Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 1: All'erta, all'erta!
2. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 1: Di due figli vivea
3. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Che più t'arresti?
4. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Tacea la notte placida
5. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Di tale amor, che dirsi
6. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Tace la notte!
7. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Deserto sulla terra
8. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Non m'inganno
9. Il Trovatore, opera: Part I, Scene 2: Di geloso amor sprezzato
10. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie
11. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Stride la vampa!
12. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Soli or siamo!
13. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Condotta ell'era in ceppi
14. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Non son tuo figlio?
15. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Mal reggendo all'aspro assalto
16. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Inoltra il piè
17. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 1: Perigliarti ancor languente
18. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Tutto è deserto
19. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Il balen del suo sorriso
20. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Quel suono! Oh ciel!
21. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Per me ora fatale
22. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Ah! se l'error t'ingombra
23. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: Perchè piangete?
24. Il Trovatore, opera: Part II, Scene 2: E deggio e posso crederlo?

Disc 2:

1. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 1: Or co' dadi,
2. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 1: Squilli, echeggi la tromba guerriera
3. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 1: In braccio al mio rival!
4. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 2: Quale d'armi fragor poc'anzi intesi?
5. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 2: Ah sì, ben mio
6. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 2: L'onda de' suoni mistici
7. Il Trovatore, opera: Part III, Scene 2: Di quella pira
8. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: Siam giunti; ecco la torre
9. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: D;amor sull'ali rosee
10. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: Miserere d'un'alma già vicina
11. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: To vedrai che amore in terra
12. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: Udiste? Come albeggi, la scure al figlio
13. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 1: Mira, di acerbe lagrime
14. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Sceen 1: Vivrà! ... Contende il giubilo
15. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 2: Ai nostri monti ritorneremo
16. Il Trovatore, opera: Part IV, Scene 2: Che! ... Non, m'inganna!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59971 in Music
• Brand: RCA
• Released on: 1998-07-28
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .63 pounds

Amazon.com
With an all-star lineup of experienced Verdians in this 1970 recording, one can't go wrong. But there are other recordings in which one can go more right. Compared to her Trovatore on RCA only 11 years before, Leontyne Price seems self-consciously grand, her plush voice sailing through the opera like visiting royalty and actually growing labored under the strain of sustaining such an imperial manner. Fiorenza Cossotto's slightly shrill, somewhat scary mezzo is at home in playing the witch Azucena even if more vocal weight would be ideal. Plácido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes are customary adept Verdians, though conductor Zubin Mehta seems unable to give the music flexibility and plasticity without losing momentum. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews

One of the Ten Best Opera Recordings
There are a lot of thoughtful remarks about this recording from other reviewers here. Although I know for a fact that different people hear differently, or love differently, the same recording, I think that this recording is an incomparable document of a certain style of Italian singing that was on its way out of singers by 1970.

Price, Domingo and Milnes - clearly not Italians - give luxurious, splendidly made performances. Some may prefer other examples of Price's Leonora, and if you're shopping for Price, then that may be an issue. But if you want the best stereo set of this opera, I really think this is still unmatched. The reason is that this recording is one of the last reliable documents of the Italian style of singing Italian opera - as opposed to the international style that we see and hear today. Apres... le deluge.

I am not a scholar or a critic, but it seems to me that this is a recognizably different kind of singing that is totally dominant in opera recordings before 1970 - all the way back to the beginnings of recorded music, characterized by a humane confidence in the nobility of operatic conventions. Even though, for its ethnic credentials, this recording features only the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and two actual Italians in the cast, those two singers - Bonaldo Giaiotti (Fernando) and Fiorenza Cossotto (Azucena) - create an axis with the chorus and Metha's assertive corralling of the orchestra into its particularly Verdian role of opinionated commentator to the action, that provides the unmistakable style and sound that is, unfortunately better represented by mono recordings.

I don't know if there are samples of Giaotti's first number on this site, or if a short clip would demonstrate this, but if you can, listen to the generosity and total comfort with Ferando's demanding music that allow him to shape a character totally out of the music. Similarly, Cossotto's first scene establishes her dominance as the musical and dramatic force that stabilizes the star-studded cast throughout the recording. She has a limpid mezzo that allows itself to be shaped by Verdi's music, giving us an Azucena who is just as clearly an Italian mama as a ethnically challenged nut - something impossible to understand without a sensitivity to the conventions of Italian opera, which this recording has. The Ambrosian Opera Chorus handle the inflections of their black-face gypsy music without the slightest irony, almost naively - which is an absolute must for the understanding and enjoyment of this opera.

The best thing about it is that it blends - all the talent on this recording is beautifully blended and shaped with the listener in mind - the notion that special attention should be paid to the fact that the listener is not in a theater but in his home (car?). In all this, the only wish I have is that Decca had recorded this, but don't let this criticism distract you - the sound is fine.

If you're looking for an exciting musically and dramatically thrilling recording of this most Italian of Italian operas, this is the one for you.

Performance 5, sound 0
These CDs contain great performances from all the principals, not the least of which is Zubin Mehta magical conducting. Many years ago I bought cassette tapes of this recording. Absolute bliss! It's my all-time favorite recording of this opera. Cossotto, Milnes, Domingo, and Price simply nail it. But they and the music are hideously marred by the digital remastering! Every time the music and vocalists reach intense climaxes, which is quite often; there occurs a weird vibration in the speakers. It's similar to the old AM car stereos at excessive volume. I thought it was my speakers but I assure you it is not, and I am talking about at very reasonable volume levels. I see green when I hear Leontyne Price flow upwards in a magnificent phrase and the simultaneously hear static, what an incredibly disappointing experience. Perhaps this is the result of engineering terrorism! So, performance rates a 5+, sound...what rating would you give if you wanted to smash the CDs, stomp on them, cut them into little pieces, and then burn the remnants!

Outstanding performance ruined by outstanding mistakes
I'd like to join with other reviewers and highly praise the vast, hefty dramatic tension and brilliant interpretation this production has achieved by its excellent casting and first rate conducting. If you are looking for a true Verdian Trovatore, this is it.

However, if you have ears that are even least slightly sensitive to sound distortion and noises you should steer away from this recording. Because all the above mentioned are ruined by one stupid and careless recording engineering team! What a crime, and what a shame on RCA!

As a 19-year experience electronic design engineer who is working with a world leading studio/broadcasting equipment manufacturer, I assure you that the sound distortion, i.e. the crackling noise that accompanies high level passages all throughout the whole recording is almost definitely due to the poor and careless system gain setting that resulted vast system overload. That means, any high level signals that exceeded the recording system's dynamic range can not be recorded faithfully, but instead get clipped at the ceiling level of the recording system and are recorded as such. All the crackling noises we hear in this recording are of typical, signature clipping nature.

I used to own an LP version of the same production, and had been wondering during which phase of the recording/mixing process the overloading might have occurred, and had been hoping the digital re-mastered release could get it right. I wish I had read the reviews here prior to my ordering the CD, as I ended up finding the CDs have the same exact noises and distortion in deep frustration. The fact that digital version still present these noises could mean the system overloading had happened during the session recording, hence irrecoverable sound quality loss.

Not trying to be offensive, but one has to be a deaf to enjoy this recording wholeheartedly, in my humble opinion.

A final words to fellow owners, avoid playing this recording, or anything else with clipping, in large sound volume. Because clip-distorted signals usually contain much greater amount of high frequency energy than normal musical signals do, and that could be damaging or even deadly to the tweeter units in your speaker system.