Verdi: II Trovatore

Karajan, Herbert von;
Panerai, Rolando;
Callas, Maria;
Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala;
Zaccaria, Nicola;
Chorus of Teatro alla Scala;
Di Stefano, Giuseppe;
Barbieri, Fedora;
Ercolani, Renato;
Mauri, Giulio;
Villa, Luisa

8.111280-81

The combination of Karajan and Callas is formidably impressive. There is toughness and dramatic determination in Callas’s singing, whether in the coloratura or in the dramatic passages, and this gives the heroine an unsuspected depth of character which culminates in Callas’s fine singing of an aria that used of ten to be cut entirely—Tu vedrai che amore in terra, here with its first stanza alone including.
Barbieri is a magnificent Azucena, Panerai is a strong, incisive Count, and Di Stefano is at his finest as Manrico. On CD the 1956 mono sound, now greatly improved, is one of the more vivid from La Scala at that period. The set is now available fully documentation at mid price as one of EMI’s ‘Great Recordings of the Century’.

The Naxos transfer is well up Mark Obert-Thorn’s usual high standard, and one is struck by the wide dynamic range of the recording. • Penguin Guide, January 2009

CD x 2

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

07-01-2008

747313328024