Search - Giuseppe Verdi's Aida (1973 Tokyo) on DVD

Sincerità

TODD KAY | 04/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"[Note: Not black and white, as Amazon's product info claims at this writing. Color.]

VAI continues its series devoted to 1960s and 1970s Japanese telecasts with leading opera singers of the day, mostly native Italians. I have previously written about the DVDs of LA FAVORITA, FAUST, and the twin bill of CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and PAGLIACCI; the series also includes LUCIA, TRAVIATA, BALLO, SIMON BOCCANEGRA, DON CARLO, ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, and FANCIULLA, and I have seen most of these. One hopes the well does not soon run dry. The least of these performances has been worth a look; the best (FAUST has my vote so far) has been treasurable.

The great performance within this September 1973 AIDA comes from mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, whose Amneris is well known to collectors via many official and unofficial audio/video recordings. (Closely contemporaneous with this telecast, she sang Amneris for the Muti/EMI audio set that has become a classic and a reference recording.) Here, we catch Cossotto within the period when she was delivering the meatiest and arguably most satisfying singing of her career. The marginally sweeter-toned Amneris of the 1966 Verona performance (opposite Gencer and Bergonzi, conducted by Capuana, also on DVD) has become more imposing and womanly, but she still can summon the desired velvet or metal at will. Her voice in 1973 remains a beautiful, distinctive, and responsive instrument, one ideal for conveying both sides of Aida's rival, outwardly fierce yet vulnerable and, ultimately, noble in spirit as well as birth. It cannot be said, here or elsewhere, that Cossotto's interpretations have much of the white heat of inspiration; there have been singers deeper and more subtle than she. But there is more than one path to greatness, and hers was an appropriately Taurean one: her performances impress by their dogged preparation, unswerving follow-through, and remarkable consistency. I could not have been less surprised to read (in one of Plácido Domingo's books) that Cossotto prepared for performances by singing her entire role in full voice as many as four or five times on the day of the engagement. This rigorous method is consistent with everything we see and hear from her, except that her fine technique and great stamina kept significant vocal wear at bay until later in the 1970s.

Carlo Bergonzi's Radamés also is familiar from scads of previous recordings, including another of AIDA's highly praised audio sets (conducted by Karajan for Decca, 1959); and as noted above, he shared in the Verona performance of seven years earlier with Cossotto. Signs of age-related decline on the great tenor's part are few. The voice is a little thicker and less freely produced than in previous years, and there is evidence here and there of a slight "tug" on some notes from the passagio upwards (in fairness, Bergonzi seems to have been nursing a cold -- one hears him loudly clearing his throat during his partner's contributions to the Tomb Scene). It remains a vigorous and exciting interpretation: a first-rate Radamés not all that far past prime time.

The soprano Orianna Santunione, though close in age to Cossotto and Bergonzi, is a far less familiar and celebrated name, and her work here as the eponymous heroine was my first encounter with her singing. The timbre has a woodwind-like quality, reminding me a little of Raina Kabaivanska's. Though Santunione is described in jacket copy as "a dramatic soprano of remarkable power," my ears tell me she might have been heard to better effect one weight class lower than Aida on the Verdi scale (perhaps as Elisabetta in DON CARLO). She sometimes seems to labor to meet demands of volume, and gets off to an inconspicuous start by being all but drowned out by Bergonzi and Cossotto in the Act I terzetto. However, beginning with her first aria, she begins to pull it together, and somewhere along the way her diligence and responsibility transmute into something more, something quite affecting. She does her best work where it matters most, in Acts III and IV. Some may find her a trifle emotionally reticent, not as open in her appeal to the heart as have been some Aidas in the grand tradition. For me, once the final curtain had fallen, this especially meek and gentle incarnation of Verdi's Ethiopian princess had emerged as a valid alternative. She gets fine support along the way from her on-stage father, Gianpiero Mastromei as Amonasro. Mastromei does not shape the loveliest lines, but he characterizes at a high level and has stinging intensity of attack. He, Santunione, and conductor de Fabritiis deliver the goods even with the big stars off stage for a while -- their riveting father/daughter duet in the Nile Scene remains in the running for the performance's highlight until Cossotto ends that discussion with her (literally) show-stopping curse of the priests in Act IV Scene 1.

