Episode 455. Back in the Saddle
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Greetings to all from your recently Venetianized podcaster, now (as the title of today’s episode indicates) once again back in the saddle and bringing you the fourth and final of my vacation (or holiday, if you prefer) episodes featuring great sopranos and tenors of the 1960s and 1970s, as compiled by the late great collector and vocal aficionado Ed Rosen. Today is the second of the tenor LPs from that collection and once again features a range of the brightest and best of that era in thrilling live performances: from Richard Tucker and Franco Corelli (both of whom are heard in excerpts from La Fanciulla del West) to Björling, Carreras, Bergonzi, di Stefano, Kraus, Pavarotti, Gedda, and del Monaco singing everything from Nemorino to Siegmund (!) The vocal splendor of these singers is matched by (for the most part) their musical refinement and taste. And if certain of the featured tenors forgets his musical manners, rest assured that the amplitude of their thrilling high notes is suitable compensation!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Giuseppe Verdi, Salvadore Cammarano [after Antonio García Gutiérrez]: Ah, sì, ben mio (Il trovatore). Jussi Björling [1960]
Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Vi ringrazio, Sonora… Ch’ella mi creda (La fanciulla del West). Franco Corelli [1965]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Eugène Scribe]: Una furtiva lagrima (L’elisir d’amore). Carlo Bergonzi [1966]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Somma [after Eugène Scribe]: Amici miei… La rivedrò nell’estasi (Un ballo in maschera) José Carreras [1976]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette and Temistocle Solera]: Se quel guerrier io fossi… Celeste Aida (Aida). Giuseppe di Stefano [1956]
Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Una parola sola… Or son sei mesi (La fanciulla del West). Richard Tucker [1961]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Ella mi fu rapita… Parmi veder le lagrime… Possente amor (Rigoletto). Alfredo Kraus [1966]
Richard Wagner: Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond (Die Walküre). Mario del Monaco [1958]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Mercè, diletti amici (Ernani). Luciano Pavarotti [1977]
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Eugène Scribe, Émile Deschamps [after Prosper Mérimée]: Plus blanche que la blanche hermine (Les Huguenots). Nicolai Gedda [1971]
