Giuseppe Verdi: Top 20 Recordings
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Twenty outstanding Verdi recordings, featuring Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Anja Harteros, Ludovic Tézier, Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni and more
Verdi's operas have inspired some of the greatest performances – and recordings – we've ever heard. In compiling a list of just 20 recordings we've inevitably had to exclude some wonderful albums, but nonetheless we've tried to include most of Verdi's major works as well as a range of recording approaches, from live recordings in the 1950s to state-of-the-art studio recordings from the 21st century. Each of the recordings below should be seen as a leaping-off point for fresh discoveries.
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Messa da Requiem
Anja Harteros sop Sonia Ganassi mez Rolando Villazón ten René Pape bass Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano (Warner Classics)
‘Three recordings stand out as landmark achievements: Toscanini’s live 1951 Carnegie Hall performance, Giulini’s 1963-64 studio recording, and the 1992 John Eliot Gardiner. To which we can now add, as a superbly realized garnering of these accumulated insights, this exceptionally fine new Pappano set.’ (Richard Osborne, October 2009)
Aida
Anja Harteros (Aida), Jonas Kaufmann (Radamès), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Amneris), Ludovic Tezier (Amonasro), Erwin Schrott (Ramfis), Marco Spotti (Il Re d'Egitto), Paolo Fanale (Un Messaggero), Eleonora Buratto (Sacerdotessa), Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano (Warner Classics)
‘Anja Harteros is arguably the most interesting Aida on record since Callas, albeit differently characterised. Where Callas is every inch the lovelorn warrior princess, Harteros is a humane and articulate Aida who is palpably not the mistress of her destiny. Her top C near the end of ‘O patria mia’ is neither as pianissimo nor as dolce as Caballé’s on the Muti recording, but that – for all but the most ardent canary-fancier – is beside the point when Caballé lacks the power persistently to outface Fiorenza Cossotto’s dauntless Amneris and is never as at one with her Radamès, Plácido Domingo, as Harteros is with the leonine yet liquid-toned Kaufmann.’ (Richard Osborne, Awards 2015)
Un ballo in maschera
Maria Callas sop Amelia Giuseppe di Stefano ten Riccardo Ettore Bastianini bar Renato Eugenia Ratti sop Oscar Giulietta Simionato contr Ulrica Antonio Cassinelli bass Sam Marco Stefanoni bass Tom Giuseppe Morresi bar Silvano Angelo Mercuriali ten Judge La Scala, Milan Chorus and Orchestra / Gianandrea Gavazzeni (EMI / Warner Classics)
This set comes from live performances at La Scala in the mid-1950s when the diva was at the height of her powers. Callas gives here an even more vital performance than on her studio recorded set. It was her particular genius to find exactly the appropriate mode of expression for every role she tackled. Here we have Callas the tormented, guilty wife. But she also gives us a hundred different individual inflections to reflect the emotion of the moment: indeed, as John Steane points out in one of his illuminating notes, it’s often a small aside that reveals as much about the character she’s portraying as a big set-piece. An unbeatable set.
