Customer Reviews

Puccini - Turandot / Ricciarelli · Domingo · Hendricks · Raimondi · Wiener Phil. · Karajan

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Much has been said about Karajan's "inappropriate" casting choices in this and other operas. While I agree that Katia Ricciarelli did not have a voice big enough to meet some of the technical demands of this role, and it probably was not in her best interests to sing it, I do think that her technical "deficiencies" caused her to bring something to the part that no one previously had. I find that her vocal fallibilities increase the drama of the opera by adding to a characterization of an essentially frightened, vulnerable woman hiding behind the "ice princess" veneer, which makes the ending of the opera all the more effective and moving.

I also think that Karajan's renown as a conductor of Germanic and Eastern European composers has obscured the fact that he is arguably one of the greatest conductors of Puccini's operas. His "Boheme" and "Butterfly" with Freni and Pavarotti and his "Tosca" with Leontyne Price are among the greatest performances of these operas. While he often uses tempi that are slower than those typically heard, he uses them both to great dramatic effect and to bring out otherwise possibly hidden textures in the orchestral writing. His expansive conducting of the finale to Act I builds the tension and drama to a fever pitch and makes the ultimate ringing of the gong a supremely thrilling moment.

Add to these things a performance by Barbara Hendricks that is the most gorgeous and sensuous rendering of Liu's music ever and you have a terrifically satisfying opera-listening experience. I think that, on the whole, it is the most effective performance of this opera on disc.

Just a word on Katia Ricchiarelli: She may be too light for the last big "quel grido" in "In questa reggia" but the rest of the aria, and all of Turandot's parts, I found wonderful. Katia's voice is somehow so icily thin just along the top of your hearing and the she pitches it up into evilness takes MY breath away. It has a ethereal ringing to it which really makes you beleive that Turandot is "in heaven, high above mortals." I gave this 4 stars because the only other turandot I have to compare it to is Eva Marton's, which wasn't, in my opinion as good. I personally find Turandot's transformation into a loving woman very unresolvable considering what she's like in the first act-after "In questia reggia" the whole opera kind of falls apart for me...

Another reviewer echos some favorable critics who thought that Katia Ricciarelli's struggle (valiant, painful, ultimately a failure) with the role of Turandot added to her character's vulnerability. I'm sympathetic. Some days I can listen around her, other days I can't. What draws anyone in is Karajan's one-of-a-kind orchestral tapestry, which gives the lushest possible treatment to Puccini's score. As Calaf, Domingo is in great voice, and the supporting roles of Timur (Ruggiero Raimondi) and Liu (Barbara Hendricks) rise to his level.

The orchestral part of Turandot isn't played all that well on other recordings, except for the Mehta set on Decca, and Karajan has no trouble outdoing them all by an order of magnitude. His tendency toward over refining the sonority works to the music's advantage for once, and the sheer power and impact of the playing reinforces Puccini's notion of massed populations and imperial grandeur.

What this means is that all the thrills come when Ricciarelli is offstage and all the spills when she isn't. The Amazon reviewer is wrong to call hers a lyric soprano--she was dramatic enough for Aida and Tosca. It just happens that Turandot is especially grueling, even for a good Italian dramatic soprano--the role lies so high and exposed that there's not a moment to rest or a style that can fake its way through.

Also, I wouldn't blame the faulty casting entirely on Karajan's penchant for light voices. In 1981 there was a fearful shortage of singers who could manage Tosca, Aida, and Verdi's two Leonoras. What to do without a Tebaldi, Price, Callas, Milanov, or Nilsson? Desperate opera houses and recording companies turned to "inappropriate" voices like Freni, Scotto and Ricciarelli. In many cases they turned in superb portrayals despite their vocal difficulties. However, even in a famine year Turandot was too big a stretch. If anything, the situation has grown worse ever since.

