A Blast From The Past: Corelli And Tebaldi in Gioconda
Rudy Avila | Lennox, Ca United States | 07/31/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Where was this recording all my life ? Two of the most renowned soprano and tenor pair of the 50's, Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli sing their hearts out in full-blooded, passionate, fiery Italian in this powerful performance of La Gioconda. Ponchielli's La Gioconda is perhaps the most fiery, intense Italian opera in the repertoire.
I'm not much of a music expert per se, but this opera is, to me, a blend of verisimo opera (the vogue of the late 19th century and early 1900's) and Romantic Puccini-esque opera. Tebaldi and Corelli do justice to the lead roles and live up to their own hype. Further to singing with dramatic musicianship, they provide the work with beautiful tone, with the greatest example of how to sing in true Italian form- with deep sultry richness and vocal bravura. Very few tenors truly sing in the Italian manner, and the ones who did were old school- Mario Del Monaco, Franco Corelli and Giuseppe Di Stefano. Even fewer sopranos sang with Italian fire. Not even Callas had it. Rosa Ponselle and Leontyne Price had it and of course Renata Tebaldi. In this old recording, the sound is not perfect but has been digitally remastered from the old tapes and sounds fair and fresh. This is a rare recording in that it offers the same opera in two different performances. Both have Corelli singing the tenor lead, but the first has a no-name soprano in the lead soprano role. While she lacks the strength of La Tebaldi, that performance is blessed with mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn. Mignon Dunn was one of the more illustrious sopranos of the Golden Age of the Met, and her voice is velvety, deep and dramatic as well. In addition, she was a very attractive woman herself. She immerses herself in her role with dramatic flair. Mignon Dunn should be in everyone operaphile's top mezzo soprano list. Whenever you can, look for other recordings of Mignon Dunn.
The second performance is that of Renata Tebaldi in the soprano role. She interprets the character with more vocal splendor and musical artistry. Callas sang La Gioconda and her "Suicidio!" is far more dramatic but Tebaldi holds her own because she is in fine vocal shape, with none of the whoops and wobble that Callas often used in her singing. Hers is a pure, clean, smooth, creamy, Italian sound. The fact that Tebaldi sang the same roles at the same time (the 50's) as Callas is what lead to the rumored rivalry between them. I frankly believe that there was no rivalry between them. Both artists were simply different in their approach on singing opera- Callas was ever the actress, willing to sound ugly and harsh for the purely dramatic effect in the textual passages of the arias while Tebaldi would rather sacrifice credibility in character in order to sound gorgeous. This same beauty vs dramatic effect was present in the "other" famous rivalry - Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills and in the tenor side Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavoratti. This performance is a must have if you're a Tebaldi fan. Tebaldi died around a year or two ago, and she is fondly remembered as a great soprano of the 20th century and her legacy lives on her recordings. Tebaldi and Corelli were on fire on stage, and they had really great chemistry - watch the filmed performance on DVD or VHS of their La Forza Del Destino of the 50's in order to see what I mean, or hear their recordings in which they sang together, among these a glorious Adrianna Lecrouvreur and Andrea Chenier. This is a terrific recording that ought to be more critically acclaimed.
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Track Listings (28) - Disc #1