Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Aleksandr Orlov :: Verdi: Ernani

Recorded live in 1972, the vocal style on this two-CD set belongs to a golden operatic age, with its unabashed scoops, slides, sobs, liberties, and endless fermatas on significant (especially high) notes, as well as its idiomatic phrasing, grandeur, and all-out emotional involvement. The singing is glorious: Carlo Bergonzi, at the peak of his power, combines a heroic ring with melting, tender lyricism; Leyla Gencer, after a tentative start, displays a warm yet radiant voice; Piero Cappuccilli is a commanding King, Ruggero Raimondi a resonant bass. The orchestra comes off worst: the sound is impure, and the ensemble with the singers very shaky. The music is vintage early Verdi, overflowing with gorgeous melodies and running the gamut of human emotions; it betrays the composer's youth only in the often unsophisticated accompaniment and a few banal choruses, but is full of harbingers of future greatness. The text is a model of improbability and inconsistency; as in other Verdi librettos with a Spanish locale, the characters' sole, central concern is their honor; to preserve it they sacrifice love, compassion, happiness, and life itself. Unfortunately, the recording does not include a libretto or even a synopsis. --Edith Eisler