I love Verdi Ernani Metropolitan Opera CD
SOURCE:
This set represents a performance on the stage of the old Metropolitan Opera House broadcast on December 1, 1962. This version is officially authorized by the Met.
SOUND:
The sound quality of this CD is above average for vintage Metropolitan Opera recordings. As noted in previous Amazon reviews, there are occasional roll-offs and too-well captured audience sounds, as well as a bit of over-enthusiastic stage noise, but all this is small stuff, failings of major significance only to those audiophiles who give more weight to mere sound reproduction than to quality of performance, poor limited souls that they are. Overall, this set sounds very like what might have been expected from a very-near top-of-the-line radio receiver in 1962.
The recording is described as "newly remastered"--cerca 2012--from the historic broadcast recording under the control of the Metropolitan Opera. It is certainly an improvement on some old pirated versions I have heard, although the vastly knowledgeable Amazon reviewer Ralph Moore suggests that it is not appreciably better than other issues not known to me.
CAST:
~ Ernani, a nobleman fallen on hard times and now gainfully employed as a bandit, in love with Elvira--Carlo Bergonzi.
~ Elvira, a noble young woman who is rather over-burdened with importunate suitors--Leontyne Price.
~ Don Carlo, King of Spain and soon to be Emperor Charles V, another of Elvira's suitors--Cornell MacNeil.
~ Don RuyGomez de Silva, Elvira's uncle, who also loves her, or at least he wants to marry her, a hard-line conspirator and revenge addict--Giorgio Tozzi
~ Giovanna, comprimaria, a denizen of Silva's household--Carlotta Ordassy.
~ Jago, comprimario, a denizen of Silva's household--Roald Reitan.
~ Don Riccardo, comprimario, another denizen of Silva's place--Robert Nagy.
CONDUCTOR:
Thomas Schippers with the Metropolitan Orchestra and Chorus.
TEXT:
I do not have a close knowledge of this opera, nor is a score readily at hand, but simply from the date of the performance, I would deduce that there are cuts. Once again, I commend the review of the well-informed Mr. Moore for details.
FORMAT:
Disc 1, Act I--37 minutes, 53 seconds.
Disc 2, Acts II, III and IV--67 minutes, 51 seconds.
DOCUMENTATION;
Track list with timings that identifies characters singing in each track. Brief summary of the plot by act. Photographs of Bergonzi, Price and MacNeil in costume and character.
COMMENTARY:
As it happened, I listened to this very broadcast on that Saturday morning, just over fifty years ago. I part icularly remember the beloved, long-time announcer Milton Cross all-but apologizing to the radio audience for the Met's inexplicable decision to broadcast such a moldy old relic as Verdi's "Ernani." How things have changed! And, frankly, I am just a bit disappointed that Cross' uncomfortable opening commentary has been expunged from this issue.
As has been noted by previous Amazon reviewers, the presence of four such singers as MacNeil, Bergonzi, Price and Tozzi on stage together is more than luxury casting by today's pallid standards. Nevertheless, such groupings were common half a century ago, so commonplace, in point of fact, that they certainly did not generate part icular comment from critics or audiences.
Even amid such stellar company, the most impressive singing in this performance comes from baritone Cornell MacNeil (1922-2011), here at his vocal peak. MacNeil made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1959 and closed out his career there with his 92nd Scarpia in 1987. In hs prime, he was known for a ringing top and this recording documents some quite wonderful high notes from him. I saw him a couple times with the San Francisco Opera. He was an adequate, if hardly great actor, but from time to time he sang like an angel.
Carlo Bergonzi (1924- ) was, with Corelli, Del Monaco and di Stefano, one of the quart et of Italian tenors who arose to international fame in the post-World War II era. Corelli and Del Monaco specialized in power and excitement. In his too-short heyday, di Stefano offered remarkable vocal beauty. Bergonzi's part icular specialties were technical precision and elegance. Of the four, Bergonzi lasted longest. He made his Italian debut as a baritone in 1948. By 1951, he had retrained to make his tenorial debut as Andrea Chenier, hardly a lightweight role for even the strongest of tenors. His Met debut was in 1956. His formal retirement concert in America was at Carnegie Hall in1996, although in 2000 at the age of 75 he made a famous, if ill-fated attempt at Otello, a role he had never performed on stage . It was a failure, but a noble one. In this performance, Bergonzi is an elegant and committed Ernani, but that very elegance is a fault, for that chump, the crude, rude, idiotically honorable Ernani, is the very antithesis of elegance. Even so, the fault is a minor one in view of the fine singing.
Giorgio Tozzi (1923-2011) was an American bass of the first rank. His Met debut came in 1953. Whenever I saw him with the San Francisco Opera he was a rock-solid and impressive performer. I part icularly recall him thirty or forty feet above the stage in the War Memorial Opera House, floating amid the clouds and cheerfully dissing the entire heavenly host during the prelude to Boito's "Mefistofele."
Leontyne Price (1927- ) first appeared at the Metropolitan in January 1961 in a memorable double debut with Franco Corelli. By the time of this performance, not quite two years later, she was at or near the apex of her powers and had a solid position among the great operatic divas of the world. Beyond question, she does some memorable singing in this "Ernani." However, I cannot offer a rational assessment of her performance here or elsewhere because I had the misfortune to see her twice with the San Francisco Opera, at which times she offered the most ungracious, selfish and unprofessional performances I have ever seen in my life, thus souring me on her forever.
Thomas Schippers (1930-1977) was not one of my favorite conductors but he was energetic and adventurous. I think he did a perfectly sound, even light-footed job on this score. The Metropolitan Orchestra and Chorus are fine, even if the latter overdoes bonhomie in the opening scene.
This is an excellent representative performance of what the Metropolitan Opera was all about back in the 1960s. Had I been there, I certainly would have cheered during the final curtain calls. It does not quite match the quite extraordinary brilliance of the "Ernani" conducted by Mitropoulos with Mario Del Monaco (a man born to sing Ernani, if ever a man was!) and Anita Cerquetti from a few years earlier, but that performance, woe and alas, is available only in wretched sound. There is also a studio version of "Ernani" with Bergonzi, Price and Schippers, but with somewhat lesser performers in the bass and baritone roles That one is good, but lacking in the intensity and "ping" of this live performance.
To any who can abide "historic" sound, this "Ernani," while not the very greatest on record, is still worth a solid five stars.
Leontyne Price and Carlo Bergonzi are well known in these roles, and both are magnificent here in 1961, before Price's vocal crisis (brought on by attempting Minnie in Puccini's "Fanciulla del West") robbed her of some of the sublime freedom she displays on this afternoon. Giorgio Tozzi is not quite in their league, but he is very fine here, caught in his full prime and in very good voice; later in his long career the tone would display more than a little rust. The really commanding performance here is Cornel MacNeil's as Charles V. In Act III he shakes the rafters with "O de verd'anni miei" and leads the great ensemble that follows with an "O sommo Carlo" worthy of Warren. Even if the others were not in their best voice (and they all all) this set would be worth having for MacNeil alone. The sound is very clear and full-bodied, although there is a little interference (alas, in Act III) but it's not enough to mar this splendid performance. As another reviewer has aptly pointed out, Corelli and del Monaco are the benchmark interpreters of the title role. Here Bergonzi, spurred on by MacNeil in an exceptional state of grace, challenges them. This is molton Verdi, pouring forth a flood of melodies, a truly profligate display of invention, sung by great voices who happen to be great singers as well, under a fiery young (gay) American conductor, Thomas Schippers. Verdi would be very pleased.
ReplyDeleteBergonzi is stylish, Price is wonderful, Tozzi is great (contrary to review in Opera News), but the gem of this live recording is CORNELL MACNEIL. His singing is of dimensions beyond words. Solid low notes smooth legato in all registers, and high notes of both beauty and power. There has never been a better example of this great baritone's work. Thankfully, these live recordings are becoming available. If you hear this one, you then must get the TOSCA with Corelli and Price. Both Verdi and Puccini would have been stunned by this artist's incredible vocalism.
ReplyDeleteThe more of these live broadcasts released from the Met archives we hear, the more we become aware of a standard of cast and performance that might then have been taken for granted but which seems impossibly exalted today. The only pity is that they were not recorded in stereo; as it is, we must be content with clean, slightly boxy mono sound occasionally punctuated with some wow and fade such as we hear at the end of the great ensemble "Oh sommo Carlo" which concludes Act III. Supposedly re-mastered for this first Met-authorised release, the sound is apparently little different from or better than previous unauthorised releases but no-one will complain at the price. We are not exactly short of good recordings of "Ernani"; there is the excellent, stereo 1967 RCA studio recording with the same two principal singers and conductor, a classic vintage performance from RAI in 1950 with Caterina Mancini, Gino Penno and Giuseppe Taddei conducted by Previtali and the celebrated live blockbuster from Florence in 1957 starring Del Monaco, Cerquetti, Christoff and Bastianini - beat that for a cast!
