Customer Reviews

Verdi - I Lombardi / Anderson, Leech, Pavarotti, Ramey; Levine

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

 

 

I must admit and confess that this is a good recording of this not to much recorded opera, I Lombardi by Verdi. The recorded sound is of the best quality, the best modern digital sound for this opera. James Levine offers us a reading with drive, straightness and drama, which is his personal new achievement for this opera. But, altough I enjoyd the performance, such fast speed given to the performance does not permit a certain lyricism and elegance in Verdi's melodies,(as in the old and very good Lamberto Gardelli version in the Philips label), in such a way that we fell a certain superficiality in the whole work. The soloists are first rate: the aged Pavarotti is good, but not to expressive; June Anderson has beautifull color of voice, but could give much more of herself if the tempos were a little bit slower. However Samuel Ramey is the singer that seems not to be afected by the tempos Levine adopts, and sings with drama and deepness. Anyway, this is surely the best modern digital version of I Lombardi by Giuseppe Verdi.

Levine has here 2 singers well over their best (Pavarotti in his last full opera recording and Ramey) one dull (Anderson)and only one at his best (Leech) but in the least important of the 4 roles. The impression at first is of a marekting attempt to squeeze the last drops from some old lemons. Then things go better and quite better in many instances, Pavarotti is inferior to himself only, no match for all the others, Ramey even with his now wobbling voice is still Ramey and I prefer him to any other in circulation. Leech is vigorous and ardent, his voice is in perfect shape for the arduous role.Levine is the Verdi conductor of the present day, he feels it like no one else and conveys it to the listener. I left Anderson last because she is a disaster, the voice suffered preamture decline, but this is not the point (others in this recording have already gone over the hill) the point being an approach middle of the road good for all, she sings everything the same with such a dull phrasing that in the long run is irritating. In the dull moments she is at ease, in the lyric ones she falls victim of mannerism. I have all of her younger days recording both recitals and operas with Kraus and more and she seemed destined to a far greater carrer but helas this was not going to be, what a loss. With such a cast Levine yet performs the miracle of giving us an outstanding Lombardi squeezing the last drops from the all the lemons or almost.

Die Oper "I Lombardi" von G. Verdi beeindruckt mich mit dieser Aufnahme auf sehr positive Art. Als jahrelanger Fan von Samuel Ramey komme ich auf meine Rechnung, indem er den Pagano mit wundervoller, intensiver Stimme darstellt. June Anderson, als Semiramis in bester Erinnerung, singt schnörkellos und trotzdem einfühlsam die Giselda. Ebenso berühren Luciano Pavarotti und Richard Leech in ihren Rollen. James Levine fand einmal mehhr die richtigen Tempi und hielt die Musiker zu optimaler Lautstärke an.
Ich würde die Aufnahme gerne weiterempfehlen.

This opera would not rank in the highest echelon of Verdi operas, but this cast, orchestra and conductor make the most of what they have been given. Ramey is magnificent, as usual. Pavarotti sounds slightly frayed around the edges, but more than justifies his somewhat misleading star-photo billing on the recording's cover. James Levine conducts with vigour, and the Met Orchestra responds in kind. At times, Levine does drive almost too hard -- this is particulary during a few of Ms. Anderson's moments, when you sense that her bel canto technique is not allowed to shine as much as it might. Nonetheless, I found her singing to be quite beautiful. A very different "Non fu sogno" than one provided by a Caballe, perhaps, but equally arresting. (More Anderson recordings, please!)

Pavarotti was 61 when he did this recording, but he is lways very good, and the best tenor Verdi could have for this role. Anderson has some problems in some places of the opera, but she has a very beautiful voice and she is even very dramatic. Ramey sings very well and his voice is marvellous. Leech sings the role with an inusual strenght and with many passages to remeber.Levine conducts as only he can do, and I mean with energy and passion. The Gavazzeni set is very good too, but for a studio recording of the opera with an incredible beautiful sound go for it.

I had a wonderful time listening to DECCA's 1996 recording of I lombardi. Notwithstanding Levine's pedestrian conducting, this is that rarest of occurrences: a bel canto performance of a Verdi score, especially early Verdi.

Pavarotti, well past 60, and Sam Ramey, 57, sing like angels as Oronte and Pagano. Each modulates his voice perfectly and turns phrases with a sustained grace and true feeling for Verdian expansion, without shouting.

I purchased the set for June Anderson's Giselda. She sings here like a Marchesi pupil-getting no help from Levine-and achieves one of her best things on records. Her Act II prayer (Se vano è il pregare) is just about the best Verdi singing from a female of the post-1980 generation. (Not saying much, I know.) Richard Leech, with his crystal-clear voice, is also excellent as Arvino.

How refreshing to hear Verdi's music performed as though it were music, not just barged through in that horrible Toscanini way. Levine tries to barge, allright, but Pavarotti's lordly legato and perfect portamento-phrasing just won't let him. (Too bad Richard Bonynge wasn't the conductor.)

This is the best recording of this opera. Although aged Pavarotti still pulls his weight. Anderson is simply awesome. I wish there were more recordings with her. This is the only recording of this opera worth buying. Some of the moments in the opera are great, there are some boring spots, but it's verdi you've got to have it anyway. Anderson and Pavarotti's duet is my favorite moment.

Levine finds the best inspiration in the coral moments (see the great "concertato finale"). Good also the quality of the recording. Very well the duo Pavarotti (great usual class)Anderson. Excellent Ramey, actually still the best bass.

In 1981 my friend Larry asked me to take him to an opera. I chose a production of I Lombardi at the New York City Opera. When it was over, he said to me as people were booing the cast and the production team and tearing up their Playbills and raining down the impromptu confetti on the audience below, "Never take me to see another opera again." I bought this recording of I Lombardi many years later at BMG Music Service for very little money; BMG was dumping it. The performance is excellent, but the opera is still one of Verdi's weaker works dating from what he called "his years in the galleys;" in other words, he felt as if he was a slave sitting among other slaves below the deck and rowing a Roman tireme. The majority of his early operas are not so good because Verdi wrote two or three per year. He raced from one place to another to get contracts to have new operas performed, which in many cases he had not even written yet. There were no trains then; he had to make arduous journeys by horse-drawn carriage. All of that exhausting trekking from one place to another broke his health.
There are five excellent operas from before he wrote his break-through work, Rigoletto; I would be inclined to purchase them before investing in many of the other early works. The two best are Macbeth and Stiffello. Macbeth is so good because Verdi extensively revised it eighteen years later while he was writing Don Carlos; he replaced weaker music with better material. Stiffelio, which he wrote before Rigoletto, is even better than Macbeth, but the score was lost for more than a hundred years. It was shut down by Catholic censors in 19th century Italy because the main character is a Protestant minister, he has a wife who is unfaithful, and at the end of the opera he does a very Protestant thing: he picks a passage at random from his bible as his penitent wife is kneeling before him in the sanctuary. It is the story of the woman caught in adultery, and at the end of the opera, the minister sings, "Go woman and sin no more." I was raised in the Catholic Church, and while it is more open-minded now, it was terrified by anything Protestant back then, especially in a mostly Catholic country like Italy.
The other three early works which have more than enough good music are Nabucco, Ernani (a favorite of George Bernard Shaw) and Luisa Miller. You can't go wrong with these five operas. All of the operas Verdi composed after Rigoletto are great achievements except Aroldo; it is a weak remake of Stiffelio. Definitely include Verdi's Requiem; it is as impassioned as any great opera.