The Scala Recordings:A Particular Viewby Kenneth Furie
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The Scala Recordings:A Particular Viewby Kenneth Furie In the late Sixties. Italian musicians began pected that Rafael Kubelik-a distinguished that has eluded most of the pricing themselves out of the recordingstu- conductor but hardly one associated with more gener- dio. Why schlepp to Italy. the major ously endowed Dukes. corn - the Italian repertory-would conductthe panics reasoned, when for thesame cost (or We are often asked to believe thatman- best Rigoletto on records (DG 2709 014)?(It kind has been marching steadily upward even less) we can record operas in London is, for that matter, one of the best pieces of and have the luxury of usinga first-class since protoplasmic days. Andso it may be Verdi conducting on records.) Onereason hard to imagine that those "primitive" symphony orchestra rather than the Rome he succeeded, I think, was his apprecia- com- Opera or Santa Cecilia or worse? plete -opera recordings of the early electri- tion of the idiomatic strengths of the Scala cal era, made for the most part with It certainly sounded like a good idea. but forces, who gave him not only less the experience of a decade has demon- power and than great singers, can have anythingto of- precision, but passion and tonal luster. And fer us. I disagree. For one thing, strated two things that should perhaps isit coincidence that, with Kubelik. Die- as more of have been obvious. First. Italianoperatic those sets find their way onto LP (courtesy trich Fischer-Dieskau in the title rolegave of EMI itself, which owns them, and such music-in particular that of the nineteenth his one memorable recorded performance and early twentieth centuries-hasbasic other sources as OAS!. Discophilia, and of an Italian role? Consider too thatnearly Club 99), I am more and stylistic features that just don'tcome easily more impressed by everyone in that set is functioning at or near the ability of Sabajno, HMV's Milan to foreigners. Second. playing inan opera his or her best, and you have coincidence musi- cal director, and evenmore his Columbia orchestra or singing in an opera chorus isa on a scale I don't believe in-any more than counterpart, Lorenzo Molajoli. to get the very different skill from playing in asym- I believe it coincidence that Abbado's four best out of their casts. And theywere, quite phony orchestra or singing ina concert Boccanegra principals give perhaps their simply,excellent conductors-the rock- choir. There is no reason tosuppose that worst performances on record. (Granted even the best concert musicians haveany that three of them solid Sabajno the more orthodox, Molajoli are miscast and the the subtler and more imaginative. theatrical savvy, not to mention priorexpe- fourth in parlous vocal estate, didn't Ab- Molajoli's Pagliacci (Italian EMI 3C rience of the music, the notable exceptions bado hear what was going on?) 165 being in the German-speaking countries, 17998/9)-with Francesco Merli's noble What makes Kubelik sucha satisfying Canio and Rosetta Pampanini's attractive where, true to tradition,many leading or- opera conductor is his ability to support chestras are in fact the local pit bands (or Nedda-seems to me the best -conductedon singers, to help them give their bestper- records, with Sabajno's (OAST 580) their elite corps)-viz. the Vienna Philhar- formances rather than browbeating them a strong monic and the Dresden State Orchestra. Of contender for runnerup. Molajoli is alsoat into giving his performance. (Among DG's the helm for the great Riccardo Stracciari's course that's not much help for Italian op- early -Sixties Scala recordings I would era. also two complete recordedroles,Rigoletto put in a good word for the veteran Tullio (EMI 3C 153 17081/2) and Rossini's Barber Not a pleasant choice: Wouldwe rather Serafin's knowingly proportioned Trova- (EMI 3C 153 00697/8). Listen to thesweet- idiomatic but often coarse Italian orchestra ness of the strings in Molajoli's Traviata 2728 008. and perhaps also Gabriele San- preludes (EMI 3C 165 18029/30. or sight-read by an efficient and largely un- tini's Don Carlos, now out of print.) I know an as- comprehending British one-orworse. con- that many knowledgeable tonishingly good LP dub by A. C. Griffith). opera enthusi- or to the wonderful ensemble feeling of his sidering the