Verdi: La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Carlo Maria Giulini (Conductor), Milan Radio Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Milan RAI Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Renata Tebaldi (Performer), Giacinto Prandelli (Performer), Angelo Caroli (Performer), Cristiano Dalamangas (Performer), Gino Orlandini (Performer), Gino del Signore (Performer), Lilliana Pellegrino (Performer), Luisa Magenta (Performer), Nunzio Gallo (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Renata Tebaldi, Giacinto Prandelli, Angelo Caroli, Cristiano Dalamangas, Gino Orlandini, et al.
• Orchestra: Milan Radio Symphony Orchestra, Milan RAI Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini
• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (February 6, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Opera D'oro
• ASIN: B000055X2F
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,823 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Renata IS Violetta, February 17, 2001

By 

F. Barton "Forrest W. Barton" (Newport, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata (Audio CD)

This RAI broadcast, from 1952, captures Tebaldi in her coloratura glory. Her Rio coloratura skills transfer here brilliantly.Prandelli, who was a "second rate" tenor at the time, would be a grand star today. What Tebaldi does, is get her voice to blend with all whom she sings with, and this one is NO exception. I have her '51 San Carlo performance of this with Prandelli also, and while that one has the DRAMA that is missing from this one, this is still an impeccable Violetta.It's sound is GLORIOUS for being nearly 50 years old!! Tebaldi and Prandelli make magic, that has to be heard to be believed. Thanks to ODO for making this immortal performance available to all, not just those who could afford, or find, the long out of print Lps, or CDs. Superb sound, cast, and performance, A+ ALL THE WAY.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tebaldi is brilliant, but the recording is of poor quality., May 7, 2001

By 

Anthony Louis (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata (Audio CD)

This live recording from 1952 has a wonderful Tebaldi in the role of Violetta. The sound quality is poor, however. The orchestra sounds muffled and the male voices sound distorted. Tebaldi somehow makes it through the poor recording and shines. I found myself wishing for a better recording of this wonderful performance. It was like watching an old black and white movie whose sound track has worn with time. One can only imagine how glorious it was in its prime. If it were a better recording, I would have given it 5 stars.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tebaldi's Violetta--not bad at all!, May 16, 2005

By 

L. E. Cantrell (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata (Audio CD)

This is a live recording from more than half a century ago. It is in perfectly good mono for its time and is focused on the solo voices, as was then the custom. By the standards of the digital era, the orchestra is compressed and the chorus is distant. That is the nature of historic opera sound. Accept that, or walk away right now.

This recording presents one of the greatest of all sopranos as Violetta in "La Traviata." I cannot believe that anyone harbors serious doubt that Tebaldi would be anything less than excellent in the latter portions of the opera. How well she negotiates the coloratura passages in Act I is a subject of dispute.

I spent an afternoon listening to the first acts of recordings featuring Toscanini-Albanese, Callas-diStefano, Sutherland-Bergonzi and a pre-war performance with Caniglia-Gigli (in truly horrible sound.) In making these comparisons, the first and most solid conclusion I reached was that Arturo Toscanini was the best conductor in the bunch and by far the lousiest vocal soloist. (His "Sempre libera" is appalling!)

The second conclusion was that Tebaldi was not bad at all. She was not as dramatic as Callas, but there was a forthrightness about her that made Callas sometimes sound a little skittish. That Tebaldi's coloratura technique was not in the same class as Sutherland's came as no surprise, but she put the fire into the role that Sutherland so conspicuously omitted. Tebaldi was perhaps a bit better than Maria Caniglia in Act I, but La Caniglia trumped them all in the following acts. Although their voices were quite different in timbre, Tebaldi traversed the coloratura passages with about the same level of skill as Albanese. And, hey, if it was good enough for Toscanini, it's good enough for me.

In one aspect, Tebaldi stood alone. The other sopranos offered little musical laughs before launching into "Sempre libera." Tebaldi gave the most impressive cackle since Margaret Hamilton gave up the Wicked Witch gig in the Land of Oz.

The tenor on the Tebaldi set is Giancinto Prandelli. Such were the vocal riches of the 1950s, that he was regarded as a performer a full step down from the highest rank. If he were singing today, he would easily be at the very top of the international heap. He shared with Gigli the ability to sound pleasingly lyric while maintaining the illusion of being young and callow. Those otherwise admirable tenors, Peerce, diStefano and Bergonzi, sound too elderly, too self-confident and too elegantly powerful, respectively, for that shallow, callow, romantic schoolboy, Alfredo.

I am giving four stars to this set, not for the lead singers but for the conducting. After listening to Toscanini, it was painfully clear that the chorus and sometimes the orchestra were comparatively in a shambles.