FEAUTURED - CD

GIACOMO PUCCINI - TOSCA 

New York 1959, registrazione dal vivo // live recording

Floria Tosca - Maria Curtis Verna
Mario Cavaradossi - Jussi Björling
Il barone Scarpia - Cornell MacNeil
Il Sagristano - Lawrence Davidson
Cesare Angelotti - Norman Scott
Spoletta - Paul Franke
Sciarrone - Osie Hawkins
Un pastore - George Ryan
Un carceriere - Roald Reitan

DIMITRI MITROPOULOS

BONUS: Jussi Björling and Giulietta Simionato in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA (1959) 

 

"Rimasterizzata con grande cura e sbalorditivi risultati, questa incisione di Tosca è una delle migliori in assoluto."

GIACOMO PUCCINI

LA BOHÈME
Barcelona 1954

Rodolfo - Gianni Poggi
Schaunard - Alberto Albertini
Marcello - Manuel Ausensi
Colline - Giulio Neri
Mimi - Renata Tebaldi
Musetta - Ornella Rovero

Orchestra e Coro del Gran Teatro del Liceo 
Ugo Rapalo

Registrazione dal vivo / live recording, Barcelona 1954

BONUS: Gianni Poggi canta La Bohème (Napoli 1957 e Milano 1949)

GIACOMO PUCCINI

TOSCA 
Verona 1962

Floria Tosca - Magda Olivero
Mario Cavaradossi - Flaviano Labò
Il barone Scarpia - Tito Gobbi
Spoletta - Piero De Palma
Sciarrone - Virgilio Carbonari

Oliviero de Fabritiis

BONUS: Flaviano Labò ne IL TROVATORE

PAGLIACCI
(Napoli 1952 - complete) 

Canio - Beniamino Gigli
Nedda - Pina Malgarini
Tonio - Giuseppe Gentile
Beppe - Piero De Palma
Silvio - Saturno Meletti

Franco Patanè

***

LA FORZA DEL DESTINO 
(Rio de Janeiro, 1951 - abridged) 

Il Marchese di Calatrava - Giuseppe Modesti
Leonora di Vargas - Elisabetta Barbato
Don Carlo - Enzo Mascherini
Don Alvaro - Beniamino Gigli
Fra Melitone - Guilhermo Damiano
Curra - Carmen Pimental
Padre Guardiano - Giulio Neri
Un Chirurgo - Antonio Lembo

Antonino Votto

 

VERDI - Aida • Gigli

London 1939

Aida - Maria Caniglia
Radamès - Beniamino Gigli
Amneris - Ebe Stignani
Amonasro - Armando Borgioli
Ramphis - Corrado Zambelli
Il Re di Egitto - Norman Walker
Una Sacerdotessa - Josephine Wray
Un Messaggero - Blando Giusti

Royal Opera House Covent Garden 
Thomas Beecham

GIUSEPPE VERDI 

IL TROVATORE
Napoli 1957

Manrico - Mario Filippeschi
Azucena - Fedora Barbieri
Leonora - Antonietta Stella
Conte di Luna - Aldo Protti
Ferrando - Plinio Clabassi

Orchestra e coro del Teatro di San Carlo
Franco Capuana

Registrazione dal vivo / live recording Napoli 1957

GIACOMO PUCCINI

MANON LESCAUT
Napoli 1961

Manon Lescaut - Floriana Cavalli
Des Grieux - Carlo Bergonzi 
Lescaut - Giuseppe Valdengo 
Edmondo / Maestro di Ballo - Mariano Caruso 
Geronte - Antonio Cassinelli 
Sergente - Augusto Frati 
Musico - Rosa Zanibelli
Lampionaio - Alfredo Vernetti 

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli
Gabriele Santini

Registrazione dal vivo / live recording, Napoli 1961

CLASSICS TODAY "The raison d’être for the release of this live, 1960 Neapolitan performance of Puccini’s oft-recorded Manon Lescaut is clearly the Des Grieux of Carlo Bergonzi, then in his early prime. Aficionados know what to expect from Bergonzi: intelligent, sensitive phrasing and acting with the voice; passion, good taste, an even register from top to bottom; fine musicianship and reliable high notes (this last certainly until the last few years of his career). But here he is all that and more—indeed, the finest Des Grieux on disc, and I am including Björling. His total involvement, the magnificent squillo, the long breaths—it’s a glorious performance.

His is a particularly great reading when you consider that he is singing opposite the Manon of Floriana Cavalli, a soprano with many of the right dramatic intentions but with a nasty tone, particularly at the top, and a series of bad habits—the silliest, most annoying use of portamento I’ve ever heard (she sounds as if she’s falling off a couch)—that almost make her performance a party event. She’s listenable, but that’s it. Giuseppe Valdengo is luxurious casting as Lescaut, and Gabriele Santini’s conducting, occasionally startlingly slow, works well when Bergonzi is singing. The sound ranges from acceptable to quavery and poor. Just a four-page insert with cast and track listings is included. This can’t be ruled out due to Bergonzi, but the rest of it is a struggle." (Robert Levin)