Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Turandot, opera
2. Turandot, opera
3. Turandot, opera
4. Turandot, opera
5. Turandot, opera
6. Turandot, opera
7. Turandot, opera
8. Turandot, opera
9. Turandot, opera
10. Turandot, opera
11. Turandot, opera
12. Turandot, opera
13. Turandot, opera
14. Turandot, opera
15. Turandot, opera
16. Turandot, opera
17. Turandot, opera
18. Turandot, opera

Disc 2:

1. Turandot, opera
2. Turandot, opera
3. Turandot, opera
4. Turandot, opera
5. Turandot, opera
6. Turandot, opera
7. Turandot, opera
8. Turandot, opera
9. Turandot, opera
10. Turandot, opera
11. Turandot, opera
12. Turandot, opera
13. Turandot, opera
14. Turandot, opera
15. Turandot, opera
16. Turandot, opera
17. Turandot, opera
18. Turandot, opera

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116955 in Music
• Released on: 1996-09-17
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .55 pounds

Customer Reviews

Classic Turandot
Though this recording is generally highly rated, the ease and arrogance with which a few reviewers have dismissed this historic performance leave one perplexed and saddened, wondering if perhaps Amazon's customer rating system is such a great thing after all.

Granted, the technology behind this early stereo recording is often less than exemplary, and the various LP pressings and CD issues have varied in quality. The current reissue seems as good as we are likely to get any time soon.

Despite these shortcoming, I really do wonder if some of the less than enthusiastic reviewers really understand what they are hearing when they hear these voices.

Certainly we have a wealth of great voices today, but there is no denying that with our global community, voices are beginning to sound more and more the same. This recording documents a different era, when regions and nations produced a unique sound.

This recording is a living testament to a time when Scandanavian voices (Nilsson and Bjoerling) rang free and open-throated with a particular brilliance in the upper register; when Italian sopranos (Tebaldi)sang with an exciting blend of Italianate bite and Mediterranean warmth and hue; when sopranos often produced pianissimos not by a mere reduction in volume, but by producing an uncanny, disembodied tone that floated. Listen to the confrontation between Turandot and Liu near the end of the opera to hear Tebaldi and Nilsson both produce this striking sound. The soft, warm tones seem suspended in space. Milanov could produce this sound; so could Caballe.

For this performance I can only feel gratitude. No one can objectively say that these roles have been performed better by other singers. We are the beneficiaries of these great artists who, during the hot Roman summer of 1959, not only left behind an unsurpassed performance of this great work, but who also preserved on disc one of the greatest tributes to a great era of singing--an era that can only accrue in legend with each passing year.

A Superb Turandot
Turandot is such a standard repertory piece nowadays that it is difficult to believe that there was a time when it had to fight for that position. This recording from the late 50s was preceded by at least four other versions: a 78rpm recording starring Gina Cigna who also recorded Norma and a very young Magda Olivero, a low-budget and still interesting recording on the Remington label starring Gertrud Grob-Prandl who sang the role quite a bit, the first Decca-London recording with Inge Borkh, Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco, and the legendary La Scala recording with Maria Callas and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

In many ways, this Turandot was the one that really grabbed the public's attention and began bringing the opera to public notice. The role was a natural for Birgit Nilsson who already had a big following for her interpretations of Isolde and Brünnhilde. And here she is captured at the very top of her prime, her voice gleaming its way through "In questa reggia." Nilsson was to go on to record the role again a few years later with Scotto and Corelli; of the two recordings I prefer this one because she has the advantage of being a bit younger. Renata Tebaldi is certainly to be counted among the very best interpreters of the role of Liù. In her case, she had already recorded the role not too long before. While she is a bit older here, I find her in slightly more attractive voice and presenting a more polished interpretation. For many folks the chief attraction of this set is Jussi Bjoerling's Calaf. I'm not sure whether he ever sang the role on stage although he had recorded a still-memorable "Nessun dorma" back in the early 1940s. In fact, I recall reading before that when Nilsson listened to this recording she would interrupt the LP to put on Bjoerling's 78 of the aria. Giorgio Tozzi is in beautiful voice as Timur and he is very touching in his scene after Liù's death.

The rest of the cast is also good, with Alessio de Paolis a standout as the Emperor. Conductor Erich Leinsdorf is at his best here, bringing out all the color of the music. I'm sure this recording was considered to be a sonic spectacular at the time it came out; it's only stereo competition at the time was the Decca/London recording which was in very early stereo (the Callas recording, made after the Decca/London, *could* have been in stereo, but EMI was wary of leaping into this new technology too soon)

Turandot is no longer in the shadows of the other Puccini operas and it has received many recordings since this one came out, most notably the stupdendous Sutherland recording. Still, this recording, the first note-complete rendition, remains near the top of the Turandot sweepstakes and is well worth getting to know.

The TURANDOT to GET!
When you have superb sound, a superb piece of work, and THREE superb singers, in their prime, the results have to be fantastic. The sound is especially fantastic, since they built the original "Living Stereo" recorders again, THEN transfered to digital. Inspired, and the results are incredible. Tebaldi is incredible as Liu, and in my opinion, the most effective ever! Why couldn't she have done this on stage? Nilsson holds her own, giving tremendous stamina and force in her interpretation, only to grow with time. And, Bjorling, true perfection. The man doesn't scoop up and whoop down from a note, it's always ringing clear. "Nessun Dorma" is unsurpassed, his voice cutting through the orchestra like butter. Nilsson and Bjoring in Act 2, probably set the recorders on fire, when they were singing. What glorious sounds. The orchestra is especially good, with chorus good as well. A favorite opera of mine, the one to have on CD. Only too bad there is not a video of these artists performing this role. I can dream, can't I?