Don Carlo
Plácido Domingo ten Don Carlo Montserrat Caballé sop Elisabetta di Valois Shirley Verrett mez Eboli Sherrill Milnes bar Rodrigo Ruggero Raimondi bass Filippo II Giovanni Foiani bass Grand Inquisitor Simon Estes bass-bar Monk Delia Wallis mez Tebaldo Ryland Davies ten Conte di Lerma John Noble bar Herald Maria-Rosa del Campo sop Voice from Heaven Ambrosian Opera Chorus; Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden / Carlo Maria Giulini (Warner Classics)
‘From the day that Giulini conducted the now legendary production of Don Carlo at Covent Garden in 1958, a recording of the opera by him looked a must. In fact, it was to be 12 years before EMI took the plunge, but the set was worth waiting for: it’s the five-act version in Italian, without the cuts made at the Royal Opera, and well recorded and handsomely cast. Giulini himself had slowed down since the live performances but the blend of majesty and lyric beauty that he brings to the opera is hard to resist. The music glows warmly in his hands, as befits one of Verdi’s most human dramas.’ (Richard Fairman, December 2000)
Ernani
Plácido Domingo ten Ernani Mirella Freni sop Elvira Renato Bruson bar Don Carlo Nicolai Ghiaurov bass De Silva Jolanda Michieli sop Giovanna Gianfranco Manganotti ten Don Riccardo Alfredo Giacomotti bass Iago Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan / Riccardo Muti (Warner Classics)
‘Renato Bruson’s Don Carlo is an assumption that’s as gripping dramatically as it is vocally. In his portrayal more than anywhere, the musical tension of Ernani becomes manifest, and everywhere Bruson offers superb Verdi-singing. Muti conducts the score in exemplary manner. He has learnt when to allow his singers licence to phrase with meaning and when to press on. The La Scala chorus gives us the genuine sound of Italian voices in full flight, sounding much more inside their various assumptions than their rivals.’ (Alan Blyth, January 1984)
Falstaff
Tito Gobbi bar Falstaff Rolando Panerai bar Ford Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sop Alice Ford Anna Moffo sop Nannetta Luigi Alva ten Fenton Fedora Barbieri mez Mistress Quickly Nan Merriman mez Meg Page Tomaso Spataro ten Dr Caius Renato Ercolani ten Bardolph Nicola Zaccaria bass Pistol Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan (Warner Classics)
This Falstaff still stands (with Toscanini - see below) peerless in the catalogue. At its centre stands Tito Gobbi, and his is a presence large enough to encompass both the lord and the jester, the sensuous and the sensual, and the deep seriousness as well as the deep absurdity of his vision. Few Falstaffs have such a measure of the simplicity of his first monosyllables in the bustle around him; few find the poise as well as the confusion within his music. Karajan’s recording is incomparable in its quartet of merry wives.
Falstaff
Giuseppe Valdengo bar Falstaff Frank Guarrera bar Ford Herva Nelli sop Alice Ford Teresa Stich-Randall sop Nannetta Antonio Madasi ten Fenton Cloe Elmo contr Mistress Quickly Nan Merriman mez Meg Page Gabor Carelli ten Dr Caius John Carmen Rossi ten Bardolph Norman Scott bass Pistol Robert Shaw Chorale; NBC Symphony Orchestra / Arturo Toscanini
(RCA Gold Seal)
This Falstaff remains, as it always has been, one of the half a dozen greatest opera sets ever recorded. It’s a miracle in every respect. How Toscanini loved Verdi and how he strained every sinew to fulfil this amazing score’s variety in line, feeling and colour. Whether it’s the clarity and discipline of the ensembles, the extraordinary care taken over orchestral detail or the alert control of dynamics, Toscanini is supreme, yet nothing is done for effect’s sake; everything seems natural, inevitable, unforced, as though the score were being created anew before us with chamber-music finesse – and the atmosphere of a live performance adds to the feeling of immediacy. Nobody dares, or seems to want, to interrupt the magic being laid before him. Toscanini in his old age is matching the subtlety and vitality of the composer’s own Indian summer – or one might be tempted to say spring, so delicate and effervescent does the scoring sound.
La forza del destino
Rosalind Plowright, Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Renato Bruson, Paata Burchuladze, Juan Pons, John Tomlinson; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra / Giuseppe Sinopoli (DG)
‘Where, I think, Sinopoli is decisively superior to Muti is in the crucial closing trio. Here is the stuff of which great music drama is made, wonderfully enacted by Burchuladze, Plowright and Carreras, with subtle changes of pace and perspective from Sinopoli and glorious string playing in the opera's closing pages.’ (Richard Osborne, February 1987)
