Search - Gaetano Donizetti, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra :: Donizetti: L'elisir d'Amore

Magnificent Performance!!!!!

04/05/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow! What a performance!! Bergonzi is undoubtedly the finest Nemorino of all time! His legato line and superb phrasing are perfect in this role, from his entrance on Quanto e' Belle to the last note of the opera. If you haven't heard Carlo Bergonzi sing "Una Furtive Lagrima", you simply have not lived (Bergonzi even surpasses Pavarotti in this performance). Scotto also sings in this live performance like you've never heard her before or since. She sounds like an angel on this recording. Other singers of exceptional note in this performance are Carlo Cava as Dulcamara and Guiseppe Taddei as Belcore. So, if you are a fan of Bergonzi, of Scotto, or just great singing, you simply MUST buy this recording and at the super bargain price of $8.97, you can't resist. This is the finest performance of L'Elisir D'Amore I've ever heard."

A Fun Performance

John Cragg | Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada | 01/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Right from the opening, Gavazzani demonstrates that this is a full bodied and fun performance. It is not a scholar's version; instead it is a performer's version with the cloth cut to make an effective stage performance. And what a performance it is! Bergonzi gives a sensitive and well paced portrayal of the hero, producing a strong and sensitive Nemorino whose love-besotted antics are rendered the more interesting by his not being the usual light-weight non-entity. He also thereby serves as a better foil for Scotto's well rounded presentation of Adina. Scotto makes her character much more than the usual ditzy airhead found in most productions. Taddei is adequate as Belcore, while Cava turns in a buffo performance as the charlatan Dulcamara, second on record only to the off-the-wall version of Geraint Evans. This makes him a convincing and lovable rogue, though still the complete scoundral, therby heightening our interest in his scams. The conducting is robust and full of character, the orchestra and chorus at least adequate. The sound is not great, but it does not seriously detract from the basic portrayal of a marvelous evening. The booklet is minimal.I doubt if many people would want this as their only version of L'elisir d'Amore -- the sound rather precludes that -- but as a second copy its price makes this version an outstanding recommendation -- and if you don't want a libretto, this version is much more fun and interesting than almost all the ones in the catalogue with which I am familiar which otherwise might be your first version."

The decline of opera

joseph puglisi | Bloomington, IN | 11/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How disappointed I was to read these reviews. "Bergonzi's voice doesn't ring", "Taddei sounds like an old man", "Scotto is not up to par." This is an unbelievable recording of the highest standard. Not only are the voices clear and resplendent, but Gavazzeni is pure genius. True there are a lot of cuts, but this is from another time, I time when Puccini, Franchetti, Giordano, Ponchielli and other could be performed. Today, on the other hand, there is a Baroque "revival" and Rossini "revival". Hmmm...I wonder why that is?"