Customer Reviews

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Herbert von Karajan

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Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" has been recorded multitudes of times over the last fifty years ---- and to my ears, this 1965 effort is the best recorded performance of all of them. Herbert von Karajan has fashioned a reading of this much-heard opera that makes you feel that you are hearing it for the very first time. Orchestral color and "verismo" atmosphere abounds here as in no other "Cav" recording, and there are instruments in the orchestra that seem much more prominent than we are used to hearing in this particular opera ----- and the orchestral crescendos are more powerful than I have ever encountered them. Carlo Bergonzi, perhaps not the most creative and innovative artist, sings a Turridu with flow, beauty, and taste. Fiorenza Cossotto ----- probably the greatest Italian mezzo since Gulietta Simionato and Fedora Barbieri ---sings a smoldering and compelling Santuzza with a voice ideally suited to the violent emotions of the role. Giangiacomo Guelfi is a vocally solid and strong Alfio. Plainly, with von Karajan at the helm, and with the caliber of these great artists, "Cavalleria Rusticana" comes across on this recording with all of the violence and passion which Mascagni certainly must have intended. This one's a real winner ----- and it's companion performance of "Pagliacci", also conducted by von Karajan and starring Carlo Bergonzi as Canio ------- is every bit as great.Buy them both!

"Cavalleria Rusticana" is one of the greatest operas of the verismo period - great orchestration, high drama and (above all) fantastic tunes all crammed together into eighty minutes. This 1965 Teatro alla Scala recording under Herbert von Karajan is, at least to me, unbeatable. Karajan may not seem like a first choice for verismo, but he is actually very well suited to this opera, with its drama and long, legato melodies. He directs a performance that realizes all the potential of both the music and the drama. The Orchestra of La Scala plays with red-blooded passion for the maestro, and the chorus also does its work well. Among the soloists, Fiorenza Cossotto (Santuzza) and Carlo Bergonzi (Turridù) are the standouts - as they should be. Bergonzi, whom I usually do not like, reduces his obtrusive vibrato well, so that in this recording he produces beautiful tone and gorgeous legato. His interpretation is not quite as fully realized as it could be, but it is definitely not bad. Cossotto, my favorite Italian mezzo, has a voice ideally suited to Santuzza's part, and she sings as beautifully as Bergonzi even in the taxing climaxes. Her voice, as well as being beautiful, is also huge - she can clearly be heard above the double chorus and large orchestra at the end of the Easter Hymn, and her final high C is thrilling. The supporting cast is excellent, especially Giangiacomo Guelfi as Alfio. This recording has been impressively remastered onto one compact disc (the playing time is over eighty minutes) for DG's Originals series. The sound is remarkably vivid and clear for 1965, and it is also at mid price. This, for me, is one of the best recordings in DG's magnificent series. A must-have for everyone!

This recording is absolutely superb! The digital remastering is excellent and there is no static or overbalance in any portion of the entire opera. The recording also sounds distincly "live" as though one were sitting near the orchestra pit at an actual performance.

Although many people don't like Von Karajan, I think he did an exceptional job bringing to life music which we have all heard (the intermezzo).

Bergonzi, as usual, is perfect, his voice in top form and even from low to high. He brings a sense of angry passion to the stage and one cannot help but feel sorry for scorned Turridu. The same goes for Fiorenza Cossotto's Santuzza. She sings the role beautifully, never yelling or oversinging.

The rest of the cast compliments the story nicely, Martino's Lola sounding appropriately happy and cheery. Guelfi as Alfio is great and his voice eminates his jealousy very well. Mariagrazia Allegri's Mamma Lucia is very supportive and she sounds like an older, wiser woman throughout the entire opera.

This recording is great in every aspect including price. Some of the most beautiful music ever composed and the best spinto singing ever done.

I think the story of this famous opera needs no telling. It is very accessible and very exciting....and it's short. All in all, a brilliant package.

The singers, however, are paired with one of my favourite conductors of all time. Herbert von Karajan has been criticised for making his music "too beautiful". Well, for me there can be no such thing. His conducting here is typically sensitive and his devotion to the singers was just pure genius. The chorus is excellent and their hymn with Santuzza goes the full way in making the audience sympathetic to the circumstances leading to her drastic actions.

So we come to Santuzza. Fiorenza Cossotto is one of those singers who give it her all. You hear it in her voice. She can rise, soar and float her notes like a warm current as well as stop your world with her chest register. Naturally, she excels in both mezzo and soprano roles. Not to eclipse her esteemed art, I would concur that she is every bit as astounding as the great Simionato.

