Episode 453. Out of Commission
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Next up in my series of Countermelody “vacation episodes,” here’s the tenor counterpart of the soprano episode I published at the beginning of the week. This is the Historical Recording Enterprises mid-1970s release of the first of two issues of “Ten Top Tenors in Ten Live Performances.” Included in the mix are Carlo Bergonzi, Jussi Björling, José Carreras, Franco Corelli, Giuseppe di Stefano, and others singing favorite tenor arias from Manon Lescaut, La forza del destino, L’elisir d’amore, Tosca, among others, in live performances recorded between 1950 and 1976. The album is punctuated by my commentary on each of the individual singers, usually respectful, sometimes a little sassy. Next week you’ll hear Volume Two from the same collection, containing additional rafter-shaking favorites with similar commentary from your host!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva [after Abbé Prévost]: Ah! non m’avvicinate… Guardate, pazzo son (Manon Lescaut). Carlo Bergonzi [1960]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Victorien Sardou]: Dammi i colori… Recondita armonia (Tosca). Jussi Björling [1959]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Eugène Scribe]: Una furtiva lagrima (L’elisir d’amore). José Carreras [1975]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Ángel de Saavedra]: La vita è inferno… O tu che in seno agli angeli (La forza del destino). Franco Corelli [1965]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami [after Didier Gold]: Hai ben ragione (Il tabarro). Mario del Monaco [1974]
Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, Michel Carré [after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]: Salut, demeure chaste et pure (Faust). Giuseppe di Stefano [1950]
Giuseppe Verdi, Eugène Scribe, Charles Duveyrier [Italian version by Ettore Caimi]: Voi per me qui gemete… Giorno di pianto (I vespri siciliani). Nicolai Gedda [1974]
Gaetano Donizetti, Eugène Scribe [after Alfonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz; Italian version by Francesco Jannetti]: Spirto gentil (La Favorita). Alfredo Kraus [1967]
Arrigo Boito: Giunto sul passo estremo (Mefistofele). Luciano Pavarotti [1976]
Fromental Halévy, Eugène Scribe: Rachel, quand du Seigneur… Dieu m’éclaire, fille chère (La Juive). Richard Tucker [1964]
