Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) This is my Verdi
Amarilli Nizza (soprano)
Janáček Philharmonic, Ostrava/Gianluca Martinenghi
rec. Ostrava Philharmonic Orchestra Auditorium, May 2014
Dynamic CDS 7721 [75:45]

It takes guts to introduce yourself to the wider public with Abigaille’s big aria from Nabucco, as  Amarilli Nizza has, even if it’s just because the program’s been ordered chronologically. It would have been even better had she had the full technical command the scene required. The very first sung note, not a “hard note,” is nudged up to pitch. In the recitative, Nizza does vary dynamics and colors, with a slightly veiled tone, but she has to drive a bit into the top C. She aspirates the fioriture in the cantilena — as almost everyone does, save Callas in her single broadcast performance — and nudges, again, into the passaggio, where the pitches settle slightly “under.”

It’s not a bad try, but not the genuine article, either: the piece mostly exposes the soprano’s weaknesses. If the singer has to poke and nudge at the music to gain a commanding presence, perhaps she’s not ready for the role yet, or not the right sort of soprano for it. (Is there a “right sort of soprano” for Abigaille? Callas was, but she only sang it once. Souliotis had the voice, but, ultimately, not the technique. Others have more or less finagled.)

In Odabella’s first aria, the cabaletta goes at a proper “swinging” marziale, and Nizza’s runs are serviceable, though better going down than coming up. The second aria doesn’t quite float, and the return of the upward nudges also leaves a few pitches unclear. In the Scottish Lady’s entrance aria, Nizza is heavy in the first part, and strained in the cabaletta’s final phrase — there’s even a bit of the Ethel Merman glottal attack on “È tardi!”  At least she reads the letter in a normal, thoughtful tone, without adopting the hokey whisper that Cossotto made de rigueur; she saves her whispering for the opening of the Sleepwalking Scene, where it sounds even more hokey, and beclouds the pitches, at that. So, too, with Odabella’s disproportionately emphatic “Cielo!” and with Tacea la notte, where Leonora becomes dreadfully overwrought: is the diva staking a claim as a Singing Actress? The Aïda arias suffer some unclear pitches and more nudging and nagging: the top C comes out, but I’d not swear to some of the pitches below.

Martinenghi’s conducting is basically fine, save when he pushes the tempi to accommodate the soprano, as in the unusually Andante-ish D’amor sull’ali rosee. Otherwise, the playing is characterful: incisive in Odabella’s entrance aria, solemn and tragic in Oh nel fuggente nuvolo, correctly hearty in the Lady’s letter scene. There’s some confusion as the players try to catch Nizza on the syncopations of Ritorna vincitor!, and the dotted rhythms in Tacea la notte are flattened out.  The flute solo bridging the sections of the Nabucco piece is poky.

Stephen Francis Vasta

stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog

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Contents
Nabucco (1842)
Ben io t’invenni
Attila (1846)
Santo di patria
Oh nel fuggente nuvolo
Macbeth (1847)
Nel dì della vittoria
La luce langue
Una macchia è qui tutt’ora
Il trovatore (1853)
Tacea la notte placida
D’amor sull’ali rosee
Aïda (1871)
Ritorna vincitor
O cieli azzurri