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A truly great live Otello from Kleiber and La Scala

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This same live performance from Dec. 7, 1976, has been around on varoius labels (Myto, Melodram) but here is at bargain price from Opera d'Oro. All the companies use the same radio broadcast, in good stereo, from La Scala, with differences in remastering. In this case the sound stage is a bit cramped because someobdy has rolled off the treble, but in other versions the treble is irritatingly bright, so this is a good compromise.



Carlos Kleiber conducted only a handful of operas, and Otello was one of his most acclaimed. It was heard only a few times at the Met becasue the conductor walked out on the production soon after the premiere. He made no commercial recordings, so this one, plus some other pirated recordings on other occasions, is all we will ever have (unless DG is hiding something in its vaults). I have heard three Kleiber Otellos and consider this the best, thanks to Domingo's youthful, impassioned singing--probably his best ever in this role--and Freni's incomparable Desdemona, which can also be heard on another Otello from Opera d'Oro with Jon Vickers under Karajan. It too is excellent in every way.



Kleiber took a swift, tense, tightly controlled approach to the score. He did wonders with the La Scala orchestra and chorus, who sound disciplined yet highly committed. This is a very Italian night at the opera and includes a loud argument in the audience at one point! The sound gets congested during climaxes, but on the whole this is one of the better pirated recordings on the market, not up to studio quality but highly listenable anyway. As a performance it stands among the very best on disc."

Un 'Otello' live de gran calidad

Annio mozartiano ;) | España | 09/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Esta versión del Otello verdiano grabada en directo en la Scala de Milán en 1976 es interesantísima, ante todo por el hecho de tener a tres de los más grandes intérpretes de esta ópera en la segunda mitad del siglo XX reunidos sobre un mismo escenario: Plácido Domingo, Piero Capuccilli y Mirella Freni, con uno de los directores más fascinantes de ese tiempo: Carlos Kleiber.

El sonido directo es bastante asumible (algo reberverante en los fortes) y la interpretación impagable. El Otello del joven Domingo es todo pasión, el Jago de Piero Capuccilli es de una fuerza teatral tremenda, y da toda una lección de buen canto verdiano y la Desdémona de Mirella Freni es un prodigio de belleza vocal. Si a esto sumamos que Kleiber dirige, como era costumbre en él, de manera impresionante, que los cuerpos estables del teatro milanés tienen un nivel estupendo y responden a las mil maravillas y que entre la lista de secundarios se encuentran nombres del calibre de Dano Raffanti, Luigi Roni, Orazio Mori o Giuseppe Moresi -el primero llegaría a convertirse en tenor protagonista en el repertorio belcantista, y el resto son asiduos secundarios de la Scala- tenemos una grabación indispensable para los amantes de esta ópera, presentada ahora en esta edición a un precio muy interesante.

Circula esta misma función en otros sellos"