Customer Reviews

Aida

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Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) began his conducting career in 1886, when he was only 19 years old, with a performance of Verdi's "Aida" in Rio De Janeiro. The story behind that unexpected and amazingly successful debut is "the stuff of legends."

Not surprisingly, Toscanini retained a special fondness for "Aida" throughout his career and his very last recording sessions, in June 1954, included work on the complete recording of the opera that RCA Victor eventually released. The original broadcast performances came in NBC Studio 8-H in the spring of 1949; besides being broadcast over the NBC radio network, these performances were also telecast over the fledgling NBC television network and preserved on kinescope films. Consequently, one can also SEE Toscanini conducting the opera, thanks to the releases on home video, first on VHS cassettes and video discs by RCA and now on DVD by Testament.

These CDs include the magnetic tape recordings of the performances from 1949 and 1954. Somehow RCA matched the sound of the 1954 recording sessions in Carnegie Hall with the duller acoustics of Studio 8-H. Overall, the results were quite pleasing and even exciting at times. Admittedly, this is not Toscanini's best operatic performance to be preserved on recordings. However, there are some numerous fine qualities to it; certainly his interpretation of the opera is to be valued because of Toscanini's own personal relationship with the composer.

In six of the seven operas that Toscanini performed with the NBC Symphony, from 1944's "Fidelio" to 1954's "A Masked Ball," Toscanini worked with one of his favorite singers, American tenor Jan Peerce. For "Aida," however, Toscanini chose another American tenor, Richard Tucker. Actually, Peerce and Tucker had very similar voices; there was a definite power and sweetness in their singing. They also had long careers. This writer was fortunate to hear Jan Peerce sing and meet him backstage, following his memorable 1977 recital in San Francisco. Peerce still sang amazingly well in his early seventies and was a warm human being. I had hoped to hear Richard Tucker, too, but he died just before his scheduled appearance with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra.

Some have complained about some of the other singers on this recording. However, Toscanini chose singers he liked and he always tried to get them to sing their best, or else... Certainly Toscanini's fury had no bounds when he felt a singer or musician was not giving his absolute best. So, the results from the performers on these discs are probably the best they ever gave. However, there is a report that something during the original broadcasts upset the Maestro and he fled to his dressing room, refusing to return to acknowledge the studio audience's applause; this was probably one of the reasons that he insisted some of the music be redone before it was released commercially.

I particularly enjoyed the involvement of the Robert Shaw Chorale in this recording. Toscanini admired the young choral director and they worked together a number of times, from 1945 to 1954. The choral sections have seldom sounded as good as they do in these performances.

This may not be the greatest recording of "Aida," but it is certainly historically significant because it is document of an interpretation that met Verdi's own high standards. As with so many of Toscanini's recordings, there is an incredible excitement in the music. The dramatic sections are presented with a relentless drive and intensity, while the more lyrical sections are performed with great sensitivity.

I particularly have enjoyed the triumphal music in Act II, including the mysterious ballet music and the famous "Grand March," as well as the very moving "victory" music with its wondrous soul-searching. The final climax to Act II has seldom been performed with more power; that is even more apparent from the film of the televised version of the opera, as Toscanini conducted with great feeling and intensity and the singers and musicians responded with overwhelming involvement.

The first opera performance that Arturo Toscanini conducted was "Aida" in Buenos Aires in 1886, when he was only 19 years old, as a substitute. It was a rousing success. 63 years later, he finally recorded it in this performance, divided between two broadcasts/telecasts in 1949.

For the most part, Toscanini chose his cast well. Herva Nelli, though lacking some variety of tone and tragic stature, sings the title role exceedingly well, musically and dramatically with good tone. She is not in the same league as such great Aidas as Zinka Milanov (my personal favorite, on the Perlea recording) or Leontyne Price, but she is much finer than Caballe, Millo, Arroyo and a score of others.

Richard Tucker, who looked on the kinescope to be scared out of his wits in the first broadcast, actually sang quite beautifully if you just listen to the performance and don't watch him. He visibly loosened up in the second broadcast, with the result that his Nile Scene and Act 4 duet with Nelli are quite exceptionally beautiful and moving. He gets five stars for singing so well under one of the most demanding conductors on earth!

Baritone Giuseppe Valdengo, as Amonasro, is simply fantastic, bettered only by the legendary Leonard Warren on the Milanov set. Basses Norman Scott (Ramfis) and Dennis Harbour (King) are also excellent, and the elusive American soprano Teresa Stich-Randall sings the most exquisite of Priestesses on record.

The fly in the ointment is Eva Gustavson, a decidedly third-rate mezzo, in the important role of Amneris. It isn't just that she has a tremolo through much of the first act, though she does; the problem is that the voice is hollow-sounding and ugly. There were any number of excellent mezzos in New York at the time (Cloe Elmo, Claramae Turner, Fedora Barbieri, Margaret Harshaw), any one of whom would have been a better choice than Gustavson. Of all of Toscanini's poor cast-choices, this is the one that still rankles the most, since she spoils what is certainly one of the greatest recorded "Aidas" of the last century.

If you want the very best overall "Aida," get the 1955 RCA recording with Milanov, Barbieri, Bjorling, Warren, Christoff and Perlea. The tempos are not as razor-sharp as Toscanini's but they are good, and the overall singing and vocal acting is simply splendid.