Not long ago, I wrote a review of the marvelous concert given by Behrens, King, and Adam in a Munich concert series (OD#11927). The soprano and tenor sing extended excerpts from Otello and I asked if there was an extant complete performance of King as Verdi's anti-hero. I should've checked Opera Depot's catalog because here it is. King was not yet fifty and the voice sounds as firm and steady as it did a decade earlier. He is a great Otello. He gets angry a little too soon and ends up shouting, yet there is nothing in the music he can't sing well. He nails the tricky high B in the opening "Esultate!" and provides many ringing climaxes while breaking our hearts in the final monologue. A pity the Met limited him mostly to the German repertoire (he did sing some Toscas and Turandots early on).Zylis-Gara is a heavenly, womanly Desdemona: strong, loving, ethereal. What a pity the tape had to be turned over just before her final phrase in the "Ave Maria" (Andy should've given us her account of the Act 4 scene from another performance as an appendix). Sólyom-Nagy is a fine Iago. Perhaps he was stronger in the German repertoire, but he certainly knows what he's doing here. Erede conducts a very effective performance, marred only by some missing bits when the tape had to be turned over (the first minute of "Dio ti giocondi" is also missing). The voices are very clear.For lovers of the opera and the singers.

This is a wonderful performance with a stellar cast. James King is great in the title role. My only complaint is track 2 is missing from the mp3 download. No Exsultate!

Here's an idiomatic Otello, in which the only Italian is on the podium (Alberto Erede, tautly in charge). This was James King's only performance of Otello in Vienna and he makes a highly dignified Moor of Venice, redeeming some of Boito and Verdi's insufficiency of motivation. King is in terrific voice and if one has heard Helge Roswaenge's Otello, in King one will find a worthy heir to the role. As his ensign, Sandor Solyom-Nagy is not very Italianate of tone quality (he would be shown to greater advantage in the German repertory) but he still makes an effectively insinuating ensign, concealing his villainy behind a veil of bluff sincerity, delivering his most wounding darts as throwaways. Teresa Zylis-Gara is, as ever, an angelic Desdemona, ideal of voice and interpretation. Giuseppe Zampieri's ripe timbre is immediately recognizable as Cassio and Ewald Aichberger is an appropriately puling Roderigo. Some standard cuts are made.The full cast is as follows:Otello: James KingDesdemona; Teresa Zylis-GaraIago: Sandor Solyom-NagyCassio: Giuseppe ZampieriLodovico: Malcolm SmithRoderigo: Ewald AichbergerEmilia: Rohangiz YachmiMontano: Hans ChristianHerald: Georg Tichy

James King is virtually unknown in the UK and US in Verdi. Snap up this tremendous Otello - and the sound is perfectly clear, if a bit distant. It's also worth catching his Trovatore and Requiem (from Opera Depot) and his Don Carlos (in German; a telecast from Berlin 1965), on DVD but also (presumably temporarily and without subtitles) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBcCdekDDs.By the way, the cast on this Otello is completed by Rohangiz Yachmi (Emilia), Malcolm Scott (Lodovico) and Hans Christian (Montano).

eine interessante Sänger Zusammenstellung