Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Un ballo in maschera (1859)
Riccardo, Count of Warwich and Governor of Boston, Freddie De Tommaso (tenor); Renato, his secretary, Lester Lynch (baritone); Amelia, Renato’s wife, Saioa Hernández (soprano)
Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo/Marek Janowski
rec. 2021, Auditorium Rainier III, Monte-Carlo, Monaco; Radio Studio of Radio Cluj, Romania (choir parts)
Italian libretto with English translation enclosed.
Reviewed as download from press preview.
Pentatone PTC5187048 [2 CDs: 131]
It has been a long time since we had a new studio recording of Un ballo in maschera. The most recent, as far as I can see, was Karajan on DG with Plácido Domingo, Josephine Barstow and Leo Nucci in 1989. It is still available, although only as download, and is well worth acquiring. Earlier than that, the 1950s recording with Callas, Di Stefano and Gobbi is a worthy mono version; from the 1960s there are two recordings with the incomparable Carlo Bergonzi as Riccardo, a Decca set under Solti with Birgit Nilsson and Cornell MacNeil and an RCA under Leinsdorf with Leontyne Price and Robert Merrill. The 1970s saw Pavarotti in harness with Renata Tebaldi and Sherrill Milnes (Decca), Domingo with Martina Arroyo and Piero Cappuccilli with Riccardo Muti conducting (EMI) and José Carreras with Montserrat Caballé and Ingvar Wixell under Colin Davis (Philips); in the 1980s, both Pavarotti and Domingo returned to Ballo, the former with Margaret Price and Renato Bruson, Solti conducting (Decca), the latter with Katia Ricciarelli and Bruson, led by Claudio Abbado (DG). All of these have their merits, so competition is stiff for a newcomer. Older collectors naturally have their favourites. Muti with the young Domingo has many proselytes; for me it is Leinsdorf with Bergonzi, Price et al every day of the week, and if I say that when I heard the first few phrases of Freddie De Tommaso’s Riccardo on this new recording, I immediately thought of Bergonzi, that is certainly a positive indication. I’ll come back to this in a moment, but let me first give some basic facts.
The recording was made during the summer of 2021 in the midst of the pandemic, and on a session photograph in the booklet all the orchestra members are wearing masks – the strings that is. As you can see in the header the choir parts were recorded separately in Romania, so this is a case of cut and paste, as in the good old days. Marek Janowski has a long and distinguished career behind him, not least in opera recordings. He has mainly focused on German repertoire and recorded the first digital Ring forty years ago. Only recently has he turned to Italian operas, and this is the third for Pentatone, after Cavalleria rusticana (review) and Il tabarro (review). Middle-period Verdi is far away from the verismo repertoire roughly a half century later, but Janowski has good feeling for the Verdian melodies, and his orchestra really sings the prelude and the introduction to Act II. He also catches the mysterious atmosphere in the opening of the Ulrica scene in Act 1. Occasionally I feel that he presses on a mite too much – CD 1 track 8 and towards the end of Act III after Oscar’s aria. It is maybe too hectic but undeniably thrilling, and the precision is admirable. The Transylvanian choir is in fine fettle, and as always with Pentatone the quality of the recording is beyond reproach. The prerequisites for a successful performance are, in other words, favourable.
No opera performance stands or falls completely with the singing and acting of one specific soloist, but a mediocre Riccardo (or Gustavus III as it originally was) is almost as damaging as a Hamlet with an indisposed prince. Seeing the name Freddie De Tommaso heading the cast list, I had high expectations. After reviewing his first opera recital a year ago (review), a disc awarded the honorary mention “Recording of the Month”, I had looked forward to hearing him in a complete opera. And here it is. His entrance Amici miei… Soldati…ai deputati (CD 1 track 3) is like a fresh summer wind: lyric beautiful tone, elegant phrasing and that special Italian warmth and youthfulness. This is a happy governor and just a minute or so later he intones that wonderful love theme, which we first encountered in the prelude and which also returns in the last act, La rivedrà nell’estasi. He never forces, he never distorts the phrases with lachrymose gulps in the Gigli manner. He is tasteful and full of life. Di’ tu se fedele (CD 1 track 14) in the Ulrica scene is again elegant, sung with appropriate swagger and he takes that giant downward leap to the bass register with confidence. In the long duet with Amelia on the gallows hill he is palpably in love with her; his tone glows, and the whole scene becomes the highpoint it should be. Forse la soglia attinse – Ma se m’è forza perderti in the last act also glows and Ella è pura is so tender. The recording is worth its price for Freddie De Tommaso’s achievement alone – but there are further reasons for acquisition as well.
Saioa Hernández’ Amelia is one. In both her arias as well as the duet on the gallows hill she sings with feeling. Her horror in Ecco l’orrido campo – Ma dall’arido stelo (CD 1 track 20) when the bell rings at midnight is moving, and so is the prayer that rounds off the aria proper. Her second aria Morrò, ma prima in grazia (CD 2 track 4) is even more heartrending. She has the voice also for the more dramatic outbursts, maybe with a certain hardness of tone at fortissimo, but there is a thrill in her singing.
I’ve had a dual attitude to Lester Lynch’s singing in the past. His dramatic capacity has always impressed me but his actual tone has been a little hard to stomach. Fortunately, I found it more attractive here. It is a big voice with mighty power, and his first aria, Alla vita che t’arride (CD 1 track 5) is magnificent. In the many-faceted Eri tu (CD 2 tracks 5-6) he sings with a great deal of warmth and many nuances – listen to O dolcezze perdute!
Annika Gerhards’ Oscar is charming and glittering and Elisabeth Kulman’s Ulrica impresses greatly. Here is a contralto of the old school with solid chest notes (CD 1 track 9). The basses Samuel and Tom are also forces to be reckoned with, in particular Kevin Short’s Samuel. Jean-Luc Ballestra is also an expressive Silvano in the Ulrica scene.
And how does this production stand the test against existing competitors? Very well, I would say. Leinsdorf-Bergonzi will never be redundant, but this Janowski-De Tommaso recording is an admirable newcomer that should be heard by all admirers of Verdi.
Göran Forsling
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Other cast
Samuel, Kevin Short (bass); Tom, Adam Lau (bass); Ulrica, Elisabeth Kulman (contralto); Oscar, Annika Gerhards (soprano); Silvano, Jean-Luc Ballestra (baritone); Il primo Giudice/Un Servo d’Amelia, Samy Camps (tenor)
