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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gheorghiu is the definitive Violetta of our time!, July 11, 2004
I was so amazed when I first listened to this recording that I decided to buy the DVD, too. Surely it's one of the best recording that have been released in the last years and I doubt you can find a better digital version of La Traviata. If you don't care too much for the sound, we can find even greater advantages in listening to this recording: it was this live performance that led Angela Gheorghiu to the international operatic world, and here she's aided by a great cast under the direction of one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Sir Georg Solti.
Frank Lopardo is in very good shape. His voice is sometimes a bit nasal, but he has a quite big and dramatic voice as well as an excellent vocal technique. Besides, Lopardo's interpretation of Alfredo is convincing and involving: he's one of the few tenors that can sing this role while truly interpreting it. Thus, we have a much more than acceptable Alfredo. Leo Nucci is here a few years past his prime, but he's in real good voice, though in the higher parts his voice tends to have a little more vibrato than we're used to. He also delivers a mature characterization of Giorgio Germont. The minor parts are sung by equally good singers, so that we have a very balanced recording of La Traviata.
The real star of this La Traviata is the young Angela Gheorghiu. She's not a simple good soprano of our days, but surely she will be praised in the future as one of the greatest artists of our time. Her voice is rich, creamy and expressive, along with her remarkable pianissimi, vocal colours and melifluous tone. She has the right vocal technique to sing effortlessly the difficult aria "Sempre libera" (please don't expect to hear a new Sutherland!!). I really don't care if Gheorghiu doesn't fit the high E flat in the end of that aria, since Violetta is a much more complex role. What really matters is her expressiveness, the sense of drama. Gheorghiu is the best actress in the operatic scenery nowadays and a very creative artist. Her Violetta is the most dramatic and deeply involved since Maria Callas almost fifty years ago!
Sir Georg Solti was then conducting La Traviata for the first time, but we feel like he has conducted it all his life. His conducting is mature and passionated. It really seems that Solti got to understand what Verdi intended when he composed this music.
A popular opera like La Traviata has so many legendary recordings that it's almost impossible to declare what are the definitive one. So, I prefer to talk about the definitive ones, and it's certainly one of thoses, because it represents an important moment of the opera world: the rising of one of the greatest sopranos of our days and the first and probably last time one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century conducted La Traviata.
Buy this thrilling recording and enjoy one of the most moving operas ever composed!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sumptuous!, February 13, 2000
No Verdi opera is so dependent on the dramatic conviction of its soprano. Supporting roles are extremely subject to what this lead had for lunch (as the premier performance of this opera proved). Verdi's Violetta demands a dramatic wrapper of strength about a frail woman with a fatal repertory illness (nice touch). Still, the composer was riding high after his successes with Rigoletto and Trovatore. He had the confidence and the libretto to make it work. Even if the opera had to be reworked, Verdi never lost confidence and finally found the right cast/ambiance to pull it all off.Little wonder, that Sir George insisted that EMI tape this live performance. This performance is a stunner! If Maria Callas were alive today she would murdered Gheorghiu (Verdi style, of course) for stealing a spotlight previously focus only on her achievement in this role. Never have I been so impressed by the unseen dramatics of a recording (of course, being live helped). The audience is first rate too, not one sneeze or cough is heard throughout (they only slipped a couple of times with applause...due cause). Frank Lopardo is a fine Alfredo and Leo Nucci above average as the not-good-enough-for-my-brat Germont. Nucci is pompous yet convincingly remorseful when it counts (pick up a box if tissues before putting this on). Velvety yet intense handling, Solti, a great conductor, outdoes himself with a Traviata superior to any this listener has heard. Thank you Georg, a "must own"!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb modern recording, March 29, 2000
Although I have only listened to a few Traviatas, I believe this could stand up to the benchmark recordings such as Sutherland's. Angela Gheorghiu is a wonderful discovery! The pace is brisk where appropriate (such as the party scenes and the gypsy dance) but not "driven" in any way. One warning is that it is a live recording as the one reviewer who gave it three stars noted below. That's a valid point. Personally, I prefer a little stage noise and applause, because it reinforces the sense that you are actually at the opera (the performance at Covent Garden was completely sold out and considered to be a stunning triumph. I understand that tickets were all but impossible to get). Still, if you prefer studio recordings, it may be an issue.
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