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Not quite as attractive as it looks - but there are still ge

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 05/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It would be churlish to complain about a box set of 14 discs which offers seven complete operas so cheaply and there are indeed some lovely performances to be heard here, but I would offer a few warnings. First, this being Allegro, aka Opera d'Oro, masquerading as "Bravissimo", documentation is fairly minimal - but you do get a brief "60 second overview" synopsis for each opera and an introductory essay by the knowledgeable and long-suffering Bill Parker to introduce and contextualise both the composers and the operas in question, plus some nice photos and track listings - so it could be worse. The recordings themselves are drawn from live performances from the 60's and 70's, in mostly bearable sound. The exception is, rather off-puttingly, the first opera, "Orfeo ed Euridice", which is in dim, indeed execrable, sound. You might as well throw it in the trash and buy the cheap, classic studio set conducted by Fasano to hear Shirley Verrett in finest form. Otherwise, your response to the remaining six will mostly depend on your reaction to the starry voices featured here. I do not care for Renata Scotto's acidic, screechy tone and for me she spoils both "L'Elisir d'amore" and "La Traviata", although many will disagree with me and Carreras is in finest youthful voice in the latter; one of his finest performances. Nor is Bergonzi, for all that I usually admire him, particularly apt as Nemorino; amazingly, for an artist whose trademark was always elegance, he overacts and disturbs the cantilena line too often with too many emotive gulps and emphases - and Taddei is in simply awful voice for the preening Belcore: rocky, dry and laboured, and non-existent low notes. My favourite performances here are the famous, barnstorming Vienna production of "Andrea Chenier" with the stunning trio of Corelli, Tebaldi and Bastianini, and the lovely 1969 "La Boheme" with a youthful Freni and Pavarotti, plus a wise Marcello from the veteran Bruscantini. It has to be said, however, that some of the comprimario roles in the "Chenier" are sung by wobbly, worn Vienna regulars and if you already own the Karajan studio recording of "La Boheme" you might not feel that you need the live version here. Freni and Pavarotti also star, with Panerai, in an Italian version of "Manon", a set excoriated by the purists who cannot abide Massenet in anything other than French, but admired by those of us who want to hear two beautiful voices give an Italian flavour to an essentially Gallic opera. Finally, the "Fidelio" is worth hearing for Franz Crass as Rocco and James King as Florestan, but the latter is not as fine as Vickers and Christa Ludwig can be heard to greater advantage in the classic Klemperer set. Most of these operas are reviewed separately in more detail elsewhere under their Opera d'Oro edition titles but many reviewers are rather more enthusiastic about these live performances than I can be. Having said that, at this price some might feel that it is worth acquiring this box set just to hear Corelli and Tebaldi rock the rafters in the "Chenier" and catch the legendary duo of Freni and Pavarotti at their peak."