Turandot is one of the most spectacular opera's written in the 20th century, and it is quite unbelievable that so few recordings of it are available, and even fewer modern ones. When it comes to digital recordings, this Karajan has no real contenders: the Maazel on Sony is a live recording marred by some insanely slow tempos and too much stage noise and is repeatedly interrupted by applause; the Abbado on RCA can nowadays only be found second-hand; and the Parry on Chandos, though in many ways the best of the three, is in English, which doesn't quite work for me. Older favourites are the Mehta on Decca and the famous EMI recording with Nilsson, conducted by Molinari-Pradelli. The former of these two is by far the least painful to the ears; the EMI isn't bad for its age, but at big climaxes (and Turandot is full of them) sounds like it was recorded inside the stripped fuselage of a medium sized airplane.

Some may not forgive me for talking about sound first, but in an opera so `orchestral', so concerned with visceral excitement and exotic instrumental color I find it of great importance. The nine Chinese gongs, to mention one example, are simply inaudible in the Mehta and Molinari-Pradella recordings. Of course, modern recording technique does not automatically guarantee better results, but the odds do improve significantly. Ironically, those same gongs are maybe a bit too audible in this Karajan version; it is also the only recording I've heard where you can actually hear the tubular bells. That said, overall the sound seems a bit muddy and dark, and climaxes do not quite register to their full effect, mainly due to the distancing of the brass. Still, the overall sound is clearly superior to that of the aforementioned older recordings, and by a significant margin.

Interpretatively, too, you might call this a dark version. It is rich in atmosphere, and sounds more ominous than other versions I know; more modern too. The singing and playing are generally excellent, if you can forget a few moments of less than ideal synchronization (surprising in a studio recording). I've heard more zany renderings of the Ping-Pang-Pong trios; here, the singers are a bit too much in espressivo mode, to my taste. But they are by no means below par, on the contrary. With Hendricks we get a creamy voiced Liu, which is completely viable: a full-blooded woman in love rather than a vulnerable young girl. Domingo's Calaf is utterly steady, assured and beautiful, second to none. Where many find fault is in the Turandot of Ricciarelli, and when I first put on these discs I was prepared to be confronted with some unspeakable horrors. None of that, of course. It is true that she sounds more vulnerable than we are accustomed to in this role, but that has the advantage of making Turandot's all-too-sudden volte face in the final scene at least marginally believable (that Calaf must be a hell of a kisser...). At times she is louder than one would wish, but it sounds to me as if the recording has more trouble coping with the high notes than Ricciarelli herself has. The chorus is fine, but suffers from the aforementioned muddiness, and would have deserved yet a little more presence.

The set comes with an extensive booklet that contains the libretto in Italian, English, German and French, as well as two probing essays by different writers who, interestingly, do not always agree: while Jürgen Maehder states that the sketches for the final scenes contained little that was useful for Alfano to complete the opera, so that he had to recycle earlier material and invent some of his own, Mosco Carner, 12 pages on, is adamant that the 36 pages of short score "in fact amounted to a complete draft for those scenes". Going by what I hear I'm inclined to side with the former: it is a tragedy that Puccini could not complete this work, and the final scenes are distinctly less involving and individual than the rest of Turandot - the highlight of which actually comes at the beginning, with the taut and dizzying first act. There's much to be said for switching the player off at the point where Toscanini put his baton down on Turandot's first night - it seems quite moving and fitting that the last scene Puccini set to music is a funeral cortege, and the last word he gave notes to is `poesia'.

I don't think Turandot has ever been better conducted, probably not even by Toscanini. Karajan unfolds glorious waves of sound from the Vienna Philharmonic that have to be heard to be believed, his conducting is both atmospheric and very exciting. His casting is admirable save for the title role, what a pity he didn't hire Eva Marton who was at her best back in 1982. Katia Ricciarelli has some lovely moments, such as when Turandot asks Liu where she gets the strength to endure torture, but "In Questa Reggia" is overparted to say the least. Placido Domingo was never at ease in Calaf's tessitura, it's too high for him, but in the studio he copes well and is worthy to stand among the best Calafs on record. Though please notice crude editing in "Si Principessa altera, ti voglio ardente d' amor" DG shows just how shabby they can be, even in a Karajan production. Barbara Hendricks in many ways is the finest of the 3 principals, she sings a ravishing, vulnerable and adorable Liu. The rest of the cast is luxurious> Nimsgern, Araiza, De Palma, etc. So, in spite of the problematic Principessa this Turandot deserves to be heard. If you want the finest vocalists go for Nilsson, Corelli and Scotto in EMI, but don't expect orchestra, chorus, sound and conducting of this calibre. Another worthy posibility is DECCA's version with Sutherland, Pavarotti and Caballe. Sutherland is just as weird casting as Ricciarelli, but she somehow works as the Icy Princess. Pavarotti without Corelli's squillo seems born for Calaf, and Montserrat is exquisite even if a little uninteresting.

