[.ca] AIDA (Verdi)

From Amazon.com:
Here's a prime-1950s cast in good monophonic sound, and it delivers the vocal thrills to keep its place high among the preferred recordings of Aida. The first voice you hear is the rich, rumbling bass of Boris Christoff and that immediately lets you know this will be no ordinary Aida. Bjorling's "Celeste Aida" is gold- standard, with gorgeous timbre, firm line, and a haunting mezza voce. From there, he just gets better. Zinka Milanov's Ethiopian princess is outstanding, full of marvelous touches and ravishing pianissimos--as well as a few minor rough spots. Fedora Barbieri and Leonard Warren offer full-voiced grand singing and Jonel Perlea keeps it all moving to fine dramatic effect. --Dan Davis

An "Aida" to treasure.:
When the opera is Verdi's "Aida", your night at the opera will be time well spent. When you add this recording of it to your shopping cart, your money will be well spent. Perlea's "Aida" easily compensates for several apparent drawbacks. Most of the principals are non-Italians. It is a mono recording. It was recorded as long ago as 1955. I think the quality will become apparent as soon as the "curtain rises". Instead of prompting the tenor to engage in a few bars of dialogue before beginning "Celeste Aida", the High Priest (Boris Christoff) instantly commands attention. Jussi Bjorling, whose 1936 recording of "Celeste Aida" helped launch him on the international opera circuit, delivers here a noble, tender and thrilling account of it - not at all Italianate but highly musical. When these two singers share the second half of the next scene, the Temple Scene, the vocal richness is overwhelming. Fedora Barbieri, as Amneris, riveting, ripe and regal, provides more vocal richness in the scene that follows, and the act ends with Zinka Milanov, in glorious voice, conveying the distress of the supposed slave girl whose loyalties are impossible to reconcile. The Triumphal March features a chorus that actually sounds like a rejoicing crowd and the ballet sequences are richly evocative. Jonel Perlea directs these sterling forces, equally successful in structuring the huge ensembles and in handling the intimate scenes of this masterpiece. The locale for the recording is the Rome Opera House, a venue for many of my favorite recordings. As with most "Aida" recordings, this could be a 2 CD set, but it disposes itself much better onto 3 CDs.

Unbelievable!:
This was the recording that introduced me to the beauties of the opera "Aida." I was honored to be able to borrow it from a friend's mother. I listened to it in awe. However, I was not able to buy it, as at that time, I simply could not find it. Later, I bought one with Leontyne Price, and of course, I fell madly in love with that recording. I now have many recordings, including a live on with Maria Callas. The opera has become a staple in my record collection. Finally, decades later, I was able to buy this recording and really listen to it, and compare it to all those others I have. Is it the best of the best? Well, I don't know, but it is pretty near there if it is not there. I love Price's sound more than Milanov's, but both bring something special to the role. Now everyone speaks of Caballe's wonderful pianissimo in the Patria Mia aria. It is wonderful, but if one follows the score, that famous and treachrous high C in not sung all piano through that passage. Verdi writes a crescendo leading to that high C, and then it is sung piano and is to melt away, or fade away, never rushed till the phrase is over. What Caballe sings is wonderful, breath taking actually, but what Milanov sings is what Verdi asked for. Her high C, and the high A that is sung after it, is not just a wonderfully poised pianissimo, she sings what Verdi wrote. She begins the phrase delicately and sings a crescendo, and on the high C she sings a pianissimo and fades it away ever so delicately and descends. There is more to AIDA than this one aria, and more to this aria than this one phrase, but here we hear it as Verdi wrote it. It sends shivers up one's spine. I think this is the only recording ever recorded where the singer actually sings what Verdi wrote. This is the recording that converted me to the Milanov sound. The duet with Bjoerling simple gives one goose bumps all because of how their voices blend and the drama they bring to that beautiful singing. With all my recordings of this opera, I still say this one is at the very top, maybe tying with Price (the recording with Jon Vickers). Great as Callas was in her portrayals, AIDA was not her role, and I really can't see her removing the foundation from under this recording. Aida is opera, dramatic opera, but it is opera that requires the best in vocal technique and beauty. This is truly a "gold standard" by which many recordings of Aida will have to be judged.

