Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Aida as a conversation piece, 7 Nov 2001
We will never know how Teresa Stolz and Giuseppe Fancelli (the first La Scala Aida and Radames) sounded like, but in all probability they sounded more like Milanov and Martinelli than Cristina Gallardo-Domas and Vincenzo La Scola.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt's new recording of Aida is not the first to cast such light voices in the leads, Karajan did the same in 1979 for his EMI recording with Freni and Carreras, and if back then it was said that he cast a Rodolfo and a Mimi as Aida and Radames, Harnoncourt chose this time an Adina and a Nemorino.
Gallardo-Domas tries to go deep into Aida's predicaments, but she doesn't have the power for the big, arched phrases in O Patria Mia and abuses her chest notes in Ritorna Vincitor.
There are certainly beautiful things in her singing, but she is not comfortable or secure enough in this very demanding role. Harnoncourt probably hates the traditional loud, big voices that Italians love so much in la Arena di Verona or Caracalla, but spinto sopranos can be found who can sing softly and musically too: Leontyne Price, Zinka Milanov and Renata Tebaldi were as musical and refined as Gallardo-Domas and far more secure and even in their delivery. Vincenzo La Scola suffers alarmingly in Celeste Aida, where the voice spreads, and his -Sacerdote, Io resto a te- goes unnoticed. On the plus side his diction is excellent (in fact all the singers sing with crystal clear diction, and I guess Harnoncourt had something to do with that) and his interpretation is sincere.
Thomas Hampson as Amonasro is equally light weight (when Harnoncourt conducted Aida in the Zurich Opera House he used Giorgio Zancanaro, and I can't understand why he prefered Hampson for the recording). The encounter between Aida and his father in Act Four with Gallardo-Domas and Hampson sounds rather as the Mimi and Marcello duet in La Boheme. Matti Salminen as Ramfis is alien to the verdian style, but he is certainly not uninteresting, and together with Olga Borodina (as Amneris) he has the large voice needed for the role. In fact la Borodina is such a fine Amneris, singing opulently and gorgeously that Gallardo-Domas and La Scola seem all the more inadequate next to her.
But the best reason to hear this Aida is Harnoncourt's conducting. There is nothing bachian or monteverdian about his interpretation, it is a red blooded and truly verdian reading, full of insights and interesting things to say. The Vienna Philharmonic play like gods for him and the recorded sound is excellent.
It is interesting to compare this new recording with the Levine in SONY made exactly 10 years ago. In spite of conducting Verdi for many, many years, Levine's reading is nowhere as interesting as Harnoncourt's, but the moment Aprile Millo, Placido Domingo, Dolora Zajick and James Morris open their mouths it's obvious what is missing in the new recording. The Amonasro-Aida duet with Millo and Morris take us back to an era of great voices (not merely big) and refinement is not in short supply either.
Still, it would be a pity to miss all the beautiful things that this new Aida has to offer, and considering the state of the recording industry, it will be a long time before we have another and better cast Aida in the market.
|
|
|
|
With an Amazon.co.uk 
