Search - Umberto Giordano, Tamas Bator, José Carreras :: Umberto Giordano: Andrea Chenier

A Dramatic Chenier

02/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1986 studio recording of Giordano's thrilling verisimo/romantic opera is the most recent recording commercially available. Why ? Because Andrea Chenier as an opera itself has gone on the wayside. I don't know of any opera company (certainly the Met doesn't stage it) in the States that has staged Andrea Chenier for at least 20-30 years. Other versions exist- Mario Del Monaco and Renata Tebaldi, Franco Corelli and Antonietta Stella and Placido Domingo and Renata Scotto. While those recordings are wonderful in their own way, this one is packs a powerful punch. Conductor Giuseppe Patane and the Hungarian State Orchestra make the score alive with a raw intensity and bring out the dark doom in the story quite well. The singers are terrific. Jose Carreras and Eva Marton sing with powerful and dark voices, emphasizing the tragic and romantic aspects of the principal characters. Carreras is past his prime but still sings with passion and vigor. His mature, dark voice is velvety and enchanting. Eva Marton as his love interest Maddalena is supremely dramatic, passionate and beautiful to hear. She sings the role a lot like she sang Tosca. Her is a powerful voice and her Hungarian tone may not be to everyone's taste but it is certainly a wonderful and thrilling voice. The sound is crisp, powerful and audible- older recordings with Corelli and Monaco seem to suffer from bad sound. However, eventhough this one is a winner, my favorite Chenier is hands down the RCA recording from the 70's with Placido Domingo, Renata Scotto and the great baritone Sherill Milnes."

One of Carreras' Best Recordings

Timothy Kearney | Hull, MA United States | 07/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Giordano's ANDREA CHENIER is an exciting, dramatic love story set during the French Revolution. Chenier, a Romantic poet falls in love with the aristocratic Maddalena di Coigny. Chenier runs afoul of the revolution even though eh hates the aristocracy and is sentenced to death. As he writes his farewell to life, Maddalena joins him in his cell and the pair faces the guillotine together. What love! What romance! While it makes for great opera, the true story is far less spectacular. I remember hearing a Saturday afternoon radio broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the commentator mentioned how Chenier was a second rate poet at best, Di Coigny was an opportunist who did not join her loved one in death and when asked about him, forgot she even met the man.



ANDREA CHENIER is one work that has plenty of great recordings with Corelli, Domingo, Pavarotti, and Bjorling as Chenier and Callas, Tebaldi, Scotto, and Price as Maddelena. While there are many great recordings of the work, Jose Carreras is my favorite Chenier. His voice has the qualities that make him round like a poet, and in many parts of this opera, especially ACT I, he sings with a dramatic intensity that many of his critics claimed he never had. While Marton is not my favorite Maddalena, she and Carreras make a good vocal pair. Perhaps one reason Carreras shines in this recording is Patane's conducting. So often Carreras performs with strong armed conductors who allow the orchestra to drown him out, but Patane and the Hungarian State Orchestra is performance powerful, but not to the disadvantage of the vocalists.



As I mentioned earlier in the review, this is an opera that has been blessed with many wonderful recordings of the work. While the Pavarotti/Caballe pairing sis wonderful and has a strong cast, and the Corelli/Tebaldi pairing may be stronger, Carreras adds something to this recording that makes it very satisfying and should give a listener many hours of enjoyment.

"