Mario del Monaco – Decca Recitals 1952-1969 (5 CD box set, APE)

Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 5
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Decca
Size: 1.46 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

CD 1
01. Oh! Fede Negar Potessi (Luisa Miller – Verdi)
02. Ch’ella Mi Creda Libera E Lontano (La Fanciulla Del West – Puccini)
03. Ah! Guai A Chi La Tocca….No! Pazzo Son! (Manon Lescaut – Puccini)
04. Non Piangere Liu! (Turandot – Puccini)
05. Recondita Armonia (Tosca – Puccini)
06. E Lucevan Le Stelle (Tosca – Puccini)
07. O Figli, O Figli Miei! (Macbeth – Verdi)
08. Lunge Da Leide’ Miei Bollenti Spiriti (La Traviata – Verdi)
09. Si Puo, Si Puo? Signori! (Pagliacci – Leoncavallo)
10. La Vita E Un Inferno… (La Forza Del Destino – Verdi)
11. Questo O Quella… (Rigoletto – Verdi)
12. La Donna E mobile…(Rigoletto – Verdi)
13. Cielo E Mar! (La Gioconda – Boito)
14. Rachel, Quand Du Seigneur La Grace Tutelaire (La Juive – Halevy)
15. Nel Verde Maggio… (Loreley – Catalani)
16. Hai Ben Raggione… (Il Tabarro – Puccini)
17. Colpito Qui M’avete… (Andrea Chenier – Giordano)
18. Nessun Dorma (Turandot – Puccini)
19. Una Parola Sola… (La Fanciulla Del West – Puccini)
20. Che Gelida Manina (La Boheme – Puccini)
21. Svanir Le Voci! (Norma – Bellini)

Recorded:
1-14. Rome, 1952. Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede
15-20. Milan, 1954. Studio Orchestra, Franco Chione
21. Rome, 1955. Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede

CD 2
01. Serenade
02. Musica Proibita
03. Mattinata
04. ‘na Lettera Cucente
05. L’addio A Napoli
06. Mattinata Veneziana
07. Core ‘ngrato
08. Forse La Soglia Attinse (Un Ballo In Maschera – Verdi)
09. Amor Ti Vieta (Fedora – Giordano)
10. Giulietta, Son Io (Giuletta E Romeo – Zandonia)
11. Addio, Fiorito Asil (Madame Butterfly – Puccini)
12. Ah! Tout Est Bien fini… (Le Cid – Massenet)
13. La Fleur Que Tu M’avait Jetee (Carmen – Bizet)
14. Merce, Diletti Amici… (Ernani – Verdi)
15. Mi Batte Il Cor… (L’africana – Meyerbeer)
16. M’hai salvato… (La Wally – Catalani)
17. Quando A solden… (La Wally – Catalani)
18. Tombe Degli Avi miei… (Lucia Di Lammermoor – Donizetti)
19. Tu Che A Dio Spiegasti l’ali… (Lucia Di Lammermoor – Donizetti)
20. In Fernem land… (Lohengrin – Wagner)

Recorded:
1-7. Italy, 1954. Studio Orchestra, Ernesto Nicelli
8-19. London, 1956. New Symphony Orchestra of London, Alberto Erede
20. Rome, 1955. Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede

CD 3
01. Trobadorica
02. ‘Na Sera ‘e Maggio
03. ‘o Sole Mio
04. Tu, CA Nun Chiagne!
05. Varca D’o Primo Ammore
06. Granada
07. The Student Prince – Serenata
08. Musica Proibita
09. Love’s Last Word Is Spoken
10. Ti Voglio Tanto Bene
11. West Side Story – Tonight
12. Core ‘ngrato
13. Be My Love
14. Paganini – Girls Were Made To Love And Kiss
15. Cara Mia
16. Lolita
17. Ciao Ciao, Bambina
18. Zigeunerliebe – The White Dove

Recorded:
1-6. Rome, 1958. Studio Orchestra, Ernesto Nicelli
7-18. London, 1962. Mantovani & His Orchestra

