Verdi: Aida - Wiener Philharmoniker / Harnoncourt / Gallardo-Domâs / La Scola / Borodina / Hampson / Salminen / Polgár

Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Artist), Cristina Gallardo-Domâs (Artist), Vincenzo La Scola (Artist), Olga Borodina (Artist), Lászlo Polgár (Artist), Matti Salminen (Artist), Thomas Hampson (Artist), Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Artist), Wiener Philharmoniker (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 18, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Teldec
• ASIN: B000059ZLM
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,593 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Aida is the most elegant and polished version of the opera ever recorded, perhaps ever performed. In no other do you hear so much orchestral detail or playing that's buffed to such a gleaming glow. But here, elegance and polish replace a sense of drama and emotional sweep, subverted by Harnoncourt's slow-motion first half. Also needed: great voices with thrust and power. While the recording is lavishly cast, with important singers in minor roles, only one of the four big parts is done with the necessary vocal and dramatic zest: Olga Borodina's stunning Amneris. Hampson's Amonasro is neatly sung, full of an experienced lieder singer's textual nuances, and therefore completely lacking the style or vocal depth of a true Verdi baritone. That leaves the ill-fated lovers, Gallardo-Domâs's Aida and Lo Scola's Radames, both without the vocal size or splendor to satisfy. With so many excellent Aidas on disc, including Muti-Caballe and Solti-Price, this one will appeal to Harnoncourt's fans, the curious, and Verdians who should hear Borodina's Amneris. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully fresh recording of an old favorite, April 25, 2005

By 

AlexN963 (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Aida - Wiener Philharmoniker / Harnoncourt / Gallardo-Domâs / La Scola / Borodina / Hampson / Salminen / Polgár (Audio CD)

This recording reexamines Verdi's Aida by casting it with mostly smaller lyrical voices, and using a smaller orchestra. Thus, this is not the classic Aida sound and should not be your first recording of this opera. However, it would make a great second Aida recording, and would make a great addition to your collection.

This is the first major label Aida in many years, and it takes advantage of modern recording technology to bring superb recorded sound quality. I like Vincenzo La Scola as Radames. He has a bright lyrical tenor voice with great diction, which would probably not hold up too well in a big house, but fits into this recording perfectly. The Aida is sung by Christina Gallardo-Domas who is equally great with wonderful legato control, but like La Scola, she would have a hard time with the role in a live performance. The star here is Olga Borodina as Amneris. She is one of my absolute favorite singers today and she shows why on this set. Her large voice is different from the rest of the leads and she tends to be overpowering at times, but it still sounds great. Thomas Hampson is a real low point, as he is simply not a Verdi baritone, and does not sound patronly enough. The great Wagnerian basso Matti Salminen, who is a long time collaborator with Harnoncourt, is a real treat as Ramphis. He easily has the largest voice on this set, and he brings a lot to this recording even with such a small role. He is especially great when sentencing Radames in Act IV. The orchestra's playing under Harnoncourt is bright and clear. And, credit must be given to the rock-solid chorus.

This is a great overall recording. I dismiss the argument that the recording is underpowered, if you want it to sound bigger, just turn up the volume. If you are new to Aida, I recommend first getting the wonderful Met DG DVD, and than go with this.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aida as a conversation piece, November 6, 2001

By 

J. Luis Juarez Echenique "pepechenique" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verdi: Aida - Wiener Philharmoniker / Harnoncourt / Gallardo-Domâs / La Scola / Borodina / Hampson / Salminen / Polgár (Audio CD)