Mild but manageable disappointment is provided by the two basses, neither of whom is a whisker above adequate. Cossotto's then-husband, the veteran Ivo Vinco, has the more important role of the forbidding high priest Ramfis, but delivers a sluggish and bland day's work. Franco Pugliese voices the King. Anna di Stasio has an earthier, less ethereal sound than we usually hear in the role of Act I Scene 2's off-stage Priestess.

In the pit, Oliviero de Fabritiis elicits good, admirably secure work from the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. He brings surprising elegance and beguiling shape to lyrical passages, and shows a special flair for the rhythmic requirements of the ballet accompaniments (he always did lead a good dance). In visual terms, there is more money on the stage than in anything else I have seen in the VAI Japanese series -- the handsome sets and costumes are the work of esteemed director Pier Luigi Pizzi, although he did not direct this performance. The picture and sound (stereo this time; not invariably the case in this line) are excellent, within reasonable expectations. The large, burned-in Japanese subtitles that seem to have begun appearing in all the "Lirica Italiana" telecasts from 1973 onward, appear to be with us for good. As usual, one can opt to superimpose one's own language or learn to ignore them. Or, if one reads Japanese, be grateful for them, I suppose.

Because this '73 Tokyo AIDA has several elements in common with the '66 Verona DVD I have twice mentioned, I will close with a brief comparative scorecard, in case a reader must choose. Bergonzi is in less good form in Tokyo, but Cossotto has maintained-versus-improved. Santunione, winning though she is, is not an artist of the caliber of Verona's Leyla Gencer, a singing actress on the Callas/Scotto level. The two Amonasros are about equal (perhaps a slight edge to Tokyo), but Verona has much the better Ramfis in Bonaldo Giaiotti. I probably prefer Verona conductor Franco Capuana's way with the score as a whole, but de Fabritiis keeps it close and surely gets more polished and accurate work from his provincial orchestra than Capuana does from his (in neither case are we dealing with the Vienna Philharmonic). For visuals, Tokyo wins all the way -- it is in color ('66 Verona is not), it is better filmed, the print is in better shape, and Pizzi's costumes and sets count for much. In neither performance do the principal singers provide what a modern audience would consider "good acting" (physically, I mean -- vocally is another matter); Bergonzi, bless him, does not appear even to think of such matters. I would not want to be without either performance, but if budget is an issue, I leave it to the reader to decide what matters most."

Magnificent Sound & Beautiful Memorable Performances

Impostazione | New York City Area | 12/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The most striking is the sound and color, which is just tremendous. Then the to the singing.

A star is a star, and a artist is an artist. These artists are all great, and Santunione delivers a wonderful performance in the title role. Her voice is large, but having that "vecchio stile' aka impostazione or ancient vocal method, she chooses when to let it out fully, a very wise decision for a role that is by turns incisive, high of tessitura, and some extremely dolce moments. Her "numi pieta: is wonderfully turned, her high notes are good, and the dramatic high notes -where she relaxes her impostazione - are stupendous, her pianissimi are gorgeous throughout, and her "la tra foreste vergine" shows her utter mastery of placement for it is a phrase deceptively difficult and it sent many a soprano, Regine Crespin included, into a cracking frenzy. Cossotto is tremendously imposing. Bergonzi is wonderfully Verdian, and bit removed at times, but a real manly Radames with his fat well shaped arms making a good impression. The baritone Amonasro has a wonderfully beautiful voice but has no feel for the great line of expressive Verdian legato.

And the dancing. Thank heavens that the Japanese are intelligent enough to give dignity to the captured Ethiopians, and the other African dancers are well trained to move the hips and lumbar arch very much like black people do worldwide, and I know from personal experience how black people move. Their choreographer did too. How wonderful. They look so attractive and authentic in their mahogany make-up - the lead female as exuberant as Josephine Baker. Kudos to the Japanese for the dignity they gave to this routine. It has never been better done by anyone anywhere!!! Kudos!!!

The conducting is good too!

The set is beautiful.

I like the close American style camera angle.

Wonderful!

This is actually worth the full price!

Just Wonderful!!!!"