In my recent review
of the 1967 RCA recording of La Traviata, featuring
Montserrat Caballé, Carlo Bergonzi and Sherrill Milnes I regretted
that such fine vocal performances from the principals should
have been marred by leaden conducting (see review).
What I failed to point out was that as far as RCA were concerned
it was second time unlucky with this opera in the studios
in a space of a few years. Even in those halcyon LP days,
recording companies did not repeat the expense of major opera
recordings without some thought. The set under review was
meant to highlight the late American soprano Anna Moffo in
the role with which she became most closely identified. She
had already made an impact in Europe on record and film before
she made her American debut in 1957 as Mimi alongside Björling.
The role of Violetta introduced her to the Met in 1959 and
she starred in a lavish new production when the company moved
to their present home in 1966; in all she sang the role Violetta
sixty one times with the Met company. Anna Moffo was a woman
of considerable beauty. On stage she had the ideal ‘figure
du part’ and acting ability to convey Violetta’s many
moods and ultimate tragic death. But on record alone, without
the visual impact of her appearance and acting, the result
is more problematic. As far as the eponymous tragic-heroine
is concerned La Traviata is an opera of two distinct
parts. In Act 1 the role demands a coloratura soprano of lightness
and agility. Acts 2 and 3 on the other hand require a voice
of greater weight and colour. These qualities are necessary
if the singer portraying Violetta is adequately to characterise
and express her emotional circumstances and mental state.
Without over-stressing the issue, Anna Moffo fails to convey
Violetta’s actions and plight in any of the three acts on
this recording. Perhaps most disappointing is her shallow
coloratura passages in the finale to act one where she tries
to give too much colour to the opening and pays for it later
(CD 1 trs.8-10).
The RCA policy
at this time was to record their opera repertoire using principals
well versed in their roles in Met productions. Initially the
recordings were made in the USA at somewhere like the Manhattan
Center, New York, as with the recent Naxos 1952 Il Trovatore
remastered by Naxos (see review). With
costs in the USA becoming prohibitive they set up in Rome
and recorded each summer, initially in the Rome Opera House,
and later in their own studios when the opera orchestra went
over to EMI. The principal colleagues to Miss Moffo in this
recording are those with whom she sang regularly at the Met,
Richard Tucker as Alfredo and Robert Merrill as his father.
Tucker is very penny plain, lacking in characterisation and
a tendency to finish phrases rather coarsely. His tone colour
is pleasingly lyrical considering the heavier spinto roles
that were often his fare at the Met by the time of this recording
(CD 1 trs.3 and 11). Merrill, who is often berated for lack
of vocal imagination and even woodenness, sings with full
steady refulgent tone and good characterisation. Notably,
he does not hector Violetta, as so many baritones do, in their
initially confrontational meeting (CD 1 trs. 13-17). His Di
Provenza il mar (CD 1 tr.20) is a pleasure to listen
to and one wishes he were not deprived of the extra verse
of no non udrai rimprovero as Germont tries further
to persuade his son to forsake his life with Violetta.
One of the plus
points of the Rome connection was the use of the Rome Opera
chorus and Italians in the comprimario roles. On this recording
Piero de Palma and Franco Calabrese are heard to good effect
as Gastone and Douphol respectively whilst the chorus play
a vibrant part in the two party scenes (CD 1 trs 2-7 and CD
2 trs. 1-7). Whilst Fernando Previtali tends to linger from
time to time he shows more understanding of Verdi’s cantilena
than Georges Prêtre on the 1967 recording.
Richard Mohr produced
many of RCA’s Rome recordings of this period. I believe that
by the time of this 1960 recording, with RCA and Decca closely
linked commercially, he had the benefit of advice from the
Decca engineers, who were without equal. Certainly, the playback
quality of this recording is of the first class for its period
and far superior to others made in Rome by RCA later in the
decade. That may be due to the technical work and remastering
policy. Time and more re-issues will tell. In a technical
note, John Newton of Sound Mirror Inc., extols the virtues
of three-channel recording and states that playback of these
CDs in the SACD multi-channel mode enables the listener to
hear exactly what the engineers did at the original recording.
I have played these hybrid discs in both modes and the sound
is very realistic with plenty of presence and a realistic
balance with some bloom round the voices. Newton gives details
of the technique used including short signal path and premium
Siltech cabling to specifically chosen dCS converters. He
continues: this DSD program is essentially identical to
the analog tape.
As well as the
technical note, the accompanying booklet has a track-listing,
an essay on the relationship between the opera and Alexander
Dumas’s play La dame aux caméllias (libretto provided
by Francesca Maria Piave), artist profiles of the three principals
in respect of their role assumptions at the Met and a synopsis,
regrettably not track-related.
Robert J Farr
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Violetta Valery, Anna Moffo (sop); Flora, Anna Reynolds (mezzo); Annina,
Liliana Poli (sop); Alfredo Germont, Richard Tucker (tenor); Giorgio Germont,
Robert Merrill (bar); Gastone, Piero de Palma (ten); Doctor Grenvil, Franco
Ventriglia (bass); Baron Douphol, Franco Calabrese (bar); Marquis d’Obigny,
Vito Susca (bass) Giuseppe, Adelio Zogonara (ten)
[64.04 + 48.46]
