I2O RECORDINGS Itnelda de3Lambertazzi (1830) Soloists: Floriana Sovilla, Diego DAuria, Fausto Tenzi, Andrta Martin, Gastone Sarti Italian-Swiss Radio-Television Orchestra and Chorus MarcAndreae, conductor Nuova Era (distributed by Koch International) 6778/79 (2 CDs) This recording of the "first performance in modern times?a 1988 concert performance in Lugano, is, in Roland Graeme's opinion, "among the best conducted Donizetti operas I have heard on records.... A striking feature of the [plot] is the com- plete isolation of the heroine: she is not even given the traditional operatic Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/14/3/120/1444445 by guest on 30 September 2021 confidant, nor does the chorus ever express any sympathy for her plight.... Imelda's death scene is also innovative—not simply because she dies onstage, but because she doesn't sing anything remotely resembling a formal aria: her dying gasps, echoed by broken cello figurations, are almost veristic." The Opera Quarterly, vol. 7, no. 2 (summer 1990), pp. 201-2. Anna Bolena (1830) Anna Bolena: Edita Gruberova SirHervey:-Josi Guadalupe Reyes Giovanna Seymour: Delores Zicgler Orchestra and Chorus of lite Hungarian Enrico FZZT: Stefano Palatthi Radio and Television Lord Riccardo Percy: JosiBros Elio Boncompagni, conductor Lord Rochefbrt: IgorMorosow Nightingale (distributed by Koch International) Smeton: Helene Schneiderman NCO70S6S-2 (3 CDs) The premiere of Anna Bolena at Milan's Teatro Carcano set the seal on Donizetti's operatic career. By the turn of the century, however, it had disap- peared from the repertory, not to return to prominence until the historic revival at the Teatro alia Scala in 1957, with Maria Calks in the title role. Since Callas, the royal robes have been worn v ith varied success by Leyla Gencer, Elena Souliotis, Beverly Sills, Renata Scotto, Katia Ricciarelli, and Joan Sutherland, all of whose interpretations are documented in live-performance and/or studio recordings currently in the catalog (see list below). This latest Anna Bolena from Nightingale, recorded in late 1994 during a series of live performances in the Vienna Konzerthaus, offers Edita Gruberova's interpretation of the tragic Anne Boleyn. Gruberova joins Gencer and Sills as one of an exclusive group of sopranos whose interpretations of all three of Donizetti's Tudor queens have been captured on disc. Donizetti conceived the role of Anna for Giuditta Pasta, a mezzo-soprano who extended her range upward without losing the intensity and power of her darkly weighted lower range. Hence the score calls for a soprano drammatico d'agilita e difbrza with the breadth of tone in the lower-middle range required to project RECORDINGS 12 1 ftsJPASTA Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/14/3/120/1444445 by guest on 30 September 2021 Anna Bolena, act 2. Filippo Gaili (Enrico Vlll), Giovanni Battista Rubini (Percy), and Giuditta Pasta (Anna Bolena). (Courtesy of'William Ashbrook.) the declamatory outbursts of the outraged queen. Gruberova, a brilliant Queen of the Night and an unrivaled Zerbinetta, lacks the fullness of sound to sustain much of Anna's low-lying music. She disguises her deficiencies skillfully by opt- ing for high alternatives in cadenzas and embellished repeats of cabalettas, but she sometimes robs the role of dramatic impact by resorting to upward trans- positions or by adopting an introspective interpretive mode that forces her to sing softly and delicately when she should be making a grand vocal gesture. Built around Gruberova's high soprano, Nightingale's cast could be nick- named "Bolena Lite." Delores Ziegler^s Giovanna and Helene Schneiderman's Smeton match Gruberova in vocal slimness. Ziegler has a light-textured, com- 122 RECORDINGS pact voice and an incisive style that nicely complement Gruberova's. Singing boldly and vigorously, she negotiates the rapid figurations with precision. But on top Ziegler's mezzo thins out, and in sustained tones it tends to quaver. Schneiderman leaves an agreeable impression. Her slender-toned voice flows through the page's act i romanza neatly and the cavatina with graceful ease. ]os6 Bros's sweet tenor and Stefano Palatchi's smooth bass bring no partic- ular heft to the male roles, either. Although Bros sings stylishly, at times even elegantly, his ingratiating tenorino is several shades too light for Percy. Never- theless, he launches the act 2 terzetto with melting tone and shades the line sen- sitively. He also fashions a model performance of the once-celebrated aria "Vivi Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/14/3/120/1444445 by guest on 30 September 2021 tu." In the ensuing cabaletta he reveals some technical limitations but rises to a secure high C. While Donizetti's Enrico does not bestride the opera with the dominating presence of the historical Henry VIII (he has no aria and tends only to react to others), Palatchi further robs the character of authority by singing almost every phrase mezzo-forte. His