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I think there are still very good reasons for buying this set, not least the opportunity to hear Leontyne Price in such youthful, vibrant voice that she sounds positively reckless in her attack on her music; she is as thrilling as Mancini and Cerquetti but with even more beauty of tone. True, one or two top notes squawk a little, but by and large this is the most vital and uninhibited singing you will ever hear from her. Bergonzi, too, while he will never have the heft and squillo of Del Monaco, is as elegant as ever and immensely touching in his lament "Solingo, errante e misero", but also extraordinarily released, capping the cavatina to his opening aria with a prolonged B flat that raises the roof. To complete a trio of superb singers, Cornell MacNeill is in massively authoritative voice, firm and expressive if occasionally slightly vibrato-heavy; he twice caps his big moments with ringing A-flats. The singers' grandstanding results in spontaneous audience applause over the music but that just adds to the drama of what was clearly a great occasion. The supporting cast, led by a black-voiced Giorgio Tozzi as the implacable Silva, is very good, especially Robert Nagy in the small tenor role of Riccardo.
Schippers conducts a brisk, urgent, flexible performance which has a small cut in the chorus for the "Festa di Ballo" opening Act IV but is otherwise complete. This is not a subtle opera: there are lots of "oompah-pah" � passages and the melodramatic plot, with its insistence upon honour over common sense or morality, is rebarbative to a modern audience; Hugo condemned the adaptation of his play "Hernani" as "travesty". On the other hand, the succession of great, rollicking tunes and strong characterisation whereby a persona is closely linked to its voice type, make this, Verdi's fifth opera, first performed in 1844 and his first real success since "Nabucco", a tempting bargain. The music is by no means all rum-ti-tum; there is a lovely orchestral introduction to Elvira's first appearance on stage which is reminiscent of the one used Bellini used to introduce Adalgisa in "Norma" and the set pieces, such as the aforementioned ensemble and the great trio which concludes the work, are both stirring and sophisticated.
This issue of yet another of the Met Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts is self-recommending as long as you are tolerant of mono sound.
Price, Bergonzi, and Schippers made an excellent recording (now out of print) of "Ernani" in a Rome studio in 1967; it is textually complete. The 1962 Met broadcast performance reviewed here takes the traditional cuts (about 25 minutes of music), but I think it is better than the studio recording because it is an actual performance, with the tension and electricity naturally generated in a theater with an audience present. Price and Bergonzi are superb in all respects, and one could not ask for a more unrelenting Silva than Giorgio Tozzi. The unexpected reward of the performance is the splendid Don Carlo of Cornell MacNeil. His later work could be erratic, but here his voice is smooth, warm, and commanding when needed.
ReplyDeleteWhen "Ernani" was premiered, Verdi was only 30. At the time of this Met production, Thomas Schippers was only 32, and he conducted this performance with appropriately youthful vigor, as well as complete authority. He also showed that the 1962 Met Orchestra was not a rag-tag ensemble when it had the kind of strong and decisive leadership he provided.
I recommend that you load this recording into your player, turn up the volume, and settle back for nearly two hours of operatic excitement from this Met production, about which critic Irving Kolodin wrote, "Early Verdi has rarely sounded more verdant."
Sony has recently been releasing Met broadcasts with a sticker that falsely proclaims "first time on CD." While they might mean something like "first authorized time on CD", that's not what they say giving collectors the false impression that they're getting something that truly hasn't been available. This release of the 1 Dec 1962 broadcast has been available in the past but no longer. If you have the release on Movimento Musica, there's no reason to get this one. In all the ones I've compared (Sony to previous releases), the sound on the Sony release is identical to previous releases and the Sony CD contain no extra material such as announcements by Milton Cross or Peter Allen. If you want to find whether a broadcast has been released on CD, look it up Frank Hamilton's excellent website "www.frankhamilton.org" and click on "Metropolitan Opera performances on CD".
ReplyDeleteThat said, if you don't have the earlier release, grab this one. Bergonzi, del Monaco, and Corelli were the three best Ernani performers of the 20th century and you can hear why in the broadcasts available on several labels. Yes, I know Domingo and Pavarotti sang the role but neither of them come anywhere near these three. While Bergonzi may not be as high-voltage as Corelli or del Monaco, he has power enough as well as a beautiful tone. Schippers propels the score very well and the sining of all is first-rate as well as each making the roles their own. Leontyne Price was one of the greatest sopranos of any century and her powerful, richly burnished tones bring the role to life. She and Bergonzi recorded this opera for RCA but the live performance in fine sound is even more remarkable with its theatrical feel.
Grab it while Sony is still releasing it.