We will never know how Teresa Stolz and Giuseppe Fancelli (the first La Scala Aida and Radames) sounded like, but in all probability they sounded more like Milanov and Martinelli than Cristina Gallardo-Domas and Vincenzo La Scola.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt's new recording of Aida is not the first to cast such light voices in the leads, Karajan did the same in 1979 for his EMI recording with Freni and Carreras, and if back then it was said that he cast a Rodolfo and a Mimi as Aida and Radames, Harnoncourt chose this time an Adina and a Nemorino.
Gallardo-Domas tries to go deep into Aida's predicaments, but she doesn't have the power for the big, arched phrases in O Patria Mia and abuses her chest notes in Ritorna Vincitor.
There are certainly beautiful things in her singing, but she is not comfortable or secure enough in this very demanding role. Harnoncourt probably hates the traditional loud, big voices that Italians love so much in la Arena di Verona or Caracalla, but spinto sopranos can be found who can sing softly and musically too: Leontyne Price, Zinka Milanov and Renata Tebaldi were as musical and refined as Gallardo-Domas and far more secure and even in their delivery. Vincenzo La Scola suffers alarmingly in Celeste Aida, where the voice spreads, and his -Sacerdote, Io resto a te- goes unnoticed. On the plus side his diction is excellent (in fact all the singers sing with crystal clear diction, and I guess Harnoncourt had something to do with that) and his interpretation is sincere.
Thomas Hampson as Amonasro is equally light weight (when Harnoncourt conducted Aida in the Zurich Opera House he used Giorgio Zancanaro, and I can't understand why he prefered Hampson for the recording). The encounter between Aida and his father in Act Four with Gallardo-Domas and Hampson sounds rather as the Mimi and Marcello duet in La Boheme. Matti Salminen as Ramfis is alien to the verdian style, but he is certainly not uninteresting, and together with Olga Borodina (as Amneris) he has the large voice needed for the role. In fact la Borodina is such a fine Amneris, singing opulently and gorgeously that Gallardo-Domas and La Scola seem all the more inadequate next to her.
But the best reason to hear this Aida is Harnoncourt's conducting. There is nothing bachian or monteverdian about his interpretation, it is a red blooded and truly verdian reading, full of insights and interesting things to say. The Vienna Philharmonic play like gods for him and the recorded sound is excellent.
It is interesting to compare this new recording with the Levine in SONY made exactly 10 years ago. In spite of conducting Verdi for many, many years, Levine's reading is nowhere as interesting as Harnoncourt's, but the moment Aprile Millo, Placido Domingo, Dolora Zajick and James Morris open their mouths it's obvious what is missing in the new recording. The Amonasro-Aida duet with Millo and Morris take us back to an era of great voices (not merely big) and refinement is not in short supply either.
Still, it would be a pity to miss all the beautiful things that this new Aida has to offer, and considering the state of the recording industry, it will be a long time before we have another and better cast Aida in the market.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a new sound for aida, October 1, 2001

By 

patrick j mack (santa monica ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Aida - Wiener Philharmoniker / Harnoncourt / Gallardo-Domâs / La Scola / Borodina / Hampson / Salminen / Polgár (Audio CD)

i found this recording fascinating on may levels. the casting is
strong and individual if favoring lighter voices, or singers willing to sing lightly.
galardo-domas has a unique tone with a little vinegar on top but everything she does is sincere and more individual than many previous enterpreteurs.
borodina is one of the great amneris's of our generation, a subtle scheamer who later burns a hole through the judgement scene.
hampson is a very lyric amonosro and one who manages his voice well in this context but whose interpretation is hindered by his true lack of italianate tone and a very obvious ( and shocking )american accent.
the real curiosity for many is what harnoncourt will do with this score and with the vienna philharmonic at his disposal. that answer is nothing you have ever heard before. he shows a true baroque sensitivity in the private confrontations and an extraordinary orchestral clarity unlike anything i have ever heard, the ballets we all normally skip over are hypnotizing. showing no fear of verdi's triple fortes and with telarc's normally superb engineering the judgement scene really moves the floor for anyone with a good sub-woofer. also this is the first recording where you could take dictation from the chorus.
on the minus side, vincenzo la scola fights an often losing
battle with the role of radames and sounds at times as if he wandered in from a neighboring production of ' the magic flute'. not bad but a serious liability at times.

since this is the first major recording of aida in over a decade we have much to be grateful for and nothing wrong with having a performance swept clean of all it's musical 1950's - MGM excesses.