Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848)
Lucia di Lammermoor (1835)
Renata Scotto (soprano) - Lucia
Giuseppe Di Stefano (tenor) - Edgardo
Ettore Bastiannini (baritone) - Enrico
Ivo Vinco (bass) - Raimondo
Stefania Malagù (mezzo-soprano) - Alisa
Franco Ricciardi (tenor) - Arturo
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala/Nino Sanzogno
rec. 25 August-1 September 1959, Teatro alla Scala, Milan
ADD stereo
PRISTINE AUDIO PACO186 [53:40 + 58:18]
This recording may be known to several aficionados, but it came out of nowhere for me. I’m really glad it did, though, because I enjoyed it enormously. As my colleague Ralph Moore writes, it’s a 1959 studio recording from Mercury, but it has been waiting all its life for a decent remastering. Thanks again to Mark Obert Thorn at Pristine, it need wait no longer. The sound is really good. I haven’t heard any of its previous incarnations so I can’t compare, but I can definitely say that I found it pleasing on the ear with nicely spaced stereo and a generally clean quality to the sound. There’s quite a lot of hiss, but that’s typical of early stereo, and my ear tuned into it very quickly.
Renata Scotto was a young-sounding 25-year-old when this was recorded. Lucia isn’t a role you’d naturally associate with her and, indeed, bel canto doesn’t sound like it was entirely comfortable territory for her. Even if it sometimes sound like hard work, though, all the notes are there and, particularly in her early scenes, she sounds fresh and girlish. Her acting could be more convincing in the mad scene, but the technique is pretty impressive and it’s refreshing to hear it sung like this. On one aspect she scores over almost every other soprano I’ve head in this role: her articulation of the words is impeccable, both for clarity and for expression.
Obert Thorn mentions in his booklet note that the performance’s critical reception was mixed when it was first released, partly due to di Stefano’s singing, but I never thought there was anything to complain about. Indeed his is a voice I’ve struggled to love, but I thought he sounded great here: ardent, heroic and actually pretty exciting in places. He sounds every inch the lover-boy in his first duet with Lucia, then he adds important colour to the sextet, and I thought he was on super form for his final aria, even a little understated in places, which isn’t an adjective I’m typically tempted to use for him!
Bastianini oozes menace as Enrico, imbuing the part with a colour and darkness you only too rarely hear. Some will think he goes too far, but I loved every sinister phrase. Ivo Vinco doesn’t get much to do thanks to the cuts (see below), but he sounds paternal and sorrowful in the passage before the mad scene. The La Scala forces provide first rate support, both orchestrally and chorally, and Sanzogno paces everything very convincingly, drawing no doubt on his extensive experience in the theatre, though very occasionally I’d have liked a little more punch to the scene endings.
This can’t really be anybody’s library choice for Lucia, however, principally because of the cuts, which are so extensive as to be egregious: not only is there no Wolf’s Crag scene, but Lucia loses her scene with Raimondo, and there are umpteen little excisions in odd places, not just omitting repeats but cutting bits of stretta here and there. It doesn’t matter that other recordings have done the same thing or that this was standard practice in the 1950s: it’s still a terrible practice!
The library choice is still, surely, Sutherland’s recording with Pavarotti and Bonynge on Decca. Everyone is on the absolute peak of their form, and it’s given complete with no cuts and full texts. However, this release is a lot more than an interesting curiosity. There’s some great singing and a great sense of atmosphere so, if you already have your favourite library Lucia, and especially if you admire the singers, you should definitely check this one out.
Simon Thompson
Previous review: Ralph Moore
