Customer Reviews

Verdi: Il Trovatore

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The first "customer review" is incorrect: the Azucena in this recording is the wonderful mezzo Elena Obraztsova, not Marilyn Horne. This is a live recording from 1975 and the principals are in fine voice. It's an enjoyable performance and I would certainly recommend it.

I was at the San Francisco Memorial Opera House at the time of this recording. And let me tell you the audience went wild for Sutherland and Pavorotti. This recording was done in 1975, with the two great singers at or near their miraculous prime. To hear a real Elvira, you must hear Sutherland, because she can deal with the coloratura as well as the vocal line. Wow! A coloratura soprano capable of singing Verdi! Pavorotti is spectacular in the difficult tenor role, matching the memory of Franco Corelli. I love this cd, a thrill a minute! If you love high notes, you will be very happy with this set.

No, Sutherland does not have the dramatic intensity of Leontyne Price in Verdi's muscic. But still the most creamy, beautiful sound before the public. She has the high notes, trills and the coloratura to put all the other Elviras to SHAME. Pavoritti the Perfect Count. Horne, not so great, so you have 2 out of three. But as a huge Sutherland fan, I still must have this recording, recorded LIVE at the eve of her vocal downfall.

This recording features but one Verdian voice and that is Pavarotti who, like Carreras after him, was way too lyric for this heavy Verdi-role which was sung to perfection by Corelli, young Tucker, young Domingo and, most of all, BERGONZI. His diction is clear, his phrasing very intense but the voice, so ideal for Bellini and Donizetti, lacks power, size and magnitude. Joan Sutherland's main successes weren't her few Verdi-roles (E.G. Violetta and Leonora) but belcanto roles. Her coloratura-voice does not fit the highly dramatic demands of Verdi's music. Also, her Italian is distorted, her phrasing mushy and uninvolved, plus her style is all wrong. Watch the video of her Leonora, it tells the entire story. Verdi, who demands a clear vocal line, crystal clear phrasing and dramatic fire wasn't Sutherland's field. On the pro side she emphasizes Leonora's roots in belcanto, she sings exquisite trills in "D'amor sul'ali rosee" for example, and here she outshines both Milanov and Price. Horne wasn't a Verdian either. Her performances as Azucena, Eboli (Which she transposed down A LOT) and Amneris weren't successes and justly so. She is a belcanto-singer and not a dramatic mezzo like Simionato, Stignani or Barbieri. Wixell is so-so as di Luna but if you want to hear a great di Luna listen to Leonard Warren. Here neither the dreamteam SutherlandHorne nor Sutherland/Pav triumphed. For good Trovatores get one of Callas' live performances, one of the performances with Price and Corelli or the live-recording with Price, Bergonzi, Simionato and Cappuccilli.

This recording is almost a dud. Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, two of the leading bel canto specialists of the century, had no business in this opera, which calls for singers who possess gifts quite different from theirs. Yes, Sutherland adds a few spectacular embellishments (as well as a couple of top E flats that are not in the score), and does a nice job in the few florid sections of the role, but nowhere to be heard is the aura of night and mystery so essential for the role of Leonora. Moreover, she has no chest register, which makes the "Misere" a complete cipher. With Marilyn Horne the story is exactly the same. The guts and thirst for revenge that makes Azucena the prime force in the opera ----- is completely absent. Horne sings well enough, I suppose, but there is nothing here that she does that is not done better by any other Azucena on other recordings. Luciano Pavarotti comes off considerably better than his female counterparts. In typical 1976 vocal form, he sings a very potent and strong Manrico, and his "Di Quella Pira" is certainly something to hear.Ingar Wixell is an adequate di Luna, and Nicolai Ghiaurov is an outstanding Fernando. Unfortunately, he only sings in the opening scene!Richard Bonynge conducts a very long performance, restoring about 40 minutes of ballet music that is heard on no other "Trovatore" recording. Who needs it? There are many "Trovatore" recordings that are superior to this one, most notably those by Price and Domingo (on RCA), Milanov and Bjoerling (also on RCA), Callas and di Stefano (on EMI), and finally, a live performance from the 1962 Salzburg Festival with Price, Corelli, Simionato, and Bastianini, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Now THERE's a "Trovatore" that's really on fire from beginning to end!

Two of the previous reviewers refer to Elvira; the role in Trovatore is Leonora. Makes me wonder if they're reviewing the right CD set.

This is a live performance of the San Francisco Opera's 1975 season opener with Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Elena Obratsova, Ingvar Wixell, and Clifford Grant. Richard Bonynge conducted -- not the studio recording from the next year with Sutherland, Pavarotti, Horne, Wixell, and Ghiaurov. This production is noteworthy on several counts. Sutherland and Pavarotti sing their roles for the first time in their careers. It marks Pavarotti's first venture into the heavier tenor roles that later became a major part of his repertoire. And it began the last season that Sutherland and Pavarotti played opposite each other on stage.

This recording has long been a favorite of mine, and I return to it frequently. It takes an elegant approach to Verdi's score, as one might expect from Sutherland, Pavarotti, and Bonynge. Sutherland and Pavarotti are excellent. Her trill works wonders with "D'amor sull'ali rosee," and he sings with the youthful fervor of his early recordings. At the first few performances, Shirley Verrett stole the show from both of them as a last minute substitute for Obratsova. I wish she were the mezzo on this recording. Obratsova sings with great power, but she does not rise to the level of her colleagues. It's too bad because Azucena is the major role in this opera.

Bonynge uses Verdi's revised score for the Paris Opera with some changes that lighten the mood somewhat (listen to the additional notes in the cabaletta to "Tacea la notte placida") and some interesting harmonies that are not in the standard score (listen to the orchestration of "Un momento puo involarmi"). The ballet that Verdi wrote for the Paris Opera is omitted here.

This CD includes an interview with Pavarotti in which he discusses the character of Manrico. It is interesting to hear his thoughts from the time when he was just opening up his repertoire to include heavier roles.

What was Joan Sutherland thinking when she recorded this Trovatore which I'm guessing was 60's ? If she also sang Leonora on stage, I think audiences were not seeing a good performance. Sutherland is completely miscast as Leonora, which calls for a darker, heavier voice, a lyrico-spinto voice like that of Leontyne Price or Renata Tebaldi. Even Maria Callas' Leonora is greater. Sutherland sings the coloratura parts well, but that's all she has to her credit. Therefore the coloratura passages in the caballet after "Tacea La Notte" and the aria "Dal Amor Sul Aria Rosee" are fine but she lacks the necessary roughness for the Miserere scene. She has no sense of mystery or night and sings Leonora as if she were Lucia. Sorry this role is out of her league, much like the Turandot with Pavarotti under Mehta and the Requiem with Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne. Horne as Azucena is all razzle-dazzle but there is no real characterization and it's not as it should be sung. Ingvar Wixell is a run-of-the mill Count Di Luna. This recording is not good so please don't waste your money and check out better ones:

Verdi Trovatore/Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, Giuletta Simionato, Ettore Bastianini/Herbert Von Karajan

Verdi Trovatore/Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Sherill Milnes, Fiorenza Cossotto/Zubin Mehta

Verdi Trovatore/Jose Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli/Sir Colin Davis

there are two similar recordings. reviewer one is talking about a London performance with Horne, while this one was recorded in San Francisco with the same principals except for Horne.