Customer Reviews

Verdi: Il Trovatore

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are a lot of thoughtful remarks about this recording from other reviewers here. Although I know for a fact that different people hear differently, or love differently, the same recording, I think that this recording is an incomparable document of a certain style of Italian singing that was on its way out of singers by 1970.

Price, Domingo and Milnes - clearly not Italians - give luxurious, splendidly made performances. Some may prefer other examples of Price's Leonora, and if you're shopping for Price, then that may be an issue. But if you want the best stereo set of this opera, I really think this is still unmatched. The reason is that this recording is one of the last reliable documents of the Italian style of singing Italian opera - as opposed to the international style that we see and hear today. Apres... le deluge.

I am not a scholar or a critic, but it seems to me that this is a recognizably different kind of singing that is totally dominant in opera recordings before 1970 - all the way back to the beginnings of recorded music, characterized by a humane confidence in the nobility of operatic conventions. Even though, for its ethnic credentials, this recording features only the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and two actual Italians in the cast, those two singers - Bonaldo Giaiotti (Fernando) and Fiorenza Cossotto (Azucena) - create an axis with the chorus and Metha's assertive corralling of the orchestra into its particularly Verdian role of opinionated commentator to the action, that provides the unmistakable style and sound that is, unfortunately better represented by mono recordings.

I don't know if there are samples of Giaotti's first number on this site, or if a short clip would demonstrate this, but if you can, listen to the generosity and total comfort with Ferando's demanding music that allow him to shape a character totally out of the music. Similarly, Cossotto's first scene establishes her dominance as the musical and dramatic force that stabilizes the star-studded cast throughout the recording. She has a limpid mezzo that allows itself to be shaped by Verdi's music, giving us an Azucena who is just as clearly an Italian mama as a ethnically challenged nut - something impossible to understand without a sensitivity to the conventions of Italian opera, which this recording has. The Ambrosian Opera Chorus handle the inflections of their black-face gypsy music without the slightest irony, almost naively - which is an absolute must for the understanding and enjoyment of this opera.

The best thing about it is that it blends - all the talent on this recording is beautifully blended and shaped with the listener in mind - the notion that special attention should be paid to the fact that the listener is not in a theater but in his home (car?). In all this, the only wish I have is that Decca had recorded this, but don't let this criticism distract you - the sound is fine.

If you're looking for an exciting musically and dramatically thrilling recording of this most Italian of Italian operas, this is the one for you.

These CDs contain great performances from all the principals, not the least of which is Zubin Mehta magical conducting. Many years ago I bought cassette tapes of this recording. Absolute bliss! It's my all-time favorite recording of this opera. Cossotto, Milnes, Domingo, and Price simply nail it. But they and the music are hideously marred by the digital remastering! Every time the music and vocalists reach intense climaxes, which is quite often; there occurs a weird vibration in the speakers. It's similar to the old AM car stereos at excessive volume. I thought it was my speakers but I assure you it is not, and I am talking about at very reasonable volume levels. I see green when I hear Leontyne Price flow upwards in a magnificent phrase and the simultaneously hear static, what an incredibly disappointing experience. Perhaps this is the result of engineering terrorism! So, performance rates a 5+, sound...what rating would you give if you wanted to smash the CDs, stomp on them, cut them into little pieces, and then burn the remnants!

The performances here are all first rate - I agree with what has been noted before. The sound engineers must have been on crack though, because many passages are recorded at a too high volume level and distort, or "crackle" through the speakers. This is a MAJOR problem, not a slight one. The problem is with the original master tapes, not the CD remastering. And no, you can not adjust your treble, bass or volume to fix this, as one reviewer suggested. It was recorded with major distortion, period. There is absolutely no excuse for a major label studio recording to have such amateurish sound engineering. How could the producer not have caught this on playback? What a waste of vocal talent!

I'd like to join with other reviewers and highly praise the vast, hefty dramatic tension and brilliant interpretation this production has achieved by its excellent casting and first rate conducting. If you are looking for a true Verdian Trovatore, this is it.

However, if you have ears that are even least slightly sensitive to sound distortion and noises you should steer away from this recording. Because all the above mentioned are ruined by one stupid and careless recording engineering team! What a crime, and what a shame on RCA!

