Customer Reviews

Verdi: La Traviata

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

 

 

I can't believe I'm the first to write a review of this recording! There's not much more you can ask in a Traviata than Sutherland, Bergonzi, and Merrill, all in their prime. On the surface, Sutherland's performance lacks the committment Callas consistantly brought to the role. However on repeated listenings, details surface that show Sutherland definitely had more than a vocal sympathy for Violetta. At this point in her career, she herself has said it was her favorite role. Her account of "Dite alle giovine" is shattering when listened to with the right ears. And of course, you have her immaculate vocalism. Set against this great achievement is the Alfredo of Bergonzi, the model Verdi tenor. Even Domingo, an artist I greatly respect and admire, is sometimes vocally incapable of the subtlety Bergonzi had at his command here. He is quite simply the best Alfredo I've heard. As for Robert Merrill, he may not be Tito Gobbi, but his account of Germont is more than adequate and what a voice! The recording is a little over-reverberant, obscuring some detail, but the Decca engineers were still struggling to cope with capturing the "Sutherland sound" in its fullest degree. Pritchard's conducting is generally inspired, only occasionally lapsing into the routine. The final factor in reviewing this recording is the price. As a Decca Double, this recording is a steal, a must have! (And yes, I've heard Decca's latest foray with Solti, Ghiorgiou, etc. It doesn't even come close.) There really is no perfect studio Traviata, but this one comes closer than most.

This is one of Sutherland's truly great recordings. She had the perfect voice for Violetta. Bergonzi is THE best Alfredo on cd.His recording with Caballe is also superb. This is a terrific cd at a terrific bargain price.

This is a very strange recording of La Traviata. It features, of course, Joan Sutherland in most glorious voice. She puts on a spectacular bravura performance, with virtually flawless technique. Her performance, however, is characterized by an almost total lack of consonants (For instance, "addio" comes out sounding like "aa-eee-oo".) Even vowel sounds sometimes get distorted -- presumably in order to get an even smoother musical flow. Surprisingly, Sutherland also demonstrates just how dramatic such singing can be -- pure sound to express a wide variety of emotions. It is an amazing performance -- it needs to be heard just to see how such intense drama can be achieved with such an approach.

This is all fine, except for two things. First, the sound is somewhat lacking. Especially in Act 1, it sometimes sounds as if Sutherland is singing in an echo chamber. It also makes her middle range sound surprisingly mature -- she was at the beginning of her career when this recording was made of an age where one would expect vocal freshness matching Violetta's vulnerability--she is not the rather broken down cortesan which so many sopranos well on in their careers make her sound. Second, the other principals are using a quite different asthetic. Bergonzi as Alfredo turns in a sterling, rather traditional performance, with words well articulated and designed to have their meaning bring out the drama. Unfortunately, in the duets, the contrast in approach with Sutherland does not enhance things. This contrast is also present in the duets with Germont -- sung more than adequately by Robert Merrill -- though there it matters less since Germont's character and values differ so much from Violetta's. Pritchard's conducting, which is rather eratic in the crowd scenes, taking on a frenetic agitation at inappropriate moments, broadens out in other places, allowing slow speeds which accentuate Sutherland's mooning style at the expense of the drama she is so successfully communicating. The only comparable recording I know is the one with Caballe -- again with Bergonzi -- where the eratic features of the soprano's glorious singing clash harshly with the conductor's approach.

Given the peculiarities of the performance, the choices London/Decca made in bringing out this set are unfathonable. There is no libretto, but a rather poorly done "listening guide" -- and no discussion of place of the opera. In addition, there are few tracks, and those provided combine material which both logically and musically are distinct and should be on separate tracks. This makes dipping into parts of the recording frustrating.

Overall -- this is a performance to be enjoyed and savored. It is not a good recording to have as a first version of La Traviata. The fact that it remains in the catalogue after so many years -- and with so many other recordings of the opera either still available or fallen by the wayside that would be substitutes for it-- speaks volumes for the essential merits and appeal of this recording.

