Customer Reviews

Giacomo Puccini: La Rondine

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"La Rondine" has fared well on LP and CD, and this 1966 recording is at the head of the class.

Anna Moffo is the perfect Magda. As with her "Traviata", "Boheme", and "Luisa Miller", this recording is Moffo at the peak of her vocal and interpretive gifts. Moffo is really superior to her rivals in the other studio recordings of this opera. Angela Gheorghiu, (EMI), is exquisite, but often precious and mannered, and sounds enamored with her own voice. Kiri Te Kanawa (COLUMBIA) is also beautiful, but is cool and aloof much of the time, and occasionaly sounds like she is singing Strauss rather than Puccini. Moffo is always warm, sensual, and beautifully phrased and inflected. These other sopranos give fine performances, but Moffo finds nuances that the others miss.

Daniele Barioni as Ruggero is dashing, charming, and youthful, with a great voice that just keeps giving. It is truly perplexing why the major record companies did not see fit to make more recordings of this man's voice. Graziella Sciutti and Piero De Palma contribute character filled portrayals of Lisette and Prunier. Their counterparts in the other recordings all sing prettier, but none are more alive and amusing.

Francesco Molinari-Pradelli conducts with a light touch, but knows when to turn on the emotion without turning on the schmaltz.

Contrary to popular opinion, this was not the first complete commercial recording of LA RONDINE. There was a 1955 LP version on Columbia starring Eva de Luca, Giacinto Prandelli (still very much alive and extremely active on the lecture circuit in Europe as of this writing) and Ornella Rovero (who appears as Lisette on the 1958 DVD from VAI). Following this RCA recording were more famous ones starring Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo - which was well sung, showed advanced recording technology, but had zero personality - and the more recent reading by Gheorgiu and Alagna (which - the added tenor aria aside - was almost completely useless, being merely an advertising ploy by EMI to have the "Love Couple" sing everything). Additionally, there are live performances on CD, most notably starring Licia Albanese (sounding tentative and unrehearsed) and Cecilia Gasdia (who sounded pretty but bland).

It was this RCA version, recorded in July 1966, that has set the standard and will probably never be surpassed. Anna Moffo's luscious voice, combined with her complete understanding of and sympathy with the lead role of Magda is perfection. She was well suited to this role, at least, in the studio, and makes it seem far more than the usual distant cousin to LA TRAVIATA's Violetta. Nowhere is there the feeling that her rather small voice is getting lost in orchestra or during ensemble sections. Daniele Barioni brings more facets to Ruggero's personality than anyone before or since; Mario Sereni adds a humanity to the wealthy Rambaldo that makes the listener understand why Magda would return to him at the end of the opera. The second pair of lovers is interestingly cast. Graziella Sciutti's rather tart tone works better in the role of Lisette than almost any other part she sang, although she brought distinction to everything from FIDELIO's Marzelline to FIGARO's Susanna. It is a pleasure and a privilege to hear comprimario tenor Piero De Palma promoted to the leading role of poet Prunier, especially when it is handled with the relish and sensitivity displayed here. Francesco Molinari-Pradelli's conducting shows real intelligence, avoiding the deliberate tempo changes that most conductors exaggerate when leading this work.

Let's not forget the music itself. Even when it is performed in a less than perfect fashion (it requires a tremendous amount of precision in its detail for principals, chorus and orchestra), it is an intensely moving experience. Handled the way it is on this recording, it could melt the heart of a stone. While the third act has always been somewhat of a letdown after the brilliance of the preceding two, the artistry evidenced here makes the characters' decisions seem far less contrived. This is a recording that deserves to be treated with the same reverence as is paid to the 1953 recording of TOSCA (with Callas, di Stefano, Gobbi and De Sabata conducting). Bravo to all concerned: this is an achievement that will hopefully be enjoyed by many, many generations to come.

La Rondine is a little known but charming opera by Puccini. Some would call it an operetta and indeed sometimes it sounds a bit like one but it is still operatic in essence. The story is very similar to La Traviata but more bitter-sweet than tragic in its conclusion. This set is well worth considering for any puccinian or Anna Moffo devotees. She is at her most seductive and affecting as Magda, a courtesan with a heart of gold, and is very well supported by the rest of the cast, Sciutti and De Palma making an especially delightful couple. Chorus and orchestra are excellent and Molinari-Pradelli conducts in a lively and elegant manner, with good atmospheric sound, this proves to be a highly enjoyable set.

I have owned this recording on vinyl since it was published new, and so glad to see it finally make CD format. Anna Moffo was a beautiful young soprano, and I was enchanted by her Boheme and then her Rondine. This is a beautiful opera, not nearly as well known as it should be. It contains humour and pathos, and some exquisite Puccinian melodies. The recording itself is excellent and it far exceeds some of the more modern recordings as far as cast and performance. The opera is often referred to as, "the afternoon off of a genius". It deserves better than that. Give it a listen!

Anna Moffo made so many lovely recordings in the 60's before her sudden vocal decline and hers is nearly always my preferred version, despite strong competition, of such operas as "La Traviata", "Luisa Miller" and, here, "La Rondine". She is beautifully matched with the aristocratic baritone Mario Sereni and the under-recorded Daniele Barioni, plus a supporting cast of comprimario singer stalwarts such Piero Di Palma and Graziella Sciutti. All have such immediately recognisable, individual voices: Sereni, slightly grainy; Moffo with that seductive hint of huskiness; Barioni deploying a hefty but sensitive tenor con gusto - it's a pity that he isn't here given the entrance aria, "Parigi! e la citta dei desideri", which Puccini inserted some years later in response to the nagging, and probably justified, feeling that the tenor lead was somewhat underwritten; Alagna sings this quite beautifully. Molinari-Pradelli knows exactly how Puccini should go; his tempi are flexible and affectionate - although just occasionally I feel that Pappano, in the most recent set, keeps things going with just a little more vivacity and energy. You cannot go wrong with any of the three versions currently available; perhaps it is best to go with your favourite soprano and tenor combo. Certainly the sound is superior in the Pappano and Mr & Mrs Alagna turn in one of their most attractive performances - but Domingo and Te Kanawa, conducted by Maazel, are also very fine. This opera has been lucky on disc and its inclusion in Covent Garden's programme a couple of years ago, with Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann starring, has raised its profile. It has a rather abrupt and slightly anticlimactic ending, I find, but it contains so much lovely music that is recognisably vintage Puccini -and, as always in his operas, a terrific crowd scene (at Bullier's ballroom). Don't pay too much for this one - it is rather short measure at 96 minutes of music on two discs - but it could certainly be your first choice recording.

This is a delightful but seldom performed opera. I have loved the music and Moffo's performance since I first bought this recording in 1966. Forty years later - and now on CD - it is as splendid as I remember it!

Ravishing singing set to a plush Puccinian score. Anna Moffo sings gorgeously here, and
she is ably supported by the rest of the cast and a fine orchestral accompaniment.

Sonices are clear and warm.