Composer: Vincenzo Bellini, Arturo Buzzi-Peccia, Ernesto de Curtis, Luigi Denza, Stefano Donaudy, Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Mascagni, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Giuseppe Verdi
Performer: Carlo Bergonzi, RCA Italiana Opera Chorus
Orchestra: RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Fausto Cleva, Thomas Schippers, Georges Prêtre, Erich Leinsdorf
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: RCA
Catalogue: 88875018082
Release: 2014
Size: 506 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
01. Verdi: Luisa Miller, Act II, Scene ed aria: Oh! Fede negar potessi…Quando le sere al placido
02. Verdi: Ernani: Mercè, diletti amici: Come rugiada al cespite
03. Verdi: Ernani: Dell’ esiglio nel dolore
Verdi: La Traviata
04. Act I: Libiamo ne’ lieti calici
05. Act I: Un dì felice eterea
06. Verdi: Di’ tu se fedele (from Un ballo in maschera)
07. Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III, Scene 3: Tombe degli avi miei
08. Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act III, Scene 3: Fra poco a me ricovero
09. Verdi: Macbeth: O figli; Ah, la paterna mano
Verdi: La Traviata
10. Act II: Lunge da lei; De’ miei bollenti spiriti
11. Verdi: Un ballo in maschera: Ma se m’è forza perderti
12. Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act I, Scene 2: Sulla tomba che rinserra
Verdi: La Traviata
13. Act III: Parigi, o cara
14. Verdi: Messa de Requiem: Dies irae: Ingemisco
15. Verdi: Un ballo in maschera: E scherzo, od è follia
16. Verdi: Un ballo in maschera, Act I, Scene 1: La rivedra nel’ estai
17. Puccini: Edgar (Conclusion): Bella signora
Verdi: La Traviata
18. Act II: Oh, mio rimorso!
CD 02
01. Bellini: Vaga luna che inargenti
02. Verdi: Stornello
03. Denza: Se
04. Donizetti: Me voglio fa’na casa
05. Donaudy: O del mio amato ben
06. Donaudy: Vaghissima sembianza
07. Tirindelli: O primavera!
08. Denza: Occhi di fata
09. Rossini: La promessa from Les soirées musicales
10. Mascagni: Serenata
11. Tosti: Tormento
12. Tosti: L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra
13. Tosti: Ideale
14. Buzzi-Peccia: Lolita
15. Curtis: Non ti scordar di me
16. Rossini: La danza from Les soirées musicales
17. Puccini: Orgia, chimera dall’occhio vitreo from Act II of Edgar
Carlo Bergonzi was widely regarded as one of the greatest operatic singers of the twentieth century and was particularly renowned for his authoritative interpretations of the music of Giuseppe Verdi. This two-disc set features famous Italian opera arias by Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini alongside a selection of lighter songs, all of which showcase Bergonzi’s refined musical interpretations and the breadth of repertoire in which he excelled during his long and distinguished career.
«If I declare — as I do — that Bergonzi was the greatest Verdi tenor of the last century, I will undoubtedly call down on my head the advocates of several other likely candidates. So let me say at once that Caruso had the bigger and better voice, Martinelli an even more distinctive style, Pertile the more earthy, histrionic appeal, Björling the more aristocratic manner, Corelli the more exciting timbre, Pavarotti the more immediately recognizable tone. Yet none of these (or any reader’s favourite candidate) seems quite such a natural, inevitable interpreter of Verdi, or indeed of Donizetti, as Bergonzi, and none was a better musician.
Bergonzi was, and is (on disc) the ideal exponent of just about every role in the Verdian repertory, as he showed in his legendary Philips album of virtually all the tenor arias in the master’s oeuvre.» (Gramophone, July 2014 / Alan Blyth)