Verdi: Nabucco [Box set]

Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Conductor), Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchestra), Piero Cappuccilli (Performer), Placido Domingo (Performer), Evgeny Nesterenko (Performer), Ghena Dimitrova (Performer), Lucia Valentini Terrani (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Piero Cappuccilli, Placido Domingo, Evgeny Nesterenko, Ghena Dimitrova, Lucia Valentini Terrani
• Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
• Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli
• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (March 12, 1984)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001G4N
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,516 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #84 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Operettas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full-blooded performances make a benchmark recording, August 15, 2000

By 

Ed Beveridge (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Nabucco (Audio CD)

This is probably the greatest recording of Nabucco available today, and stands alongside other classic operatic discs of recent times. There are certainly competitors - but for all Gobbi's and Suliotis' dramatic punch, their singing doesn't quite match the demands Verdi makes. Sinopoli's cast, however, sing up a storm and the opera is conducted with real verve. The sound quality achieves good balance, is perhaps on the "boxy" side but allows for excellent clarity, offsetting the intimate moments against the superbly sung choral scenes.

Capuccilli's Nabucco is suitably regal, but has real plangency to his tone when the king is reduced to a slave. Nesterenko's inky bass and forthright delivery make Zaccaria much more than a cipher (and rightly so, for he has some of the best music), and the young Domingo is ideally cast as a virile, passionate Ismaele - a character who can otherwise seem one dimensional and irritating. As his beloved, Fenena, Valentini Terrani sounds perhaps uninvolved but sings Fenena's prayer in the last scene with distinction. The small role of Anna is sung by a very young - but distinctive - Lucia Popp. But the set is probably most remarkable for Dimitrova's Abigaille, which is sung with simply awesome power. Very, very few sopranos can get through the role, yet Dimitrova tackles every one of the two octave leaps, vertiginous scales, and below staff growls Verdi throws at her with tireless, gleaming, ample tone. Even the tender side of Abigaille is manifested with some beautiful soft singing; this is one of the most remarkabe accomplishments I have heard on disc.

So - pending the release of the new Bruson-Guleghina recording that has made it into some of the shops, this really is the Nabucco to have. No other comes close for sheer quality and consistency across the performance.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Verdi, July 26, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Nabucco (Audio CD)

Hard to believe this is but Verdi's third opera. His first big hit, after almost throwing in the towel over the De Regno's flop. In 1841 the shrewd Bartolomeo Merelli, then impresario of La Scala, got Verdi re-engaged for this composition. Thank goodness, or we wouldn't have this great recording. Piero Cappuccilli heads the cast as a full voiced kick-ass Nabucco, only to have the show stolen by Ghena Dimitrova as an unbelievably powerful and dramatically convincing Abigaille. Evgeny Nesterenko is a first rate Zaccaria, High Priest of the Hebrews who almost scares off the King of Babylon (and me). Placid Domingo sounds youthful and strong as Ismaele (probably overcast in this lightweight role, but a nice bonus). Making it all work is the Opera of Berlin Orchestra and the wonderful conducting of Giuseppe Sinopoli. A more Verdi sounding score you will not find. Sinopoli subtle control of the brass accents the singers so well you want to listen to this recording again and again. This is in no small part due to the excellent sound engineering of Klaus Hiemann. All operas should be recorded this well, one that Verdi would purchase.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bible Opera Packs A Punch, August 11, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Verdi: Nabucco (Audio CD)

Verdi's first big hit was Nabucco, based on the biblical account of the Hebrew captivity in Babylon by the imperious and vainglorious King Nebuchenessar. Nabucco is the Italian form of that name. While this is HIS opera, the web of characters form a powerful theme of love and thirst for power and longing for freedom. Isrele is the tenor part, a young Hebrew slave, in love with Ferena, sung by a mezzo soprano. Abigaille is the wicked daughter of King Nabucco, and her role is regarded as the most fiendishly difficult soprano role Verdi ever wrote, full of thunderous declamations high above C, and fully lyric with strong chest register. The cast in this early 80's recording is a dream cast, making this the best studio recording of Nabucco available today. Placido Domingo is singing a part that is not really the star, but he sings with passionate intensity and all his usual radiant flair. His was a voice that Verdi wrote for tenors, and Domingo himself considered Verdi to be his strongest vehicle as a tenor. In this recording we dont get the masculine ardor of Aida's Radames, or the refinement and passion of Alfredo in Traviata or the intensity of Otello nor even the ingellect of a Don Carlo or Don Alvaro from Forza Del Destino, but we have a fine character with religiosity and romantic feelings. The arias are well-executed by Domingo. He keeps up with the faster portions of the music. It seems to me listening to all this - Verdi was really trying desperately to make a hit. He had not had any success prior to this opera. The music is very dramatic, with far too many fortissimos even. Every aria and ensemble ends in such a BANG that it would seem the opera ends earlier than it should. Of course, the Overture is lovely. The highlights of this opera include great choruses. The first one in Act 1 and the more famous Va Pensiero, the Hebrews cry for freedom which even rises to nationalistic Italian heights.

Other than the tremendous talents of Placido Domingo, this recording is blessed with the fine voice of bass-baritone Piero Cappuccili in the eponymous role. As Nabucco, the evil, arrogant king, he is majestic and sometimes paternal (Verdi baritones ALWAYS sound paternal and it doesnt help that the music written fo them are mellow). Cappucilli is another great Verdi singer that together with Domingo make this recording exceptional. Opposite the more dragon-lady-like Ghena Dimitrova, he seems to be weak though....as in the scene "Prisoner ? Si! Prisioner SI!!"

But Cappuccili holds his own and is in fine shape in this recording. He is also the best Macbeth, and his voice is prominently displayed in a DG recording he sang opposite Shirley Verret's imperious Lady Macbeth.

The ladies in this recording are electrifying. Ghena Dimitrova, a Bulgarian-born soprano, is the best Abigaille ever recorded or performed. Not even Callas reaches the technical bravura and character integrity she essays. Her voice is strong, full and powerful. It is even said that Dimitrova had the highest and strongest dramatic soprano voice. Her career was short-lived because of all the intense roles she sang (Turandot, Tosca, Norma, Lady Macbeth). Abigaille she sang numerous times and it was even her signature role. Mezzo soprano Lucia Valentini-Terrani is prolly the weakest in the bunch, but she masters the role of Ferena with aplomb. I cant complain. I love everything about this recording, including the somewhat wooden Terrani. This recording deserves more recognition. Opera lovers go out and get this recording. Pass it on.....