Allegri's Mama Lucia seems an improvement over all the others I've heard. Not a wobbly, fruity note in sight, yet not the sort of melo-drama to leave you feeling overindulged. Her "Aiutateci noi..." for example, feels genuinely 'winded'- like someone who has heard the sort of new to make her quietly sit down. To complete the female protagonists, Martino's Lola made me applaud the CD-player as if it were a live performance! There she came along, singing sweetly, only to be caught unawares...in other words, the vocal acting and singing were excellent. BUT it get's better. The exchange with Santuzza (and here Cossoto deserves even more high praise) builds to an electrifying tension that gets released in sheer genius: Martino's "Io me ne vado"! I dare you not to laugh at the cat-fight metaphor when you listen to it!!

Bergonzi has always been a reliable tenor for me...in fact, perhaps more than that. While I can't claim that he was particularly amazing, he was amazing nonetheless. His Turridu is faultless...I only wish I hadn't heard Bjorling! But these should not be reasons to under-rate a great singer. Once again, Bergonzi gives a wholly Italian and aesthetically appealing performance. Nowhere is this more apparent than the cavatina at the beginning.

Finally, Guelfi's Alfio, with his resonant, secure baritone, is simply dashing. He colours his voice superbly (e.g., "Io me ne vado").

This is for me a first choice.

Wagner's Parsifal to the tunes of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana would be a good slogan for this recording. Karajan's massive, overpowering but sensitive conducting bestows the score with a rapt luminescence rarely heard in this piece. It has to be one of the slowest Cavallerias on record (the composer's own version a strong contender). The well-cast singers are totally committed and moving but never vulgar. The recording is absolutely first rate.

This disc proves how important it is to choose the right cast.

Karajan's restrained, wagnerian-influenced aproach is the apropriate way to interpret this opera!
The problem lies with the execution of Karajan's(/Mascagni's? ) vision, which demands a very able tenor, with perfect italian and flexibility of a lyric tenor together with the long breath of a heldentenor.
Such a tenor was found - Carlo Bergonzi.

Another important decision is who shall sing the part of Santuzza.
I think that a dramatic soprano/mezzo is the most effective.
Mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto as Santuzza is an excellent choice.
She sings beautifully without ever yelling, crying or screaming, but still with a certain dramatic impact.
The fact that she's a mezzo and not a soprano is also an advantage, for there are many low notes which should have dramatic strength many sopranos don't posses.
Nevertheless, she has no problem with the high notes either, and she could have easily developed into a fine dramatic soprano, but then we would have lost the greatest mezzo of the century.
Still, I would love to find a recording of her portraying a wagnerian role.

The rest of the cast is good, Allegri and Martino have beautiful voices and Guelfi is an apropriately violent Alfio.
The Chorus and Orchestra of La-Scala are the best.

Is there anything more to ask for?

EXCELLENT. ALL ARTISTS ARE CONCENTRATING ON MASCAGNI'S SCORE. INTERMEZZO PLACED AS AUTHOR INTENDED. GREAT EXAMPLE OF OPEERA VERISMO WITHOUT I PAGLIACCI.

this is one of the recordings that made me believe that hvk knew what he was doing. he brings out details in the music that i'd never heard in other recordings. it was a revelation. one reviewer put it well: this is a wagnerian treatment of an italian opera, the music telling the story even w/o the words. i was impressed. a first rate version of cav. highly recommended. good price, too, considering it includes the libretto.

This is the ultimate live recording of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. The audience noise doesn't even exist in the recording. Karajan's choice of casting characters is very good. The La Scala Orchestra plays excellently like both Karajan and Mascagni himself wanted. And the La Scala chorus is the same way. Carlo Bergonzi is a Beniamino Gigli-like Turiddu and really sounds excellent the whole way through, especially in "O Lola, ch'ai di latti la cammisa" or "No, No, Turiddu" or "Compar Alfio, Lo So Che il Torto e mio", or even in "Mamma, Quel Vino e Generoso". Carlo Bergonzi is the best Turiddu ever. And Fiorenza Cossotto as Santuzza is as great as Mascagni wanted Santuzza to be like. Cossotto is like no other Santuzza: One who never oversings and one who's not a "Zinka Milanov acting like Maria Callas" like singer. She sings "Turiddu mi tolse l'Onore" and "Voi lo Sapete, O Mamma" nicely. Mariagrazia Allegri sings the role of Mamma Lucia excellently and she sounds as old as Mascagni wanted the character to sound. Giangiacomo Guelfi is the loudest and greatest Alfio to cast. He's a super-villain in "Il Cavallo Scalpita" and "Ad Essi Non Perdono". This is by far the only Cavalleria Rusticana for people to get.

This recording and Karajan's similar CD for Pagliacci are a must have for any opera lover who likes live recordings.