Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Nino Verchi, La Scala Theater Orchestra :: Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

A gem of a Ballo

J. Martin | Pensacola, FL | 06/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kudos to Myto for releasing this little known performance of Ballo with the recently deceased and incomparable Leyla Gencer. Although many people do not care for her voice, those who really know and understand opera as a total experience eagerly seek out her performances. She is not a removed and interpretationless singer with a ravishing voice like Caballe, who usually sings well but is personalityless most of the time, neither is she a golden, short-voiced singer like Tebaldi who sumptuously feeds our ears with her incredible voice until you get to Bb and above. No, Gencer is a total package of voice (secure up to E in alt), technique, interpretation and action. Like Callas, she was not afraid to throw away the beauty of tone for the drama of the moment, and even her detractors have to admit that she is always deeply immersed in her roles. In this performance, recorded in 1973 when she was already past her vocal prime, we have her in very fine voice, doing what she does best, making a role her very own. Her singing is wonderful and her overall performance thrilling.



Giorio Merighi has a beautiful voice which frequently is marred by his annoying tendency to sing flat above the staff. In this performance, however, he is in fine form, and aside form one or two flat notes sings both beautifully and admirably. Cappuccilli is, as usual, wonderful, singing with elegance, beauty of tone and enough heft to make the "declamato" passages not sound thin or forced. The remainder of the cast is more than adequate and the sound, for an in-house recording, is quite good even if the voices are a bit distant and occassionally swallowed by the orchestra in the extreme forte passages.



One can only hope that Myto will now scour the continents and the archives of the most prominent collectors to issue more of Gencer's performances as a tribute to her art and astounding career."