The Tokyo Concerts: Kraus, Corelli
2013; Routledge; Volume: 69; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Musicological Studies
ResumoThe Tokyo Concerts: Kraus, Corelli. Alfredo Kraus, Franco Corelli, tenors; Emiko Suga, soprano; Edelmiro Arnaltes, piano; Asier Polo, cello; NHK Orchestra; Alberto Ventura, conductor. (Dynamic 33718; 1:54:00)Kraus. A. Scarlatti: Chi vuole innamorarsi. Gluck: del mio dolce ardor. Massenet: Elegie, Ouvre tes yeux bleus, Pourquoi me reveiller (Werther). Ruiz de Luna: En el fondo de la mina. Obradors: Del cabello mas sutil, Las coplas de Curro Dulce. Sorozabal: No puede ser (La tabernera del puerto). Donizetti: Sulla tomba (Lucia di Lammermoof). Cilea: Lamento di Frederico (L'Artesiana). Serrano: Tu quiero, morena (El trust de los tenorios).Corelli. Verdi: Questa o quella (Rigoletto). Giordano: Un di all'azzurro spazio (Andrea Chenier). Meyerbeer: Paradiso (L'Africana). Massenet: Ah! tout est bien fini ... O souverain, o Jude, o pere (Le Cid). Puccini: Che gelida manina (La boheme), Ch'ella mi creda (La fanciulla del West), di Capua: Sole Mio. Cardillo: Core 'ngrato. de Curtis: Tu, ca' nun chiagne. Tosti: Vucchella.This double DVD set features one of the oddest artistic pairings in the history of classical vocal recordings. A full quarter century separates these two performances, but the divide between the two singers is far more drastic than that. Franco Corelli was among the most spectacularly gifted and impassioned artists of his generation, but the demons of anxiety and paranoia brought his turbulent career to a premature end while his astounding voice was still in fine fettle. Contrast that with Alfredo Kraus, a consummate professional whose superb artistry and expressiveness helped him parlay his relatively modest vocal gifts into an exciting yet smoothly consistent international career spanning forty years. The pairing of these two singers into one package must have everything to do with contractual convenience rather than with any artistic kinship between them, but it still allows us to experience the greatness of two of our most unique and irreplaceable singers. Perhaps this odd juxtaposition also reminds us that greatness comes in many guises.Franco Corelli (1921-2003) was one of the mainstays of the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and early 1970s, and among the most charismatic and intriguing singers of his generation. A competitive swimmer in his youth, Corelli brought an athlete's build and grace to the opera stage in an era when the vast majority of opera singers seemed never to have stepped so much as once inside a gymnasium. More importantly, he was blessed with a splendid voice of thunderous size, yet melting beauty. His singing was somewhat akin to that of Mario del Monaco and Giovanni Martinelli in its ringing, trumpet-like brilliance, but with a warmer cushion of depth which those earlier compatriots did not possess. The result was not only a more beautiful and balanced timbre, but also a more consistent, evenly sustained tone. The voice was enormous by any standard, and his ardent persona made Corelli a natural for such roles as Calaf, Manrico, and Andrea Chenier. Sadly, Corelli was saddled with serious anxiety issues for most of his career, and those difficulties only worsened as the Met shifted him into French roles for which he was less suited both vocally and linguistically. By 1976 Corelli's singing career was over, save for a handful of appearances during a brief comeback in 1981.Corelli made highly regarded studio recordings of such roles as Calaf, Canio, Cavaradossi, Chenier, Manrico, and Radames, but many opera fans prefer the many pirate recordings that capture Corelli in the full intensity of live performance. Unfortunately, the video record is much more limited, with only one complete live opera preserved for posterity: a primitive video of Verdi's La forza del destino from 1957 featuring Tebaldi, Siepi, Bastiannini, and a young Franco Corelli at the very beginning of his career. Aside from that extraordinary treasure, the remaining videos of Corelli consist largely of arias and duets recorded in the sterile confines of various television studios, conveying very little of what made him such an exciting performer on the stage. …
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