Franco
Corelli was born in Ancona, Italy, in 1921 and died in Milan
in 2003. He was self-taught but won two competitions, in Florence
and Spoleto in 1951, whereupon he made his stage debut in Spoleto
the same year as Don José in Carmen. After that his rise
to stardom was meteoric, making his La Scala debut opposite
Maria Callas in Spontini’s La Vestale on the opening
night of the 1954 season. From then on he was invited to all
the great houses in Europe and from 1961 until 1976 he appeared
every season at the Metropolitan. Not only was he the possessor
of one of the most magnificent voices ever to be heard, he was
also a handsome man with dashing stage appearance. When he died
his tenor colleague Carlo Bergonzi said in an interview: “We
have lost one of the greatest tenors of the world. One of the
greatest tenors of the century. He was the most serious of his
profession, and he was a great interpreter who made great sacrifices
for his career."
The
arias and scenes on the present disc are, as far as I know,
the first commercial recordings he made, setting them down for
the Italian Cetra company in 1956 and 1957. The inlay to the
disc doesn’t specify dates, venues or with which conductor he
recorded what but that is hardly important. Arturo Basile and
Alfredo Simonetto were among the most experienced in this field
and the radio orchestras, though hardly in the class of The
Rome Opera or La Scala, were a great deal more than just serviceable.
The problem with many Cetra recordings was the mediocre sound
and it has to be said that the restoration engineer has done
what was possible to achieve in the shape of dynamics and acceptable
fullness of the sound. However the thin and wiry, not to say
glassy string tone is still a serious drawback. Had this been
a purely orchestral issue it would have been ruled out without
further ado but since it is the singing that is the main thing
it is quite possible to enjoy the disc – with a modicum of indulgence.
What is most irritating – and actually a reason for ruling it
out anyway – are the practically non-existent gaps between the
tracks. One does expect at least three or four seconds, two
might be tolerable but here the next aria starts before the
echo from the previous one has died away. While in a pernickety
mood I find no logic in the order of the arias: no chronology,
arias from the same opera are haphazardly sprinkled about and
even when they are together, as in Andrea Chenier, they
are in reversed order. Someone must have done some thinking,
or …? To me it seems that the producer pressed “Random”.
Over
to the singing, then. A glorious voice it was, with brilliant
ringing top notes, a volume to match Del Monaco’s and a lung
capacity beyond belief. He had an ability to fine down the voice
and sing wonderfully soft, often going from a ringing forte
to a hushed pianissimo in one unbroken phrase. On the debit
side is an irresistible wish to show off. Long high notes at
the end of phrases are held on to forever and his execution
of hairpin dynamics are not always motivated by the music or
the dramatic situation – they rather tend to be a kind of circus
performance. His taste is also questionable; though there is
a deeply-rooted tradition of adorning the singing with various
sobs, hiccups, crying and glottal stops to enhance the feeling.
With the intensity he can muster through pure singing it shouldn’t
be necessary. He has a quite regular habit of scooping up to
notes, intrusive Hs are not infrequent and his heavy lisp also
disfigures some of the singing.
Whatever
the drawbacks one can’t help marvelling at the sounds and the
beauty he produces. His is a natural force which is hard to
resist. ‘Larger than life’ could be a soubriquet and his singing
is so full of life that a record collection would be so much
poorer without him. He recorded several of the roles represented
here complete for Decca (Tosca) and EMI (Turandot,
Cavalleria, Pagliacci, Andrea Chenier and Aida).
I haven’t made direct comparisons but knowing several of them
very well I can say that he was pretty consistent in his approach,
even when there are many years between them.
Among
the best things here are the first two arias: E lucevan le
stelle with a soft opening, deep feeling and, a few sobs
apart, stylish singing. Non piangere Liù is also well
balanced while in Nessun dorma I missed the chorus in
the second verse. Mamma, quell vino from Cavalleria
rusticana is truly glorious. It is sung with such conviction
and intensity and fairly free from sobs that this version much
rank among the best from any tenor. The long scene from Fedora
(tr. 5) is good to have – normally we hear only Amor ti vieta,
but here he is certainly too lachrymose. The improvviso from
Andrea Chenier is again excellent and after an over-done
Vesti la giubba he finishes the recital with No, Pagliaccio
non so! in a reading where he lets the music speak without
too many extraneous intrusions. There he shows greatness.
And
this is where the verismo recital ends, but Urania have added
as a substantial bonus: almost half an hour of excerpts from
his first complete opera recording, the 1956 Aida. The
sound here is very acceptable and Angelo Questa leads his Turin
forces with gusto. The aria is skilfully nuanced – a little
showy – and he holds on to the final note at an unrelenting
fortissimo, but in the main this is a fine reading. The duet
from act 3, the Nile scene, is more than that. Corelli’s clarion
tones are imposing and at first Maria Curtis Verna sounded occluded
by comparison. That said, it soon turns out that here is a soprano
who is warm and lyrical and wants to create a believable character
of the Princess. Corelli is also deeply involving. Towards the
end we also hear Piero Guelfi – though uncredited on the inlay
– as an imposing Amonasro; a magnificent voice in the Ruffo
mould. The finale, the tomb scene, is lyrical and inward and
both Curtis Verna and Corelli are on their best behaviour. In
many ways the Aida excerpts are the most valuable items
here. Those who don’t have the complete recording, or the later
EMI with Birgit Nilsson as Aida and Zubin Mehta in his debut
recording, should lend an ear to this disc. As I have indicated
there are several excellent things among the verismo arias too
and with such a wholehearted singer as Corelli one has to take
the bad with the good.
Göran
Forsling
Franco Corelli
(tenor) 
