Bergonzi

Italian opera in Japan got started in the mid-1950s. The series title was Lirica Italiana, and back in the early days the international stars who appeared would have had to make at least six stops when flying out from Europe. Despite this exhausting journey the productions, mounted with the help of Japanese orchestras and choruses, were often legendary, and they are now being issued on DVD by the admirable American company Video Artists International.

Joan Sutherland who, three years earlier had wowed the world with her Lucia, easily accomplishes the act 1 coloratura… She does manage to inflect emotion into Violetta’s solos in act 3 with a particularly poignant rendering of the letter scene. Bergonzi’s Alfredo in this recording is one of his best assumptions on record. His voice is at its lightest with near perfect legato and with phrasing that other tenors can only aspire to.

Anna Moffo, as the young and vulnerable heroine Lucia, produces a wonderfully sincere, yet highly romantic performance in this classic recording of Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor. Featuring Georges Prêtre conducting the RCA Italian Opera Chorus and Orchestra, the recording features a stellar cast of singers, including the incomparable Carlo Bergonzi, Mario Sereni, and Ezio Flagello.

When it comes to musical material, a nexus between quality and reception is never a sure thing. Some choice compositions and performances receive their flowers while others slide into relative obscurity. Off the Charts takes an inspired set list of lesser-known works by the likes of Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Lloyd, Chick Corea and others and brings them back into their well-deserved spotlight. Delving into the past calls for a cast attuned to the present, and Richard Baratta has assembled an incredible lineup. Pianist David Kikoski comes with his own brand of kinetic energy, bassist John Patitucci serves as the backbone of the band, tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi brings his signature sound to the fore, and percussionist Paul Rossman proves to be a vibrant colorist and rhythmic collaborator. Together, with Baratta spurring them on, this crew brings out the best in this superb selection of inspired music.

This Lucia was recorded in 1970, when Beverly Sills was at the peak of her vocal and dramatic powers. She had been singing the role of Lucia on stage for six years, and she knew the character. Here is a manic-depressive who is slightly crazy from the start, and Sills's embellishments to the vocal line (and there are tons of them; hardly a line is left as written), mostly composed especially for her, are always at the service of the drama. She is a far cry from the chirpy Pons and Peters (and even Sutherland, whose just-plain-singing of the role is unmatchable, but who was never all that interested in building character) and comes closer to Callas, but without the great Greek soprano's huge palette of colors or, for that matter, vocal limitations. Sills is gloriously fluent in the coloratura, the high notes are impeccable, and her reading of the words is truly involved and involving.