From: fgh@taormina.sbi.com (Frank Hamilton @ Salomon Brothers Inc., NY )
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Immortal opera recordings
Date: 14 Aug 92 21:23:18 GMT
Organization: Salomon Brothers Inc., NY

In article <Bsu25G.1Hy@news.udel.edu> conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad) writes:
>It's time to confess:  I began this topic partly (maybe mostly) to see
>if we agree how FEW of the great opera recordings are free from
>(sometimes substantial flaws).  I could name only a handful, and most
>others did likewise, and they did not include many that we consider The
>Greatest.  There's a lesson in that, I think.  (There was one respondent
>who turned it into a list of "my favorite opera recordings," but
>everyone else seemed to stick to the topic, for which my thanks; I
>realize that it was a frustrating one in some ways, because it's so hard
>to find good examples.)
>
>On the live-vs.-studio recording issue, I stand unrepentant.  Yes, I
>want a performance to have "pizazz."  But I have not found that this is
>a quality that automatically arises in live performance, or is always
>absent in the recording studio.  We have to use our ears and judgement
>-- and gut -- and not simply go by the label.  (That applies to singers
>as brand names too, of course.)  
>
>I hope nobody sees this as a nasty bit of trickery.  I really wanted to
>see what people would say in answer to this question (and I'm still
>interested, if there are any further responses lurking).

Well Jon, I certainly think you have made a point - There are almost no
perfect opera recordings.  Many many great recordings, but none are
perfect.

It is kind of hard for me to call the 8/53 Callas Tosca perfect.  It is
hard to do so because both Callas and Gobbi later surpassed *certain*
dramatic emotional elements of this early Tosca with even more profound
interpretations.

	Callas probably sang her first Tosca in Athens, July 1941,
	probably giving close to twenty+ performances of the role in
	greek and italian between 7/41 and 7/43.  She would sing Tosca
	in Mexico City, Bologna, Pisa, and Rio de Janeiro before the
	EMI Scala recording Milan '53.  She sang it in Genoa 3/54 and
	it was dropped from her repertoire until New York '56,'58.  It
	was again dropped until London 1/64.  The Toscas and Normas of
	London/Paris/New York(no Norma) were her last opera performances
	- the 7/5/65 London Tosca being the last complete role she sang
	on any stage or studio.  As every one knows, Callas stated that
	she did not particularly like the role of Tosca.  But Callas did
	not often say things that were exactly true.

In any case, perhaps one could say that the '53 Tosca for EMI is
definitive, but for me, it is hard to do so, given that Callas and Gobbi
gave even better interpretations of these roles again for EMI 12/64 even
though both were in serious vocal decline.  Which brings up the question
which is more important.

One person mentioned that their nomination was the Sutherland/Pavarotti
Turandot.  I just can't accept this.  It is not even a good Turandot.
Sutherland sounds like she is sight-reading the role for the first time.
For me there is only one Turandot and Calaf - Nilsson and Corelli.  Neither
Bjoerling or Pavarotti are worthly to stand in this Calaf's shadow.  I
would be willing to volunteer the EMI Nilsson/Corelli Turandot as a
near-perfect recording.  I would also volunteer the Nilsson/Corelli Aida
as a near-perfect recording.  They are electric.  If I could own only one
Aida and Turandot, it would be these.

If I could nominate a near-perfect Madama Butterfly it would be the
De los Angeles/Di Stefano/Gobbi/Gavazzeni for EMI 7-8/54

If I could nominate a near-perfect Manon Lescaut it would be the
Freni/Domingo/Sinopoli recording for DG.

Perhaps the 12/7/57 Un ballo in maschera with Di Stefano/Bastianini/
Callas/Simionato from La Scala could be considered?

As for Jon's comments about "live-vs.-studio".  I very much miss the
energy and applause the audience adds to the occasion.  It seems so
unnatural the hear a big drum-roll and cadence followed by black
silence at the end of a scene.  It is even better when the applause
starts a whole page before the end like the Callas Rigoletto from
Mexico City :-)

As for not "a quality that automatically arises in live performance",
this is true because live performances now days are just as cold and
sterile as canned performances have always been.  The advent of the
K-sat and commercial recording mediums have ruined opera on stage today.
Singers know that almost every performance in every house is being
recorded and sing like academics.  People sneer at Corelli today but
Corelli with all his flaws was a real singer from the heart and
thrilling to listen to.  Not many (if any) singers today are thrilling.
I love all those high Ds in the live Callas Normas of the early fifties.
What happened?  Today opera is sterilized for armchair-yuppie-scholars
and pseudo-intellectual critics (bred on canned music) like those of
Gramophone Magazine (look up their review of the PHILIPS William Tell).
The theater, the stage, the thrill, even the applause are gone.  Maybe
we should stop selling CDs and fill the stores with printed music scores
instead?

Frank Hamilton
fgh@pivot.sbi.com