Customer Reviews

Puccini: Turandot

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

 

 

This is a full-blooded, but also insightful, recording of an opera that has been done to death. Sadly, performances usually attract singers better known for their volume than their musical sensitivites. I fear that this is near the truth for Eva Marton, but nothing could be further from it as far as Heppner and Price are concerned. Heppner sings Calaf with true heroic scale, but also with great beauty of tone and respect for the composer's intention. Aside from his interpretation, there were two other pleasant surprises for me. Roberto Abbado easily convinces, on this recording, that he is a conductor in the front rank. He is excellent at pacing the music, and especially in building towards the climax -- and there are SO many climaxes in this score that it can give you earache. The other great surprsie, and it was a delight, was the Liu of Dame Margaret Price. Astonishing that a singer best known for lieder, for her Mozart, Verdi and Strauss, should turn her hand to Puccini at this stage in her career. Nonetheless, she is ravishing in the role and exposes the extraordinary beauty and vulnerability in the role, and character, of Liu. Wonderful!

I have nothing startling to add about this Turandot from 1992, which the earlier reviewers have accurately described. It's very professionally conducted by Roberto Abbado, nephew of Claudio, at a level of inspiration well below Karajan and Mehta in their sets but far above Molinari-Pradelli and Leinsdorf on theirs. The recorded sound is good, although a bit glaring when the singers are loud, and the forces of the Munich Opera are fine (you won't mistake the chorus for native Italians, but that's a small matter). It's obvious that Eva Marton, never an artistic Turandot, is not in best voice but still capable of considerable lung power. She doesn't seriously wobble, and more importantly, her voice is a fit for the part.

I am getting these preliminaries out of the way to discuss the main attraction, the young Ben Heppner, singing Calaf at age 36. That's young for a budding Heldentenor. Heppner had made his European and U.S. debuts only four years before. He had already won the Lauritz Melchior prize, which the opera world considers a bellwether for up and coming heroic tenors. As heard here, the voice is startlingly lovely but not fully powerful or rounded out. The digital recording gives it a note of shrillness. Yet it was clear that the opera world lacked a convincing Calaf. Pavarotti and Domingo, neither of them naturally suited to the role, had made their recordings in the Seventies, and Carreras, who had even less voice, was powering through the part sheerly on will and temperament. What a relief to hear Heppner glide through the most difficult stretches like a warm knife through butter, thanks to rock-solid technique and incredible support. The ease with which he delivers "Non piangere, Lu" is breathtaking. (Did anyone at the Bible College in Regina, British Columbia have any idea where their teenage student was heading?)

Heppner was taking the rarest and toughest road to the status of Heldentenor, not moving up from a natural baritone but adding strength to a natural tenor. As Calaf he displays such flexibility and "ping" at the top of his range that you'd never call this a typically beefy, stolid German tenor at all. His attack in the riddle scene is courage personified. Devoted fans should seek this recording out for the pleasure of hearing how greatness begins to develop. But there are other pleasures, too: a marvelous, touching Liu from Margaret Price and an outstandingly satiric trio of Ping, Pang, and Pong equipped with world-class sneers. Rootering is a solid Timur, if a little without noble character.

In its original review, the Gramophone griped about lack of involvement and Italianate style on Heppner's part. The latter point is partially true, but the reviewer failed to hear the emergence of a voice that would salvage the Wagnerian tenor repertoire, not to mention Berlioz's Troyens. Heppner's contribution deserves five stars and nothing less.

It seems to me that Marton is attacked for singly "badly", or at least, not "as beautifully" as Sutherland or Nilsson. I admit, that her voice can't hardly be called beautiful; but neither can Calla's. I admit, that her singing shows signs of stretching; but so does Ricciarelli's. But both Callas and Ricciarelli recorded enjoyable Turandot and gave me many hours of listening pleasure. I agree that both Sutherland and Nilsson sang effortlessly; but that's precisely why I don't care much for their recordings. It's too easy. Turandot is not a pretty-pretty lamb-like princess. She is a predator, a sick woman who craves for revenge. I think in this aspect Marton protrays the princess perfectly. Marton does seem to have trouble maintain a smooth vocal line; and therefore after a while, her signing sounds very weighty, even throaty at times. Then again, doesn't Franco Corelli's singing sound like that too? No one seems to mind because---there's so much passion and glory in his singing, people tend to ignore that aspect. I think Marton should be given the same consideration. I really think she does a great job singing the role. Give this recording a chance, you might really like it!

