Customer Reviews

Donizetti: L'elisir d'Amore

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow! What a performance!! Bergonzi is undoubtedly the finest Nemorino of all time! His legato line and superb phrasing are perfect in this role, from his entrance on Quanto e' Belle to the last note of the opera. If you haven't heard Carlo Bergonzi sing "Una Furtive Lagrima", you simply have not lived (Bergonzi even surpasses Pavarotti in this performance). Scotto also sings in this live performance like you've never heard her before or since. She sounds like an angel on this recording. Other singers of exceptional note in this performance are Carlo Cava as Dulcamara and Guiseppe Taddei as Belcore. So, if you are a fan of Bergonzi, of Scotto, or just great singing, you simply MUST buy this recording and at the super bargain price of $8.97, you can't resist. This is the finest performance of L'Elisir D'Amore I've ever heard.

First of all, the sound quality of this recording is very acceptable and you could do far worse with some digital versions (Pavarotti/Battle or Carreras/Ricciarelli). As for the performance itself, well, it's vintage Italian singing. The important thing about this recording is that neither Carlo Bergonzi nor Renata Scotto recorded this opera commercially, so for their performances alone this set is priceless. Bergonzi sings a youthful, passionate Nemorino surpassed on records only by Giuseppe Di Stefano. Renata Scotto invariably gives a masterclass on true belcanto style, no other soprano of her generation was a better Adina, so we are very grateful indeed for this recording. If you want a digital version I can only recommend the Alagna/Devia version on ERATO.

Right from the opening, Gavazzani demonstrates that this is a full bodied and fun performance. It is not a scholar's version; instead it is a performer's version with the cloth cut to make an effective stage performance.

And what a performance it is! Bergonzi gives a sensitive and well paced portrayal of the hero, producing a strong and sensitive Nemorino whose love-besotted antics are rendered the more interesting by his not being the usual light-weight non-entity. He also thereby serves as a better foil for Scotto's well rounded presentation of Adina. Scotto makes her character much more than the usual ditzy airhead found in most productions. Taddei is adequate as Belcore, while Cava turns in a buffo performance as the charlatan Dulcamara, second on record only to the off-the-wall version of Geraint Evans. This makes him a convincing and lovable rogue, though still the complete scoundral, therby heightening our interest in his scams.

The conducting is robust and full of character, the orchestra and chorus at least adequate. The sound is not great, but it does not seriously detract from the basic portrayal of a marvelous evening. The booklet is minimal.

I doubt if many people would want this as their only version of L'elisir d'Amore -- the sound rather precludes that -- but as a second copy its price makes this version an outstanding recommendation -- and if you don't want a libretto, this version is much more fun and interesting than almost all the ones in the catalogue with which I am familiar which otherwise might be your first version.

How disappointed I was to read these reviews. "Bergonzi's voice doesn't ring", "Taddei sounds like an old man", "Scotto is not up to par." This is an unbelievable recording of the highest standard. Not only are the voices clear and resplendent, but Gavazzeni is pure genius. True there are a lot of cuts, but this is from another time, I time when Puccini, Franchetti, Giordano, Ponchielli and other could be performed. Today, on the other hand, there is a Baroque "revival" and Rossini "revival". Hmmm...I wonder why that is?

This 1967 performance from Florence is a wonderful recording, with Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto, and Giuseppe Taddei all at their very best. Bergonzi has some pitch problems, but overall he sings with great beauty and musicianship. However ... this performance is now available on video, on the label Hardy Classics. The video is somewhat expensive, but it's worth it, as Carlo Bergonzi on the video is an endearingly naive country boy. Renata Scotto despite not having a conventionally beautiful face convinces us that she's the town flirt through her excellent acting. The sets are simple and the film is B&W, but as I said, I think if you liked this performance on cd, the DVD is worth getting.

What a wonderful live performance of this opera. Bergonzi is great as Nemorino. I can't recall ever hearing a more impassioned rendition of "una furtiva lagrima". Bergonzi is just perfect in this role. Scotto is no slouch either. If you like this opera, you should not be without the CD. The price is a steal. Buy it and enjoy!

Without a doubt, this is the most enchanting,"Italian authentic" performance I have heard of this work in a long time. Bergonzi and Scotto are captured at the height of their vocal powers.The CD remastering is superb! It sounds as if it was recorded last week! For this bargain price, you have to have this recording!

SOURCE: Live 1967 performance from the May Festival in Florence.

SOUND: Overall the sound is generally satisfactory. No-one will confuse it with a digital studio recording or even a live recording from Bayreuth, but not bad at all for a live performance. Stage noises are minimal and the audience is better behaved than many Italian audiences.

CAST: Adina, a prosperous country landowner inclined to be flirtatious and flighty - Renata Scotto (soprano); Nemorino, country bumpkin and prize chump hopelessly in love with Adina - Carlo Bergonzi (tenor); Belcore, a sergeant in a regiment encamped near Adina's farm, hopelessly in love with Belcore but also inclined to marry Adina - Giuseppe Taddei (baritone); Doctor Dulcamara, a traveling quack, purveyor of bogus nostrums and love potions, in love with money and his next meal - Carlo Cava (bass-baritone); Gianetta, a country girl who is not entirely averse to snagging a wealthy husband - Renza Jotti (mezzo-soprano). CONDUCTOR: Gianandrea Gavazzeni with the Florence May Festival Orchestra and Chorus.

DOCUMENTATION: No libretto. Brief history of the opera and short summary of the plot. Track list which identifies some but by no means all the singers on each track, and omits timings. Nothing on the performers and little more on the circumstances of this recording.

