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Live performance from Leningrad (St. Petersburg), March 1980
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1. I remember a wonderous moment
2. Islet
3. Amidst the noisy ball
4. From my window
5. Spruce and palm
6. Doubt
7. Why?
8. Lilac
9. Where are you, little star?
10. Do not sing, beautiful maiden
11. A dream
12. He-goat, a secular fairytale
13. What, beautiful maiden?
14. Ah, you deary
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Nicolai Gedda, Tenor
Rolf Leanderson, Baritone
Jan Eyron, Piano,1983
Aftonfrid
Sjung!
Under ronn och syren
Nattetid vid stranden
Om hosten
Varbacken
Bachi barn
Duellanterna
Gunnar Wennergerg (1817 - 1901)
Ur Gluntarne
En manskensnatt pa Slottsbacken
Uppsala ar bast!
Vid brasan pa magisterns kammare
Magisterns misslyckade serenad
Examens-sexa pa Eklundshof
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incredulous
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mischieviousMetropolitan Opera House
November 18, 1978
In English
Marenka..............Teresa Stratas
Jeník...................Nicolai Gedda
Vasek...................Jon Vickers
Kecal...................Martti Talvela
Ludmila.................Elizabeth Coss
Krusina.................Derek Hammond-Stroud
Háta....................Jean Kraft
Tobias..................John Cheek
Circus Barker...........Alan Crofoot
Esmeralda...............Colette Boky
Red Indian..............Andrij Dobriansky
Conductor...............James Levine
The old links were broken. Here are the new links:
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The files of the link are splitted files whichdon't work separately. You must join the parts with HJsplit (obtained at: http://hjsplit.en.softonic.com/ )
Les Vepres Sicilennes by Giuseppe Verdi
Drama in five acts (1855), to libretto of Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier.
Monforte Sherrill Milnes
Bethune Robert Goodloe
Vaudemont Edmond Karlsrud
Tebaldo Nico Castel
Roberto Andrij Dobriansky
Elena Montserrat Caballé
Ninetta Cynthia Munzer
Procida Justino Diaz
Arrigo Nicolai Gedda
Danieli Douglas Ahlstedt
Manfredo Paul Franke
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House
Conductor James Levine
9 March 1974 New York Metropolitan
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amorousAdina - Mirella Freni
Nemorino - Nicolai Gedda
Belcore - Mario Sereni
Il Dottore Dulcamara - Renato Capecchi
Conductor: Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Orchester and choir Opera of Rome
Recorded in 1966.
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amorous
Joan Sutherland - Amina
Nicolai Gedda - Elvino
Ezio Flagello - Conte Rodolfo
Jeanette Scovotti - Lisa
New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor.: Silvio Varviso
Live: 30. March. 1963
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happy01 Glinka Ivan Susanin Brothers in Arms
02 Tchaikovsky Onegin Kuda, Kuda
03 Tchaikovsky Pikova Dama Forgive me, you devine beeing
04 Tchaikovsky Pikova Dama Life is but a play
05 Rimsky-Korsakoff Sadko O you dark, shadowy wood
06 Mussorgsky Boris Godunov The cunning Jesuit
07 Mussorgsky The Mass of Sarotchin My heart, my poor heart
08 Rimsky-Korsakoff The Night in May The sun is sinking
09 Rimsky-Korsakoff The Night in May How calm, how marvellous the night
10 Rachmaninoff Aleko Over the flat grounds
Nicolai Gedda, tenor
Belgrad Philharmonic, conductor Gika Zdravkovitch
recorded 1969
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Benvenuto Cellini has been commissioned to do a statue by the pope. The pope's treasurer, Balducci, wonders why the pope employs such a "no good" Benvenuto Cellini. Cellini loves Teresa, Balducci's d daughter and visits her when Balducci is out of the house. Fieramosca, sculptor to the pope, who also loves Teresa, overhears Cellini persuading Teresa to elope. Cellini plans to disguise himself as a monk.
