Customer Reviews

Giuseppe Verdi: Otello (Complete Opera, 2 disc set) - Gwyneth Jones, James McCracken, Sir John Barbirolli (conductor)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although Placido Domingo has made this role his own for the last 20 years, in the '60s and '70s two men shared top honors--Jon Vickers and James McCracken, in my opinion one of the most underrated tenors of the recent era. McCracken got his start singing bit parts at the Met, then went to Europe for a decade, and returned singing the big heroic roles, Otello, Radames (opposite Leontyne Price in her first AND her last Met performance of that role), and others.
This cast is a superb ensemble. Dame Gwyneth Jones is a winning Desdemona, clear and glorious of voice, tender and hapless in character. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, although not possessed of a huge voice, projects Iago's malevolance far more effectively than many bigger-voiced baritones. He is not the overwhelmingly powerful Iago, but the sly, sinister sinuous and supremely menacing villain.
But McCracken is the star of the recording. One of the things that made McCracken's and Vicker's portrayals so effective is that both of them played Otello way over the top. Otello's behavior is really not that of a rational man, and McCracken plays him as more than a little nuts. By contrast, Domingo's portrayal comes across as somewhat too rational to believe that this man would strangle his beloved wife on such flimsy evidence.
McCracken is sometimes criticized for having a "high-intensity" or "pressurized" voice, but that works well for a dramatic hero. In the lower register he has almost a baritone timbre, and keeps that sound even when hitting a ringing B-flat. McCracken is also a fine singing actor--Marilyn Horne relates that when singing Carmen to McCracken's Don Jose on the Met state, (conducted by Leonard Bernstein--it's out on CD), she refused to go on stage with him until the management took away his real knife and replaced it with a rubber one! For me, this is THE definitive version of "Otello".

This under-rated set is actually one of the finest recordings of Verdi's masterpiece in the catalogues. Barbirolli's conducting has much fire and he also has the ear for the many details in Verdi's orchestration. McCracken is a heroic Othello who doesn't resort to shouting, and Gwyneth Jones is certainly one of the most sensitive Desdemona on record. Fischer-Diekau is an artful Iago. The smaller roles are all well taken. Excellent version of the opera in the mid-price range.

I suppose every generation is captive to the popular culture of its era. I love Placido Domingo but I've never heard an Otello that matches James McCracken and this recording. I heard Vickers live and wasn't deeply moved, though live performance in opera is a dicey business.

I listened to this album for forty days in a row. It's that affecting. Fischer Dietrich D. is equal to McCracken. This is a sensuous, overpowering Otello. It was the iconic Otello in the Sixties; it remains unsurpassed.

This EMI recording has long been overshadowed by the ones with Pavarotti, Domingo etcetera. But here we have a terrific, terrifying Otello in the late James McCracken and a lovely Desdemona in the young Gwyneth Jones who at the time for this recording had not started with her Wagner wobbling. Sir John makes wonders with the score. Not to be missed!

This Otello is still my favoritr after many years of listening to Domingo,Vickers and even Martinelli. It is a consumatly ACTED opera. The whole cast; as well as the conductor and the orchestra; are into the drama of the play. There may be other recordings out there with marginaly better singers, but none that are more involved with portraying their individual characters with their own unique voices. And every singer here is unique. McCracken with his dark and brooding tone,Fischer-Dieskau with his almost tenor Baritone, and the big dramatic sound of Gwenith Jones, whispering the dieing lines of Desdemona better that any liric soprano ever could. Listen and be prepared to be moved to tears by the best acting cast around.

Viva Verdi! I love James McCracken. Other singers aren't bad either. The levels are a little off, however. It's necessary to turn the volume down periodically.

Up until the time I heard this recording, I had not heard anything that could beat the performance of this opera I attended at the Met many years ago with Domingo, Milnes and Scotto. That performance is forever etched into my memory. Then, a few months ago I heard Gwyneth Jones (who up till then was never one of my very favorite sopranos) sing the last act prayer scene - and I went out and purchased this recording immediately. She is stunning in the role of Desdemona. Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau is my favorite baritone (and I had heard him sing the soliloquy aria previously and loved it). I had heard that McCracken had a reputation as the greatest Otello ever too. But even all those facts that didn't prepare me for the wonderful performance this CD presented. I am so glad I purchased it. It sets forth Verdi's genius to the enth degree. Barbirolli does a wonderful job conducting too! This should be required listening for anyone interested in opera. Enjoy!

The main reason I'm writing this is because of the naysaying reviewer. (The other reviewers offer many good points.)