fine-grained singing is often admirable, but when power or royal anger are needed, he fails to convey either. Gruberova's thoughtfully conceived and fluently sung Anna merits praise, tempered almost always with reservation. From her first entry, Gruberova inte- riorizes the cast-off queen's grief and sorrow. Unable to fill out the declamatory recitative in midrange, she resorts to a persistent piano that shrinks the role's dimensions. She molds Anna's wide-ranging cavatina in a satiny legato but can- not fill out phrases with the grave tone they require. She sails fleetly through the virtuosic cabaletta but fails to attack the florid figurations with the bravura authority of genuine royalty. As Anna's plight grows more complex, Gruberova sings exquisitely and carefully but without conveying the full impact of the queen's large outbursts. In the act 1 finale her slender voice cannot color "Giu- dici, ad Anna" with the requisite sense of outraged dignity or suggest the char- acter's blazing fury as she launches the stretta. In the rivals' heated duet in act 2, neither Gruberova nor Ziegler summons the degree of urgency that the music requires. Gruberova does rise admirably to the manifold demands of the great final scene. Her delivery of the recitative phrases connecting the aria, cantabile, and cabaletta may lack tonal weight, but the lyrical portions of the score are sung exquisitely. Gruberova holds the listener transfixed as she molds "Al dolce guidami" with a stream of pure, limpid sound, breathed forth on an endless line that builds hauntingly to the climactic sequence of eight gruppettos rising to high A. She phrases the tender "Home, Sweet Home" bridge spaciously and affectingly and rounds into the cabaletta with panache. Here, at last, she begins to sing out defiantly and, in so doing, suggests the tragic grandeur of Anna's outrage before she is led off to her execution. Overall, Gruberova fashions a valid interpretation of this demanding role. She spins some enchanting, long-breathed, lyrical lines and tosses off the florid embellishment with disdainful ease. She caps cabalettas and ensembles with RECORDINGS I 2 3 stunning high Ds and E-flats. Vocally, however, the role's larger dimensions escape her ambitious grasp. Elio Boncompagni leads a fast-paced performance filled with energy and rhythmic propulsion. A compliant accompanist, he allows the singers to stretch the rhythms and indulge in expansive phrasing but never permits the music to sag or lose its shape. From the Hungarian Radio and Television orchestra he summons some supple playing, captured in spacious sound by Nightingale's engineers. A few cabalettas are shorn of their repeats, and the ensembles also suffer internal cuts that sometimes reduce the grand dimensions of Donizetti's musical structure. A few cuts are made apparently to save Bros and Palatchi Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/oq/article/14/3/120/1444445 by guest on 30 September 2021 from exposing their incomplete florid techniques. Callas, of course, set the standard on the EMI live Scala performance, still unequaled for vocal power and finesse, musical exactitude, dramatic drive, and sheer theatrical impact. Alone on record, Callas displays a mastery of the tonal shadings and nuances of the canto eUgiaco estatico required by this music. Her Bolena is a sublime figure, inhabiting a tragic dimension larger and more com- pelling than any of her successors. Gencer, in her two recorded live performances, comes closest to Callas in the breadth of her singing and the nobility of her conception. Her portrayal is undercut by her idiosyncratic voice, with its strange but intriguing colors, and by certain technical limitations, above all, the crude glottal attacks that too often disfigure the line. Souliotis, in both the London studio recording and a live concert performance from Carnegie Hall, simply lacks the technical schooling to compete. Sills, like Gruberova, is lightweight but fascinating on her LP set (still out of print in America but recently reissued in England on the Millen- nium CD label). Scotto understands the role's grand manner but does not con- sistently command the vocal means to sustain her ambitious intentions; her wiry top and wayward technique undercut a sometimes exciting performance. Bicciarelli brings many admirable qualities to Anna—not least a true Italianate sound and an affectingly plaintive tone quality— but her live performance catches her too late in her career. So does Sutherland's studio version, which finds her tones loosened and unvibrant. For die tragic queen Donizetti envi- sioned in his music, Callas remains the musical and dramatic paragon. Robert Baxter OTHER RECORDINGS Maria Callas, Giulietta Simionato, Nicola Leyla Gencer, Patricia Johnson, Juan Oncina, Rossi-Lemeni, Gianni Raimondi, Gabriella Carlo Cava, Don Garrard, Glyndebourne Carturan, Orchestra and Chorus of La Festival Orchestra and Chorus, conducted Scala, Milan, conducted by Gianandrea by Gianandrea Gavazzeni.