Search - Alfredo Catalani, Fausto Cleva, Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra :: Catalani: La Wally

The one to buy

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 02/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I would not expect to find "La Wally" in anyone's list of ten favourite operas - although apparently Toscanini, in gratitude to Catalani's securing him a conducting post, named his son and daughter Walter and Wally respectively after the eponymous protagonist - and I bet they were grateful...



It's a good, if unremarkable, opera: tuneful, full of verismo cut-'n-thrust, some nice Alpine effects and a few good arias including, of course, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana", which Tebaldi sings beautifully. This is a rôle which suits her well even at this late stage of career and she is, in any case, in excellent voice despite having already sung it for fifteen years in thirteen productions when she recorded it here. OK; her top is a little acid and Del Monaco, too, has his moments of bleakness in the middle of the voice but they are still a class act. They do sometimes bawl a bit but there are many moments of tenderness - not least Tebaldi's melting account of the big aria. Cleva conducts unobtrusively and Cappuccilli does his usual solid job. There is a very cheap, 1972 live Opera d'Oro set with the wonderful Magda Olivero (still great at 62) and a decent supporting cast but it's in execrable sound so this is a much better bet for home listening - unless you are attracted by the other Opera d'Oro bargain set which is a 1960 live radio broadcast in truly excellent sound with the lady herself in younger, even better voice, a decent baritone in Dondi and expert conducting by Tebaldi's paramour Basile. Unfortunately, the tenor Prandelli is a bit of a trial. (I haven't heard the other set available from Eurodisc with Marton, Araiza and Titus, but I would be very surprised if it were superior to this one.)"