Gardelli: Giordano – Fedora, Rescigno: Zandonai – Francesca da Rimini, highlights (2 CD, FLAC)

The Italian soprano Magda Olivero, one of the most prominent interpreters of the Italian verismo operatic tradition whose career spanned 50 years, has died at 104.
The news agency ANSA said Olivero died Monday, Sept. 8th 2014 in a Milan hospital, where she was admitted after a stroke last month.
The Milan opera house La Scala, where Olivero debuted in 1938, honored her memory with a moment of silence before a performance on Monday. La Scala described Olivero’s voice as charismatic, her acting as formidable and her intelligence as “ready and cutting until the end”.
Olivero took a break from performing after her 1941 marriage, returning to the stage in 1958 in the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur at the urging of the opera’s composer Francesco Cilea. It became one of her most memorable roles.

Audio CD
SPARS Code: ADD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Decca
Size: 661 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Umberto Giordano – Fedora
Fedora – Magda Olivero
Loris – Mario del Monaco
M. de Siriex – Tito Gobbi
Lorek – Leonardo Monreale
Countess Olga Sukarev – Lucia Cappellino
Dr. Boroff – Virgilio Carbonari
Grech – Silvio Maionica
Baron Rouvel – Piero de Palma

Choeur de l’Opera de Monte Carlo
Marcel Gay
L’Orchestre National de L’opera de Monte Carlo
Lamberto Gardelli

Riccardo Zandonai – Francesca da Rimini (highlights)
Francesca- Magda Olivero
Paolo – Mario del Monaco

L’Orchestre National de L’opera de Monte Carlo
Nicola Rescigno

THE BEST FEDORA

FEDORA was one of Magda Olivero’s signature roles and nobody sings it better. Other than the complete TURANDOT recording with Cigna which was recorded many years earlier and where Olivero’s voice sounds totally different with a much more pronounced vibrato reminiscent of an older style of singing, this is Olivero’s only other studio recording of a complete opera and a great document of what she sounded like later on in her career. In this FEDORA she sings opposite the equally amazing Mario Del Monaco and although he is a little past his prime it still is a great studio document of two amazing singers. Magda has always been a controversial artist and is considered one of Italy’s most important opera singers, so much so that when the famous printing house RICORDI decided to produce a series of biographies of Italy’s most important opera singers, the first volume was not Caruso or Tebaldi or Callas but Magda Olivero. I highly recommend this FEDORA, it is one of my favorite recordings. I also absolutely love Olivero’s live recording of FEDORA from Dallas with the tenor Bruno Prevedi who is equally as impressive in that performance with his beautiful dramatic tenor voice.

God Save the Tsar!

This was Magda Olivero’s second complete opera in the recording studio, and it is intensely dramatic, even overwhelming. Her portrayal of the Russian Princess is astonishing. Her estimable colleagues include Mario del Monaco and Tito Gobbi, with Lamberto Gardelli in his best recording. The young Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings the small role of the boy, Dimitri.

At the same 1969 sessions as the above “Fedora,” Decca also recorded sumptuous highlights from Zandonai’s masterpiece, well conducted by Nicola Rescigno. Mme Olivero is unforgettable in the role which she had sung with the same tenor ten years previous at the Teatro alla Scala.