From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Which forza/carlos/ballo to buy?
Date: 29 Sep 92 20:55:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.BvCy56.Jyr
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <1992Sep29.172109.29395@linus.mitre.org> rwilmer@zinka.mitre.org (R. Wilmer) writes:

>An excellent Forza is with Tebaldi, Siepi, Bastianini, Simionato, and
>del Monaco.  Tebaldi is at her peak and is musically and vocally great.

Yes, that's a good one.  I would also recommend either of the recordings
on RCA with Leontyne Price.  The first one, from 1964 (the first uncut
one), catches a high point of American Verdi singing:  Price, Verrett,
Tucker, Merrill, Tozzi, Flagello, with Schippers conucting effectively.
The one from 1976 or so catches Price a little older-sounding, but still
a major Verdi soprano, with Domingo on exceptional form as Alvaro (at
his peak careerwise), plus Cossotto, Milnes, Giaotti, Bacquier, and the
good and weak points of Levine's Verdi conducting (energetic, dramatic,
a bit literal and unmoodful).

>I should warn buyers that excellent music from the
>wine-drinking scene (Act II, tavern scene)
>and also from the soup-drinking scene (Act IV, monk music) is often
>cut from Forza recordings.  

Well, not any more.  All the post-1964 recordings are uncut.

>I listened to the Callas-Serafin
>record and was horrified that the beautiful Guardiano-Melitone
>duet (``Del mondo i disinganni'') was cut.

It's on the LP and CD reissues of that recording.  (As with some other
Angels, like Italiana in Algeri, more was recorded than could be fit
onto the requisite number of LP sides by 1950s standards.)  At least I
think that's one of the bits they restored -- I don't have total recall
on this point, but I do know they solved their original space problem by
hacking out a whole scene that is not usually cut.

>For overall quality and completeness, again I recommend
>Tebaldi & Co.

They're not quite complete actually, but they were the closest at the
time.

For Ballo, it's hard to know what to suggest.  None of the recordings do
it all.  Callas/Gobbi on EMI make magic with their own roles, Toscanini
on RCA conducts it better than anyone else, and so on.  I guess I like
the EMI conducted by Muti, with Arroyo, Cossotto, Grist, Domingo, and
Cappuccilli, but I must admit it's a little anonymous sounding at times.

>I second the praise for the Giulini Don Carlo.  We have already
>had a string where many netters ranked that recording among
>the all-time greats.  Nevertheless, the poster who raised this
>current string said he did not like the Domingo recording,
>but did not say if he had heard Domingo's French or Italian
>recording.  

Actually he did.  It was the DG (French) that he'd heard.

>If it was the French version, then I would recommend
>the Giulini Italian.  

This would be my recommendation too.

Levine & Co. have just recorded Don Carlo for Sony, apparently with the
cast of last spring's revival.  That didn't seem to me a cast for the
ages, so I wonder why they're doing it.  (Apparently Sony doesn't care
how much money it loses recording the standard rep with the Met, it
wants those titles in its catalog.)  If they were doing it in French,
that would be worthwhile; we haven't had a good French recording, even
of the standard text.  But I'm quite certain that cast isn't relearning
it in a different language for records!

Jon Alan Conrad