A libretto away from becoming the definite ERNANI set
Armindo | Greece | 05/30/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've been hunting this recording for a long time. The Florence May Festival always offers unique operatic moments. This Ernani is one of its two best (the other one being the Mitropoulos Forza Del Destino with Del Monaco/Tebaldi/Barbieri/Protti/Siepi). Many regard this as Anita Cerquetti's best performance ever and though I'm not a fan, I was definitely amazed and impressed. She is sensitive and moving at times and fierce when needed. Stentorian Del Monaco is ideal in the role of the Spanish Ernani. Many dislike his powerful voice but the excitement his animal-like sound could offer in a theatre has never been equalled. The show continues with two other legendary singers; Ettore Bastiannini and Boris Christoff. There is not much to say. Just listen to Bastiannini...at any moment! Perfection! What a timbre! Christoff is also great as Silva. NO OTHER Ernani performance, live or in studio, has such a strong cast. But is it just the cast? Mitropoulos' superb conducting makes me proud to be Greek! I can't understand why he wasn't chosen for studio recordings.The sound quality is unusually good, considering it's an ODO set; even better than some sets recorded in the 70s! The ODO booklet, as usual poor, without even indicating the time of each track...but for what I'm getting, I couldn't care less! IF you are looking for a studio recording go for the RCA with the stylish Carlo Bergonzi in the title role (the exact opposite of Del Monaco). As a second option, the Phillips recording with the outstanding Sylvia Sass is also recommendable. HOWEVER, this live set is unsurpassed!!"
Brava Cerquetti
William S. Levison | Valdosta, GA United States | 01/31/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The cast of this live recording of Verdi's early success probably will never be surpassed, but the rarely recorded Cerquetti is downright dynamite. Del Monaco is appropriately and characteristically stentorian, but he actually sings softly at appropriate moments. Mitropoulos' conducting is dynamic. The 1957-live-mono sound will probably bother many, but none of the commercial recordings even approaches the level of this performance."
Bravissima!
W. Parr | San Diego, Ca USA | 04/02/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Why quibble about lack of track timings & libretto? That's why some pay three times this set's list price for a ho-hum studio recording. This is a priceless issue: sonics are clean & dynamic - it's LIVE 06/25/57 in Florence - YOU ARE THERE! Performances are stupendous throughout. BUY IT!!!"
What a performance!
George Thanos Assimakis | Athens, Greece | 01/09/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are some performances that must go down in history as references hard to repeat. This is certainly one of them.
The sound quality may be inadequate, the audience terrible, they applaud in the middle of most of the music interrupting both the singers and the conductor and depriving us listeners of a real musical feast.
The principals are all outstanding. Mario del Monaco in superb voice and style, portrays the perfect rebel bandit Ernani, capable of stealing the heart of any princess. Anita Cerquetti at the height of her vocal powers delivers the role of Elvira superbly, possibly with some emotion lacking in places. Ettore Bastianini is in excellent voice and portrays a very vivid Don Carlo. Boris Christoff sings with such authority, depth of voice and musical awareness, portraying a very three dimensional character in the role of De Silva that it makes it difficult to imagine the Opera sung by anybody else. The absolute jewel in the crown is Dimitri Mitropoulos's brilliantly accurate, brisk and highly sensitive conducting, proving himself once more to be one of the legends of that era.
This may not be a hi-fi fan's first choice, but it is a definite must for any opera-lover."
Definitive early Verdi in very tolerable sound
Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 07/13/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was astonished to find, amid the wholly justifiable rave reviews for this celebrated live recording, one or two luke-warm assessments from fellow Amazon reviewers complaining about the muddy sound and, even more inexplicably, assertions that this performance fails to gel as a dramatic experience. I suggest that their criteria for judging live mono recordings from 1957 are unreasonably demanding, as I find myself utterly oblivious to any supposed lack of clarity, so compelling is the involvement and commitment of the artists here. Yet more puzzling, is a fellow reviewer's preference for the 1991 live Nuova Era recording, which is perfectly satisfactory in its way but cannot bear comparison with the assemblage of titans we hear here. One voice after another thrills, beginning with Del Monaco in a part he was born to sing (after Otello, of course), then we hear the massive and thrillingly voiced Cerquetti in one of her all-to-few roles, a complete success as Elvira, followed by Bastiannini's bronze-toned Don Carlo to pin back our ears, and finally Christoff in full baleful mode impresses mightily as Silva. The conducting of Mitropoulos is mercurial; he fulfils the demands of this most melodramatic of scores by permitting extremes of tempi from almost ponderous to breakneck but it all works; he is exceptionally considerate of his singers and gives them their head when they require it without letting proceedings grind to a halt; in this he reminds me of a young James Levine. The vociferous audience knows its present at a special performance and some its members are given to unfortunate bouts of premature appreciation only to be indignantly shushed by others.
"Ernani" has been lucky both in its performance history and on record; it was a great success from its first airing and has waned in popularity only in the last fifty or so years. Perhaps modern audiences find its melodramatic plot risible, and the idea of the hero stabbing himself on his wedding day as a matter of honour in obligation to a vow is deeply unsatisfying to modern sensibilities, but I do not see that the opera is any sillier than "Il Trovatore" and the music is almost as good. Despite being only Verdi's fifth opera, it seems to come from a more mature stage of his career; there is little of the rum-ti-tum, routine or mundane and a stream of memorable meoldies pours forth. Apart from the famous arias there also a magnificent and justly celebrated trio to conclude the opera; a companion piece to similar great trios found in "I Lombardi", "Il Trovatore" and later in "La Forza del destino".
And all of this is available at a bargain price from good old Opera d'Oro at a fraction of the cost of other issues - without a libretto, it is true but with another admirably concise introductory note and plot summary from Bill Parker. I wonder why they chose another 1969 recording with Caballé over this one for their de luxe "Grand Tier" series with librettos, the later live recording being good but not seminal like this one and also being heavily cut. There are, as I said, other recommendable versions but many of those are live recordings and among those this one is pre-eminent. For studio recordings, I still endorse the wonderful 1967 Schippers set with Price and Bergonzi, with a glance at the mostly Hungarian version conducted by Gardelli with Sylvia Sass on Philips."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1