Caballé

Giacomo Puccini - La Boheme
Placido Domingo / Montserrat Caballe / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti
2xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 444 MB | Full Artwork: 81 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal # 88697579022 | Country/Year: Europe 2009, 1974
Genre: Classical | Style: Opera, Romantic

"Most operaphiles would not consider the hyper-dynamic Sir Georg Solti to be a likely candidate to conduct La bohème, but they also probably did not expect him to do an excellent La traviata prior to the sensational Angela Gheorghiu debut performance at Covent Garden. Herbert von Karajan’s Decca-London recording with Pavarotti and Freni has traditionally and deservedly set the standard for La bohème recordings, but this one holds up surprisingly well to direct comparison…" ~Fanfare

Bellini's rare opera "La Straniera" was created under great time pressure and therefore can not develop the dramatic effect, as does "Norma". Also, the libretto is not the best. Nevertheless, there is a lot of magic, rousing music, so that the purchase is worthwhile especially for the lover. Performance from 1969 benefits above all from a young Montserrat Caballe, who simply gives everything. The sound is not perfect, a bit dull and blurry in the heights, but still audible in any case.

The performance given on 21 March 1967 at Carnegie Hall in New York stems from the now outmoded tradition of casting baritones and basses in the castrato roles, and uses a special concert arrangement. Not only are several cuts made to the score, but the order of the arias is changed and the recitatives are heavily truncated and provided with new English texts, and given not to one of the characters but to a 'narrator'.

Some listeners might find the gimmick of “original jackets” sort of foolish, particularly when a) you cannot read the copy on the back if you are older than 15, and b) some of the CDs (taken, of course, from the original LPs) have as little as 40 minutes of music on them and only a couple have more than an hour. But the packaging is slim and nice (taking up the space of about 5 CDs), nostalgia sets in, the enclosed booklet reproduces the original essays (or excerpts from them) and includes track listings if not translations. And the low price for these 15 CDs (under $80.00) makes it very appealing from an entirely different angle.

Montserrat Caballé as Leonora is precisely what one would hope for. The voice is in near-pristine shape–the occasional attack on a loud high note early on can be vicious, but she sings with unusual commitment (not that the role has many nuances), glorious tone, and her entire arsenal of tricks: long-breathed phrases, diminuendos, high, floated pianissimo, grand chest voice. She even sings most of the words, rarely relying on “ah” sounds for high notes. The sound is huge and major-league and her comportment–acting is the wrong word–is regal. She sings the “Vergine degli angeli” with her back to the audience and the sound is as ethereal as you ever wanted it to be.

The typically Spanish lyrical genre, the 'zarzuela', is performed here by the Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé i Folch (Barcelona, 1933) with the Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Eugene M. Marco. The Caballé is known worldwide for his great vocal technique, the purity of his voice and his absolute power and spectacular breathing control technique. The repertoire of the album consists of 9 songs very appropriately selected for the powers of the Caballé.

This disc has most of the right ingredients for a classic Manon Lescaut. Plácido Domingo and Montserrat Caballé in their prime were two of the loveliest Puccini voices of the late 20th century. Their Spanish temperaments only aid in conveying the passion in this story of a love that survives unpleasant parents, religious vows, and arrest, and ends without a shred of dignity in the swamps of Louisiana. The main drawback here is that conductor Bruno Bartoletti, for all of his experience, could've given a fresher account of the score and, in general, the whole thing sounds a bit studio bound. However, operatic decisions are made on the basis of voices, and this set has them. –David Patrick Stearns