Franco Corelli (tenor)
The Alternative Repertoire
rec. 1956-72
Reviewed as a download
Urania Records WS121.428 [2 CDs: 134]
Franco Corelli possessed one of the best tenor voices that we are able to hear on modern recordings – for some people simply the best. This compilation consists of recordings from three periods. CD1 is called The Alternative Repertoire 1956-58, with no further indications of dates, though a little research on the internet (Prestomusic and the Franco Corelli Info Centre) would seem to indicate that two of the Cetra recordings (the Ernani and Otello extracts) are from 1954, and that, more significantly, the tracks accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Franco Ferraris are from 1961-63. The second CD moves ahead to the start of the seventies, with a live opera and a live concert recording, and some Decca studio recordings.
Here, there are none of Corelli’s favourite roles, which explains the title of the album: The Alternative Repertoire. Thus, we have no Turandot, Tosca, Chénier and so on, but instead mostly extracts from operas that he never sang on stage (like Otello, Rigoletto and Madama Butterfly) or only sang rarely (like Simon Boccanegra or Fedora).
According to Urania’s website, these recordings have been remastered using their own method. The Cetra recordings from the fifties have obviously been cleaned up. The HMV recordings from the sixties are that bit better, but sound on my equipment no different from the EMI remasters made in the 1990s. In general, they offer a perfectly adequate reproduction of Corelli’s voice in all its richness.
While on the subject of sound quality and fidelity, it is worth mentioning that the two Don Carlo extracts here are from the full 1970 live recording from Vienna, which has been reviewed in extremely glowing terms on this site (review ~ review). The flaw of a short drop-out which Ralph Moore points out in the earlier, Opera d’Oro, version, in the final duet between Carlo and Elisabetta, is absent here, and that fact, plus the very good sound, as I hear it, would also indicate that Urania’s recording is generally closer to the quality of the Orfeo version.
These two CDs, totalising nearly an hour and a quarter of music, are a perfect way of discovering, or rediscovering, Franco Corelli’s phenomenal voice.
Where does one start? It is clear that by the time of the first of these recordings, when Corelli was about 33 years of age, he had established an extremely solid, reliable technique. It had not been achieved easily: there had been hesitations about his voice type, his teachers and the methods to follow. The independent-minded and largely self-taught Corelli had worked hard to get this result.
The first CD shows off Corelli’s voice in all its youthful splendour. It is easy to draw up a catalogue of his many skills. Thanks to his flawless legato, he caresses the melodies in arias like Spirto gentil…, in which his attractive, regular vibrato and plangent tone are very much in evidence. At the end of the aria, he makes the high Cs sound very easy. Similar skill can be heard in the Ernani aria, in which the melody is sung with bel canto grace. He makes good use of the dynamics of his voice for expressive effect in the Un ballo in maschera aria, and his full dramatic possibilities are clear in the “Esultate” from Otello, making one regret that he never sang the role on stage. He could produce the same sort of brilliant, ringing tone in other places too, like in “Addio, fiorito asil” on the phrase “Non reggo al tuo squalor”, when he makes the effortless octave jump to the A-flat above the scale. In “Amor ti vieta”, with his legato and his baritonal timbre he creates a marvellous feeling of a single movement towards a powerful but tender climax.
At this early stage in his career, he had already developed the habits for which he has been criticised. He was already using his ability to swell a phrase and then reduce it to a delicate thread of a note in ways which were less artistically necessary than designed to draw attention to his considerable vocal capabilities. How much it bothers the listener is a matter of personal taste. There is also quite frequent scooping, when he seems to ‘help himself up’ to a note instead of attacking it directly. It doesn’t necessarily even have to be a high note that needs some effort to reach; in the extract from Gli Ugonotti, for example, the opening phrase of the Romanza itself (“Bianca al par…”) is sung with a good deal of slurring, thus depriving the air of some of the charm it could have had.
When he was young, Corelli was criticised for the rather fast, tight vibrato (called ‘caprino’, meaning ‘little goat’ – and indeed he was for a while cruelly nicknamed “Pecorelli” – Little Sheep), which was considered to make his voice sound nervous and unsettled. I must say that although it is very evident in some contemporaneous recordings, like the “Recondita armonia” from the 1956 film of Tosca, I do not find it very present here (though the vibrato is rather fast at moments in, say, the extracts from La forza del destino or Un ballo in maschera). Corelli was aware of the problem, and being a self-critical perfectionist, suffering from terrible stage nerves – which seems inconceivable to us in view of the security of his technique – he worked hard to eliminate it. The difference can be heard here, in the HMV recordings from 1961-63. If one listens, for example, to “Cielo e mar”, one is aware of a vibrato which had already become slower, more relaxed-sounding, and – to my ear at least – no longer tending to ‘sharpen’ the voice, thus enabling one to enjoy its baritonal quality.
