Customer Reviews

Verdi: Don Carlos

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

 

 

Deceiving

Naxos has some excellents opera records: Albert Herring, The Turn of Screw, Fidelio, The Flying Dutchman, The King Roger, and more recently one outstanding Wozzeck. I bought this Don Carlos for some reasons. First of all the soprano Hillevi Martinpelto. Her recordings of Idomeneo ( the role of Elektra)and Leonore( in Beethoven's opera) with John Eliot Gardiner are very good. She doesn't sing Elizabeth at the same level of these precedent recordings, but this wasn't the greatest deception. The mezzo Ingrid Tobiasson was in a really very bad day. Her "O Don Fatale " is a disaster.Her high C b sounds like a scream. Deceiving too is the tenor Lars Cleveman. He has no voice for this role. Good surprises: The baritone Peter Mattei is excellent, and the bass Jaako Ryhänen as The King has good moments too. The great bass Bengt Rundgren , once a great wagnerian Bass ,despite some bad moments,is Dramatically convincing as the Inquisitor. The Orchestra and the chorus are excellent, and the conductor is very firm . But in general I feel a lack of profundity in the musical direction. One positive thing about this record: the choice of a very complete Five Act version. But if you want to hear this wonderful music without sufferings, go to Giulini or Solti, the best versions of the Five Act Version of the best "French Opera" by Verdi. Naxos is a label with a growing prestige. One issue like this is far to contribute for the label's reputation.

This LIVE recording from the 99-00 season at Royal Swedish Opera, is mainly cast with unknown swedish singers. Don't let their unknown names fool you, this cast produce some lovely singing. Be warned that if you already have some of the top notch Don's such as Sotli (Decca) or Karajan (EMI) this recording will never live up to those standards. Please don't compair Bergonzi to Cleveman! or Telbaldi to Martinpelto! They just come up very short. That said I listened to Tu che la vanita about 4 times back to back.. it is lovely! There are moments that fall short as in any live recording... mostly I found the Eboli of Tobiasson the least at home in Verdis dark score. The recored sound is very good, but again did I mention it is live? So you do hear stage noice and such, but it is never TOO distracting! Hope that you enjoy this recording, I have already listened to it 2x and I am headed back for a 3rd.

I won't claim that this is the greatest recording that this opera (which is, I think, Verdi's greatest), but it certainly holds its own against the competition.

Every recording of this opera is flawed in some way. Either they're the four-act version (an abomination that should be outlawed), heavily cut, in mediocre sound, or have a cast member or two who are so awful as to be debilitating.

While this recording is a little lacking in glamour, "star power", and really distinctive interpretation, the singing is consistently good, the sound excellent, the conducting sensible, and the version admirably complete. The one exception is Peter Mattei's Posa, which is superb, perhaps the best on records.

Be warned that it's a live recording, if that bothers you.

Bottom line: If you're a Don Carlo junkie, you'll probably want this, if only for Mattei. If you want something fairly complete and in good sound, this will certainly fit the bill, particularly if you want to do it on the cheap (I bought a "like new" used copy for under $5).

Other favorite recordings are the complete French version conducted by Matheson on Opera Rara (pity that there are some issues of casting, and this set is wicked expensive), the live Abbado from La Scala from 1977 with Freni, Carreras et al (great performance, complete five act version, but sonically imperfect, and may be hard to find), and the live Karajan with Jurinac, Bastianini, and Siepi (heavily cut, four-act version, bad tenor, but the other principals are fabulous).

I've never really warmed to either the Giulini or the Solti recordings, which are justly famous, mostly because I strongly dislike the baritones singing Posa on both sets. The Haitink recording looks good on paper, but it's really dull, and most of the cast are not at their best. The Pappano is poorly recorded, and has a lot of miscasting; except for van Dam, I really don't care for any of his cast. The studio Abbado in French never really gets off the ground; it sounds like what it is, a bunch of singers coached to sing French when they'd rather be singing in Italian. The de Billy (also in French) is very well conducted and very complete, but the cast varies from pretty good (Vargas) to mediocre (almost everyone else) to horrendous (Bo Skovhus' Posa is, by far, the worst on records).

