Cesare Siepi
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813–1901)
Ernani:
1. Infelice! e tu credevi [3:39]
Nabucco:
2. Tu sul labbro dei veggenti
[4:54]
Arrigo BOITO
(1842–1918)
Mefistofele:
3. So lo Spirito che nega [3:07]
Giuseppe VERDI
I vespri Siciliani:
4. O tu, Palermo [4:18]
Don Carlo:
5. Ella giammai m’amo! [8:12]
Amilcare PONCHIELLI
(1834–1886)
La Gioconda:
6. Si, morir ella de’ [4:38]
Vincenzo BELLINI
(1801–1835)
La sonnambula:
7. Vi ravviso [3:03]
Gioacchino ROSSINI
(1792–1868)
L’Italiana in Algeri:
8. Le femmine d’Italia [3:22]
Il barbiere di Siviglia:
9, La calunnia [4:22]
Wolfgang Amadeus
MOZART (1756–1791)
Don Giovanni:
10. Deh vieni alla finestra
[2:16]
Paolo TOSTI
(1846–1916)
11. L’ultima canzone [4:41]
12. Non t’amo più [4:46]
13. Malia [3:08]
Luigi DENZA
(1846–1922)
14. Occhi di fata [3:23]
Paolo TOSTI
15. Serenata [3:17]
Augusto ROTOLI
(1847–1904)
16. Mi sposa sara la mia bandiera
[4:56]
Renato BROGEI
(1873–1924)
17. Visione Veneziana [3:34]
Vincenzo BILLI
(1869–1938)
18. E canta il grillo [3:12]
Cesare Siepi (bass)
This is a disarmingly
fine selection of early Siepi recordings
made between 1947 and 1948, the earliest
of them when the bass was only twenty-four.
They show an almost fully formed artist
with a powerfully, resonantly deployed
voice, still perhaps a touch unsupported
in the very lowest register but nevertheless
of exceptional quality. An added pleasure
is to encounter some of these none-too-easy
to locate Cetras and especially so
in such good nick. Though they date
from the early post War years several
of the 78s are harder to find than
one might suppose.
Sonorous, controlled,
eloquent – all words that came to
mind as one listens to the first track,
the extract from Ernani. The eighteen
sides are not presented chronologically
so we have to measure one’s judgement
in the knowledge that, say, the Don
Carlo and I Vespri Siciliani
arias precede those from Ernani
and Nabucco in the chronological
run of things. The fifteen months
between the earliest 1947 sessions
and the October 1948 ones do show
a perceptible technical advance. But
even in that earlier stage, with his
saturnine Mefistofele aria,
we encounter the powerful sense of
characterisation, the adept lightening
of tone, the personable impersonation,
that remained such intense features
of his singing.
Note too his prudence
and tact in O tu, Palermo,
the aria from I Vespri Siciliani
– nothing exaggerated here, full of
serious command. Given his minimal
training the assurance is really rather
astonishing. So too the gripping Don
Carlo – in which he marries command
of textual nuance with theatrical
perception; perhaps, to be super critical,
there is not quite the last ounce
of characterisation but it’s a close
run thing. His Bellini is elegantly
phrased and his Rossini is predictably
engrossing – suave humour enlivens
his approach and he’s a stylishly
natural Rossinian. His famous Mozartian
persona was already seemingly in place
by c.1948 – some of these Cetras can’t
be dated with certainty but they must
be contemporaneous with the dated
1947-48 sequence. The lighter songs
shows that he has the grace and vocal
agility to caress Tosti, to billow
in the Arcadian forests of Billi and
to revel in the strength of Denza.
Siepi’s youthful
élan permeates every bar of
this wholesome and impressive selection,
which is finely transferred and well
annotated into the bargain.
Jonathan Woolf
see also reviews
by Goran
Forsling and Robert
Hugill
for details
Orchestra Sinfonica Radio Italiana/Arturo
Basile (1-6); unknown (7, 9, 10); Alfredo
Simonetto (8), remaining items unknown
