89.00 PLN

CD:

Nr kat.: GL100760
Label  : GALA Records

Performer: Lawrence Feiner (Voice), Siegmund Nimsgern (Bass), Mignon Dunn (Mezzo Soprano), Gilda Cruz-Romo (Soprano), Isser Bushkin (Bass), Cilla Grossmeyer (Soprano), Menasse Hadjes (Voice), Richard Tucker (Tenor) Conductor: Zubin Mehta Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tel Aviv Philharmonic Chorus Date of Recording: 07/09/1973 Ralph Moore TOP 1000 REVIEWER 5.0 out of 5 starsSuperior even to the excellent studio recording October 18, 2016 The retrospection of forty years gives us greater appreciation of this live recording in San Francisco. In absolute, historical terms it is perhaps true that none of the five principals here possesses the ideal Verdian sound but in the context of what we may hear on stage today, they are superlative. I am indebted to fellow Amazonian reviewer Esteban Molina for alerting me to its existence although I do not wholly agree with him that everyone goes hell-for-leather the entire time; "Il trovatore" is and should be a pretty much "full on" listening experience and I agree that Bonynge gives his singers free rein, employing plenty of rubato and virtual suspension of the beat for the money notes but that does occasionally also involve some let up in the tension. Pavarotti is not pushing himself beyond the natural brightness and reverberation of his essentially lyric tenor here but his exuberance seems to encourage Sutherland to drop any attachment to a "Lucia" bel canto style of singing, and even if her lower register is lacking she embellishes she her arias with some thrilling and apt coloratura decoration and crowns them with top D flats. At first there is something of a beat in her tone but the sheer size of the voice is always impressive and of course in this regard she matches Obraztsova, whose huge, animal sound is all-enveloping. What point is there is there in subtlety in a role such as this? It was parts such as Azucena which allowed Verdi to exploit the depth, brilliance and richness of the mezzo-soprano voice category and exploit it as no composer had done before. As such, Obraztsova is better suited to it than Marilyn Horne in the subsequent studio recording, where Pavarotti, Sutherland and Wixell are more restrained and thus less successful. Pavarotti's abandon results in a fleeting crack at the end of the final top C in his "Di quella pira" but that matters little. I love Clifford Grant's black, incisive bass and wish this Ossie equivalent of Gwynne Howell had recorded more. Ingvar Wixell is similarly biting and animated, singing with great vibrancy but sustaining a truly classical legato in his one "gentle" aria "Il balen", where he exhibits a tenorial lightness and flexibility. As always, he is a compelling vocal actor. Only the chorus sounds a bit thin but that's hardly important in an opera expressly written for grand-standing soloists. The final scene is electric. The audience clearly loves what it is hearing and responds accordingly. There is a little thumping, stage noise and audience coughing but it's negligible. While this not might be the authentic Verdi of one's dreams it is clearly great singing and does honour to Verdi's bombastic, no-holds-barred score. (A bonus track at the end of CD2 is an interview with Pavarotti, presumably a broadcast from KDFC San Francisco around the same time as this performance; the tenor is remarkably fluent and informative.)