Verdi: Aida - Välkki, Svanholm, Ericson, Björling; Ehlring. Stockholm, 1960
$8.95
Listen to a Sample:
This performance of Aida is about as Italian as Swedish Meatballs. However it has a lot to recommend it and shows the wonderful tradition of Swedish singers in a very positive light. Anita Välkki sings the title role. Her voice is attractive and slender and she can unleash the power when it calls for it. Set Svanholm was a seasoned veteran of the great Wagner roles by 1960. Still he delivers a magnificent performance here as Radames. His voice has all the heroic qualities that one associates with a true Heldentenor and he uses it like a trumpet. Surprisingly he is able to scale it back considerably and he actually pulls off a remarkable piano b flat in the tomb scene. Barbro Ericson seems the most at home in this style. She delivers a forceful Amneris reminiscent of Fiorenza Cossotto or Giulietta Simionato. She had a terrific chest voice. The sound is very good.
OD 10366-2
