Search - Verdi, Bruson, Lloyd :: MacBeth

A Valuable Document; An Improbable Bargain

TODD KAY | 07/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Renata Scotto, whose years in the limelight roughly coincided with recorded opera's glory period, was among the most generously documented Italian-opera divas of her time, but her Lady Macbeth was a temperamentally congenial role missed by the major labels. As such, her admirers will welcome with especial gratitude this April 1981 live recording from the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden -- if they don't assume there must be something wrong with it, at Ponto's steal of a price (two weeks before this writing, I was able to obtain a new copy for $12 from one of Amazon's Marketplace sellers; Amazon itself had it for not much more). Happily, there is no "catch." The recorded sound is clear, full, and well balanced; every principal performer is on good form; and the thing is even nicely packaged, with a long essay by Andrew Palmer on Scotto's career, the role of Lady Macbeth, and the intersection of the two.



Scotto's frequent excursions into ever-heavier vocal territory, in partnership with such conductors as James Levine and Riccardo Muti, did take a toll on her voice in the final third of her career; but there usually were expressive dividends to balance the vocal wear, and she remained capable of good nights even very late in the game. This seems to have been one of those nights. There are moments of stridency on high, true, but hers was never the most "beautiful" top (that vocal vinegar can be detected even on recordings made in her best years, such as the Kubelik/DG RIGOLETTO and the Barbirolli/EMI MADAMA BUTTERFLY). The more problematic feature of her late years was a struggle to keep the voice in line and to control an ever-widening vibrato (to borrow a phrase from the critic C.J. Luten, when she was not in control, the notes could "flap like a banner in the wind"). On this occasion, the difficulties surface only rarely, and because Scotto was an artist and a professional in equal measure, such struggles as she may have been having with this athletically demanding part do not impede her dramatic portrayal. Though the soprano gives away nothing to rivals in conveying the ferocity and steamrollering ambition, an instinct to find a sympathetic way into the character -- to locate the desperation, the humanity, the consuming love for the weaker Lord Macbeth -- seems to inform her every scene. She is, to put it succinctly, three-dimensional. And she could hardly have asked for a better male cast at the time of this performance: Renato Bruson, velvety in timbre, elegant in turn of phrase, and nearly justifying the opera's being named after his character (whom Verdi and librettist Piave did less well by) with his magnificent singing of Act IV's "Pieta, rispetto, onore"; Robert Lloyd, splendidly secure as the grave Banquo; the young Neil Shicoff, another to add to the long list of major voices recorded as Macduff, which the books tell us over and over is an inconsequential part (albeit an inconsequential part with one of the most beautiful early-Verdi tenor arias).



Conductor Riccardo Muti had previously presided over a 1976 EMI studio recording featuring Fiorenza Cossotto and Sherrill Milnes; it has been at or near the top of the list of recommended MACBETHs from the day it was released. Close comparison between the EMI recording and this one reveals only a very slight broadening and opening out in 1981. When timings vary, they usually (though not uniformly) are slower in the 1981 live recording -- both performances clock in at about 150 minutes, even though the studio recording includes the ten-minute ballet sequence omitted in the Scotto performance. (Of course, the timing of the live recording is further distended by the occasional need to wait out audience applause.) For the most part, the conductor's interpretation had not greatly changed by 1981, and its qualities are the hallmarks of almost all of his Verdi (and almost all of his anything else): speeds on the fast side, a sharp rhythmic profile with incisive attacks, a puritanical disinclination to linger or allow superficial display, playing that is "precise" not only in the sense of mechanical exactitude but in its exceptional sensitivity to shifts of orchestral coloring (later Verdi [AIDA, etc.] gives a master colorist like Muti more to work with, but his skill in this area is not wasted on MACBETH).



What Amazon does not tell us above is that the third disc of this three-disc set is mostly taken up with a series of Scotto bonuses: excerpts from 1979 performances of Cherubini's MEDEA and Bellini's IL PIRATA (both conducted by Lorin Maazel), and 1975 performances of Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA and Rossini's ARMIDA (both conducted by Eve Queler). It is a pleasure to encounter Scotto's intensity and expressiveness (and formidable technique, the occasional smear notwithstanding) in the context of bel canto repertoire, where her approach is in the tradition of Callas and Gencer. The Donizetti item is especially fine, and especially generous (over 25 minutes of Anna's music).



To sum it up, if you have collected opera recordings for any length of time, you have paid more money for much less value than this offers. If you're a fan of the soprano, or you collect MACBETHs, you need this, and should get it before it goes."

Great "Live" Recording

Brian Lowery | Kearneysville, WV | 12/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the best recordings available. Renato Bruson is far more convincing as Macbeth here, than on his Philips recording with Zampieri. Maybe it is because something is captured in this "live" performance that is not found in the studio version. Bruson really delivers a more powerful, heroic Macbeth than most baritones, and there are a lot of other recordings of this challenging role. Renata Scotto uses her abilities to convey emotions through her voice and makes Lady Macbeth come alive. Other than "pirated" recordings, this is the only CD of Scotto singing this role. Although critics will point out where her voice can get ugly at times, isn't that just what Verdi wanted! Lady Macbeth is not the sweet, innocent girl found in most soprano roles, and Scotto makes you understand how she could influence a fierce warrior like Macbeth. She is Lady Macbeth. Riccardo Muti probably understands Verdi and Macbeth in particular, better than any other conductor, and the orchestral parts are what make Macbeth one of Verdi's greatest operas. Muti's performance here and also on the EMI recording with Milnes and Cossotto is superb. It is packaged nicely, but the booklet lacks a libretto. Overall, one of the top Macbeth recordings!"