Scene 1. The Courtyard of a Tavern
Cellini and his fellow goldsmiths are having a drink, but are unable to pay their drinking spree. When Ascanio, Cellini's apprentice, arrives with gold meant as payment for the casting of a statue, Cellini uses it to buy more wine. Cellini and his friends plan to embarrass Balducci for sending such a meager payment. Fieramosca's friend Pompeo persuades him to thwart Cellini's plan and abduct Teresa himself.
Scene 2. The Piazza Colonna at the Corner of the Via Corso
Balducci and Teresa attend a play in the piazza. At Cellini's urging, the players parody Balducci himself. While the annoyed and angry Balducci creates a scene, Cellini and Fieramosca descend on Teresa, both disguised as monks. A fight takes place in which Cellini kills Pompeo, Fieramosca's friend. At the same time the cannon sounds, signaling the end of the carnival, and in the confusion Fieramosca is arrested for Pompeo's murder.
Ascanio brings Teresa to Cellini's studio. Cellini, who has escaped his pursuers by slipping into a chorus of real monks, joins them there. Balducci demands the return of his daughter, whom he has promised to Fieramosca. They are interrupted by the cardinal, who is furious that Cellini threatens to destroy the model of the statue. He gives Cellini an hour to cast the statue. Lacking sufficient gold to finish the job, Cellini melts down all his other creations. The statue is finally completed, the cardinal forgives Cellini and grants him Teresa's hand.
Benvenuto Cellini - Nicolai Gedda
Giacomo Balducci - Jules Bastin
Fieramosca - Robert Massard
Pope Clement VII - Roger Soyer
Francesco - Derek Blackwell
Bernardino - Robert Lloyd
Innkeeper - Hugues Cuisnod
Pompeo - Raimund Herincx
Teresa - Christiane Eda-Pierre
Ascanio - Jane Berbioli
Speaker - Janine Reisse
Conductor Sir John Prichard
Covent Garden, December 15, 1966
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GRÄFIN MARIZA - ANNELIESE ROTHENBERGER
FÜRST MORITZ DRAGOMIR POPULESCU - KURT BÖHME
BARON KOLOMAN ZSUPÁN - WILLI BROKMEIER
GRAF TASSILO ENDRÖDY-WITTEMBURG - NICOLAI GEDDA
LISA - OLIVERA MILJAKOVIC
MANJA - EDDA MOSER
KARL STEPHAN LIEBENBERG - HORST SACHTLEBEN
CHOR DER BAYERISCHEN STAATSOPER MÜNCHEN
SYMPHONIE-ORCHESTER GRAUNKE
WILLY MATTES, Munich 1973
When Radio Turin presented Le Prophète in 1970, it was the first time this Meyerbeer opera had been heard in Italy in 60 years. The precedent had been set in 1962 with La Scala's revival of Les Huguenots in 1962 and the Florence staging of Robert le diable in 1968, completing a Meyerbeer minirenaissance of sorts. (I reviewed that Florence revival for Fanfare's previous issue.) As for this Le Prophète (the only one of the three operas to be sung in the original French), it formerly appeared on LPs on the EJS label; this release is its first CD incarnation.
Hector Berlioz attended the opera's premiere in 1849 and gave this summation in one of his letters: "The score contains some very fine things side by side with feeble and detestable ones. But the splendor of the show will make everything pass muster." That seems like a fair appraisal, though "detestable" sounds rather strong for the opera's numerous admittedly less inspired pages. There is plenty of bombast and banality in Le Prophète 's music, and Scribe's libretto provides an abundance of improbable contrivances. But there is also evidence of Meyerbeer's novel and frequently ingenious touches of orchestration, and even more of his indisputable mastery of vocal writing. That latter element is far better served in the MYTO set than it was in CBS's complete recording of the opera, also featuring Marilyn Horne and the late Henry Lewis, which followed six years later.