Macbeth
Piero Cappuccilli (Macbeth) Shirley Verrett (Lady Macbeth) Nicolai Ghiaurov (Banco) Plácido Domingo (Macduff) Stefania Malagú (Lady in Waiting) Antonio Savastano (Malcolm) Carlo Zardo (Medico) Teatro alla Scala / Claudio Abbado
‘A newcomer won’t find much fault with this Abbado set, scrupulously prepared, executed and recorded.’ (Alan Blyth, March 1997)
Nabucco
Tito Gobbi bar Nabucco Bruno Prevedi ten Ismaele Carlo Cava bass Zaccaria Elena Suliotis sop Abigaille Dora Carral sop Fenena Giovanni Foiani bass High Priest of Baal Walter Krautler ten Abdallo Anna d’Auria sop Anna Vienna Opera Orchestra; Vienna State Opera Chorus / Lamberto Gardelli (Decca)
‘The years have hardly lessened the excitement of listening to this vigorous, closely knit performance. One realises why we were all amazed by Suliotis’s account of the role of Abigaille. Her singing seizes you by the throat through its raw depiction of malice and through its youthful, uninhibited power. With the benefit of hindsight one can hear how a voice treated so carelessly and unstintingly could not last long, and so it was to be; but we should be glad for the brightness of the meteor while it flashed all too briefly through the operatic firmament.’ (Alan Blyth, January 1987)
Otello
Plácido Domingo ten Otello Cheryl Studer sop Desdemona Sergei Leiferkus bar Iago Ramón Vargas ten Cassio Michael Schade ten Roderigo Denyce Graves mez Emilia Ildebrando d’Arcangelo bass Lodovico Giacomo Prestia bass Montano Philippe Duminy bass Herald Hauts-de-Seine Maîtrise; Chorus and Orchestra of the Opéra-Bastille, Paris / Myung-Whun Chung (DG)
‘Domingo is in superb voice; the sound seems golden as never before. Yet at the same time, it’s a voice that’s being more astutely deployed. This is undoubtedly the best Otello on record since the early 1960s. It also happens to be the first time on disc that a great Otello at the height of his powers has been successfully caught in the context of a recording that can itself be generally considered worthy of the event, musically and technically.’ (Richard Osborne, December 1994)
Otello
Jon Vickers ten Otello Leonie Rysanek sop Desdemona Tito Gobbi bar Iago Florinda Andreolli ten Cassio Mario Carlin ten Roderigo Ferruccio Mazzoli bass Lodovico Franco Calabrese bass Montano Robert Kerns bass Herald Myriam Pirazzini mez Emilia Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus / Tullio Serafin (RCA)
‘What a pity that Tito Gobbi’s Iago was never captured on ilm. But this recording is treasurable all the same, with Gobbi partnered by the young Jon Vickers. Leonie Rysanek is in ine voice as Desdemona, and Tullio Sera in conducts superbly.’ (Gramophone Collection – stereo choice, Richard Lawrence, April 2016)
Rigoletto
Tito Gobbi bar Rigoletto Maria Callas sop Gilda Giuseppe di Stefano ten Duke Nicola Zaccaria bass Sparafucile Adriana Lazzarini mez Maddalena Plinio Clabassi bass Monterone Giuse Gerbino mez Giovanna Renato Ercolani ten Borsa William Dickie bar Marullo Elvira Galassi sop Countess Ceprano Carlo Forti bass Count Ceprano Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan / Tullio Serafin (Warner Classics)
‘That one recording should continue to hold sway over many other attractive comers after so long is simply a tribute to Callas, Gobbi, Serafin and Walter Legge. Whatever the merits of its successors, and they are many, no Rigoletto has surpassed Gobbi in tonal variety, line, projection of character and understanding of what Rigoletto is about; no Gilda has come anywhere near Callas in meaningful phrasing – listen to ‘Caro nome’ or ‘Tutte le feste’ on any other set if you’re disbelieving – nor achieved such a careful differentiation of timbre before and after her seduction; no conductor matches Serafin in judging tempo and instrumental detail on a nicety; nor benefited from a chorus and orchestra bred in the tradition of La Scala; no producer has equalled Legge in recording voices rather than the space round them... This remains the classic performance on record.’ (Alan Blyth, February 1987)
Rigoletto
Robert Merrill bar Rigoletto Anna Moffo sop Gilda Alfredo Kraus ten Duke Ezio Flagello bass Sparafucile Rosalind Elias mez Maddalena Anna Di Stasio mez Giovanna David Ward bass Monterone Robert Kerns bar Marullo Piero De Palma ten Borsa Mario Rinaudo bass Count Ceprano Corinna Vozza sop Countess Ceprano RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus / Sir Georg Solti (RCA)
