Search - Puccini, Garcia Navarro, Munchner Rundfunkorchester :: Le Donne Di Puccini

4 great sopranos, 3 of them past their prime, and yet....

Florida baritone | Florida, USA | 03/03/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This recording, made at a live concert in 1994, is enjoyable if you like to listen to dramatic sopranos past their prime. I personally enjoyed it. It is an interesting document of Gabriela Benackova, Eva Marton, Edita Gruberova and Dame Gwyneth Jones. I do not believe there are any commercial recordings of Jones singing either Minnie or Turandot, so to have these arias is nice, although it is late in the day. Her rendition of Laggiu nel soledad is frankly painful to listen to, but she also sounds like she didn't warm up first, and when she gets to In questa reggia, it all works much better. She does not shy away from the high notes either. Eva Marton's vibrato at this point is a problem, and she is always a little flat on top. Her high range at this point is also quite "short", something that isn't a problem for Jones. However I always enjoyed Marton, and she is never less than fully committed. Benackova's is an interesting voice that I have had little exposure to. Of the three "heavy" sopranos on the recording, her voice is in the best shape overall, but their is some flatness and some rather sloppy scooping at times that you often hear as her idea of Puccini style. Gruberova still sounds quite good. The Rondine aria is well sung overall, but she scoops around too much, and makes too much of an operetta piece out of it. Nice C though. Signore, ascolta is well sung but she seems unmoved by it overall. Curiously, her O mio babbino caro is mostly lacking in the Viennese style swooping and crooning, but still comes off as the most stylistically correct of her three arias. Garcia Navarro conducts nicely enough, and is clearly very aware of the limitations of his sopranos. There is occasionally an odd speeding up of tempi, mostly to accomodate Marton and keep her from tiring out in the Suor Angelica aria."

Only for those who must have EVERYTHING that one or more of

COLOBARI | all over the world | 04/06/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"EEEK. Here we have Gabriela Benackova in the very last good years of her voice. It is aged, but it still basically works, even though the sound has turned hooty at times. Then we have Eva Marton, who by this time had pretty much blown her own voice out and is singing well past her prime. One supposes that she must have known and just didn't care anymore except for the paycheck. Not so happy a listening experience, especially for those of us who so admired her earlier in her career. Then we have Edita Gruberova, still sounding quite good, but a little too Viennese in style for Puccini. Her Rondine aria is certainly pretty enough, but her two Liu arias sound like a refugee from a Die Fledermaus recording. Lastly we have Dame Gwyneth Jones, far past prime, in the "pain in the ears" phase. It is still impressive in its way. Loud and clear of tone, but with a slow wobble and a stinging raw edge to the sound that will be unlistenable to most. She only sings two arias, one from Fanciulla and also Turandot's "In questa reggia". She has an easier time, perversely, on the longer and more taxing Turandot aria. The aria from Fanciulla is just kinda bad and unlistenable (did she ever actually sing this role?). I would recommend this to those who must have EVERYTHING one or more of these women recorded. It might also be interesting for those who like a full soubrette type in the Rondine aria (Gruberova), or for Jones' Turandot, of which I do not believe there is another extant audio recording commercially available, only a few videos. Otherwise, I would pass by this one. All of these artists are represented in much better fashion on almost any other recording they ever made."