Joan Sutherland was at her vocal zenith when she recorded this
first Traviata in 1962. She is perhaps not a natural for the
complex role of Violetta but sing beautifully she could and
does in this set - she is delightfully flirtatious in the first
act and predictably dazzling in 'Sempre libera' - elsewhere
beauty of tone makes up for the lack of dramatic insight and
verbal nuance though she is surprisingly intense in the last
act. Carlo Bergonzi is a superb Alfredo - youthful and ardent -
singing splendidly. Robert Merrill's Germont is a classic -
his voice dark and rich his manner authoritative yet compas-
sionate. The score is presented complete and lovingly conducted
by John Pritchard. Good sound if somewhat boomy at times. A
great bargain!

There are recordings of Traviata that I like better overall(Caballe on RCA, Carteri on the old Victrola). But the first one costs a lot more than this one (and has a lousy conductor), and the second one is currently unavailable. Callas, Shmallas, she never recorded this opera in her prime with a decent cast in listenable sound. SO, if you want a Traviata with a really good cast and a good conductor at a GREAT price, this one is for you. The only blemish for me is the sound: are we all in the SHOWER??? But, you get used to it . . .

I don't believe there is any one "best" version of this ever-popular opera, but this is my favorite of recorded Traviatas, and for those who value beautiful singing and state-of-the-art sound, it remains a top choice. It is complete and uncut; it wears supremely well; it has given me, and continues to give me, more musical pleasure than any other Traviata.

La Traviata is really a three-character opera, and here the three principals, Sutherland, Bergonzi, and Merrill, are three of the great voices of the second half of the twentieth century, all singing highly congenial roles, all captured in their vocal primes. None of them was known as an insightful vocal actor who plumbed the psychological depths of a role, and listeners who put that quality foremost are advised to look elsewhere (preferably to one of the memorable Callas performances). What these three principals, and the polished, idiomatic performance of Pritchard and the Florentine chorus and orchestra, provide here in spades, is a convincing demonstration of just how effective and how beautiful a performance of a middle-period Verdi opera like this one can be if it is simply sung correctly by three great voices who sing all the notes that Verdi wrote, and let Verdi do the rest. Sounds absurdly simple, doesn't it? Yet it's remarkable how rarely it is achieved.

Sutherland, the greatest coloratura soprano of modern times, handles with ease the florid requirements of Sempre libera in Act One, turning it into the dazzling coloratura showpiece it was intended to be (and so rarely is), but she also has the vocal horsepower to belt out the great emotional outburst Amami Alfredo in Act Two to stunning effect. Violettas who can do both are few and far between. She does not give you the heartbreaking poignancy of Callas in this role, but Callas does not give you the coloratura brilliance, the extraordinary high notes, the rock-steady vocal security, the beauty and purity of sound that Sutherland offers, and to my ears, these have their own abundant rewards here. Bergonzi is an exemplary, impassioned Alfredo, full of youthful ardor expressed in disciplined vocalism, and Merrill is a peerless, rich-voiced Germont pere. Three great voices, all in peak form, all functioning easily, smoothly, naturally, and securely, all knowing exactly what they are doing.

Technically the recording, made in Florence in 1962 by Decca/London's legendary recording engineer Kenneth Wilkinson, has never been surpassed. That's not hyperbole; it may be over 40 years old, but it has quite literally never been surpassed. It is a model of clarity and naturalness: heard on a reference-quality playback system, the opera unfolds before you on an absolutely natural and believable soundstage, as if you had an ideal seat, the voices recorded with complete naturalness, with none of the artificial spotlighting or close-miking (that sense that the soloist has just stepped up to the microphone) that disfigure many opera recordings. Levels, balances, and the aural perspective have been perfectly judged: nothing is too close up or too far away; the recording is wonderfully free, open, warm, and "alive," with full frequency and dynamic range, and a complete absence of overloading, distortion, hardness, brightness, or coloration. From an engineering/audiophile point of view, I have never heard a more natural, flawless, thoroughly satisfying recording of an opera.

If you love La Traviata, if you love grand voices and grand singing, if you want to hear a perfectly recorded opera, I urge you to acquire this splendid, timeless recording.