By the time we come to the 1970s, and the recordings on the second CD, Corelli’s voice was beginning to show signs of strain. It had lost its bloom and some of its richness, and the execution could sound more laboured. But it is still an extremely impressive instrument, which most of today’s tenors would be proud to possess. The Don Carlo extracts, in which he is accompanied by a gorgeous Gundula Janowitz, are sung with considerable impact and admirable vocal steadiness. They give a taste of the excellent live recording which is all the more valuable as Corelli never recorded Don Carlo in the studio; it is a top recommendation in Ralph Moore’s survey. The love duet from Otello, where his partner is a very good Teresa Zylis-Gara, displays a combination of tenderness and dramatic heft which is necessary for the role, but of which regrettably few tenors are actually capable. In the extracts from La gioconda, Corelli is partnered by Renata Tebaldi. Though past her best, with her high range sounding rather strident, they clearly both still possess the qualities necessary to sing these demanding roles in a thrilling way. The final extract, from Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, also with Tebaldi, which Corelli never sang complete, enables us to hear that he also could also sing in the declamatory but also tender style necessary for this more modern, rather post-Wagnerian work.
Overall, this double album enables the listener to become acquainted or re-acquainted with the glorious voice of Franco Corelli, in roles which were mostly not his staple fare. Though one could argue that the recordings here omit the period in the late sixties in which he was at his absolute prime, they still enable us to appreciate his gifts: the squillo, the power, and the constant fullness of tone, on even the shortest, highest or loudest of notes. With him, no note seems too high, no phrase seems too long, and he never lacks the necessary power; we can just sit back and enjoy the impression of total mastery that his voice exudes.
David James
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Contents
Disc 1: The Alternative Repertoire (1956-58)
1. Donizetti – Lucia di Lammermoor: Tombe degli avi miei. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
2. Donizetti – La Favorita: Una vergine, un angiol. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
3. Donizetti – La Favorita: Favorita del re! Philharmonia Orchestra/Franco Ferraris
4. Bellini – I Puritani: A te, o cara. Philharmonia Orchestra/Franco Ferraris
5. Verdi – I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata: La mia letizia infondere. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Alfredo Simonetto
6. Verdi – Ernani: Mercè, diletti amici. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
7. Verdi – Rigoletto: Questa o quella. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
8. Verdi – Rigoletto: La donna è mobile. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/ Alfredo Simonetto
9. Verdi – Un ballo in maschera: Forse la soglia. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Alfredo Simonetto
10. Verdi – La forza del destino: La vita è inferno. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile.
11. Verdi – Simon Boccanegra: Sento avvampar. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Umberto Cattini
12. Verdi – Otello: Esultate! RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile.
13. Meyerbeer – Gli Ugonotti: Non lungi. Philharmonia Orchestra/Franco Ferraris
14. Ponchielli – La Gioconda: Cielo e mar! Philharmonia Orchestra/Franco Ferraris
15. Boito – Mefistofele: Giunto sul passo. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
16. Boito – Mefistofele: Dai campi, dai prati. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Umberto Cattini
17. Massenet – Werther: Ah, non mi ridestar. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
18. Puccini – Manon Lescaut: Tra voi belle. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Umberto Cattini
19. Puccini – Madama Butterfly: Addio, fiorito asil. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Umberto Cattini
20. Giordano – Fedora: Amor ti vieta. RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin/Arturo Basile
Disc 2: The Alternative Repertoire (1970-72)
1. Verdi – Don Carlo: Io vengo a domandar grazia alla mia regina. Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Horst Stein, with Gundula Janowitz, rec. 1970
2. Verdi – Don Carlo: È dessa… Ma lassù ci vedremo. Vienna State Opera Orchestra/Horst Stein, with Gundula Janowitz, rec. 1970
3. Verdi – Otello: Già nella notte densa. Metropolitan Opera/Karl Böhm, with Teresa Zylis-Gara, rec. 1972
4. Ponchielli – La Gioconda: Ma chi vien?… Oh! la sinistra voce. Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Anton Guadagno, with Renata Tebaldi, rec. 1972
5. Ponchielli – La Gioconda: Tu, tu, amore? Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Anton Guadagno, with Renata Tebaldi, rec. 1972
6. Zandonai – Francesca da Rimini: No, Smaragdi, no! Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Anton Guadagno, with Renata Tebaldi, rec. 1972