I bought this version of Don Carlos because it had Peter Mattei in the role of Rodrigo. I am aware that others do not think him suited to this role, but I enjoy his smooth melodic interpretation and wonderful range. The other members of the cast were also very good, and the only disappointment for me was that it is a live recording, and consequently, it is not up to the standard normally associated with a studio recording. Nevertheless it was well worth the price, as I bought a used copy which was claimed to be as new,and it was true to description. ..

Each Don Carlo recording includes slightly different material than the preceding one. The Met recording includes the original opening and no cuts.

This one does not include the original opening, but it does include the "Lacrymosa" music after Posa's death. It's wonderful to hear it in context.

The singers are all quite good - as good as the Sony with Levine conducting. Some vary during the opera - a live performance!

Jaakko Ryhanen is listed curiously as "Bass and Bass-Baritone". Whatever that means. A Bass-Baritone is what Philippo is, and Ryhanen sings the part well, except for some vowels around the middle-voice C that get quite thick or covered. He improves.

Lars Cleveman is a good Don Carlo. He is a tad shy of the mark on some high notes, but he's otherwise quite good. He, too, warms up.

Pater Mattei, who is frequently at the Met as Rossini's Figaro, is a wonderful Rodrigo.

Bengt Rundgren, also a singer who is well known now, is an imposing Inquisitor.

Hillevi Martinpelto is a much better Elisabetta than Millo for Levine. Ingrid Tobiasson is mostly good as Eboli, although a few pitches aren't squarely on pitch in the cadenzas for the Veil Aria. Her "O don fatale" suffers from live-performance fatigue.

Alberto Hold-Garrido conducts the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm. There are minor discrepancies between pit and stage, but nothing momentous. A word here or there is changed to make is closer to the French. (Many people do this.)

So why don't I give this recording more stars? It isn't a matter of what piece they re-instate or don't; it is, instead, a matter of what is missing. They take cuts throughout. Verdi wrote with specific forms, and cutting music out obliviates those forms. It isn't a matter of dramatic thrust either, since those forms add up to a considerable punch when handled rightly. Half of the opening chorus is cut, portions of both Carlo/Elisabetta duets are cut (Act one and two), and so on. These are traditional cuts, true enough, but companies are performaning Verdi (after Traviata) without cuts more frequently than not now, These cuts hark back to the early Christoff, Fillipeschi recording. This cutting is particularly sad since the sound is excellent - full-bodied and open. Verdi slaved over some of these scenes several times, and his final version WITHOUT CUTS should be followed. An uncut Don Carlos - in French and with all the originally cut material re-instated - is not practical, at least in the theater. But the full 5 act version is practical, and it loses stature when directors and conductors start cutting.

This is the almost complete score of Don Carlos with five acts, and therefor one would expect it to be performed in french, it is here performed in italian, however. I really see no reason for this.

The performance, then? Well, the drama surely is there, except maybe for the first act, but in my opinion that's more Verdi's fault than this productions'. The leading singers are generally good, especially so the darker male voices, where Mattei as Posa is world class, both moving and firm and beautiful sounding. The last two of those compliments can also be said of Jaako Ryhänen's King, although his theatrical abilities are not as strong as Mattei's. As the troubled love couple, both Cleveman and Martinpelto sings nicely but their voices are generally too small for an opera of this impact. Tobiasson (Eboli) was not at her best on the night of this recording, nor was most of the supporting roles. The conducting is a little foursquared, but at least focused. Swedish choruses almost always are very good, and this is no exception.

Furthermore, this is a live recording with a little boxy sound and some applause - I dont think it would have been that much more expensive to make it in the studio. For although Martinpelto, Mattei, Ryhänen and Rundgren have international (recording) careers, the rest of the cast is not so known swedish singers. And a studio performance with a liveexperienced cast (as this is) surely would have fared better. Or, Naxos could have waited a while, for now the same production is running again, but with a partially different, and more consistently wellsounding, cast.

All in all a fair recording of a good but not great night at the opera, of a work that still has some better overall rivals in the catalogue - My favorite is Karajan's violent reading with an all through world class cast headed by a young Carreras in the title role.