Customer Reviews

Puccini: Turandot (Registrato Settembre 1938)

5 star:		(2)
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This was the first recording of Puccini's Turandot and was recorded in September 1938 for the Italian firm, Cetra. Although Dame Eva Turner was a major exponent of the protagonist in the late 1920's and 1930's, Gina Cigna was the leading Italian Turandot of the 30's and 40's. In Turandot's famous aria, In Questa Reggia, Cigna's keeps the voice light and appropriately stolid. There is a wonderful brilliance to her tones and the high notes are stentorian. She mixes stolidity with fire in the Riddle Scene, and it is not until Figlia Del Cielo that we hear the first signs of Turandot melting. This is a tour de force performance by the greatest dramatic soprano of the 1930's.

This was I believe Magda Olivero's first recording. Her Liu is the most fragile and vulnerable on record. Her voice is in direct contrast to Cigna's, delicate, innocent, but technically assured. Just as a curious footnote, between Turandot's second and third riddle, Liu sings the words, Io per l'amare. It was actually Cigna that sang these words. According to the great vocal teacher and coach in the U.S., Mario Rossi, who was close friends with both Cigna and Olivero, it was Cigna that revealed this to him.

Francesco Merli combines clarion tones with beautiful lyricism, and remains the finest interpreter of Calaf on disc. Luigi Neroni arouses sympathy as Timur and sings with great richness.
The Ping, Pang and Pong, respectively Afro Poli, Gino Del Signore and Adelio Zagonara were in the premiere of Turandot. Franco Ghione's tempi are excellent, and he lends majesty to this absolutely wonderful opera. The sound is good for this vintage. This is personally my favorite recording of Puccini's final masterpiece.

I have to second the other review here. Considering the 1938 origin of this recording, the listener quickly adjusts to the lesser fidelity. Only in the beginning is the sound even remotely murky. Cigna has all the brilliance of Nilsson but she is able to pare her voice down more easily, keeping warmth where she needs it. Merli is fabulous. The voice has colors one associates with Corelli, but he attacks pitches squarely on pitch, and he shapes the lines with incredible beauty (I also love his Manrico in Il Trovatore). Olivero may not be to everyone's taste. Her top notes seem almost tremulous. But whether this is on purpose or a technique defect doesn't matter, because it adds to her vulnerability.

Ghione does not drive this music the way others do. It isn't that he takes slower tempi, but he DOES allow a certain atmosphere of sadness to come into the work that I have not heard on other recordings.

Listeners will want an initial recording with higher fidelity than this, but this is the ideal second recording. Pity the price is so high. (This review is based on an LP.)

One wonderful note: the gong at the end of act one is a Chinese gong, pitched on A, and not a tam-tam (the deep, cymbal sounding instrument most of us call a gong). It makes a wonderful difference.