Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Fernando Previtali, Rome Opera Orchestra :: Traviata (RMST) [Hybrid SACD]

A fine New York "Traviata" that happened to be recorded in R

L. E. Cantrell | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada | 10/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"SOURCE: Studio performance recorded at the Rome Opera House, June 16-25, 1960.



SOUND: This recording has always offered superb sound. It sounded great on Lp in the 1960s. It sounded great on CD in the 1990s. I have heard this new version only once, on the wing, as it were. Currently re-mastered with hybrid SACD bells and whistles, it still sounds great.



CAST: Violetta Valery - Anna Moffo (soprano); Flora - Anna Reynolds (mezzo-soprano); Annina - Liliana Poli (soprano); Alfredo Germont - Richard Tucker (tenor); Giorgio Germont - Robert Merrill (baritone); Gastone - Piero de Palma (tenor); Doctor Grenvil - Franco Ventriglia (bass); Baron Douphol - Franco Calabrese (baritone); Marquis d'Obigny - Vito Susca (bass); Giuseppe - Adelio Zogonara (tenor).



CONDUCTOR: Fernando Previtali with the Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus.



DOCUMENTATION: Libretto in Italian and English available by download.



TEXT: This performance follows that standard performing text that was in use for over a century until the rise of what might be called the "completist" movement, two or three decades ago. The omissions, even including a florid passage for the tenor, are neither particularly extensive or particularly important.



COMMENTARY: Perfect recordings of Verdi's "La Traviata" are about as plentiful as unicorns. This recording, and the performance of Anna Moffo, in particular, has tended to split opera lovers into two camps. Those who love this performance seem to love it intensely. Most of the reviews here on Amazon are very much on the positive side of the divide, using such terms as, "the best Violetta I have ever heard," "the soprano Verdi had in mind when he wrote La Traviata," and "FIRST CHOICE for this most poignant of Verdi's operas."



On the other side are those who are less taken with the cast. Some question the intrinsic suitability of Richard Tucker for the role of Alfredo Germont. More importantly, there are those who are not impressed by Anna Moffo's Violetta. Here is a rather prominent doubter: In 1964 Maria Callas was to do a revival of "Norma" under the stage direction of Franco Zefferelli. Zefferelli asked her to avoid unreasonable vocal challenges. "I can't, Franco," he recalled her saying. "I won't do what Anna Moffo does in Traviata. I won't skim through my music. I have to take chances even if it means disaster and the end of my career." (With Callas holding that attitude, I imagine that the atmosphere in the studio during the recording of "La Boheme" when Callas did Mimi and Moffo, Musetta, must have been a bit strained.)



As for myself, I think this is a good recording. It is certainly a safe bet for anyone who simply wants to hear the opera and not get involved with the minutia of operatic fandom and rivalries. For those primarily concerned with sound reproduction, despite its narly five decades, this may still be the best recorded "Traviata."



By 1960, RCA had cut the costs of recording opera in expensive New York by shifting to Italy to make use of an Italian orchestra, chorus and supporting singers. Nevertheless, "La Traviata" is essentially a three-singer opera and the three singers in this production, all Americans, were gleaming stars of the New York-based Silver Age of the Metropolitan Opera.



Anna Moffo (1932-2006) made her debut in Italy in 1956. Her first appearance at the Met was in 1959, when she appeared as Violetta. She was renowned for her looks as much as for her singing, once being voted one of the ten most beautiful women in Italy. This recording was RCA's obvious attempt to capitalize on the appearance of the bright new American star.



Richard Tucker (1913-1975), born Rubin Ticker, was trained as a cantor and became a famous exemplar of that art. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in "La Gioconda" in 1945. Tucker was not quite 47 when this opera was made. Always a bit to my surprise, he managed to reduce his big voice and personality to fit happily (more or less) into the narrow shoulders of that callow, shallow schoolboy, Alfredo Germont, playing well against his much younger co-star.



Robert Merrill (1917-2004), born Moishe Miller, possessed an extraordinarily fine-sounding baritone voice. Like Tucker's, his debut at the Met also came in 1945 in--of course!--the role of Giorgio Germont. He and Leonard Warren were an amazing pair of house baritones at the Met until the premature death of Warren during a performance. Warren was generally considered the better of the two at dramatic roles and Merrill the go-to man for comedy and lyric parts. Whatever his dramatic failings, Merrill might have been born to play Papa Germont.



The conductor for this recording was Fernando Previtali (1907-1985). He had studied composition under the composer Franco Alfano ("Turandot," "Cyrano.") From 1936 to 1953 he was resident conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of Radio Rome. He was also resident conductor at the Academy of St Cecila and at La Scala. He became principal conductor at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in 1960, the year of this recording, and remained there until 1967. In 1970 he was appointed music director at Teatro Regio in Turin. In opera, he was not a flashy conductor. He was content to allow composers to have their say. He appears on recordings as the conductor in a handful of Italian operas, all of them well-led and quietly effective.



Fans of this diva or of that may carp and quibble, but across the board, this is a very good to excellent recording.



Five stars."