The crucial difference between the two sets is Nicolai Gedda in the title role of Jean de Leyde, an historical personage whose story is considerably embroidered here by Scribe's fanciful imagination. Gedda displays an astonishing mastery of voix mixte effects (a mixture of head and chest resonances in the high register) that was beyond the reach of CBS's earnest, capable, but miscast James McCracken. The role of Jean has its heroic moments (the aria "O roi des cieux," for one), but it also calls for a whole array of high pianissimo shadings that emerge from Gedda's throat with remarkable grace and refinement. The crucial role of Fides (created by the legendary Pauline Viardot-Garcia) finds the 1970 Marilyn Horne in her element. She ranges high and low with equal bravura and emotional commitment, and her opulent tones are under firmer control than they are in the CBS set. Margherita Rinaldi, in the taxing role of Berthe, is absent from the opera's central episodes, but brings a virtuoso flair to her opening Cavatina and to her dramatic reappearance in act IV. The three Anabaptist conspirators — Meyerbeerian villains of despicable character, yet not without a measure of opéra comique irony — are quite good, particularly basso Robert El Hage.
Henry Lewis conducts with authority and precision, bringing vitality to the opera's rather effective ballet sequence (mandatory in the "grand operas" of the period). The chorus, too, contributes significantly. Within its somewhat restricted dynamic range, the recorded sound is quite enjoyable.
Henry Lewis, conductor; Marilyn Horne (Fidès); Nicolai Gedda (Jean de Leyde); Margherita Rinaldi (Berthe); Robert El Hage (Zacharie); Fritz Peter (Jonas); Boris Carmeli (Mathisen); Alfredo Giacomotti (Oberthal); RAI Torino Orchestra and Chorus
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lyrical01. The peddler
02. If I only could express it in sounds
03. Grey foggy morning
04. Farewell you new village
05. Snow has covered you, Russia
06. Caucasian melody - Pray, friend
07. The snow tempest down the street
08. Weeping willow
09. Troika
10. Monotonously rings the little bell
11. Evening bells
Nicolai Gedda (tenor)
Choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Dir. Nicholas P. Afonsky
Balalaika Orchestra
Dir. Lonya Kolbouss
October 1963. New York
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lyrical
Gedda, Nicolai (tenor) - Faust
Ghiaurov, Nicolai (bass) - Méphistopheles
Massard, René (barítoneo) - Valentin
Harper, Heather (soprano) - Marguerite
de Retes, Africa (soprano) - Siébel
Algorta, Jorge (bass) - Wagner
Bartoletti, Luisa (mezzo) - Marthe
Orchester of Teatro Colón, conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, May 1971, recording of a live performance.
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Nicolai Gedda (tenor) – The Duke of Mantua
Cornell MacNeil (baritone) – Rigoletto
Reri Grist (soprano) – Gilda
Agostino Ferrin (bass) – Sparafucile
Anna di Stasio (mezzo) – Maddalena
Limbania Leoni (mezzo) – Giovanna
Ruggero Raimondi (bass) – Count Monterone
Benito di Bella (baritone) – Marullo
Franco Ricciardi (tenor) – Borsa
Alfredo Giacomotti (bass) – Count Ceprano
Mirella Fiorentini (mezzo) – Countess Ceprano
Carlo Castrucci (baritone) – An Usher
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma/Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
rec. Opera House, Rome, July 1967
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Lady Harriet Durham - Anneliese Rothenberger
Nancy - Brigitte Fassbaenfer
Lyonel - Nicolai Gedda
Plimkett - Hermann Prey
The judge - Hans Georg Knoblich
1st maid - Hanne-Ruth Mayer
2nd maid - Elisabeth Schmaus
3rd maid - Hildegard Steinmeier
1st servant - Artur Horn
2nd servant - Hans Mursch
3rd servant - Gerhard Fuchs
Chorus master - Wolfgang Baumagt. Bayerisches Staadsorchester conducted by Robert Hager, 1969