TEXT: This recording includes the performance cuts that were traditional for more than a century. Some earlier reviewers are clearly appalled by that fact and are quite evidently suffering the vapors because of it. I do not adhere to the cult of recording every note ever written and re-affirming every preliminary draft and bad idea. The simple fact is that original intentions sometimes do not survive encounters with real audiences. Opera is theater at its very largest and not every academic restorer understands that. If you have any doubts on the matter, just consider the cataclysmic effect on "The Tales of Hoffmann" when "restored" to Wagnerian length, as it is on some recent recordings.

COMMENTARY: "L'elisir d'amore" is yet another opera that can be traced back to that ubiquitous hack of all seasons, Eugene Scribe. Scribe's original libretto, "Le philtre," had been set to music by Auber in 1831, to no particular effect. In 1832, Donizetti needed a libretto on fairly short notice. His hack librettist, Felice Romani, knew a good thing when he could steal it. "Le philtre" was quickly paraphrased into Italian doggerel as "L'elisir d'amore" Donizetti devoted a long time--a full month!--to setting it. "L'elisir d'amore" opened to triumph in Milan in May 1832. One hundred and thirty five years later, the Florence May Festival offered this fine performance.

There are three international stars among the singers, but the performance really belongs to Carlo Bergonzi. The always acute and knowledgeable Amazon reviewer Armindo was so impressed that he was moved to utter these exclamations: "Bergonzi is the most characterful and romantic Nemorino ever! It's really unbelievable how much feeling and spirit he infuses in his singing without ever reducing its musical quality! I know no other singer--male or female--who ever achieved such level of musicality. He truly sounds like the young bumpkin! The most idiomatic and tender Una furtiva lagrima you will ever hear, is only one highlight of his performance." I am not quite as bowled over as Armindo. I think Ferruccio Tagliavini might have been as good or better about 1948 and so, too, might Tito Schipa have been around 1930 and maybe even Alessandro Bonci in, say 1910. But, of course, Tagliavini, Schipa and Bonci are not available in their best voices on (more or less) complete recordings of "L'elisir" while Bergonzi is-right here! He is as good as we're ever likely to hear in this lifetime.

Renata Scotto sings very well here. Her many fans may rest assured that Scotto does everything that they might wish from her and does it very impressively, too. I am not one of her fans and the fault is probably much more mine than hers. To me, she is like one of T. S. Elliot's mermaids. I hear them singing each to each but I do not think they will sing to me.

The third big name in the cast is Giuseppe Taddei. The Italians like to say they gave Gobbi to the world but kept Taddei for themselves. He did, in fact, sing outside Italy. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 67. On this recording, the 51 year-old baritone offers a good, solid performance as Sergeant Belcore. I have no criticism of him in the role of Belcore except that he should not be singing it. Taddei was an excellent Leporello and a tremendous Falstaff. If I had been the producer of the May Festival I would have moved heaven and earth to have him sing Doctor Dulcamara. Any good baritone can be Belcore. Taddei would have been fabulous as the quack doctor and perhaps only Salvatore Baccaloni at his prime might have been better. I can only guess that Taddei took Belcore because he did not wish to be typecast in the buffo parts.

Carlo Cava was a reliable singer of lower-voiced parts. His recording career, to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, was pretty much confined to short supporting parts. I'd not be at all surprised if this Dulcamara is his most significant appearance on disk. Cava is all right as the snake oil-peddling quack. He's looser than some in the role, but still generally staid in a part that practically cries out for a larger-than-life buffo baritone who delights in chewing the scenery and anything else that comes to hand.

Gianetta is a relatively small part which, nevertheless, offers some nice bits. Renza Jotti is an admirable Gianetta.

Gavazzeni conducts a fairly rapid-moving, Italianate performance in which everything keeps moving forward, unlike, say, Richard Bonynge who distorts the overall shape of the opera for the benefit of his singers. The orchestra and chorus are fine.

This is a good performance with a blazing tenor in a barebones package, all at low price. I think it's worth five stars.

This is one of the greatest Florence May Festival performances and should be in every opera collection. The experienced Gavazzeni, a maestro of the traditional Italian school of conducting, leads a superb cast and creates an amusing yet warm Elisir.

Bergonzi is the most characterful and romantic Nemorino ever! It's really unbelievable how much feeling and spirit he infuses in his singing without ever reducing its musical quality! I know no other singer - male or female - who ever achieved such level of musicality. He truly sounds like the young bumpkin! The most idiomatic and tender Una furtiva lagrima you will ever hear, is only one highlight of his performance.

Equally inspired is Renata Scotto's Adina and though I have never warmed up to her slightly metallic sound, I recognise her greatness. You won't find a more capricious Adina! Scotto moreover has all the abilities to shine and excite in the coloratura parts. Her big aria is a showstopper! Taddei's strong and suave Belcore is one of the best on records while Cava's funny Duclamara gets better and better as the show goes on. Even Giannetta is wonderfully performed by Renza Jotti.

It's not only the individual performances that are perfect but there is so much chemistry between the artists in the duets, the recitatives and ensembles. This is what truly makes this Elisir stand out as the best ever! A definite, intoxicating recommendation!

I purchased this recording for one reason: Carlo Bergonzi. And I wasn't disappointed! Although his voice doesn't really have much ring it is nonetheless very pleasing to the ear. While he is usually called a Verdi "stylist," this Donizetti role is performed by Bergonzi with real style. The other performers are not up to par in my opinion. Buy that is a matter of personal taste. Scotto does a good job, but she has never been one of my favorite voices (bel canto voice or post-bel canto voice). Taddei doesn't sound like a swaggering soldier as Belcore. He sounds like an old man, but that's just his voice. This is a great second choice Elisir. For a first choice I would go with the London recording with Sutherland and Pavarotti. And Spiro Malas on that recording is a superb Dulcamara. Sound on the Opera D'oro set is excellent! And of course there is no libretto/translation.