Katia Ricciarelli may not be a great Turandot; Domingo may not be the best Calaf ever. Well, I love this recording anyway! Karajan's sound is powerful, showing that "Herbie" (when he really wants to) can be great, not just different from the others. Raimondi is superb, and Hornik is the Ping of my dreams! This recording is musical rather than lyrical, and with such a wonderful music, that's just the best way to play it!

There is no doubt that the best Turandot of, at least, the last 40 years is Birgit Nilsson. However, her recording with Molinari-Pradelli is unbearable. Not because of her, don't get me wrong. But one thing that Franco Corelli was consistent was to wreck potential great recordings and with this Turandot, Corelli obtained one of his greatest achievement. I understand that there are many Corelli fans out there, but... Disclaimer: I don't know Nilsson's earlier recording with Leinsdorf.

That means that there are two Turandots to choose from: the famous Mehta recording and this Karajan (although I do have a great respect for Callas, her Turandot with Serafin is mostly recommended for her fans).

If we compare the singers of these two mentioned recordings, all the voices from the Mehta recording surpass the ones from Karajan. You just cannot compare the power from a Caballe in great shape with Hendricks, who sounds like Oscar from "Un Ballo". As for Domingo and Pavarotti, I really wish that Domingo could come close. But whenever I hear Pavarotti, every other tenor sounds like one tone down. This is especially true in the case of Domingo. I am a big Ghiaurov and Raimondi admirer. Two very different voices and each one with its own aura. I will never say anything bad about Raimondi and I hope he never reads this, but Ghiaurov has an edge here. As for Sutherland and Ricciarelli, neither of them is my cup of tea (as far as Turandot is concerned).

So why do I turn to the Karajan recording when I want to listen to Turandot? Very simple: Because of Karajan! What he accomplished on this recording is unbelievable. The sound of the orchestra is so crisp and fresh that once you listen to this recording for the first time, you wonder if you really listened to Turandot before. Karajan's tempos are slightly slower than others conductors (as for example, Mehta). Karajan, like nobody else, knew how to explore the crescendos and legatos until the last breath. The fortissimos are really fortissimos (sometimes, reminding me Karajan's recording of Bruckner's 8th with the same orchestra a few years later); the pianissimos, pianissimos. We can hear staccatos and other details that were despised by other conductors. This is an opera that the orchestra has an enormous role and the overall result is extremely appealing.

But Karajan doesn't have Pavarotti... That means that sometimes I need to return to the Mehta recording (which, btw, is fairly well conducted, but may sound like conducted by a high school student if I listen to it right after the Karajan recording). The problem with these two recordings is that sometimes they make me fell that the glass is half empty and I end up listening to neither of them. I hope that I will live long enough that one day there will be another Karajan, Nilsson and Pavarotti that will come together and record once for all a great Turandot, that we all deserve so much. But when I see what is going on out there, I just hope we don't have more Corellis...

