Search - Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Fritz Reiner :: Richard Strauss: Salome [Ljuba Welitsch, Herbert Janssen, Frederick Jagel, Kerstin Thorborg, Brian Sullivan; Fritz Reiner] AND Giacomo Puccini: Gianni Schicchi [Italo Tajo, Licia Albanese, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Cloe Elmo; Giuseppe Antonicelli] [Complete Af

On GUILD 2230/1; The COMPLETE AFTERNOON'S DOUBLE BILL OF "SALOME" AND "GIANNI SCHICCHI." About "Salome:" Considered by many to be the best of the live Welitsch performances of "Salome," this offers great singing and characterization from Welitsch herself with sweepingly powerful conducting from Fritz Reiner. Frederick Jagel, Kerstin Thorborg, Brian Sullivan and Herbert Janssen make up a strong supporting cast. And, about "Gianni Schicchi:" The program also includes a delicious performance of Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" with the superlative Licia Albanese and the young, virile, exciting, and wonderful Giuseppe DiStefano in the flush of youth!! Italo Tajo is the rich Schicchi in this fine performance conducted by Antonicelli!! Also, "The Rough Guide to Opera" says about the "Salome" that it "captures one of the century's greatest singer-actresses in her prime, and in a role that she made her own. Although scale and power are the voice's defining qualities, what makes Weilitsch such a formidable presence as Salome is the extraordinary immediacy of the parlando. Every single phrase is made to speak volumes, and particularly during her scenes with Herod on is struck, first and foremost, by the brillance of Strauss's writing. Welitsch achieves the ideal by forcing one to concentrate on the work, rather than its performance. A magical recording."