49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The very best whether in French or Italian, September 30, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Rossini: Guillaume Tell (Audio CD)
This is the very best recording of Tell that exists. There are others of live performances (in French and in Italian, all heavily cut), and a wonderful complete version (minus most of the ballet music) in Italian with Pavarotti. Though the Italian version is very interesting, very exciting, and very thrilling in many ways, it is NOT the opera that Rossini wrote. He wrote French Grand Opera at its grandest. This opera, along with La Juive, Les Huguenots, and Auber's Opera where the heroine is "danced" rather than sung, are considered the chief cornerstones of all French Grand Opera. As exciting as Tell is in Italian, it becomes quite a different work in its original French. A great refinement paints the very vivid score.
It is a very long work, and in spite of its length actually holds together quite well. As with all Rossini, there are little touches that simply make a scene, but don't draw any real attention to themselves. The vocal writing is much less florid than it was in his Italian operas, but no less moving. This opera was the opera that changed singing (at least for tenors) forever. It was in this opera that Dupres sang his famous high C from the chest (Nourrot, the creature of the role, sang it in head voice, and that is the only way Rossini liked hearing it; the public, however was hooked on the High C from the chest). We are hearing a wonderful performance in this recording, and it is virtually complete (including the ballet music). Each character is well sung, and for once we can actually understand French when it is sung. There is a difference in this French version and the Italian one with Pavarotti. In this version, Act 3, a duet occurs between Matilde and Arnold. In the Italian it becomes an aria for soprano with a tenor interjecting now and again. In the French it is a real duet, even with the very extended aria sections for the soprano. Caballe sings to perfection in this recording, and in my view, outshines Freni (who sings Matilde in the Italian version) by a long way.
However, the opera is judged (and Heaven knows why, for all the main characters are of equal importance, and with music of equal difficulty) not by the lead baritone (singing Tell), but by the tenor, Arnold. It was actually for want of a qualified tenor that a contralto premiered that role when it was first performed in Italian, shortly after the French Premiere. Gedda is getting on in years, sadly, but he is still a wonderful presences to recon with. He sings wonderfully, and with little strain, though the bloom of his youth is not there (and Arnold should be an ardent young man). In the Italian verions with Pavarotti, Arnoldo is sung with more raw energy, more abandon (suitable to Italian opera), but with less refinement. Gedda is still "THE ARNOLD."
There are other versions out there in French (one with Chris Merrit), but usually they are live performances, and well, for some reason the work does not hold together, nor does it seem to escape becoming boring. Usually this is because of the cuts that are used, which ruins the proper flow of the work. I would avoid the live recordings, even if they claim to be in French and "the world's first recording of it." The first recording of this magnificent opera in French is THIS RECORDING, and there are NONE others that come close to it in any way.
If you wish to really hear what Rossini wrote, and come to understand what he was intending to do, this is the recording to buy. Fair warning, though, the work is extremely long (though not longer than Wagner) and until you are fully comfortable with the style, listen to it in installments. Then when the work is deeply set in your heart, you can listen to the entire thing non-stop, and truly enjoy one of the most wonderful operas that was ever written for the Paris Opera.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a personal favorite, May 9, 2001
This review is from: Rossini: Guillaume Tell (Audio CD)
This is one of the best recordings by either Caballe or Gedda. I haven't always wamed up to the sound of his voice once he was out of his first youth (and he was around forever--how strange to realize that the sweet voice on Legge's Land of Smiles is the same rough old croaker on the Davis Cosi!). But he is splendid here, not too rough of voice yet and singing with a grace that Schipa himself might envy. Just compare him to the irredeemably coarse Pavarotti on the Chailly set, especially in the first big tenor/soprano duet. As for Caballe, this really marks the end of her best period. She is both in spendid voice and mentally alert. She would turn out many lovely things in the decade to come, but arguably nothing as consistently fine as this performance. (You want to argue with me? First go back and relisten to the Muti Aida or the Giulini Don Carlo and then for comparison sample the Davis Un Ballo or the somnolent Lombard Turandot.) But Gedda and Caballe here have irrefutable evidence that in 1973 they were pretty darn close to perfect and how often can we say that of any singers since?
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent recording of Rossini's last masterpiece!, February 20, 2003
This review is from: Rossini: Guillaume Tell (Audio CD)
This recording is the best version of "Guillaume Tell" in French. The cast is as strong as any that can be assembled. The conductor does a superb job and the orchestra plays magnificently. This opera contains great music, especially the overture, the choruses, the duet music between Arnold and Mathilde, and the ballet music. Everything is so tuneful! Rossini should be very proud of this exceedingly great opera.
The cast is made up of mostly French singers. Tell is played superbly by Gabriel Bacquier. He sings "Sois immobile" very well. He gives a convincing portrayal. Walter is given over to Kolos Kovacs. He does a commendable job. Jemmy is played by Mady Mesplé. I am not crazy about her voice, but she is more than able in the role of Tell's young son. Hedwige is sung ably by Jocelyne Taillon. The two stars of this recording are Nicolai Gedda and Montserrat Caballé. Gedda plays Arnold superbly. He characterizes his part well, but he is never crude. Needless to say, his French diction is very fine. He handles the very high tessitura of the role with complete mastery. Every high note is attacked with precision. Gedda was justifiably famous for these high notes. He also had the most exquisite pianissimos of any tenor. He sings "Asile héréditaire" wonderfully. This aria is a highlight of the recording with its six or seven high C's. Most of these are in the cabaletta. Montserrat Caballé is no less wonderful than Gedda is. She sings with great French diction. Her voice is even more beautiful in French than it is in Italian. She characterizes Mathilde superbly. The love duets between her and Gedda are nectars of the gods. Just wonderful. Her declamation leading into her first aria is sung with great skill and dramatic commitment. The ensuing aria "Sombre forêt" is sung masterfully. Her second aria, "Pour notre amour plus d'espérance", is simply fabulous. I just love the way her voice sounds when she sings the first phrase of that aria. I also love the musical transition between the very end of Track 1 into the very beginning of Track 2 CD 3. The end of this aria is full of difficult ascending and descending scales. Caballé sings those scales perfectly. Her mighty voice is surprisingly flexible when it comes to singing complex coloratura. Mathilde's unique-sounding arietta, "Sur la rive étrangère", is sung magnificently by Caballé twice. She wraps her luscious voice around that arietta's delicate coloratura with great results.
This recording is great. It is a must-have for anyone wanting to hear the original French version of "Guillaume Tell".
PS. There is a super minor mistake in the track index and libretto. Track 13 on CD 2 starts with Mathilde's phrase "Dans celle qui t'aime" not "Il est digne de mon amour, oui".
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