Very strange! I have never heard such a haunting Turandot before. Maestro Karajan has conducted unbeatable operas of both Italian and German repertoire but usually in a grand, bombastic and dramatically thrilling fashion. This Turandot, for me, is toned-down. Not that the music of the Vienna Philharmonic is played in a hushed manner. To the contrary, it's powerful and climatic, especially striking is the Riddle Scene, the choruses and the grand Finale. Usually, the Vienna Phil sounds like two orchestras. This is not a bad Turandot, it's just a different Turandot than most operaphiles are used to hearing. What makes it so different is the off-beat casting of light-voiced singers- Placido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Barbara Hendricks and Ruggero Raimondi. Turandot calls for bigger voices, or at least heavy lyrico-spinto voices. Now, Placido Domingo has a particularly expressive instrument and he is indeed able to sing above the staff and in a heroic, stentorian, truly Puccini-esque manner. He has absolutely no problems with the taxing vocal demands of Prince Calaf's arias. He is a passionate singer who most satisfies my tastes for a romantic, strong Calaf determined to break the spell over Turandot and win her heart. Ruggero Raimondi is a high baritone, singing with his usual grace and flair. He is not bad, it's just that I prefer to hear darker, more paternal or Verdiesque baritones in the role of the deposed Timur the King of the Tartars. However, there really is no problem with his singing, so let's not be too critical. Barbara Hendricks is a beautiful and fragile Liu, her voice wholly suited to the character. She has a saccharine, Lieder-like quality that is not necessarily Puccini but is appropriate character-wise. Very few light lyric sopranos sing Liu, who dies of love for Calaf, a weak slave who is supposed to strike a direct contrast to the more sturdy and powerful Turandot. Among strong-voiced Lius include Edda Moser, Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballe and Leona Mitchell. As for the diva in the role of Turandot, Katia Ricciarelli, for me she is exemplary and wonderful. Why is she reprimanded and criticized instead of applauded for her efforts ? Katia Ricciarelli was a major star in Italy and she was always a controversial singer, not only because she had a purely lyric voice and opted to sing such heavy roles as Tosca, Aida, Leonora, Desdemona and Lucrezia Borgia but because she shameleslly carried on an affair with her married tenor partner Jose Carreras. Ricciarelli has a golden voice. Each time I hear her sing, I feel I'm luxuriated in golden and warm velvety light. Her voice is light, but powerful and agile. She can sing with generous middle register, even if her high register normally wobbled and tessitura was hard for her. She sang with passion and with majestic flair. Yes, her Turandot is quite different and not as exciting to hear as that of Birgit Nilsson or Joan Sutherland but this is a supremely wonderful Turandot in its own light. I would not underestimate her if I were you. Give this recording a try.

If I could have just one Turandot, this would be it. Like Karajan's Don Carlo, it is sonically overwhelming. I tend to agree that the Wagnerian/Straussian sopranos like Nilsson and Borkh tend to come off best as Turandot, but I think Ricciarelli, given her limitations in this role, is very good. Domingo...well, all I can say is I think this is the best performance from him I have heard. He is very strong and moving. I'd give him the nod over Bjorling, Corelli, Monaco, Pavarotti, though of course they all bring their own virtues. Hendricks I did not think was so great in this role. My favorite is the angelic Tebaldi on the Monaco/Borkh recording. A word too for Ping, Pang and Pong (one of whom is the splendid Francisco Araiza--talk about luxury casting!). They are great and interestingly conducted. I would want to have several Turandots to hear Nilsson and Tebaldi, Corelli and Monaco, but this is the one I like the very best. It's amazing.

The beautiful TURANDOT is illuminated with golden brilliance in this recording of the master Von Karajan with a casting of his more dear singers with the orchestra that he loved: The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Controversial it continues being his selection, Katia Riciarelli, for the principal role, but curiously the most obvious reason has not treated: Turandot is a dazzling woman as to be charmed with to the hero Calaf. And besides beautiful voice the Riciarelli she was a very attractive, ideal woman thinking probably about a scenic representation. If it is not possible to to compare with Nilsson or Marton, her aria is very lyrically sung and the "grido" is convincing. Another thing and less debatable it is that probably this role harmed her for her later works. Plácido Domingo is domineering and touching as the prince Calaf. His aria Nessun Dorma explores the mystery and very distant shades to the Pavarotti's massive effect. Only for Placid already this record would be unforgettable. Liù-Hendricks thrills as debit to be and is charmed with her stamp and vibrato so particularly. Raimondi, as Timur, gives protagonism to this pathetic figure, and throbs with surprise in his lament for the dead slave. There is no secondary singer between the participants: Piero de Palma, Nimsgern, between others. Even Francisco Araiza is among the masks . The times chosen by Karajan are slower than the usual thing, except when it controls the village where the savagery of the score is demonstrated. Only in " Anthem to the Love " final I miss the glorious effect coral of Mehta's version. The Puccini's most beautiful opera and, why not?, probably of the history; finds in this recording a fascinating alternative.