Puccini: Tosca - Milanov, Corelli, G. Guelfi, Langdon; Gibson. London, 1957

$16.95



Description:

There are very few recordings featuring both Zinka Milanov and Franco Corelli.   Milanov was ending her career around the same time Corelli's was coming up and they were signed by different record labels.  It is fortunate that this performance survives.  It is truly exciting to hear Milanov's velvety tone next to Corelli's.  The sound is very good and the performance is red-hot.

OD 10070-2

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4.8 Based on 6 Reviews
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DR
10/11/2022
David R.

Exciting Performance in Great Sound!

This classic performance of Tosca has been around on the pirate scene for decades and deservedly so. Everyone was having a great night. There are a few mangled lines and stubbed toes (mostly involving a lack of coordination with the orchestra), but overall this Tosca is one of the best. Milanov was a singer who could be, by her own admission, inconsistent. Here she is caught in her late career prime, having a very good night. The top notes are effortless, the middle smooth and steady, with none of the harshness that crept in within a few years. She is also dramatically on top of it all too: imperious, jealous, passionate, loving - and she sings a grand "Vissi d'arte" too. The final top B-flat on "O Scarpia, avanti o Dio!" brings the opera to an exciting close. I love the casual laugh she inserts just before "O, e inutil!" just before the torture scene. Corelli sings like a god and probably looked like one too. The normally subdued London audience erupts in applause for him several times. Guelfi is a terrifying bully of a Scarpia. The supporting cast is excellent and Gibson leads a dramatic, forward-moving performance. The sound is great. So why am I not giving this five stars? An appalling break between discs! It should've been after Act One; instead it's in the middle of the torture scene, just as the tension is beginning to build. Very frustrating, but there we are. Don't let that deter you from hearing this performance though - it's that good!

JH
07/14/2022
John H.
United States United States

Milanov and Corelli--An Enigmatic “Tosca"

Milanov is magnificently fragile, passionate and imperious while Corelli’s heroic ardor is beautifully nuanced. Guelfi provides a more than adequate Scarpia. There is a “Tosca” for most every taste but the enigmatic teaming of Milanov and Corelli makes this performance a superb choice.

J
03/15/2017
Jeffrey

V-I-I-I-T-T-O-O-O-R-I-I-I-A-A-A!!!

This is one of the grandest, all-enveloping performances you are likely to encounter. Milanov, Corelli, Guelfi command Puccini’s score, soaring one over the other, vaulting and expanding notes and phrases at will, hurling gauntlets only champions dare accept. Langdon, a most imposing Angelotti, leads a superior supporting cast. From the opening chords, Gibson means to leave his mark, and does so, gifting us the vast Roman panorama. Sound excellent.

JS
09/22/2016
John S.

John Stanton

Corelli and Milanov create tremendous chemistry here. She is a sensuous Tosca and he an ideal Cavaradossi, heroic and romantic, giving probably the best (and longest held) vittorias ever. Guelfi was a famous Scarpia. His voice is large,gritty and impressive. He is however unrelenting loud without the nuances of other exponents of the role. The sound is excellent

JB
01/21/2014
Joseph B.

Joseph Brand

I cannot praise this recording too highly. It is one of the greatest performances of Tosca you are ever likely to hear – up there with the classic Callas/de Sabata version. The sound quality is amazing (I would give it 5 stars) – a tribute to BBC standards – and in 1957 there was no FM or stereo yet this is as good – or better – than many commercial mono recordings of that time. Milanov was in the twilight of her career, and Tosca was probably too heavy a role for her, but she brings so many subtleties to her interpretation and though there are some hints of frailty here and there there are also countless magical moments too – I don’t think I’ve heard the offstage cantata so beautifully done. Guelfi is a phenomenal Scarpia – exquisitely sung – never barked – and oozing ****** power. Why he was never better known and recorded is a complete mystery. As for the young Corelli – I think this is the finest Cavaradossi I’ve ever heard – eclipsing all recorded (and live) versions I’ve heard (many of them marvellous). But this has something extra – power, beauty, exhilaration and stamina – his ‘Vittorias’ are something to marvel at – with none of the mannerisms he later accrued. Then there is the magnificent conducting of Alexander Gibson who plays the opera as the masterpiece it is. Superb orchestral playing – the act 3 dawn prelude a wonderful example with the best rendition of the bells I can recall. Splendid supporting cast. No matter how many Toscas you have – you must have this one.There were only 2 performances given in June 1957 and I was at one of them. I can’t remember if it was the broadcast. I remember the performance being very exciting but this recording reveals it was much more than that.Out of extra interest – at that time Tosca was played at Covent Garden in the original 1901 scenery which was a copy of the 1900 Rome premiere (while Puccini was in London supervising the production he saw a play at the Duke of York’s theatre called ‘Madam Butterfly’!!!).