Milanov strikes gold!:
Milanov proves herself to be one of the world's best artists. She brings Verdi's compositions to life. She commands your full emotion . During the Nile scene she weaves a web of emotion that captures and engulfs the senses. Buy the CD It is in a class all on it's own.

Except for the sound and some tempos, the best there is:
There have been many complete recordings of "Aida" made between 1928 and the present, not even counting the numerous "live" performances circulating as pirates. Yet, of all of them, this set continues to outsell most others in spite of its sound and a few performance flaws. The mono sound is actually quite good for its age. This set, made in 1955, had fuller body to the orchestral sound, not being quite as thin and boxy-sounding as the 1950-53 RCA opera recordings led by Renato Cellini with basically a pick-up band. The Rome Opera forces perform well under Perlea, an experienced theatre conductor with a good sense of musical pacing and shaping, but one who occasionally opted for slower-than-written tempi. This is his one flaw as a conductor here, but when you compare his reading to the much quirkier ones of Solti, Leinsdorf, Karajan or Levine, Perlea comes out pretty good. For some strange reason, however, the mono sound is drier and boxier on CD than it was on LP: obviously this transfer was made long before 20-bit remastering and clearer sound! However, boosting the treble restores a more natural balance. Going down the cast list: Milanov, whose voice could float beautifully on top but sound somewhat base and hollow further down her range, is a surprisingly good Aida, curbing her tendency to elongate notes beyond their written length except for a couple of instances. She also sings dramatically, something one is not used to hearing from her, especially at this late stage of her career. Barbieri, on the other hand, usually over-dramatized things, but here as in the Serafin "Ballo in Maschera" she sings with both a glorious tone and attention to musical detail. An excellent Amneris, surpassed only by Rita Gorr on the Solti set and equalled by no other. Bjorling is usually not a favorite of mine in opera; his beautiful, silvery voice usually just soars through the music without any sense of what he is singing about. Here, however, he is remarkably sensitive to both text and dramatic situations. I'm guessing that either Christoff or Perlea (or both) gave him a good talking-to prior to the sessions. He sounds passionate in the Nile Scene duet, anxious and frightened in the Nile Scene finale. Good job! Having not listened to him in some time, I had forgotten what a dramatic AND musically sensitive singer Leonard Warren was. His only drawback was his gruffy timbre, which just seemed to get gruffier and woolier as time went on. But the voice could also "bite," and it does so here. He is the second-best Amonasro on records, after the underrated Giuseppe Valdengo. Christoff is his usual snarly self, but here both voice and character click. He was an excellent Ramfis because he, like Ramfis, was pompous, arrogant and overbearing. It was perfect typecasting. My favorite "Aida" still remains the Toscanini, despite the cold singing of Tucker as Rhadames (in the first two acts - he warms up well for the last 2) and the tremulous, unfocused Amneris of Gustavson, but this makes a superb second choice. Now, if only RCA would remaster it with 20-bit sound and change it from 3 to 2 CDs...but don't hold your breath!

Aida for the Ages!:
From the time I first bought this on LP in the '50s until the present Cd format, this has also been a special Aida and will always be difficult to surpass never mind equal. As a teenager I heard Milanov in this role several times at the Met \ostanding for $1.25 in the rear of the orchestra floor\c and listeners be reassured, what you hear on the CDs is the real voice! \oKlinks and triumph all}.Her power was astonishing, riding the top of the chorus in the triumphant scene to the pianissimos of the Nile and Tomb scenes. The rest of the singing is equally distinguished: Warren and the often "take for granted, underappreciated syndome" Barbieri - she is equally thrilling in the Bjorling-Mlanov-Warren Trovatore. Several reviewers have referred to the beauty of the" tomb scene" and have they got it right. For a mono recording the sound is amazing and never distorted. For sheer beauty of voice, especially the floating soft notes, Milanov's only rival is Caballe on the EMI recording. Personally I think Cossotto has the edge on Barbieri in the EMI recording. The Verdi casts at the Met in the 50's have no equal and we must be grateful that some of them made it to disc. For Leotyne Price fans she was another in the great line of Aidas. Only personal choice and taste can choose the winner in this sublime company of sopranos. This recording should be on every one of your shelves!

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