{"product_id":"verdi-otello-25","title":"Verdi: Otello","description":"\u003ca class=\"links\" href=\"album.jsp?album_id=1003886\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlso available on Super Audio CD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eVERDI \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eOtello \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Riccardo Muti, cond; Aleksandrs Antonenko (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Krassimira Stoyanova (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eDesdemona\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Carlo Guelfi (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eIago\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Juan Francisco Gatell (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eCassio\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Barbara Di Castri (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eEmilia\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Eric Owens (\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eLodovico\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e); Chicago SO \u0026amp; Ch \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e CSO RESOUND 9011301 (2 SACDs: 135:57 \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eText and Translation) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eRiccardo Muti’s \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e derives from three concert performances given at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall in 2011. The recording combines the excitement of a live performance with the virtues of an excellently engineered studio effort that brilliantly captures orchestral and choral detail within a huge dynamic range. CSO Resound provides a booklet that includes essays and a libretto, and there’s no applause or audience sound. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eMuti’s masterful conducting of Verdi’s greatest tragic opera would make this an important \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e to hear even if it weren’t for its generally strong vocal performances. In the first act’s storm and sequence of choruses, Muti’s slightly restrained tempos resemble Fürtwangler’s more than the forward momentum of Kleiber or Toscanini, but he generates taut excitement through control of dynamics, precise rhythm, and steady, logical pacing. The Chicago Symphony, which performed the opera under Solti, plays wonderfully well. Throughout the performance, Muti has the orchestra make subtle differences in articulation from what one traditionally hears. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eA unique feature of this recording is the inclusion of a rarely heard revision of the busy ensemble that closes act III that Verdi made for a Paris production in 1894, seven years after \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e’s La Scala premiere. The last operatic music that Verdi composed, its musical and dramatic quality is equal to that of the more familiar \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003econcertato\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e, but its increased clarity allows Iago’s asides to be heard more clearly. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eAleksandrs Antonenko sang Otello with Muti conducting (with a different Iago and Desdemona) in Salzburg in 2008, and judging from the excerpts that I’ve seen of that performance, he improved significantly by the time of the Chicago performances. He has the right (and rare) heroic voice for Otello, and he sings musically and technically well, with comfortable-sounding Italian in a performance that begins strongly, but gains conviction in the two final acts. While he doesn’t yet imprint the role with the kind of distinctive personality that its greatest interpreters have done, singing and acting Otello tends to be a career-long process, and Antonenko sings the part far better than Cura, Galouzine, Botha, or Heppner, to name some other tenors who have undertaken the role, A.D. (After Domingo). It remains to be seen whether Jonas Kaufmann can summon the vocal power to sing the part live, but the two \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e excerpts on his recent Verdi recital are a very promising sign that perhaps, not too long from now, \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003etwo\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e castable Otellos (Kaufmann and Antonenko) may walk the earth. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eThe wobble in baritone Carlo Guelfi’s delivery of Iago’s first line, “È infranto l’artimon,” warns of vocal trouble, and it turns out that he lacks the required power and the ability to sing sustained notes in the drinking song, and more importantly, in the Credo. Actually, Guelfi does well with the lighter, insinuating side of of Iago’s music, such as the dialogue with Roderigo in act I, and much of act III. There’s pleasure to be had in hearing an Italian baritone in the role, but a successful Iago must be able to really sing, not just do well with role’s parlando aspects. Many a worthy \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e recording has been undermined by odd casting of Iago; I’m thinking of Fischer-Dieskau, Schöffler, Glossop, and Leiferkus. Then there are baritones whose voices are right, but whose characterizations are insufficient: Protti, Capuccilli, even Milnes. Giuseppe Valdengo, in Toscanini’s recording, demonstrates what’s possible in a performance that’s both magnificently characterized and beautifully sung. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eAn experienced Desdemona, Krassimira Stoyanova gives a strong performance, singing with focused, lovely tone, if not achieving the poignancy of the greatest Desdemonas in act IV: Tebaldi, Freni, de los Angeles. The smaller parts are all efficiently performed, with no particular singer standing out. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan\u003eDefining what makes a great performance of \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e is straightforward. The opera requires an authoritative, exciting conductor, plus three perfectly cast singers. Good sound is a bonus, but not essential. Del Monaco and Domingo are each essential Otellos to hear, but I think of their many performances as a composite and wouldn’t single out any one particular recording. I’m particularly fond of the \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eespressivo\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e quality that Ramon Vinay and Jon Vickers bring to the role, and recommend the Met video with Vickers, MacNeil, and Scotto, conducted by Levine. Toscanini’s recording is thrilling, though not expansive enough in some of the opera’s lyrical music. I enjoy Solti’s first recording, with the under-appreciated Otello of Carlo Cossuta and beautiful singing by Margaret Price. But the greatest recorded \u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eOtello\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003cspan\u003e that I know—indeed one of the greatest of all preserved operatic performances—is the 1938 Met broadcast, conducted not only with manic energy, but with uncommon flexibility and imagination, by Ettore Panizza. Giovanni Martinelli’s splendid Otello and Elizabeth Rethberg’s Desdemona are the important interpretations of their day, and Lawrence Tibbett’s is the greatest recorded portrayal of Iago. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Paul Orgel \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"CSO Resound","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49710120894744,"sku":"810449010009","price":37.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2298617.jpg?v=1777698737","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/verdi-otello-25","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}