As so many people mentioned above, Ben Heppner does a wonderful job singing Calaf; if not at times being a bit uncreative. Margaret Price doesn't seem like the right fit for the role of Liu, but she sings beautifully. Roberto Abbado's conducting is passionate and engaging. I give this recording four stars.

This 1992 recording has been somewhat overshadowed, not entirely without justification, by glitzier versions by Mehta and Karajan, but it deserves attention and esteem for a number of reasons. Foremost, is the ease and beauty of a comparatively young Ben Heppner announcing his arrival as the virtually the only standard-bearer for his voice type - and so it has proved, nearly twenty years on. He sings with heroic ardour, taking the high tessitura and B flats, high C and even C sharp in his stride.You would never mistake him for an Italian and I cannot get Bjorling's gleaming attack (though he was hardly an Italian, either!) or Corelli's glamorous heft out of my head; nonetheless this is wonderful singing - if just a tad bland in "face".

Roberto Abbado's direction isn't exactly inspired: he does not make me sit up in that odd, spiky, atmospheric opening as Karajan does and he does not achieve Mehta's swagger and abandon in the crowd scenes, but he knows what he is doing and has the more than competent Munich forces at his disposal. None of the supporting cast is especially lush or Italianate of voice but the Ping, Pang & Pong trio are very characterful. Rootering is as he always is: firm but uninspiring as Timur and one misses the star-quality of more celebrated basses, but he manages some touching, soft singing over the corpse of Liù. Many seem to like Margaret Price's surprisingly good assumption of the devoted slave girl more than I; I find her tone a bit thin and metallic compared with either the richer-voiced Caballé or Barbara Hendricks' smoky allure but she does lovely things with the part.

The stumbling block for some will be Marton's armour-plated Turandot. At this stage of her career, the beat is not yet too pronounced and her security is impressive. She has immaculate intonation and of course enormous reserves of power, à la Nilsson; I wish she could soften more to allow us to glimpse more readily Turandot's underlying vulnerability. Still, it's an impressive vocal show and the "anything you can sing" slanging match goes well, with Heppner hanging on for dear life and not letting the tenor side down.

I coud not recommend this above the established favourites, especially if we take into consideration some of landmark live performances like the 1964 Nilsson-Corelli extravaganza conducted by Gavazzeni and now available very cheaply on Opera d'Oro -and I am still very attached to the old Leinsdorf version with Bjorling and Nilsson, and with Tebaldi giving us a lovely Liù - but in the ranks of studio recordings, this one deserves greater prominence, behind Mehta but perhaps on a par with Karajan, given that his cast has its weaknesses, too and that his painstakingly and lovingly detailed conducting does not meet with universal approbation. Given that this is now available cheaply (but without a libretto) in the Sony Opera House reissue series, it is well worth acquiring, especially if you are Heppner fan.

While Ben Heppner makes an excellent Calaf, the Turandot of Eva Marton is disappointing. She cares more about decibels than anything and is well past her prime. The orchestral playing is average.

This is the best recording ever of Turandot. Abbado brings together top notch stars to sing the roles of all the principles. Turandot is sung by Eva Marton, who is probably the best known Turandot of all time. She sings the role with passion and knowledge. Even more exciting is the singing of Ben Heppner which is flawless!! He sings the role like no one else recorded. He made this recording even before he sang it on stage but still did it so well! Margaret Price is one of the smartest singers in opera and managed to use her large sound in a way that potrays Liu very stupendously, she protrays a slave girl with incredible inner strength resolve and yet vulnerable. I absolutly love this recording. Don't let anyone tell you that you should go for the Sutherland/Pavarotti version, it's horrible. Get this one. You'll thank me for it!!

If you like shouting and sceaming, then Marton is your choice. But if you like beautiful singing, Nilsson and Sutherland is your choice, ok?