Customer Reviews

The Best of Tebaldi

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This recital, one of the series of "original cover" [in this case the English, not the American cover] albums that DECCA has been re-issuing, is a compilation-recital drawn from Tebaldi's many complete-opera sets.

TRACKLISTING

1 Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì (Mimì)

La Bohème Puccini

2 Donde lieta uscì al tuo grido (Mimì)

La Bohème Puccini

3 Vissi d'arte (Tosca)

Tosca Puccini

4 Laggiù nel Soledad (Minnie)

La fanciulla del West Puccini

5 Un bel dì, vedremo (Cio-cio-san)

Madama Butterfly Puccini

6 "Con onor muore" (Cio-cio-san)

Madama Butterfly Puccini

7 Signore, ascolta! (Liù)

Turandot Puccini

8 Tu che di gel sei cinta (Liù)

Turandot Puccini

9 La mamma morta (Maddalena)

Andrea Chénier Giordano

10 Io son l'umile ancella (Adriana)

Adriana Lecouvreur Cilèa

11 Poveri fiori (Adriana)

Adriana Lecouvreur Cilèa

12 L'altra notte in fondo al mare (Margherita)

Mefistofele Boïto

Carlo Bergonzi tenor (tracks 1 & 6)

Cornell MacNeil baritone (track 4)

Mario del Monaco tenor (track 8)

Orchestra e coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia

Tullio Serafin (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6 & 12)

Francesco Molinari-Pradelli (track 3)

Franco Capuana (tracks 4, 10 & 11)

Alberto Erede (tracks 7 & 8)

Gianandrea Gavazzeni (track 9)

Her luminous, radiant voice was at her best here.

Now DECCA ought to re-issue Tebaldi's classic 1955 recital with Alberto Erede conducting, from which I particularly cherish the two items from Licinio Refice's CECILIA, an azione sacra from the 1930s that Tebaldi sings with a tenderness and glow that is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.

To know Renata is to love her, and so will you, if you hear this exquisite disc.

The several non-jet-setting conductors in this dic lead with un-flashy excellence and a gracious, Italianate regard for the needs of the singer: a lesson in STYLE.

I bought this compilation on a London LP back in the seventies. I listened to it until I wore it out. They wisely began the disc with probably the best recording she ever made, that of Si, mi chiamano Mimi, from La Boheme. The singing on that cut is so ravishing and inspired. All the other cuts are almost as good, except for the one from La fanciulla del West; there she was past her prime, but it's a great aria. Instead, they should have included her recording of O Patria Mia from AIDA. Tebaldi had something that even the great Caballe has never completely matched, and this CD really does represent her best work.

I still prefer Callas to Tebaldi; but this certainly shows you that Tebaldi was one helluva soprano.