Verdi: Il Trovatore

Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Richard Bonynge (Conductor), National Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Joan Sutherland (Performer), Marilyn Horne (Performer), Norma Burrowes (Performer), Luciano Pavarotti (Performer), Graham Clark (Performer), Ingvar Wixell (Performer), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Performer), Wynford Evans (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Norma Burrowes, Luciano Pavarotti, Graham Clark, et al.
• Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Richard Bonynge
• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0000041RB
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,892 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #23 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Horne, Marilyn
  • #29 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Sutherland, Joan
  • #71 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > Q to T

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Singers in Their Prime., February 6, 2000

By 

Tracy L. Powell (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Il Trovatore (Audio CD)

Giuseppe Verdi's greatest "numbers' opera is given an exciting performance on this recording. Joan Sutherland is an incredible Leonora. Not only does she easily handle the coloratura, but she also shows off the dramatic side of the role. And her diction is crystal clear. Pavarotti obviously loved the role of Manrico (what tenor wouldn't?) as he passionately sings with his usual ringing tone. Perhaps he should've been singing Faust, Manon (in French and more often), Romeo, and even Werther, and Hoffman instead of Manrico at this time, but we have to live with the choices he made. Marilyn Horne is appropriately scary at times and loving as a mother at other times. And this role gives her the opportunity to show off her beautiful chest voice. At times she almost sounds like a baritone! Although I don't think Ingvar Wixell's turn as Count di Luna is his best work, he is still more than adequate. And I believe he is too often maligned. Nicolai Ghiaurov shows off his thunderous bass as Ferrando.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Miscasting woes, April 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Verdi: Il Trovatore (Audio CD)

While I am admirers of both Pavarotti (to some degree) and Sutherland, I have to say that they are both miscast in this opera. Pavarotti is a wonderful LYRIC tenor - when he ventures into spinto or dramatic repertory, I find him unconvincing. Manrico is a heavy role, and Pavarotti is reduced to yelling at the end of "Di quella pira." Sutherland, of course, has a wonderful coloratura ability, but only two arias of Leonora's really call for any coloratura at all ("Di tale amor" and "D'amor sull'ali rosee"). The rest of the role finds her out of her league in a primarily spinto part. She changes the whole musical structure of the character by changing what she can't do in terms of power into her strengths, like very high notes that are not in Verdi's score. Bonynge is not his usual dramatic self, Horne and Wixell are only adequate, and the only redeeming feature of this recording is the powerful Ferrando of Nicolai Ghiaurov. Turn to Mehta's magnificent recording on RCA if you want to hear a Trovatore worth listening to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A distressing miss for great singers, May 8, 2009

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Verdi: Il Trovatore (Audio CD)

Joan Sutherland was sovereign in bel canto roles, but in Verdi she seems limp and passive -- Callas is like a lioness in all the great dramatic roles, Sutherland a raw oyster. It's acceptable for lovers of her stupendous technique to put up with her moony characterization and notorious bad enunciation in La Traviata; the combination of volume, technical command, and sheer beauty of tone was irresistible. But Leonora needs a real vocal actress with dramatic force, and those qualities are beyond Sutherland.

Pavarotti was also best suited to the lyrical side of Verdi -- his best composer was Donizetti -- and he was ill advised to take up Rhadames and Manrico. But a superstar who was reputedly bringing in the lion's share of Decca's corporate profit was expected to sing everything. Therefore, although this isn't the outright disaster of Pavarotti's Otello, his Trovatore is full of stress and strain, to the point that the listener is made uncomfortable.

I was actually happier with Horne and Wixell than other negative reviewers, only to find that Richard Bonynge's wayward, erratic conducting was a constant let down. There are many bad ways to lead a Verdi opera, and he seems highly schooled in most of them. In short, this miscast production is a sad way to remember some world-class talents.