growing number of Verdi asts regard the conductor as the driving recordings coming from Germany? (About Falstaff (EMI 3C 153 00695/6). His Mefisto- force r.f a performance. I used to feel that fele (last available in Italy the general superiority of the Italian choris- way too, until I discovered how much is as Columbia ters and supporting singers I don't think QCX 10117/9). although dim in sound, lost that way. Which is not tosay that theblazes and soars in spirit, thanks in there's much doubt.) conductor is unimportant-merely that the part to There has always been one significant al- the overwhelming Mefisto of Nazzarenode role is more complex and subtle thanis of- Angelis and the heartbreaking Margherita ternative: La Scala, whose chorus andor- ten realized. chestra. despite their inevitableups and of Mafalda Favero. That would bemy un- Not long ago a friend mentioned inpass- hesitating first choice for the downs, have consistently combined inter- ing that he had picked up the Seraphim opera, as national -caliber technical standards and would HMV's 1941 Andrea Cheniercon- reissue of HMV's 1932 Don Pasquale (IC ducted by Oliviero de Fabritiis (Seraphim intimate identification with the Italian dra- 6084). in which he had derived particular matic repertory. Fortunatelyover the dec- IB 6019), with Beniamino Gigli. MariaCa- pleasure from the conducting of CarloSa- niglia, Gino Bechi, and a terrific ades they have generated a sizable disco- bajno. I needed no persuading, having supporting re- cast. And the Chenier's recorded sound is graphy whose value is probably notnews acted the same way several months earlier to most collectors. What intriguesme is the quite good enough to capturesome breath- listening to an Italian reissue of Sabajno's taking orchestral playing. often surprising way conductors have 1927 Rigoletto (Bongiovanni "Mito matched up with the Scala team, yielding Distinguishedperformances are dell'Opera" GB 1001/2, available fromsprinkled throughout those recordings. rather unpredictably some of the most and Bongiovanni, Via Rizzoli 28. 40125 Bologna. least interesting Scala recordings. Irene Minghini-Cattaneo's Azucena (in Sa- Italy -1 wouldn't attempt to quotea price. Star conductors have succeeded in im- bajno's Trovatore, EMI 3C 153 17083/5),for the dollar and the lira being in theshape example, is in a class by itself, and her posing their will (the musiciansare they're in these days). Am- neris (in Sabajno's Aida, EMI 3C 153 evidently flexible enough to give whatever The Rigoletto is a richly satisfying 01616/ per- 8) has been approached on records only by is asked of them) to peculiar effect. When formance despite the presence of only Herbert von Karajan. who made two one Rita Gorr. Apollo Granforte is the impres- no- really first-rate principal, the baritoneLuigi table Scala recordings in the mid -Fifties,re- sive Di Luna of that Trovatore, and hecan Piazza in the title role. But there is Sabajno, also be heard in Sabajno's Otello (EMI turned a decade later as a superstarto shaping the line alertly and supporting the 3C 153 17076/8), Tosco (Discophilia KS 10/11), record Cav and Pug for DG (2709 020), his singers subtly. By any objective standard primary interest seemed to be the lush,stat- and Pagliacci (see above). Tino Folgar is probably the feeblesttenor to I wish space permitted ic textures he favored in thoseyears. More have recorded the Duke, and yet Sabajno more detailed recently. Claudio Abbado. the company's consideration: perhaps. as more of thepre - steers him through the hurdles (howmany current artistic director, seems so intenton LP sets resurface, the subjectcan be ex- opera conductors today know enough plored more fully. Those recordings speak achieving international -style "discipline" about voices to recognize what and where that his Macbeth (DG 2709 062) and,even from an era whose performers by and large those hurdles are?) so that the character had an intuitive understanding of this more, his Simon Boccanegra (DC 2709 071) emerges in recognizable form. It's not rep- might as well have been made in London. ertory that has faltered since. Our stand- pleasant to listen to and hardly searchingly ards are hardly so exalted that On the other hand, who would haveex- we can af- insightful, but the role is filled out ina way ford to ignore their message. 88 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE.