Customer Reviews

Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth

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

 

 

This is a great recording of a great opera with great singers. It was recorded in New York in 1959 between reprensentations at the Met. It was the first staging of the opera there. Leonard Warren and Leonie Rysanek are terrific in the leads. Warren is a tormented Macbeth, his voice of rolling grandeur and character ideal for the role. Rysanek is a mysterious Lady, her beautiful voice soaring in her two great arias and the sleep-walking scene. This is perhaps not perfect vocalism but what voices these singers had. Carlo Bergonzi and Jerome Hines offer excellent support. Chorus (especially the witches) and orchestra are excellent and Leinsdorf's conducting is energetic. The sound is clear but strangely balanced, voices are either very close or very far, but this is a minor distraction. The are cuts but the final death aria for Macbeth (stunningly sung by Warren) from the original 1847 version is inserted before the revised finale of 1865. A very fine set of historical value.

This recording, in my opinion, is the overall ALL TIME BEST recording of this opera. I think this is an under rated Verdi opera. The music is very dramatic and listenable. It follows the story quite well also. The musical direction is perfect especially for the age of the recording. The direction is clear and energetic. Now, for singing. There are no words to describe Leonard Warren. I have not heard this recording since I was a teenager. I finally found the CD and listened to it the other day. Leonard Warren still sends chills. His large dramatic voice lends itself well to Macbeth. He gives power to the role where most other baritones just gives weakness. His voice is glorious. No other can match his incredible voice. As a far as Leonie Rysanek, I absolutely love this singer. I saw her in her "declining" years at the Met years ago in Electra and her voice was very youthful and beautiful. She is the finest Lady Macbeth ever. Her voice is even, her high notes are not pushed and over produced. She uses her beautiful voice well and I don't find myself cringing like I do with so many of today's voices. This truely is an era where singers took time to really learn to sing and you can hear it in this recording. Leonie is dramatic without sacrificing her voice. She uses many different colors, again without sacrificing her voice to do so. In addition, Lady Macbeth is a soprano role and should be sung by a soprano and not a mezzo no matter how high a mezzo can screatch up to the high notes. Jerome Hines is dark, musical, strong, and, well, perfect. You just couldn't get any better than that. If you are looking for a recording that is completely perfect, this is it. Yes, it has the slightly older sound that is quickly forgotten within seconds. They did a very good job in transferring this to CD. This is the second recording I have of this opera. The first is with Birgit Nilsson, another incredible recording with Nilsson and the orchestra as the stars. The Macbeth is okay and from there it goes down hill. But it is worth the price just for Nilsson. However, this recording of Warren and Reysanek is the best. I will never get tired of listening to these great artists. I wish we had them today.

This is a superb recording!! All the principal singers are in peak form. You will find it hard to surpass Leonard Warren as Macbeth. His voice is deep and powerful. His characterization appropriate. Rysanek is highly dramatic as Lady Macbeth. And she sings her high D flat full-throated. No screechy singing - just a full, glorious shimmering voice at a high D flat!! Jerome Hines is marvellous as Banquo. His voice is deep and powerful too, sounds a bit like Warren's voice. Conducting is excellent and sound is great. In wonderful stereo and no tape hiss. Very highly recommended.

Scanning through Amazon at some of the recordings I particularly cherish, I was amazed to find that the ONLY review of this recording was written as a bow to Mildred Allen. With all due respect, Ms. Allen appears in the infinitesmally small role of one of the three apparitions [I know this only because I had to go to the recording to verify it], and I would challenege anyone who had never heard Mildred Allen, or someone who had never sung that particular role, to distinguish which apparition she was. Ms. Allen--again, with all due respect--is a very small and, yes, complimentary addition to what may be arguably be the only recording of this opera worth owning. The cast has yet to be surpassed in the studio or, in my experience, in the opera house. Warren, Rysanek, Hines and Bergonzi were at the very height of their very distinguished musical and dramatic talents. Although Maria Callas is often credited with a great portrayal of Lady Macbeth, I would vehemently argue that Rysanek's is more effective, both dramactically and vocally [and I qualify this by saying that I never particularly cared for her outside of German opera]. If it is your desire to own a recording of this opera, please do yourself a favour and ignore DDD versus ADD arguments; flashy cast lists and any recording containing any cast you might happen on in the theatre today. Listen to what Verdi can do when an ensemble is an ensemble and when operatic performers perform and don't just sing. There really was a time when the Metropolitan Opera was the greatest theatre on earth for more reasons than that they had the most money. This recording proves it.

This is a real classic, featuring Warren and Rysanek at their best, and the young Bergonzi. A real delight, with so much beautiful music. You just don't get Verdi sung like this today!

The illustrious dramatic soprano, Leonie Rysanek triumphed at the Met in 1959 in the role of Lady Macbeth, replacing Maria Callas, no less. Imagine, everyone comes to see Maria Callas with super high expectations, and discovers that a "Leonie Rysanek" (who in thew world is she?) is replacing the world renown Callas. Did everyone get a shock!! Rysanek was more than up to task, she stunned the life out of everyone. Listening to her highly dramatic reading of Lady Macbeth's aria, you realize why. Very highly recommended.

Although it isn't perfect as some critics would have it, I find this recording sensational. The Metropolitan Opera conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, treats Verdi's Macbeth as an early grand opera of his, which it truly is. Macbeth is a sensational, dramatic and dark play and as an opera it is equally as electrifying. Verdi's first big success is credited as Nabucco but Macbeth is well-made, having many dramatic moments that should bring down the house. Leonard Warren was a famous baritone who was instantly a Met legend because he died on the stage of the Met of a heart attack after singing the lines "Morir tremenda cosi " "What a horrible thing is death" in the opera La Forze Del Destino by Verdi. Warren IS Macbeth, ambitious, driven, cruel, heartless. Everyone seems to think that he is the true reason you should get this recording. No other interpretor matches his performance.

As for Leonie Rysanek. She is incredible ! True she overacts, she is melodramatic and she sounds totally crazy, but I think this is how she should be performed. Critics have always admired Shirley Verrett's performance as Lady Macbeth, which they feel is more accurate on a human level. But I find that Rysanek is a fine Lady Macbeth. After all, the character is dark and crazy. At the beginning of the drama, she is ambitious, bloodthirsty and even more cruel than her husband. She drives her husband to murder and to seize power. She is the dark part of Macbeth's own nature. Such a strong woman suddenly turning crazy in the Mad Scene is incoherent. Therefore the singing and acting should come off as crazy ! It makes sense to me. No one sings like that then Leonie Rysanek who can sing in the classical diva style but with so much bite and fury. I find that she is doing a perfect job. This is an old recording with fine sound quality, with a great cast. Carlo Bergonzi sings the tenor role of Macduff, a tame performance but good nonetheless. He is meant to sound "noble" and "good" next to the dark Macbeth of Leonard Warren. This is why the role of Macbeth is a bass or baritone role. The tenors are rarely the villain. The great exception is Verdi's own creation in the Duke in Rigoletto. This opera is terrific and highly recommended. Don't just ignore it. Listen to the Macbeth that you will most like among the many recordings. But this one is one that ought to be on your exploration route.

What did they do when they digitized this great old recording?? My old LPs from about 1972 sound better than the MP3 version I just downloaded. Huh? The LPs are immediate sounding and brilliant, while the MP3 sounds kind of distant, with a peculiar low level noise that sounds for all the world like the low level noise on an LP. Very odd.

But this is a great performance of Macbeth. How can you go wrong for $4? : - )

Great recording of Macbeth. Leonard Warren is possibly the best Macbeth. I really like the fact that they added the "death aria" from the 1847 version, but still kept the victory chorus at the opera's end. Leonie Rysanek has no problems with the demanding role of Lady Macbeth. Her high notes are strong and powerful, but not shrill. Carlo Bergonzi does a marvelous job with the smaller tenor role. They just don't make tenors like him today. Also, I really liked the chorus, that in Macbeth plays an important part that is second only to the two principle roles. They did a great job with the witches. The ensemble pieces, that close acts I and II, were dramatic and impressive. Leinsdorf's conducting is to my taste, not too fast or too slow. The booklet includes a good english translation that is almost literal. I now have 15 different recordings of Macbeth (my favorite opera), and I find that I listen to this one more than any other. I highly recommend.

Note: Please ignore an undue number of negative votes for this review. They come from a few mindless stalkers.

You can throw a rock at random and hit a five-star review for practically anything at Amazon, especially when it comes to operas, but in this case the superlatives are deserved on two fronts. First and foremost is the young Leonie Rysanek, a great vocal actress who throws herself into the role of Lady Macbeth that every rival is swept off the stage except Callas. But Rysanek had a far more beautiful voice than Callas, and her two big arias are examples of vocal splendor.

The ohter star is the legendary Leonard Warren, but newcomers should be warned that by 1959 Warren's magnificent dark baritone had acquired some wobble under pressure and was slightly frayed around the edges. Even so, he is passionate, ruthless, and dramatically convincing in one of his signature roles.

Why, then, a reduction to four stars for the set as a whole? First, the sound. RCA didn't always manage stereo well, and here they often start an aria out completely in the left speaker and end it entirely in the right. Duets plunk one singer in each channel. You might not be as annoyed as I was, but in any event there's shrillness and microphone shatter to contend with, too, and a chorus placed at the very back of the stage.

The ohter, bigger negative is the brisk, uninflected conducting of the always rigid, sometimes disastrous Erich Leinsdorf. Here he's not terrible, thank goodnesss, but he's no asset, and the finicky Met orchestra plays routinely for him. Again, some opera lovers care only aobutt the voice and won't be as bothered as I was, but I'm sure Verdi cared deeply about the overall conception, not just one aria at a time. This is a one-aria-at-a-time performance graced by two stupendous voices.