As a 19-year experience electronic design engineer who is working with a world leading studio/broadcasting equipment manufacturer, I assure you that the sound distortion, i.e. the crackling noise that accompanies high level passages all throughout the whole recording is almost definitely due to the poor and careless system gain setting that resulted vast system overload. That means, any high level signals that exceeded the recording system's dynamic range can not be recorded faithfully, but instead get clipped at the ceiling level of the recording system and are recorded as such. All the crackling noises we hear in this recording are of typical, signature clipping nature.

I used to own an LP version of the same production, and had been wondering during which phase of the recording/mixing process the overloading might have occurred, and had been hoping the digital re-mastered release could get it right. I wish I had read the reviews here prior to my ordering the CD, as I ended up finding the CDs have the same exact noises and distortion in deep frustration. The fact that digital version still present these noises could mean the system overloading had happened during the session recording, hence irrecoverable sound quality loss.

Not trying to be offensive, but one has to be a deaf to enjoy this recording wholeheartedly, in my humble opinion.

A final words to fellow owners, avoid playing this recording, or anything else with clipping, in large sound volume. Because clip-distorted signals usually contain much greater amount of high frequency energy than normal musical signals do, and that could be damaging or even deadly to the tweeter units in your speaker system.

I'm afraid I was never an admirer of Sherrill Milnes. Not in the house and not on record.

However, no one ever bought a recording of "Il Trovatore" based on the baritone.

The rest of the singers are first rate. Sure, Domingo struggles with the high "C's" in "Di quella pira", and sure, Price is a bit more mannered than in her first recording of Leonora, but they are involved in what they are doing. No small credit for that, I would suspect, goes to Zubin Mehta, who really gets under the skin of this deceptively difficult opera to conduct.

That brings us to the infamous sound. When this first came out on LP it was universally condemned for what everyone supposed had been poor tape to LP transfers. Now, it seems, the tragedy goes far beyond that. It seems the absolutely execrable sound comes from the master tapes themselves. This is absolutely unforgivable.

I remember RCA was in a big "let's save a buck" mood back then (nothing much has changed). They employed a producer named Anthony Salvatore who turned out one piece of sonic garbage after another. I don't know what it was he did to ruin so many recordings, or why. And I don't know how so many people supposedly in charge could have cared so little about the product they were foisting on an unsuspecting product, but here we are, a quarter of a century later, with incontrovertible proof that RCA just didn't give a damn.

What a pity.

A lot has been said of this records poor sound quality. Overall that is not true BUT unfortunatly there is SOME parts badly remastred and worst of it all is that lousy sound appears when "Di quella pira" is performed. This part is VERY BAD recorded/remastred. There is a couple of another minor sound flaws at other parts too but OVERALL this record has a good sound. Listen to first disc there is nothing I found poorly recorded/remastred att all. The problems occur on loud passages like in "Di guella pira" on the second disc.

About the OPERA: the singing, conducting, orchestra and choir make this one of the best records of this masterpiece out there and I highly recommend this classical record of Il Trovatore. Line up is fantastic. Leontyne Price is faboulus, Domingo sings elegant, with passion and Cossotto is great to.

I usually dislike Zubin Mehta but he is very good att this Il Trovatore.

For perfect sound, great conducting and an again stunning Domingo go for Levine at Sony (DDD 1997) and for a stunning live performance, with excellent sound, brought to you by Sony Classics too... go for Mutis new one (2002) from La Scala...

... but DONT miss this one because it is one of the best and sound is not as bad some other rewievers here complain about even if the disaster of "Di guilla pira" ruin some of this othervise superb record.

My advice is Levines for crystal modern sound, Mutis because of great conducting, crystal clear sound too, live feeling and this RCA for best singing. Priority is yours. If you can afford it, buy all three because this is one of the most entertaining Verdi opera with lots of great moments.

I have rated this five stars because of its performance, not production but If I had rated it for production too I had give it four stars instead of five.

Even if it is a mid price record RCA/BMG sound engineers should do another one, do a better work with it because this record deserves that, but it is still a good essential Il Trovatore record and should be in everybodys Il Trovatore/Verdi collection.

