Reviews for
GHCD 2230/31 1949 Metropolitan
Opera Double Bill
International Record Review July/August 03
Operatic Reissues by John T. Hughes
A German interlude
This mainly German section begins
with Puccini, contradictorily, for in 1949 the Met presented a double
bill of Gianni Schiechi and Strauss's Salome. The
attraction of opposites? Except for Licia Albanese's unsteady,
elderly-sounding Lauretta and some strait-laced conducting from Giuseppe
Antonicelli, the participants in Schicchi are a splendid bunch of
rascals. ltalo Tajo was his own man on stage as much as Schicchi was in
Florence. The 'opposition' is led by the formidable Cloe Elmo, with the
youthful Giuseppe di Stefano in fresh voice as Rinuccio. Salome
receives sizzling intensity under Fritz Reiner; Ljuba Welitsch gives a
stunning performance in pliant, steady tone. Herbert Janssen's
fortitudinous Jochanaan contributes strongly, while Frederick Jagel truly
sings Herod. Oddly coupled operas but highly successful (Guild
GHCD2230/1, two discs, 2 hours 36 minutes).
New Classics Wednesday April 02 03
GIANNI SCHICCHI/SALOME
GUILD 2230/1
An
excellent Metropolitan Opera double bill features recordings from 1949 of
Puccini’s charming comedy Gianni Schicchi and the shocking tragedy, Salome, by
Richard Strauss. These contrasting one-act operas make for a fascinating album.
Gianni Schicchi
features Italo Tajo, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Lucia Albanese and Cloe Elmo.
Strauss’s Salome has the
wonderful voices of Ljuba Wellitch, Herbert Janssen, Frederick Jagel and Kerstin
Thorborg, and is conducted with great élan by Fritz Reiner. These are
outstanding historic performances that will excite any opera lover, and the
included booklet has informative articles about the performances as well as
biographies of the singers.
Musicweb Thursday March 06 2003
Giacomo
PUCCINI (1858-1924) Gianni Schicchi
(Puccini).
One Act
Opera.
Gianni
Schicci, Italo Talo (bass). Lauretta, Lucia Albanese. (sop). Rinuccio, Giuseppe
di Stefano (ten). Zita, Cleo Elmo (sop). Simone, Virgilio Lazzari (bass).
Orchestra and Chorus of The Metropolitan Opera House, New York, conducted by
Giuseppe Antonicelli.
Richard
STRAUSS (1864-1949) Salome
(Strauss).
One Act
Opera.
Salome,
Ljuba Welitsch (sop). Jochanaan, Herbert Janssen (bar). Herod, Frederick Jagel
(ten).
Herodias,
Kerstin Thorburg (cont). Narraboth, Brian Sullivan (ten).
Orchestra and Chorus of The Metropolitan Opera House, New York, conducted by
Fritz Reiner.
Recorded live broadcast performance on March 12th 1949
Immortal Performances series.
GUILD
GHCD 2230/31 [2CDs: 78.12+78.04]
All the
Guild ‘Immortal Performances’ series of historical opera performances arrived
for review at once. So, having listened to the issue of
Montemezzi’s ‘L’Amore Dei Tre Re’
over a couple of days (and being bowled over by the performance and quality of
the 1941 broadcast), I made my notes and moved straight to this somewhat unusual
double from 1949. I was underwhelmed by both the performance and recording of
the Schicchi to the extent that I put it aside for a week to clear my palate, as
it were, of the outstanding Montemezzi. On return, I still found the recording
disappointingly shallow in parts and the performance mediocre. As Richard
Caniell points out in the booklet notes, the success of any Schicchi centres on
the performance of the title role. I have known Tajo’s singing since the days of
Cetra LPs (the ‘Green Label’ versions!). His voice is individual and he covers
and colours his tone well, but compared with Gobbi (Caniell prefers Taddei) on
the justifiably famous EMI disc he misses too many tricks. Given the nature of
the opera, much of it near speech-song and a lot of peripheral activity, this is
a serious flaw.
The
presence of di Stefano and Albanese is luxury casting. She has the main aria
(arietta in fact) of the opera, the famous ‘O mio babbino caro’ (CD1 tr9) and is
justifiably, and loudly, applauded, although sounding somewhat mature for the
part. Di Stefano’s contribution is all too brief and like the other minor parts
is adequately taken, whilst the conducting lacks sparkle. No, you wouldn’t buy
these discs for this performance, but it was, and is on this issue, part of a
double bill, so what of the melodramatic partner, which had its premiere (1905)
thirteen years before Schicchi?
I expect
it will be the reputation and renowned performance of Ljuba Welitsch as
Strauss’s complex Salome that will draw purchasers as much as the overall
performance, although with Reiner conducting and Janssen as Jochanaan it has
many virtues. Welitsch had sung the part of Salome at the composer’s 80th
birthday celebration in Vienna in June 1944, but didn’t arrive at the ‘Met’
until 1948 and she only sang there for five seasons, returning in 1972 for the
character part of the Duchess of Krakenthorp (La Fille du Regiment). She
was a highly dramatic and temperamental singer who gave everything, vocally and
physically, to a performance, which could put strain on her silvery and often
sensuous tone. However, in this performance, at the height of her vocal and
interpretative powers in her portrayal of the evil adolescent that is Salome,
she is outstanding. With Janssen a steady and expressive Jochanaan, and Kerstin
Thorburg a fearsome Herodias, she is well matched. This performance, which takes
up the whole of CD 2 and 12 minutes of disc 1, justifies the cost of this issue
to a purchaser, whatever the reservations I have expressed about the Schicchi.
The recording sounds better than that for the Schicchi too. Can it be? The
answer might be that being drawn into involvement in the drama of a flowing and
vital performance just makes it seem audibly better.
The booklet is up to the usual good standard of this series with brief essays
about the two operas, track-related synopsis and artist profiles; all by Richard
Caniell who also carried out the re-creation and restoration. Robert J.
Farr
