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144.137.16.159
This is one of my favourite operas and rarely fails to move the emotions, particularly the last act.
But I find it hard to choose one as outstanding over another - each have their virtues. At the moment I'm enjoying Renee Fleming (I have the audio from her DVD onto the server system) - she takes some of the arias in a more measure pace and extracts more pathos by this but does not hit the thrilling high notes of Fabracini and others. The older RCA Anna Moffo production has its moments as does the passionate Callas interpretation, sometimes harder to enjoy because of the age of the recording. Then there is Angela Gheorghi whose production with Solti left me less moved yet her later effort on the recentl;y released Blu rRay is excellent. And none of this is to forget the lovely Anna Netrebko whose efforts in what some regard as Eurotrash, is up with the rest. And there are others, many others.
Which is your favourite prodution?
John
Enjoying over 9000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & a NuForce DAC9 on a Meridian Sooloos system.
Main system enjoyed at night for A/V
Follow Ups:
Cotrubas, Domingo, Milnes
http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Traviata-Cotrubas-Bayerisches-Staatsorchester/dp/B000001G5W
Thought I'd replied to this earlier but here goes again.
Your post bothered me as I thought I had that set until it dawned on me it was on the long departed vinyl. So, I've now ordered it on CD as it IS a memorable performance and was highly praised when first released.
I love this opera so much there will never be too many versions in the collection here :-)
John
Enjoying over 9000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & a NuForce DAC9 on a Meridian Sooloos system.
Main system enjoyed at night for A/V
nt
LOL. Your post interested me Brian so I did some searching. No reviews on Amazon so no other opinions to be gleaned from there. But hey presto - a free download available. Well sort of. After heaps of unwanted program offers this PC eventually hung and refused to let me close down any windows. So, powered off, did a couple of registry clean-ups in case and .... here I am back again, none the wiser and no downloads either!
John
Enjoying over 9000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & a NuForce DAC9 on a Meridian Sooloos system.
Main system enjoyed at night for A/V
The one on Decca from the late 60's? If so, that indeed is a fine recording, though I have some reservations with Fischer-Dieskau's Germont.
Russell
nt
F-D, a very great lieder singer, not a good Verdi baritone, and I'm a fan.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
nt
Unfortunately, I know of no complete performance of Dorothy Kirsten and Cornell MacNeil in New Orleans, 1958, but the 2nd Act duet excerpt is unsurpassed. How MacNeil can get that huge, beautiful voice of his down to pianissimo is a miracle. And, it's in stereo!
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
which is a bit more stately than some others, but is technically excellent and very consistent. Good sound, too.
I have enjoyed the Tiziana Fabbricini Muti live performance that you recommended to me, John. It's vital and exciting, but it also sounds like a bootleg.
Interested in hearing the responses to this question.
Below is what MARTIN BERNHEIMER | TIMES MUSIC CRITIC thought of Fabbricini's performance of the opera - not a criticism of the CD set but of another live performance. But, like you, I enjoyed her performance - maybe not the world's best (whatever that might be) but one which I like. And I guess that is the bottom line, enjoy the music. And BTW, no argument about the Anna Moffo/Richard Tucker performance either.
The young Italian diva, who was making her West Coast debut, is one of the most controversial figures currently stalking the irrational world of opera. She has appeared, fleetingly, in major houses from La Scala to the Met, from Vienna to Houston, and has invariably left audiences--not to mention critics--drastically divided in her wake.
Fabbricini's fervent (e.g. quasi-hysterical) admirers regard her as a miraculous reincarnation of Maria Callas. Her equally staunch (e.g. quasi-nasty) detractors invoke memories of another historic prima donna: Florence Foster Jenkins.
The evidence presented on Saturday couldn't do much to cheer the cheerleaders. For all her theatrical intelligence, Fabbricini wasn't as flamboyantly compelling as Callas. Nor, drat the luck, was she as perversely endearing as Jenkins.
Fabbricini is, if nothing else, an interesting singing actress. Dark, pretty and fragile, she makes much of soulful glances and desperate hand signals. She flashes the saddest smile this side of Maria Schell. She inflects the text, from time to time, with telling nuances.
Her vocal performance is predicated on lofty intentions. She appreciates the value of a poignant pianissimo, and she can even squeak out a climactic E-flat sanctioned by daredevil tradition if not by Verdi.
OPERA REVIEW : Verdi's 'Traviata' With a Diva in Distress
January 23, 1995|MARTIN BERNHEIMER | TIMES MUSIC CRITIC
Unfortunately, her technique offers little comfort and less support. The wan tone at her command emerges breathy one moment, edgy the next. It turns wiry under pressure, and can go wildly off pitch in ascending passages. Her sense of rhythm is erratic at best, callous at worst, and her scale is uneven in color as well as focus.
Fabbricini's problems might have seemed less troubling if she had managed to suggest a Violetta of overwhelming grandeur. Unfortunately, nearly everything she did--dramatically and vocally--seemed wispy from the start. In this expressive context, her demise became merely pathetic, hardly tragic.
David DiChiera, the impresario in residence, surrounded his stellar protagonist with a workaday hand-me-down production and an uneven cast. Business as usual in operatic Orange County.
Roberto Aronica introduced a sympathetic big-bear Alfredo who savored the elegant virtues of bel canto and encountered difficulties only on the rare occasions when he stretched his lyric resources for heroic impact. Haijing Fu brought extraordinary dignity, warmth and dynamic finesse to the long-lined platitudes of Giorgio Germont--a tiny, pardonable glitch at the end of "Di Provenza" notwithstanding. Both tenor and baritone capitalized on the restoration of their climactic cabalettas--one verse each.
The assorted comprimarios seldom rose above opera-workshop competence. The tenorino portraying Gastone fell below that level.
Peggy Hickey's ballet divertissement--a showcase for prancing Gypsy-pipsies and mock-macho matadors--fluctuated between the fatuous and the silly. Henri Venanzi's chorus mustered more gusto than precision, and the pit band sounded scraggly.
Enjoying over 9000 mostly classical CDs via Sennheiser HD800 headphones & a NuForce DAC9 on a Meridian Sooloos system.
Main system enjoyed at night for A/V
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