The Very Best of Nicolai Gedda

 

Release Date: 09/02/2003 Label: Emi Classics Number of discs: 2 Composer: Various Performer: Nicolai Gedda cd info/ buy

Review:

Hands down, Nicolai Gedda was the classiest lyric tenor of the 1950s and '60s (and very early '70s). For the most part he wisely kept away from the after-1860 Italian repertoire: his voice lacked the necessary juice, and with Björling, Bergonzi, Corelli, and del Monaco around, why bother? These CDs offer two hours and 35 minutes of singing--and interpreting--that never tire the ear and never bore. "Ach so fromm" is ravishing in its intimacy (by its close, it's normally shouted); Lohengrin's Narrative may lack heft, but it's a model of lyricism and Gedda darkens his tone enough to give it authority; an aria from Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba closes on an unearthly head-voiced high-C that's matched only by a similar feat in Bizet's Pearl Fishers (a performance notable for its great breath control and legato as well); Hoffman's tale of Kleinzach is a riveting, snappy story, filled with just the schizophrenia the role requires; the Dmitri/Marina duet from Boris is energetic and filled with smoldering undercurrent; three Tchaikovsky songs become little dramas; Beethoven's "Adelaide" and Schubert's "Ständchen" are models of Lieder singing; selections by Gounod and Massenet exhibit his impeccable French diction and style; the high-D at the close of Adam's "Postman" aria and repeated Cs in William Tell's would be the envy of any tenor; and his bel canto style in a duet from Sonnambula (with Mirella Freni) is ideal. Yes, this is the very best of Nicolai Gedda.--Robert Levine

 

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Glinka - Ivan Susanin - Ermler, Bolschoi

One of the main attractions in this recording of Mikhail Glinka’s Ivan Susanin is the singing of Vladimir Shcherbakov. a tenor new to me, with a fine heroic ring to his voice and an ability to sail with ease up into the high register favored in his part. Nesterenko is his usual immensely impressive self, particularly in Act 4. At her first appearance Sinyavskaya shows a rather pronounced vibrato, but she is a good artist, even if her voice—a fruity contralto of the old-fashioned type—never for a moment suggests that of a boy. The shrill harshness of Bela Rudenko here, obviously ill at ease on her high notes in her Act I cavatina, is far from precise in the Act 3 quartet. It is inexplicable that the Russians seem to thrill to these razor-edge sopranos.

The chorus, which has Act 1 virtually to itself, is vigorous but somewhat rough-and-ready in places and in the finale to Act 2 it entirely disregards the marked tonal nuances. The Second Act, with its unbroken sequence of Polish dances, is an orchestral showcase, and the Bolshoi orchestra, here as elsewhere, shows itself very much on home ground; but it is curious that, exactly as in the Markevitch performance, the trumpets' entry in the Krakowiak should be out of tune. Mark Ermler gives the Valse much grace, keeping the pace very restrained; but I was surprised by his very slow speed for the Allegro conspirito orchestral epilogue to Vanya's solo in the last act; and here and there the synchronization between chorus and orchestra could have been more exact. The recording in general is good; but leaving the Kremlin bells to go on jangling after the last chord of the opera...L.S.

CD INFO

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