Search - Gaetano Donizetti, José Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli :: Donizetti - Poliuto / Carreras, Ricciarelli, Pons

Too late but not too bad

Armindo | Greece | 04/02/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If only Carreras and Ricciarelli had sung this in the 70s. His most handsome voice and her elegiac singing were perfect for Poliuto! Plus they looked great together on stage. Unfortunately they waited too long and the results are uneven. Neither has lost his/her wonderful phrasing but the voices are no longer reliable. They sing with much conviction and create interesting portrayals.



Pons on the other hand, phones in his performance and shows off his large voice. Comparing last weekend's MET Cav/Pag performance and this early testament verified my prediction that his exemplary technique would ensure him a long career. The audience behaves well (too well?) and the sound is crisp.



Under the aforementioned circumstances, the vote easily goes to the earlier live Poliuto with Corelli stealing the show, Bastianini a wonderful Severo and Callas fragile both vocally and dramatically (the latter being highly effective though).

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Another Great Hit By The Perfect Opera Couple

Rudy Avila | Lennox, Ca United States | 08/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Today we have Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, who are actually husband and wife, performing sensational, beautiful operas in all the juicy roles - Tosca and Mario, Violetta and Alfredo, Mimi and Rodolfo, Manon and Des Grieux and Romeo and Juliette. In the 80's, the partnership of tenor Jose Carrerras and soprano Katia Ricciarelli were singing with brilliant chemistry and taking the opera world by storm. They truly do possess great chemistry on stage or on recording. True, as one reviewer argued, they would have sounded a lot better if they recorded their performances in the 70's- both of them had better voices then and were younger. But they were not really recognized until the 80's. Carrerras and Ricciarelli were actually having an affair during this time and truly their passioante affair carried on to their singing, making their singing even more beautiful.



In this rare opera, Donizetti creates a world of ancient Rome- soldiers, slaves, Christians, and weaves a tale of melancholy and pathos. The music is bel canto and that of course means long, flowing melodies and dazzling coloratura-dramatic showpieces. It was Maria Callas who first recorded and performed this obscure work, in glorious form, with an equally glorious tenor Franco Corelli. Ricciarelli may not be Callas, but she sings with great fire and beautiful voice, even if at her older age it lacks the freshness or lustre of the younger voice. The same can be said of Carrerras, who is not all that strong in his performance, choosing to be a tragic, fallen hero and not like the powerful Roman soldier Pollione in Bellini's Norma. This is a totally different interpretation. Juan Pons is the baritone in this recording and doing his usual sublime performace. Anyone genuinely interested in obscure operas should own this. And fans of Ricciarelli and Carrerras."

Almost. . .

Esteban Molina | San Francisco | 12/14/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am writing mainly to act as a counter-balance to some of the glowing enthusiasm of other reviews. Whether you enjoy an opera performance depends on many things: dramatic conviction, beautiful singing, not least simply personal taste. I used to own this performance and on the whole liked it, but with very strong reservations. I didn't find Carreras particularly elderly, but nor I did I find him to be really inside the part. It was a competent performance, and that isn't necessarily meant pejoratively. The performance, in good sound, is well sung and engrossing, if not full of depth or searing conviction. You could be at any reputable opera house on any evening when things are going well but when history isn't being made. For me the only let-down was Ricciarelli who, far from singing gloriously as some would have you believe, for me at least had all the fire and passion of a wilted lettuce. And a wilted lettuce has very little character. And it's difficult to have drama without character. Whenever she sang, all energy the performance might have built up leaked quickly away. In the end I sold my copy because she annoyed me so much, and because the opera - no matter how good the Poliuto may be - can't survive without Paolina and a convincing portrayal of the various crises she must traverse. For me, thus far, the only convincing performance is the live Callas/Bastianini/Corelli La Scala performance from 1960. I'm afraid we may have to wait a very long time to have a worthy companion to it, much less a successor."