CD 4
01. Vengo! … O gioia della mia dimora! … Testa adorata (La Boheme – Verdi)
02. E la solita storia … Anch’io vorrei dormir cosi (L’arlesiana – Cilea)
03. Aha! Aha! Tu ch’odi lo mio grido (Isabeau – Mascogni)
04. O popolo di vili! (Isabeau – Mascogni)
05. Inghirlandata di violette (Francesca da Rimini – Zandonai)
06. Firenze e come un albero fiorito (Gianni Schicchi – Puccini)
07. Ein Schwert verhie? mir der Vater (Die Walkure – Wagner)
08. Wintersturme wichen dem Wonnemond (Die Walkure – Wagner)
09. Siegmund hei?’ ich und Siegmund bin ich (Die Walkure – Wagner)
10. In fernem Land (Lohengrin – Wagner)
11. La mia letizia infondere vorrei (I lombardi – Verdi)
12. La rivedra nell’estasi (Un ballo in maschera – Verdi)
13. Sotto il sol di Siria ardente (Aroldo – Verdi)
14. Ah si, ch’io senta ancora … Dal piu remoto esilio (I due Foscari – Verdi)
15. O figli, o figli miei! … Ah, la paterna mano (Macbeth – Verdi)
16. Di’ tu se fedele (Un ballo in maschera – Verdi)
17. Oh! fede negar potessi … Quando la sere al placido chiaror (Luisa Miller – Verdi)
18. Irne lungi ancor dovrei (Alzira – Verdi)
19. Son gli ebbri, inverecondi miei compagni d’errore! … O mio castel paterno (I masnadieri – Verdi)
20. Come splendido e grande il sol tramonta! … Di ladroni attorniato (I masnadieri – Verdi)
21. Lunge da lei … De’ miei bollenti spiriti (La traviata – Verdi)

Recorded:
1-10. Rome, 1964. Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Carlo Franci
11-21. Monte Carlo, 1969. L’Orchestre National de l’Opera de Monte-Carlo, Nicola Rescigno

CD 5
01. Pieta, Signore – attrib. Stradella
02. Benedictus – Perosi
03. Hostias et preces – Perosi
04. In questa tomba oscura, WoO 133 – Beethoven
05. Crucifixus – Rossini
06. Domine Deus – Rossini
07. Ave verum corpus, K 618 – Mozart
08. Agnus Dei – Bizet
09. Frondi tenere … Ombra mai fu – Handel
10. Ingemisco – Verdi
11. Panis angelicus – Franck
12. Dicitencello vuie
13. Piscatore ‘e pusilleco
14. vurria
15. ‘O paese d”o sole
16. Autunno
17. Torna Surriento

Recorded:
1-11. Geneva, 1965. Brian Runnet – organ
12-17. Rome, 1960. Studio Orchestra, Ernesto Nicelli

invaluable document

This summary of Del Monaco activity with Decca is a veritable historical document.
It encompasses his vocal parabole from the start to the end, via crisis and resurrection. The early recordings show a voice that had (and has) no equal in terms of ring and volume. His interpreations were accurate and insightful as the first 2 reviewers appropriately noted. Listen to the almost wispering start of
“Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci, he is the only one to do it, showing a total respect for the drama of Canio, or the dynamics of “O tu che in seno agli angeli” from Forza del Destino, or the very accurate account of ” Cielo a mar” from Gioconda
this to say that he was very insightful in his approach. Certainly he was a son of his time and some things (sighs and laughters) are now looking obsolete, but the artist was a serious one. He suffered a vocal crisis around 1962-1964 period
(the recital with Mantovani and the Italian and German Arias, original LP title,with Isabeau and Francesca da Rimini etc were both frankly terrible)worsened by the road accident he was involved with, that kept him away from vocal exercise quite a while. During that period that started showing its first signs in Otello with Karajan (see my review there in case of interest)his vocality was a shadow of itself. A(for him) disastrous Carmen (1963, with Resnik, Sutherland, Schippers) bears also testimony. During this period he recorded also Adriana Lecouvreur with Tebaldi and Tabarro (again with Tebaldi)but the troubles were luckily far less noticeable. He finally resurrected in 1965 with the Sacred Music recital when his voice turned again to the voice of the past if somewhat “heavier” but never the less “recognizable”. His last effort Verdi Arias was commendable for the discovery of less famous pieces of the composer but the voice (he was approaching 55) shows more of the same heaviness, still the volume and the ring are there but age was there too. During this period he recorded Cavalleria and Norma with Suliotis, Wally with Tebaldi and Fedora with Olivero and the voice is exactly as I mentioned, clearly “recognizable” but heavier less agile than in his prime. In the end a commendable issue by Decca for one of their top sellers (with his beloved Renata) before the arrival of Sutherland / Pavarotti era. Incidentally Decca had quite a run with Tebaldi/Del Monaco and Sutherland/Pavarotti, lucky people.