It would be ideal if Sutherland had made great recordings of her two greatest (or at least most popular) roles, Violetta and Norma. But one comes away from her two versions of each opera with distinct pluses and minuses. In the case of this 1962 La Traviata, I'd makr the score card this way:

Violetta: Sutherland is in matchless voice, giving a master class in bel canto singing, but she's inert as a Verdi heroine, lacking in all dimensions of joy, despair, passsion, vulnerability, and hope. She displays one demeanor only, a wan passivity. The irony is that when she remade Traviata at age 54, her vocal acting was considerably energized.

Alfredo: I am not a Bergonzi fan, but he certainly matches Sutherland in giving a textbook protrayal here--if you want to study a textbook. I don't. An Alfredo without fire and anguish just lies there on the page. But at least Bergozni doesn't try to outshine his heroine; they are both rather placid. On the remake we get Pavarotti in a signature role, not in best voice and bawling at times, but still a thrill vocally and dramatically.

Germon: It's a delight to report that Robert Merrill gives one of the greatest performances of Germont I've ever heard, utterly smooth and even in tone, restrained and experienced in matters of characterixation. He's so fluid in Di Provenza that you cannot believe how difficult that famous aria is for almost every other baritone. By comparison, Sherrill Milnes in the remake is a crude, shouting boor in love with his voice and caring about little else.

Conducting: The estimable John Pritchard should have been better than this. Leading the only adequate Maggio Musicale of Florence, he is so timid that you wonder if he was afraid of his star soprano. He yields to her in every respect, and as a result tempos lag and drag, mince and tiptoe. Yet Richard Bonynge's conducting in the remake is far worse, being so wayward that you doubt he can even keep a straight beat.

That's as fair an appraisal as I can give. The sonics on both sets are quite good, especially in the new remastering of the 1962 version. Decca struck gold each time, since despite the obvious musical drawbacks, Sutherland was still Sutherland, an adored superstar gifted with perhaps the voice of the century.

I agree that Sutherland of the 1960's was without peers in the art of bel canto. But I find her to be off pitch several times in this recording. And comparing to what she is capable of, I find "Sempre libera" slightly off. In my opionion, this is Sutherland's worst recording she made in the 1960's. But of course, her worst is still the best in the world, thus the 4 stars instead of 5, thanks.

Just the most beautiful Traviata I ever heard. Great to get as a refreshingly different interpretation of this over recorded work.

Bergonzi and Sutherland at their prime-what more could you want. And as for those who complain about Pritchard's conducting being so slow-it works great with these singers.

one last thing-the price! best bargain you can get for an opera cd

This is, without mincing words, one of the best Traviatas I have listened to. Especially excellant in this recording is Carlo Bergonzi. His smooth, delicate, extremely well controlled tenor is, to me, much more fitting to Alfredo than Pavarotti's huge, unsubtle presence. Bergonzi is much more convincing as the shy young suitor of Act 1, yet he is able to break into majestic wrath in the passage with the Baron. Pavarotti sounds too forcefull throughout, and never manages Bergonzi's tenderness and subtlety. Sutherland sounds excellant here, or she would, if the recording was any better. Her voice is horrifyingly mutilated by the engineers, yet in her odd moments of vocal lucidity, she manages to show us just what she is able of. She still sounds youthful, unlike her later Decca recording with Bonynge and Pavarotti, where her age is clearly evident, and her high notes shaky and forced. However, I agree that, even taking the recording into account, her 'Sempre Libera' here is quite awful, her lack of control is immediately and unpleasantly apparent. However her singing is generally of top class standard, if only the recording could depict it faithfully. Another advantage this recording has over the later Decca one is Robert Merril as Germont pere. His is the definitive Germont, no one comes close at all, and vastly superior to Munuguerra's. His beautiful, strong bariton and that ringing timbre is simply delightful. Pritchard conducts Traviata much better than Bonynge, the latter is frequently inclined to raise the tempo too much, and goes raising through the score with too great an emphasis on melodrama. The subtlety and tenderness is almost totally obscured. If you like digital sound etc. buy Sutherland's later effort, it's nice in its own way, though overly dramatic and loud. For those more inclined to a more subtle approach, a more artistically balanced Traviata could never be found.