‘For an exciting, theatrical performance turn to Georg Solti (1963), who is fast and furious with the RCA Italiana Orchestra in Rome. Robert Merrill is vibrant in the title-role, slightly more subtle than for Perlea, and Alfredo Kraus is a debonair Duke. I completely fell for Anna Moffo’s Gilda, whose warm tone and diamantine coloratura are a winning combination. There’s an imposing Monterone from David Ward and Solti conjures up a terrifying storm.’ (Gramophone Collection, Mark Pullinger, October 2021)
Simon Boccanegra
Piero Cappuccilli (Boccanegra) Mirella Freni (Amelia/Maria) José van Dam (Paolo) Nicolai Ghiaurov (Jacopo Fiesco) José Carreras (Gabriele) La Scala Chorus & Orchestra / Claudio Abbado (DG)
‘Over all presides Abbado in what remains one of his greatest recordings, alert to every facet of the wondrous score, timing every scene, in an opera tricky to pace, to near-perfection, and in sum bringing theatrical drama into the home. You, like me, may prefer this or that aspect of the other sets, but this one should now be an essential adornment to any reputable collection of Verdi.’ (Alan Blyth, October 1997)
La traviata
Maria Callas sop Violetta Valéry Alfredo Kraus ten Alfredo Germont Mario Sereni bar Giorgio Germont Laura Zanini mez Flora Bervoix Maria Cristina de Castro sop Annina Piero De Palma ten Gastone Alvaro Malta bar Baron Douphol Vito Susca bass Marquis D’Obigny Alessandro Maddalena bass Doctor Grenvil Manuel Leitao ten Messenger Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon / Franco Ghione (Warner Classics)
‘The final act is almost unbearable in its poignancy of expression: the reading of the letter so natural in its feeling of emptiness, the realisation that the doctor is lying so truthful, the sense of hollowness at what’s possibly the opera’s most moving moment, ‘Ma se tornando…’: ‘If in returning you haven’t saved my life, then nothing can save it’. All this and so much else suggests that Callas understood better than anyone else what this role is truly about... If it’s to be but one Traviata in your collection, it must be this one.’ (Alan Blyth, November 1987)
La traviata
Ileana Cotrubas sop Violetta Plácido Domingo ten Alfredo Sherrill Milnes bar Giorgio Germont Stefania Malagù mez Flora Helena Jungwirth sop Annina Walter Gullino ten Gastone Giovanni Foiani bass Doctor Grenvil Bayerischer Staatsoper / Carlos Kleiber (DG)
‘As this performance is so compelling dramatically, it could well be a newcomer's first choice.
Cotrubas is quite as moving as Violetta as Scotto (Muti/EMI), a little smaller in scale but free from those ugly high notes that mar the older singer's performance. At any and every point one feels the vulnerability of this Violetta and the hard deal she gets from life. She isn't a grand Violetta, not a society queen, but a wholly believable woman and lover, whose tragedy is expressed in moving accents.’ (Alan Blyth, March 1986)
Il trovatore
Maria Callas sop Leonora Giuseppe di Stefano ten Manrico Rolando Panerai bar Count di Luna Fedora Barbieri mez Azucena Nicola Zaccaria bass Ferrando Luisa Villa mez Ines Renato Ercolani ten Ruiz, Messenger Giulio Mauri bass Old Gypsy Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan / Herbert von Karajan (Warner Classics)
‘Callas and Karajan took the world by the ears in the 1950s with this Il trovatore. Leonora was one of Callas’s finest stage roles, and this recording is wonderfully intense, with a dark concentrated loveliness of sound in the principal arias that puts one in mind of Muzio or Ponselle at their best. Walter Legge always managed to team Callas with the right conductor for the work in question. Often it was Serafin, but Karajan in Il trovatore is utterly compelling.’ (Richard Osborne, December 1987)
Il Trovatore
Plácido Domingo, Rosalind Plowright, Brigitte Fassbaender, Giorgio Zancanaro, Evgeny Nesterenko; Orchestra & Chorus of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Carlo Maria Giulini (DG)
‘My desert island Trovatore, Giulini’s 1983/84 recording, will be controversial for both inveterate canary fanciers and those who like their middle-period Verdian ‘rum-ti-tum’ taken at a relentlessly spanking pace (look to Pappano, Mehta and Muti for more of this attribute). Giulini’s cast of acting singers are fully engaged in his vision of a serious mid-19th-century drama about families and love caught up in wartime.’ (Gramophone Collection – Top Choice, Mike Ashman, July 2013)
Verdi
Ludovic Tézier bar Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna / Frédéric Chaslin (Sony)
‘All in all, with idiomatic support from Frédéric Chaslin and the Bologna orchestra, and engineering that captures the voice handsomely, this is surely the finest Verdi recital – from any voice type – to have appeared for several years, if not a decade.’ (Hugo Shirley, May 2021)
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