Artist Guides,
Carlo Bergonzi - A Tenor Centenary
Today, Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi would have been 100, and 25th July is the tenth anniversary of his death, so it seems a perfect time to share some highlights from his recordings.
Originally a baritone, he brought some of that depth of sound to his singing in lyric and dramatic tenor roles, although he never overstretched his voice to the Heldentenor roles that Domingo and Vickers, for example, embraced so successfully. There was a misguided stretch to Calaf (Turandot) in the mid-70s, and to a concert performance of Otello in 2000, four years after his late retirement, but attempting roles too big for his voice was a rarity. Bergonzi’s is a powerful, golden-toned voice used with elegance and musical intelligence, and ‘The Sublime Voice’ is an aptly titled compilation that offers a perfect overview if that’s all you want.
Perhaps Bergonzi’s best-known role is as Radames, his powerful singing of 'Se quell guerrier io fossi!...Celeste Aida' opening his classic 1957 recital recording for Decca. This recital also features a performance of 'Mi batte il cor… O Paradiso! from L’Africaine (Meyerbeer), and the early B-flat climax in the aria is quite a moment to behold, like the sun emerging from the clouds.
Only two years later, he recorded Aida in its entirety, with Renata Tebaldi in the title role and Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker and Singverein, a review in the Penguin Guide describing him as 'a model among tenors, with a rare feeling for the shaping of phrases and attention to detail'. A valuable live 1967 MET recording with Leontyne Price, available separately as a download or in a superb box from Sony, finds both singers at their best, so long as you can listen past the odd falter inevitable in live performance, a less polished recording and unedited applause.
Bergonzi’s elegance and control are perfectly displayed in the role of Alfredo in Sir John Pritchard's recording of La Traviata, with Joan Sutherland in sparkling and affecting form as Violetta, and Robert Merrill a commanding and beautifully voiced Germont. ‘Un di felice eterea’ is a model of expression supported by unfailing vocal technique and Bergonzi, though famously not the greatest of actors on stage, portrays the full range of Alfredo’s character, from love-struck to raging and then to remorseful love and anguish as he watches Violetta fade away. Interestingly he did have experience of singing Germont in his years as a baritone.
Talk of Tosca inevitably turns to Maria Callas, and it’s her 1953 recording with Giuseppe di Stefano that attracts the most attention. She also recorded it with Bergonzi, and he steps up to the mark as Cavaradossi with a sensitivity and beauty that isn’t quite present with di Stefano, who takes a more heroic approach. ‘E lucevan le stelle’ is heart-stopping, Bergonzi communicating the tragic pathos of a man kneeling before a firing squad with total commitment. I would also argue, perhaps controversially, that Callas is on stronger form in this recording, with more control at the top of her range, despite being twelve years older and giving her final performances at the time. Tito Gobbi proves a formidably menacing Scarpia in both.
There are many more recordings of Bergonzi I could include, but with limited space I’ll close with the La Scala recording he made of Pagliacci, with Karajan. 'Recitar!...Vesti la giubba', is a perfect distillation of everything that made Bergonzi a singer to treasure, from the drama of the recitative to the moving self-reflection of the aria.
This Gramophone Award-winning release gathers together recordings from across Bergonzi's career, offering the best overview of his remarkable voice and career.
Available Format: 2 Presto CDs
Carlo Bergonzi (Classic Recitals)
Recorded in June/July 1957, this CD includes five Verdi arias and works by Puccini
An early recital which has appeared in many guises, which captures Bergonzi's voice at its most glorious and across a well chosen selection of repertoire.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Ten recordings of legendary performances capture the drama of Verdi’s great operas as they were performed live at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The series covers four decades, starting with La Traviata in 1935, and features some of the best-loved voices and conductors of the twentieth century. The famous pairing of tenor Richard Tucker and baritone Leonard Warren can be heard in versions of Simon Boccanegra (1950) and La forza del destino (1952). In the concluding recording, dating from 1967, Carlo Bergonzi, Leontyne Price and Robert Merrill sing leading roles in Aida. These historic broadcasts, restored to make them available on CD, bring great interpretations of Verdi’s masterpieces back to life.
Available Format: 20 CDs
La Traviata – the ultimate opera of love and loss – is a great favourite of opera-goers. To coincide with Opera Australia’s Traviata production in the spectacular setting of 'Opera on the Harbour', Eloquence releases Joan Sutherland’s first recording of La Traviata, complete on 2 CDs. It is for many her greatest recorded portrayal of the doomed heroine Violetta. Her Alfredo is the ‘simply supreme’ (Gramophone) Carlo Bergonzi and Sir John Pritchard conducts a ‘most persuasive, well-balanced and well-timed account’ (Gramophone) of this magnificent opera.
Available Format: 2 CDs
Tosca was the role in which – in 1965, the year this recording was made – Callas gave her last complete performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opéra. This was her final complete recording of an opera, and, twelve years after her first version of Tosca, it reunited her with the Scarpia of Tito Gobbi. They were joined by Carlo Bergonzi as Cavaradossi. Gramophone praised ‘a thrilling and very complete interpretation, with scene after scene, bar after bar, brought to life by sheer intelligence and dramatic insight’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
'As the two rivals, Carlo Bergonzi and Giuseppe Taddei are superb. Taddei's sinister, hunch-backed clown, gently forcing the play-within-the-play closer to reality until it finally bursts out violently is a masterly assumption.' (Gramophone Guide)
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
If you prefer a studio recording of Bergonzi in the role of Radamès, this is a beautifully recording from 1959, with Karajan directing a stellar cast, including Renata Tebaldi in the title-role.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Matthew Ash - Product Manager, Recorded Music
