Search - Bellini, Pavarotti, Rinaldi :: I Capuleti E I Montecchi

A valuable record of great singing, lovingly performed

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 08/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am at a loss to explain why a previous reviewer complained about the sound of this issue; it's clear, well balanced and eminently listenable for a live recording 40 years old - unlike some other Opera d'Oro sets. In any case, the other Opera d'Oro account with the same conductor and same two great tenors is put out of court by the fact that it is pitched very, very flat, such that the singers do not sound like themselves (see my review). Furthermore, I prefer Rinaldi's tender, melting tone to Scotto's rather harsh sound - and you can hear both Aragall and Pavarotti in their youthful prime singing the heck out of Bellini's music with evident relish. A further Opera d'Oro documentation (or rather lack of, in their case) oddity is that they list Capellio as being sung by Nicola Zaccaria, who it certainly is not; his distinctive, slightly rasping yet warm sound is most famously heard as Sparafucile in the Callas "Rigoletto", and this is another singer. I suspect that we are hearing the same bass as in the other useless set: Agostino Ferrin. It's true that some of Bellini's musical effects are vitiated by transposing Romeo from the mezzo to tenor tessitura, but with singing this good I am not inclined to object. Pavarotti's merits are all in evidence but fewer people realise what a good tenor Giacomo Aragall was; his tone is reminiscent of a felicitous blend of Carreras' plangency and Pavarotti's thrust and "ping"; a lovely voice. Abbado conducts as if he is prepared to give his singers and orchestra all the air and space we need to savour Bellini's bel canto style. Buy it."