Verdi: Il Trovatore - Varnay, Baum, Heidt, Warren, Silva; Morel. Mexico City, 1948
$16.95
Description:
This recording of Il Trovatore captures three great singers at the absolute height of their powers. Astrid Varnay was only 30 when this performance took place but was nonetheless a seasoned performer having made her debut at the age of 23 in Die Walküre. Varnay would go on to make her mark in the German repertoire but this recordings demonstrates that her opulent voice had considerable utility in Verdi. If she dodges the occasional high note she more than compensates with her electric stage presence and over-sized soprano voice. Despite the fact that Kurt Baum never gained star status, he displays a voice of remarkable control, power and beauty. Leonard Warren delivers one of the most beautifully sung renditions of "Il balen" I have ever heard. The one weak link of the cast is Winifred Heidt as Azucena. Although she reveals a pleasing tone, she is just not up to the challenges of this role. This recording was transferred from LP and has some residual scratchiness, but that doesn't stop this rare performance from coming to life all these years later.
OD 10943-2
Listen to a Sample:
Exciting Performance in Good Sound!
Despite some scratchy acetate disc noise, this Trovatore is mostly in very listenable sound. Someone made the effort to make sure the pitch is correct and if the very tops of a few scenes are missing, I am grateful the sound is as good as it is (some of the Mexico City pirates are in much worse sound). Varnay sings Leonora very well, if without the delicacy and tonal beauty of some other sopranos. She ducks the written D-flat at the end of "Tacea la notte", but interpolates a huge one at the end of the first act (joined by Baum). Rather surprisingly, she interpolates a top C towards the end of the Miserere. Baum sings very passionately with his somewhat pinched tone. The audience loves his "Di quella pira". Warren sings Di Luna expertly, making his duet with Varnay one of the highlights of the performance. Heidt was a fine singer, but was evidently indisposed for this broadcast as she avoids all notes above G. That means the opera ends limply, but there we are. The obvious lack of rehearsal is evident in all the false entrances and flubbed cut-offs. One of the anvil players doesn't get the message and keeps banging away after the chorus is over. Picco does what he can to hold everything together, but sometimes it's just by a hair. But that's part of the fun of live recordings!
Varnay rides in from Valhalla to a gypsy camp
This is actually quite a good performance if you can listen through the scratchy surfaces of the acetate discs that were the original source. It's true Astrid Varnay seems miscast, as if she rode in from Valhalla to the gypsy camp and the di Luna estate, but she's in good vocal form and so is Leonard Warren. There have been a lot of nasty words written about tenor Kurt Baum -- that he was showy, exhibitionistic and just too loud -- but he's a fine, herolc Manrico and quite frankly I like him better than the unspeakably awful Mario Del Monaco. There have also been a lot of nasty words written about this performance's conductor, ***** Picco, but he's in fine form here, with clear ideas about making Verdi's music drama come alive and fully worthy of his cast (including Winifred Heidt as Azucena, who's on the same level as her better-known co-stars). Thank you for this fine performance, and I hope you can make the follow-up from two years later available, in which Baum and Warren returned and Maria Callas was Leonora.
La zingara
Il faut rendre pleine justice à Heidt : si 2 aigus lui manquent elle compose un vrai personnage et réussit comme peu les gruppetti de Stride la vampa . Le volume semble considérable et elle est bien mieux que Wettergren en 39, à rapprocher de Lapeyrette et Elmo . Varnay étonne une fois de plus par la souplesse de ses vocalises et ses allègements surprenants . Warren formidable . Baum n'a pas gagné en charme vocal mais on comprend la carrière qui fut la sienne .
