yes, she screamed from early in her career and probably took its toll. I think it was after her first Maddalena at the Met in 1955 that the Times reviewer mentioned it and predicted damage to her voice.

OK, here’s the same Cavaradossi aria, but sung by *an artist* ( Carlo Bergonzi, just a sob or two…, 1059)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bKH6E38DjQ

It’s too bad the conducting is so poor. WTF was Leinsdorf doing conducting that cast, RCA had no good Italian conductors on call?

Brava! indeed.

IL TABARRO
Giorgetta……………Renata Scotto
Luigi……………….Harry Theyard
Michele……………..Cornell MacNeil
Frugola……………..Lili Chookasian
Talpa……………….Philip Booth
Tinca……………….Charles Anthony
Song Seller………….Jon Garrison
Lover……………….Betsy Norden
Lover……………….Douglas Ahlstedt

SUOR ANGELICA
Angelica…………….Renata Scotto
Princess…………….Lili Chookasian
Genovieffa…………..Betsy Norden
Osmina………………Mary Fercana
Dolcina……………..Elizabeth Anguish
Monitor……………..Marcia Baldwin
Abbess………………Jean Kraft
Head Mistress………..Batyah Godfrey Ben-David
Nurse……………….Cynthia Munzer
Lay Sister…………..Maureen Smith
Lay Sister…………..Joyce Olson
Novice………………Linda Mays
Novice………………Shinja Kwak
Alms Collector……….Alma Jean Smith
Alms Collector……….Elena Doria

GIANNI SCHICCHI
Gianni Schicchi………Frank Guarrera
Lauretta…………….Renata Scotto
Rinuccio…………….Raymond Gibbs
Nella……………….Betsy Norden
Ciesca………………Marcia Baldwin
Zita………………..Lili Chookasian
Gherardo…………….Charles Anthony
Betto……………….Russell Christopher
Marco……………….Gene Boucher
Simone………………Raymond Michalski
Gherardino…………..Lawrence Klein
Spinelloccio…………Richard Best
Amantio……………..Andrij Dobriansky
Pinellino……………Herman Marcus
Guccio………………Edmond Karlsrud
Buoso Donati…………Terry Allen

Conductor……………Sixten Ehrling

In-house, 256kbps stereo mp3.

IL TABARRO

SUOR ANGELICA

GIANNI SCHICCHI

(PS: these are files I uploaded, so there’s no foul in my linking to them here.)

Why didn’t we get more Matachic operas on disc? He was a highly skilled and theatrically alive conductor–along with the singers he has, you can practically see this Fanciulla being played out in front of you as it comes from the speakers.

I have a real soft spot in my heart for the Nilsson recording. She is vocally stupendous, and Matacic creates a lot of excitement in his conducting.

In the review of the aftermath, Martin Bernheimer wrote something like this…”Dame Jones emitted notes that peeled the paint off the Dorothy Chandler pavilion”.

Terribly afraid to say that I bailed after the second act; not to my taste so I am now sorry I missed the handcar entrance. I prefer a horse.

A year or two later, her Faerberin in FRoSCH was just right, and she fabulously swathed herself in veils in the second act as she exited, taunting her poor hubby as if she had not managed to look in her datebook, and had mistaken the opera for Salome. That woman had a
way with veils.

Also, fabulous was the way she threw the errant fishies back into the frying pan when they descended from the heavens and fell flat on the floor.

No fish was going to f***k with Dame Gwyn! She got a round of applause.

In the years I’ve worked in this business, I’ve never seen actual proof of any of these claims, and Levine is simply not powerful enough, nor was he powerful enough at the time, to overcome such charges. We’ve seen much larger celebrities fall for much, much less. Look at what’s happening right now to Tiger Woods and Eliot Spitzer for example.

Levine would not have been able to avoid such charges as have been rumored to be leveled at him. The New York DA DOES NOT PLAY when it comes to these sorts of charges, no matter how politically connected Levine might be or have been. I scoff at the idea of Renata Scotto, a singer who is no richer than Levine (certainly less so at this point,) and someone who is neither a citizen of this country nor someone who wields political power or authority in this city, bailing him out of jail for such charges and then blackmailing him with knowledge of what he did for some roles well past her prime. It’s deeply insulting to Scotto to even allege this, and she’d probably (deservedly) slap you in the face for even saying something like that to her. The whole thing is just ridiculous, and is an absurd urban legend.

Do you honestly think Levine had so much power he was not able to only buy off the NY DA’s office, but the investigators, the judges, the law clerks, and the entire NY newspaper industry which of course would have caught wind of this and immediately printed anything, especially concerning a wealthy gay man sitting in a seat of artistic power at one of the most revered institutions of the social elite? The NY press loves nothing more than a good scandal and they would have eaten him and the Met board alive. Lay off the dry martinis for a minute and think about it. Come on. Whatever its failings, the Met is not the Catholic church.

It’s really time to let it go. Making accusations of this sort is a very dangerous thing, and it’s not funny or cute. If you have no proof, you are playing a very ugly game, and no, “I heard it from someone who heard it from a guy who is dating the daughter of one of the makeup artists backstage” is not proof.