A strong claim could be made that Il Trovatore is the most thrilling of Verdi's operas, and it is given a performance here that is just as thrilling, with a dream cast and an excellent conductor. However, I agree with the previous reviews: the sound is pretty bad indeed! It is especially painful in an opera like this, where there are lots of large, loud climaxes - at which the awful vibrations seize their chances. The performances are so good, though, that the sound can be ignored. Domingo is the perfect Manrico, with his powerful yet beautiful voice. His interpretative skill is shown in the two arias from Act 3, Scene 2: beautifully reflective and thoughtful in "Ah sì, ben mio" and heroically ringing in "Di quella pira." Price is a wonderful Leonora - probably one of the best, since she combines a beautiful spinto voice with more than adequate flexibility in such arias as "Di tale amor" and "D'amor sull'ali rosee," and also turns in a good interpretation. Cossotto is by far my favorite (relatively modern) Italian mezzo. She has a gigantic, magnificent voice, but she couples it here with a penetrating, intense interpretation of Azucena. In her flashback and hallucination scenes, she is absolutely stunning. She is the ideal Azucena. Milnes is an excellent Conte di Luna, with his villainous voice remarkably well suited for the part. Bonaldo Giaiotti as Ferrando is not, perhaps, ideal, but he certainly doesn't let the set down in his small role. The New Philharmonia Orchestra plays with guts and gusto, the choral singing is electric, and Mehta offers a thrillingly dramatic, superbly paced reading of this wonderful score. This is one of the best Verdi opera recordings I have ever heard.

I have very few complaints about this recording. Although Mehta is perhaps not the perfect Verdi conductor, the singers compensate for his instability in a completely spellbinding way. Leontyne Price sounds incredible (this was, let us not forget, one of her roles). Her Leonora is firey, rich, and passionate and contrary to what the amazon reviewer said, I believe her stamina is perfectly adequate throughout the opera. Domingo shines, and I was particularily fond of his Deserto Sullo Terra. Milnes is a satisfactory Count, and the chorus is powerful and also 'together' (something I can't say for many Trovatores).

My only complaint is the Azucena that Fiorenza Cossotto portrays. Her dramatics are excellent, but her voice sounded extremely thin and shrill whenever she sang above a E4, or below a middle C. I suppose the inferiorities might have been added to compliment the character, but Cossotto is a little bit extreme.

With the team of Price, Domingo, Milnes and Cossotto and Mehta in gutsy Veridan mode, this is still my all time favourite Trovatore on disc. Price's smokey, slightly chewy approach to the vernacular may not be to all tastes, but what a voice! Domingo, at an early stage in his career, turns in a burnished, heroic and noble portrayl of Manrico, if showing early signs of unease at the very top. Milnes matches him in full bodied tone, but I still get disappointed at his crooned pianos (call me picky). Cossotto is unsurpassed with a vocal style which Verdi would probably have dreamed of for his favourite voice-type. Mehta brings it all together with real pace and drama in his conducting. But what has happened to the sound? Appalling distortion at vocal and orchestral peaks could easily spoil the pleasure (Price's and Domingo's 'C's suffer badly). But with such fantastic vocalists, I can just forgive the engineers. BUY IT!

It would be difficult to beat the combination of Price, Cossotto, Domingo and Milnes in their primes. Yes it is a well sung performance - and well acted for the microphones for that matter. Mahta's conducting has garnered its share of criticism over the years, but he's not bad at all.

What ruins the performance is the awful sound engineering that overloaded the master tape beyond redemption in any digital mastering I've heard to date. I also have the Italian RCA CD re-issue from a number of years back and it sounds just as crude. The Opera D'Oro issue of the 1962 Salzburg performance despite being "unauthorized" in source, plagued with typical live performance stage noises and in monophonic, often sounds more natural and focused than RCA's sonic effort. Listening through wide range equipment quickly induces ear fatigue. I'm not a sound freak - but it really gets to me that the fine work of the performers is so badly compromised by a company that was once in the vanguard of recorded sound quality.

Price is in glorious voice in her earlier studio recording (last available on RCA Gold Seal I think). Her earlier colleagues Tucker, Elias and Warren don't discredit themselves by any means. Basile's conducting is pretty much time beating, but the old saw says Trovatore needs the four greatest singers in the world, not the greatest conductor! If Sony/BMG would only see fit to treat the older "Living Stereo" version to a well produced re-issue in its hybrid SACD re-issue line, it would be a treasure well worth acquiring.