Search - Verdi, Tebaldi, Poggi :: La Traviata (Highlights)

GREAT SINGING FROM TEBALDI

lesismore26 | Chicago, Illinois USA | 04/16/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One does not readily associate Renata Tebaldi with the role of Violetta in "La Traviata", despite the fact that she performed the opera frequently until the early mid-point of her international career (she sang Violetta all over Europe and was given a new production of the opera at the Metropolitan during the 1950's), afterwhich time she dropped the role from her repertoire. The first act of "Traviata" definitely presented Tebaldi with some problems ----- she never possessed the florid and technical skill essential for a complete realization of the "Sempre Libera", and her singing of this spectacular piece is very bulky and stolid (one can almost hear the huffing and puffing in the cadenzas) ---- even though Tebaldi always sang this aria in a key transposed down a whole step. Once past this point, however, Tebaldi contributes some of the most exquisite singing of the role to be heard on any recording-----and she achieves a tragic pathos by the time she reaches the last twenty minutes of the opera. The voice itself has a beauty heard from no other soprano (except possibly Caballe or de los Angeles, possibly) before or since, and there are many sublime moments, specifically in the "Dite alla giovine" onwards to the great "Anami Alfredo" outburst, as well as in the final act of the opera, where Tebaldi spins a heartbreaking "Parigi o Cara". The final impression is one of admiration and love for Tebaldi's Violetta, which, while very different from the intensely penetrating Violetta of Callas, stands regally on it's own terms. Tebaldi certainly deserved better male colleagues than those with which London has provided her with here: Gianni Poggi is a whiny Alfredo and Aldo Protti a routine Georgio Germont. The conducting of Molinari-Pradelli is no more than compentent. Originally issued in a complete version, this 1954 early stereo recording has excellent stereo sonics, and in it's highlights format, allows us to concentrate on Tebaldi's Violetta, which is really the only reason for owning this recording. But it is a very valid reason. We have no sopranos who sound like this today."