I agree with the naysayer that this may not be the best Otello on the market -- although I don't agree that I'm sure of it. I do feel the need to address some of his/her criticisms, not because the recording has no flaws but because these criticisms are so inappropriate. First and foremost, the reviewer mentions Jones's infamous wobble. Granted, and -- no question -- I also dispute the frequent praise of much of her work. But there's no wobble here, so why bring it up? She sings beautifully, and acts beautifully as well -- very much the "perfect Desdemona" approach, but with spirit as well as sensitivity. As to Fischer-Dieskau, I had him on almost all of my original Verdi recordings, and wasn't happy about it. But he performs extremely well, and, as to hectoring ... I guess the reviewer wanted to like Iago?

As to McCracken -- okay, I'll admit, this recording was my childhood introduction to Otello. I saw Domingo in the role on stage (three times), and Vickers on television (I think twice) -- and I was an avid fan of Vickers. But neither eclipsed McCracken's interpretation, for me. Just listening to it recently (on CD, not my original records), I was out-right shocked by how insane the man sounded, even from the start. (This makes the Horne anecdote of another reviewer seem apt.) So I picked up my Penguin Opera Guide and read how this volatility was a major change that Verdi and Boito made from the Shakespeare. Surely there's no question that it is apt, and well (vocally) acted. Since most listeners don't know McCracken either from disks or live performance (I did get to see him in Tannhauser and Prophete before he had his altercation with the Met -- over Otello), they owe it to themselves to get a hold of this recording, because it's McCracken at his top. Whether or not you like the top (I do).

As to Barbirolli, I've always found his Madama Butterfly too emphatic, and I've been amazed at other reviewers' adoration of the recording. But then, I'm amazed at the aforementioned reviewer's charge of lax tempos, which seems no-more-true in Otello than Madama Butterfly. The storm scene at the beginning (of Otello) is so vitriolic it overwhelms the capacity of the recording -- which IS a liability of this recording. Other tempos seems at least sufficiently fast for me, and always expressive. As other other reviewers have said, the rest of the cast is quite commendable.

So ... the best recording out there? I don't know. I know from in-person experience that Vickers and Domingo have a great deal to offer the role. Desdemona has been remarkably well served, in my experience (even by the eventually execrable Gilda Cruz-Romo). And Iago will undoubtedly have more mellifluous exponents elsewhere, but few better acted. But this is a highly powerful Otello that needs to be heard. And poor McCracken, who died fairly young and languished in undeserved obscurity during his final (vocally still potent) years, must be heard by anyone who treasures singing. And American singing. And MET singing. And singing actors. Despite its vivid but over-stuffed sonics, this is a document that must be both preserved and savored.

The five-star brigade marches on, so you'd never guess that this Otello from 1969 was greeted half-hearedly, at best, when it first came out. The warning signs are evident in the casting. Gwyneth Jones became notorious for hr wide wobble and faulty intonation; as a soon-to-bee Brunnhilde for Boulez, her ample dramatic soprano seems at odds with the role of Desdemona. The Iago, Fischer-Dieskau, always fit uncomfortably into Verdi roles, and, as the Gramophone critic comments, "One starts to tire of the emphasis on detail, the mezza voce and parlando effects, the hectoring." Finally, although James McCracken had a suitably heroic tenor, he was a so-so vocal actor whose rivals included the legendary Jon Vickers, Ramon Vinay and Mario del Monaco.

Given all those red flags, how does this Otello hold up forty years later? The answer isn't simple. EMI scored a triumph by coaxing Barbirolli back into the opera pit for a mid-Sixties Madame Butterfly, but by 1969 he had lost a good deal of vigor (he was to die a year later). Both his father and grandfather had played in the premiere of Otello, and the conductor used history to justify a much more relaxed approach to tempos and drama. At the time the field was dominated by Toscanini's ultra-tense cannon shot of a performance and Karajan's sumptuousness. By comparison, Barbirolli seems too careful by half, unless you relish hearing every detail of the score lovingly caressed.

As for the singers, you must be prepared for the fact that none are Italian, either by birth or temprament. This sounds like a very English performance. Fischer-Dieskau actually delivrs one of his best Verdi portrayals. His mannerisms are kept to a minimum, and Iago's slyness and insinuation suit the singer's talent for word-pointing. Jones is also abel to scale ehr voice down and delivers a dramatically convincing, very poingnant Desdemona. Yet McCracken is dull and substitutes histrionics for real passion. His big voice has no "ping" at the top, and the overall effect is sturdy rather than stirring -- del Monaco and vinay, not to mention Domingo at his best (under Carlos Kleiber in various piaret performances with La Scala).

I've tried to give an objective account of this star-crossed recording, which is certainly worth a listen but comes rather far down in the ranks of successful Otellos.

Absolutely beautifully matched...the full-throated Irish tenor and the exquisite Welsh soprano. The shading and blending of their voices is breathtaking. What a pair! backed by Sir John at his best.Magnificent!