Rarities: Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi [Original recording remastered]

Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Carlo Felice Cillario (Conductor), Anton Guadagno (Conductor), RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Montserrat Caballé (Performer), Corinna Vozza (Performer), Maja Sunara (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Montserrat Caballé, Corinna Vozza, Maja Sunara
• Orchestra: RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Carlo Felice Cillario, Anton Guadagno
• Composer: Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (October 12, 2004)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B0002VYE0O
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,128 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars rare and glorious music, gloriously sung, November 13, 2007

By 

adorian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rarities: Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi (Audio CD)

This seems to be a compilation of Caballe's three early LPs. A lot of the music was very rare at the time, especially the Donizetti. Some of the early Verdi was also unknown to me until I heard her fabulous renditions thereof. My favorite is the cavatina/cabaletta from Donizetti's "Torquato Tasso," two brilliantly memorable tunes that always leave me humming the melodies for hours and days. Caballe's ravishing sound has never been better: the gorgeous legato, the phenomenal breath control, the floating high pianissimi. This was one of the most amazing voices of our time, and this two-disc set is a perfect reminder of why she was without equal in this rare Donizetti repertory.

There is one slight problem with this set. When you put disc two into a computer, the info comes up for disc one, and you will think that you have two copies of disc one and no disc two. If you put it into a CD player, you won't know the difference, but I put it in the computer and couldn't figure out why the read-out for disc two was the same Rossini stuff as disc one, and I made a fool of myself by contacting people complaining about having two disc twos and no disc one. I later realized my mistake...and the computer "programmer's." Live and learn.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Montserrat Caballe's Claim To Fame, November 9, 2005

By 

Rudy Avila "Saint Seiya" (Lennox, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rarities: Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi (Audio CD)

Bel canto opera was soprano Montserrat Caballe's claim to fame. Blessed with both a huge and lyrically resplendent voice, she was a refreshing change from the purely dramatic style of singing provided by Maria Callas. Her pianissimi are still talked about even long after they disappeared, her coloratura is dynamic, her stamina and breath control impressive and her orutund, vigorous but beautiful tone made her particularly suited for the roles of queens or strong women- Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia and Bellini's Norma especially. The other reviewer says she was perfect for the roles of mothers, queens and wives, and this is true because she was able to portray seemingly powerful women dying of love underneath. She would have made an exceptionally terrific Turandot but she never sang the role in her career.Her career in opera spanned the decades of the 60's, 70's and even part of the 80's. The arias from Parisina and Torquato Tasso are indeed outstanding. These operas are obscure bel canto operas by Donizetti, Rossini and even early Verdi operas. These operas will never be staged again and some of them enjoyed only mild success in their original stage premieres in the 19th century. This is the work of young and energetic composers who had not yet mastered character insight and thrilling dramatic elements. Mostly, it's beautiful singing, the actual definiton of the term bel canto. What we get in place of dramatic potency is ornate, lush singing. In the very least, these arias should be sung in recital. Caballe sang numerous bel canto pieces in recital, displaying her gift for this type of singing. She is the very embodiment of bel canto. Not even Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills, considered her fellow peers in the same "back to bel canto" movement could essay the arias with such grace, elegance and majestic beauty. Sutherland sang with obvious gloss and no real dramatic power, Sills sang beautifully but focused on the significance of text as drama and therefore "spoke" some of her lines or cried or raged instead of singing. Callas was the same way only hers was a bigger voice. Caballe gave us simply beautiful singing. And we thank her for that.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Recital with Caballe at her Best, December 9, 2006

By 

The Cultural Observer - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Rarities: Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi (Audio CD)

At the wake of Maria Callas' explorations into the bel canto repertoire, great sopranos such as Joan Sutherland, Leyla Gencer, and most importantly, Montserrat Caballe, dominated the Italian repertoire during their careers to revive the forgotten operas of Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, and Rossini. I say that Caballe is the most important of these three post-Callas sopranos because more so than any of these divas, she epitomized the true bel canto style needed to make her characterizations come to life. Sutherland had an excellent technique, but her characterizations were sadly lacking in verve, and Leyla Gencer was too often in an undesirable state of voice despite her thespian histrionics. Montserrat had both, and she championed the great operas of Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Massenet, Wagner, Strauss, Mozart, Giordano, Pergolesi, and all the other great, almost-unknown composers who became part of her core repertoire, if there was any at all. Her excellent technique allowed her to continue assuming roles that displayed her magnificent artistry well into her 70's...up to today! Yes, she is still singing, and in fact she is going to be starring in a role in the Vienna Opera next year.

This recital shows Caballe in the repertoire that was arguably her best. Although I found her compelling in some Verdi, I thought that she lacked the spinto sound needed to set those Verdi roles on fire. In this recital, Caballe shows her knack and ability to make the earlier Verdi operas shine. She had a coloratura facility that was simply astounding for an instrument of her particular smoothness, beauty, and timbre, and I believe that her excerpt from Aroldo is a must hear. Her Donizetti is brilliant as well, a highlight being the Parisina and the Belisario excerpts. It makes us wish that there were a Belisario lying around somewhere with her singing. Her Rossini makes us hope for an Armida and a Tancredi. This recording finds her in superb voice, much more so than many of the recordings of her latter years that find her singing with a trademark Caballe bleat. For people who love bel canto and tasteful singing, I think this is a recital that anyone should own.