Verdi - La Traviata / Cotrubas · Domingo · Milnes · Bayerisches Staatsorchester · Carlos Kleiber

Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Carlos Kleiber (Artist), Ileana Cotrubas (Artist), Placido Domingo (Artist), Bayerisches Staatsorchester (Artist), Sherrill Milnes (Artist), Bruno Grella (Artist), Walter Gullino (Artist), Giovanni Foiani (Artist), Alfredo Giacomotti (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001G5W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,637 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

The best Traviata on disc? If not, it's within hailing distance. No true Verdian would want to be without Callas's 1955 live recording, and it's hard not to love those starring Moffo, Caballe, Scotto, Sutherland, and de los Angeles among others. But this set offers the best all-round combination of excellent sound, fine singing, and dynamic conducting. Ileana Cotrubas is a wonderfully spontaneous Violetta, conveying the passion and vulnerability of the character. Only Callas among her starry rivals on disc can match Cotrubas's emotional and vocal mastery here. Domingo sings with ardor, and Milnes uses his beautiful voice to good effect as Germont. But it's Carlos Kleiber's show, and that enigmatic conductor leads the most energetic Traviata since Toscanini. Tempos are fast, but his sense of theatricality is unerring--this is one of those studio recordings that captures the sense of being at the opera house listening to one of those rare performances when everything clicks. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best "Traviata", November 23, 1999

By	Laura Fleming (East Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

Ileana Cotrubas will break your heart. Her sweet, silvery voice makes a delicate and touching Violetta. She sings a very sparkling and lovely "Sempre libera." Her voice is beautiful--far lovelier than Maria Callas's. And her interpretation of the role will leave you in tears, especially in her duets with Sherill Milnes' incomparable Germont. And in her "Addio del passato." Listen to the emotion in her voice when she reads Alfredo's letter....

Placido Domingo is the perfect Alfredo with his warm, romantic tenor voice.

Don't miss this one. 1000 stars!

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest recording of Verdi's La traviata, March 11, 2000

By	Daniel Reed Hanson (Atwater, California) - See all my reviews

I am here to say that if you're looking to buy the best recording, this is the one. I have heard several Violettas but this is the best one, and the professional opera critics will agree with me on this one. I've listen to Maria Callas in her Portugal performance with Kraus (in which her voiced seemed strained), which is pretty good, but you can heard the audience thoughout the entire recording, plus, the recording isn't in stereo and isn't conducted as good as this one. Sutherland does a great job and jumps though the part with great easy, however, there is no "pathos" or great acting in the voice. Victoria de los Angeles can't reach some on the high notes (especially at the end of "Sempre libera") and has a really strained voice in some parts. Ileana Cotrubas sings though the hard parts very nicely with great emotion, unlike a lot of sopranos. Domingo gives a great Alfredo along with Milnes as Germont. The orchestra and the conducting are superb. There is a good balance with the choir as well. Therefore, this IS the greatest recording for any opera beginner's collection.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A puccinian La Traviata, September 3, 2000

By	J. Luis Juarez Echenique "pepechenique" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It seems everyone has an opinion on Cotrubas as Violetta, so I will give mine. I heard her sing the role back in 1986 at the Vienna State Opera, and she was a small scale, vulnerable Violetta. I have always felt that Puccini' s women are pathetic, while Verdi's are "heroic". Her Violetta seem doomed from the very beginning, it was obvious this Violetta was a loser. She carried the 3 difficult voices of the role with aplomb, but somehow she didn't seem to live the role inside-out. Her conductor in Vienna was Michel Plasson, with whom she seemed to have a much better rapport than with Carlos Kleiber. Kleiber fils conducts a white-hot very dramatic La Traviata, but Cotrubas is not with him. She is too fragile for his view, I think Julia Varady would have fit much better in this recording. Domingo is fine as Alfredo, though he makes a weird sound at the end of the cabaletta. Milnes is not a natural Germont, Giorgio Zancanaro is much, much better either with Gruberova (TELDEC) or Devia (Bongiovanni). But La Traviata stands or falls on its heroine. No finer stereo or even studio recording exists than DG previous recording with Renata Scotto, who lives Violetta like no other soprano since Maria Callas. And since La Divina didn't have luck recording this opera, the Scotto version is a mandatory purchase.