Verdi Operas Complete Music : Verdi: Macbeth

Verdi: Macbeth

£11.95

  1. Overture (Preludio) - Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  2. Coro di Streghe: Che faceste? dite su! - Piero Cappuccilli, Giovanni Foiani, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  3. Due vaticini compiuti or sono - Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  4. Coro di Streghe: S allontanarono! - Shirley Verrett, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  5. Vieni t affretta...Or tutti sorgete - Shirley Verrett, Giovanni Foiani, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  6. Scena e Marcia: Oh donna mia - Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  7. Gran Scena e Duetto: Sappia la sposa mia - Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  8. Scena e Sestetto - Finale I: Di destarlo per tempo il re m impose - Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Stefania Malagu, Antonio Savastano, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  9. Scena: Perché mi sfuggi - Shirley Verrett, Piero Cappuccilli, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  10. Aria: La luce langue - Shirley Verrett, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  11. Coro di Sicari: Chi oso mandarvi a noi? - Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  12. Gran Scena: Studia il passo, o mio figlio! - Nicolai Ghiaurov, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado
  13. Finale II: Salve o re - Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Stefania Malagu, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Mariotti, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  14. Si colmi il calice - Shirley Verrett, Piero Cappuccilli, Alfredo Mariotti, Stefania Malagu, Plácido Domingo, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi
  15. Va , spirto d abisso! - Piero Cappuccilli, Shirley Verrett, Plácido Domingo, Stefania Malagu, Alfredo Mariotti, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Claudio Abbado, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Romano Gandolfi

Everyone who hears it loves this recording of Verdi s early masterpiece. Small wonder. A first-rate ensemble from La Scala triumphantly charge through the murderous tale with unbounded confidence after a long-running production, and with a gut feeling for the true Verdian character and spirit. For Verdi himself, Macbeth was a hard birth. Struggling to revise shoddy rehearsal practice in a complacent mid-19th-century opera industry, he conducted long nightmarish rehearsals enforcing attention to his demands for strong stage characters. An indication of Verdi s success, and of the importance of his characterisation, is that Shirley Verrett, although audibly stretched in the higher register, still reigns as the ultimate Lady M. As in Shakespeare s original, the intense and tangible plight of the female part nearly outshines that of the principal anti-hero (Capucilli).With Lady Macbeth Verdi created his first real female star role of which he was to supply so many. Abbado is a master in observing detail and from both orchestra and soloists gets glittering performances and discipline in one go.Being cautious with his tempi, the conductor achieves deserved climaxes and a chillingly effective eerie throughline. Leave the lights on when listening to this. --Yngvil V.G.

One of the finest available recordings of a Verdi opera - Along with Abbaddo s recording of Simon Boccanegra, also on DG, this set stands as a fitting testament to the conductor s tenure at La Scala in the 70s. The true sense of ensemble between the principals is clearly audible, and Cappuccilli and Verrett enjoy a rare chemistry as the guilt-wracked royal couple.The great baritone was sometimes accused of relying too much on the sheer beauty of his instrument at the expense of dramatic involvement, but there is no sign of that fault here. Listen to the way he and Abbaddo build the tension in the recitative prior to Duncan s murder, or the breathless helplessness he conveys in the subsequent duet with Verrett.Warmer and more italianate than Nilson (Decca), more verbally alert than Cossotto (EMI), and mercifully free of the exaggerated effects employed by Zampieri (Phillips), Verrett covers the emotional gamut with Callas-like incisiveness and yet rarely displays strain in the high-lying tessitura.Domingo and Ghiaurov are splendid in their arias, the former s following a spell-binding O patria oppressa from the Scala chorus.For those who prefer their Verdi fast and furious, there is Muti on EMI with a fine cast (Milnes, Cossotto and Carreras - I find Raimondi s Banquo vapid). For me, neither that nor any other issue come near the ideal combination of subtlety and theatricality achieved here.




Verdi: Macbeth