Search - Siepi, Anelli, Pagliughi :: Bellini: La Sonnambula (Complete); Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor (Complete) [Germany]

Superb 1952 Sonnambula and pretty good 1939 Lucia, both orig

L. E. Cantrell | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 08/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"SOURCE, LA SONNAMBULA: Studio recording from 1952. I assume that the recording follows the pattern of many operas originally released by the Italian CETRA label: recorded primarily for broadcast on RAI with subsequent release on 78 rpm records and Lps as a secondary consideration.



SOUND, LA SONNAMBULA: Good 1950s mono. As is customary for the period and particularly for CETRA recordings, voices are given primacy over the orchestra. While no-one is likely to confuse this set with an up-to-date digital recording, the sound is, nevertheless, pleasing, when heard with a little good will. Recent digital remastering has removed the characteristic CETRA harshness.



CAST, LA SONNAMBULA: Amina, an innocent, not to say dim-witted maiden - Lina Pagliughi (soprano); Elvino, in love with Amina but jealous by nature - Ferruccio Tagliavini (tenor); Il Conte Rodolfo, a gentleman - Cesare Siepi (bass); Lisa, neither innocent nor by choice necessarily a maiden - Wanda Rugeri (soprano); Teresa, Amina's mother - Anna Maria Anelli (mezzo-soprano); Alessio - Pier Luigi Latinucci (bass); Un Notario - Armando Benzi (tenor).



CONDUCTOR, LA SONNAMBULA: Franco Capuana with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI and Coro CETRA.



COMMENTARY, LA SONNAMBULA: This is an Italian production with Italian singers, conductor, orchestra and chorus in a quintessentially Italian opera. All these things are plainly there to be heard on the disks.



While Lina Pagliughi was excellent, I am willing to concede that she was not quite in the league of Sutherland or Callas, purely as a singer. But she is a better Amina than any of her successors. She is totally convincing as the ultimate, sweetly innocent, love-besotted, feather-headed and, yes, girlish soprano. Sutherland is always too droopy. Callas is burdened with the baggage of fiery Norma and Medea. Devia sounds too self-confident, too ... well, intelligent (an accusation I only reluctantly hurl at any opera singer.)



Ferruccio Tagliavini and Cesare Valletti are the only two tenors worth hearing as Elvino. (The wretched Nicola Monti is casually blown out of the picture by the overwhelming presence of Callas. Luciano Pavarotti as Elvino is fatally burdened by the unfortunate fact that he sounds exactly like Luciano Pavarotti singing Elvino.) Tagliavini, when he chooses to do so, can be almost as elegant as the super-elegant Valletti, but he can also call on power and squillo entirely beyond anything available to the lighter-voiced Valletti. Tagliavini is at his impressive best in the duets with Pagliughi. Their voices, acting and singing styles are in exact alignment. They provide true pleasure, both together and apart.



As the Count, Cesare Siepi is a sort of older, wiser, kinder Don Giovanni. In Act I, there is a short scene in which the sleepwalking Amina turns up in the Count's hotel room clad in nothing but her night dress. For a few bars, Siepi is so much in full Giovanni-mode that you can almost hear Leporello riffling through the pages of his catalogue in preparation for a new entry: "In Italia seicento e..." No other Count on record can hold a candle to Siepi.



As for the rest, the orchestra, chorus and supporting players, all are as they should be in this charming and tuneful bit of fluff. Every part works beautifully with every other part to make this, as a whole, the best performance of "La Sonnambula" that I know or ever expect to encounter.



SOURCE, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: 1939 broadcast by Italian Radio (EIAR di Torino), subsequently issued as an album of approximately thirty 78 rpm sides.



SOUND, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: Surprisingly good mono, considering that this set is in its seventh decade. Solo voices are very well caught with the orchestra and chorus less so.



CAST, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: Lord Enrico Ashton - Giuseppe Manacchini (baritone); Lucia Ashton, Lord Enrico's sister - Lina Pagliughi (soprano); Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood, Enrico's enemy who loves Lucia - Giovanni Malpiero (tenor); Lord Arturo Bucklaw, Enrico's handpicked bridegroom for Lucia - Muzio Giovagnoli (tenor); Raimondo Bide-the-Bent, Enrico's rather bent spiritual advisor - Luciano Neroni (bass); Normanno, Enrico's henchman - Armando Gianotti (tenor); Alisa, Lucia's maid - Maria Vinciguerra (mezzo-soprano).



CONDUCTOR, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: Ugo Tansini with the Sinfonico e Coro dell' EIAR di Torino.



TEXT, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: This is the standard cut text that held the stage until the 1960s, pretty much the same text recorded later by Maria Callas.



COMMENTARY, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: This is what "Lucia di Lammermoor" sounded like before the Callas-Sutherland tidal wave of the 1960s changed taste and singing technique. Pagliughi was a true songbird. If her technique is not so precise as that of Sutherland, if she lacks the intensity of Callas, there is a sweet helplessness about her that eludes both of those other great ladies and makes her an oddly compelling Lucia, albeit a very old-fashioned one. As the rest of the cast, this might with only slight exaggeration be described as a verismo take on "Lucia di Lammermoor." Purely as a matter of personal taste, I find it a pleasing alternative to the rigid, cookie cutter approach taken to "Lucia" in the past few decades.



..........



Quadromania specializes in bargain, two-for-one sets at rock bottom prices. The title on the jewel case says "Bellini | La Sonnambula Donizetti | Lucia di Lammermoor." What you see is what you get. And that's about all you get.



I've now handled a handful of historic opera sets from Quadromania. They're stripped-down and barebones, but I haven't found an unsatisfactory one yet. At the low prices, it's worth taking a chance.



Five stars."