Verdi - Don Carlo / Gorchakova · Borodina · Hvorostovsky · Scandiuzzi · Margison · Lloyd · Norberg-Schulz · Haitink

Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Bernard Haitink (Artist), Olga Borodina (Artist), Galina Gorchakova (Artist), Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Artist), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Artist), Roberto Scandiuzzi (Artist), Richard Margison (Artist), Robert Lloyd (Artist), Sylvia McNair (Artist), Robin Leggate (Artist), Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz (Artist), Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 11, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000041M1
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,350 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Don Carlo: Su, cacciator (Coro)

2. Don Carlo: Fontainebleau! Foresta immensa e solitaria! (Don Carlo)

3. Don Carlo: Io la vidi (Don Carlo)

4. Don Carlo: Il suon del corno alfin nel bosco tace (Don Carlo, Tebaldo, Elisabetta)

5. Don Carlo: Al mio pie perche? (Elisabetta, Don Carlo)

6. Don Carlo: Di qual amor, di quant' ador (Elisabetta, Don Carlo)

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Don Carlo: Io vengo a domandor grazia alla mia Regina (Don Carlo, Elisabetta)

2. Don Carlo: Il Re! (Tebaldo, Filippo, Coro)

3. Don Carlo: Non pianger, mia compagna (Elisabetta, Rodrigo, Filippo, Coro)

4. Don Carlo: Restate! (Filippo, Rodrigo)

5. Don Carlo: O Signor, di Fiandra arrivo (Rodrigo, Filippo)

6. Don Carlo: Oso lo squardo tuo (Filippo, Rodrigo)

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Don Carlo: NO. 14 Introduzione, Scena e Cantabile

2. Don Carlo: No. 15 Scena - Il Grande Inquistor!

3. Don Carlo: Nell' ispano suol mai l'eresia domino

4. Don Carlo: Giustizia! o Sire!

5. Don Carlo: Ah! sii maledetto sospetto fatale

6. Don Carlo: Pita! perdon! per la rea che si pente

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Recording of Verdi's Classic, August 5, 1999

By 

James Walters (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlo / Gorchakova · Borodina · Hvorostovsky · Scandiuzzi · Margison · Lloyd · Norberg-Schulz · Haitink (Audio CD)

I really enjoy this recording. I purchased it after having heard Gorchakova in various other Verdi roles. I have since been pleased with her performance of Elizabeth, although it is not perfect. She seems to have problems with clear diction. And while some of that is expected with someone with such a large voice, she sometimes takes it to and extreme. It does get annoying once and a while. She also takes her time getting to the pitch on some notes, which again some artist do do sometimes. It is particularly bad during her aria " Tu che le vanita " but her voice is so large and beatiful one can allow for some inperfections. Margison is also a solid Carlos, my only reservation with him is that is his attack on certain high notes, he seems to hit them instead of letting them soar out. Both Dimitri, and Olga Borodina do a beautifull job and perform their roles extremly well and must be some of the best recorded performances of Eboli and Rodrigo. Another recording to consider is that with Aprile Millo, and Zajick. On that recording the women are wonderful it's the men who are shakey at times. I really don't like the Domingo/Caballe version because I just don't think that Caballe has a large enough voice for Elizabeth. My all time favorite recording of this opera is the Bergonzi/Tebaldi recording for London, it has been on disc but unfortunately is not available at this time, but my library has it, maybe yours does too. But this is probably one of the best recordings AVAILABLE out there.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There is no perfect Don Carlo; this one scores quite near., May 29, 2007

By 

Abel "AMY" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlo / Gorchakova · Borodina · Hvorostovsky · Scandiuzzi · Margison · Lloyd · Norberg-Schulz · Haitink (Audio CD)

The opera is so well known: it calls for superb singers. The Don in title role (Spanish Infant), the King (Philip II), the courtier (Marquis Posa), the lady in waiting (Princess Eboli), the Queen (Elisabetta), and the religious fanatic (the Inquisitor), all call for tremendously good singers to muster the roles' demands.
How is the report?
The Don scores some where in the middle. The voice is little bit wobbly, though not significant. The King fares less well, rather unfitting for the crown. The courtier is in great form, forthright and moving, highly lyrical and tragic in the last aria. The Queen is also quite noble, though a bit old. The star of the set, without a doubt, is the Princess Eboli. The Veil Song is so beautifully sung that I would say it is the best on record. Then the last aria of great remorse, sung with such drama and emotion! The timbre of Borodina is very beautiful. It is full bodied and rich, yet highly lyrical. Verrett on the all-time famous Giulini recording did not gain one single inch of ground in the face of Ms. Borodina's fabulous and almost unsurpassed Eboli.
Bernard Haitinck conducted with zeal and passion, and the music could not be bettered under his firm baton.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely, somewhat quiet performance (minus Italians in the cast), January 30, 2007

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Verdi - Don Carlo / Gorchakova · Borodina · Hvorostovsky · Scandiuzzi · Margison · Lloyd · Norberg-Schulz · Haitink (Audio CD)

To get the bad news over with quickly, the voices in Haitink's 1997 Don Carlo from London tend to be on the light side, and few of the performers are steeped in Italian style. The King Philip, Roberto Scandiuzzi, is Italian, but his voice sounds woolly and lacks authority. Elisabetta is the then-promising Russian soprano Galina Gorchakova. She has the vocal heft to sing any of Verdi's great dramatic soprano roles, but here she is a bit mature-sounding, and throaty in a Slavic way that takes some getting used to. She's at the opposite extreme from Mirella Freni, whose lyric soprano was clearly too light in Karajan's otherwise gripping set on EMI.

After that it's clear sailing. We get a fine orchestral reading from Haitink, more straightforward than either Karajan or Giulini but refined and beautifully balanced--only at times does the pacing feel too relaxed. It's certainly possible to play the score as a mroe haunted, doomed affair--the three leads, after all, are consumed by guilt almost from the beginning--but that's not Haitink's approach. Hvorostovsky gives one of his best performances on disc as Rodrigo, and the Canadian tenor Richard Margison comes amazingly close to superstars like Domingo and Carreras as Don Carlo. The three bass roles of the Monk, Philip II, and the Grand Inquisitor are taken by very good singers, even if they don't erase memories of Boris Christoff or Nicolai Ghiaurov. Olga Broodina makes for a world-class Eboli, as one would expect. The orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera Covent Garden sound just right in scale, not overblown like Karajan's Berlin Phil.

Editions have become complicated for this opera. Here we have the 1886 Modena version, an Italian translation in effect of the five-act French score premiered in Paris. I msut say I thoroughly enjoyed it. to the point that even Gorchakova's miscasting can't bring five stars down to four.