Search - Verdi, Sills, Gedda :: La Traviata

The Ultimate Recording

Rudy Avila | Lennox, Ca United States | 03/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This EMI recording was made into a book-cd via the series Black Dog Opera Library which have several other operas under their belt. The book contains two cd's with Verdi's La Traviata in its entirety, illustrations and photographs of past and present singers who have sung Traviata, profiles on the singers in this recording and biographical information on the composer Giuseppe Verdi. La Traviata was Verdi's most romantic and heart-felt opera. It struck a chord to him because at the time he was living unmarried with the soprano Giusepina Strepponi, and mostly because Violetta is a character with all the right stuff to make her worthy of Verdi. She is a woman whom the world has shunned, since she is a prostitute and high-class courtesan, suffering of tubercolosis, finding herself at last in a true and loving relationship with the Provencal Alfredo. Nevertheless, Alfredo's father Giorgio Germont attempts to seperate them because he is offended that Violetta has lived an immoral life. Violetta and Alfredo are temporarily seperated and tension mounts in Act 2. But Act 3 finds Giorgio Germont finally willing to forgive and to allow Alfredo and Violetta to marry. Violetta has proven herself a noble, good-hearted woman but it is too late. She dies in Alfredo's arms.With so many recording of La Traviata out, a great recording can become a matter of taste. Many find that Maria Callas' live 1955 recording is the best, while others enjoy Joan Sutherland and Pavoratti in the lead roles, others Placido Domingo and Ileana Contrubas or Teresa Stratas, others enjoy the Violettas sung by Mirella Freni, Anna Moffo, Roberta Peters, Lily Pons, Christine Nilsson, Edita Gruberova, Elizabeth Futral, Victoria De Los Angeles and many others including Renee Fleming whose performed the role most recently. Violetta is Verdi's best example of characterization in opera. The delicate strings that open the overture represent Violetta's deathly sickness and the overture continues with her declaration of love for Alfredo "Amami Alfredo" and staccato, trills and frivolous violins. Violetta in Act I is festive and care-free. Beverly Sills delivers this portion very superbly- in everything from the Brindisi to the tour de force scenes in private when she sings the melancholy A Fors E Lui and Sempre Libera coloratura showpiece that features elaborate roulades. Beverly Sills and Rolando Panerai, the baritone in the role of Germont, do a sensational job in the duet. Violetta is now desperate as Germont announces that she must leave Alfredo forever. But in "Ditte A La Giovine" she is resigned and even self-sacrificing. It's a moment of real beauty in the opera. Beverly Sills is Violetta. She knew the role more than anyone else. Her voice is the most I think of when I think of Violetta. In this recording, I feel that her best singing is towards the end, especially the Death Scene. No one can make the Death Scene sound so real as Beverly Sills."

Highly Recommended

Rudy Avila | 06/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, the libretto is incomplete - for some reason, it follows certain conventional performance cuts, but the performance itself is complete! This means you get certain items (including Alfredo's cabaletta "O mio rimorso") that are often excluded from other recordings. Gedda and Sills are two of my favorite singers and I think they are both in great form on this disc. Black Dog Opera Library rules! The books are handsome, durable and lavishly illustrated with photos, etc. You could gripe about some of the choices concerning the layout, and you'll want some other means of storing the actual discs, but the price and quality of the recording make this (and other BDOL selections) a terrific choice."

The libretto is all fouled up

Carlos Avila | 11/03/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The words in the book don't match the music. The scenes are out of order and some arias are missing from the libretto."