BONGIOVANNI MID
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Label: BONGIO MID 1224 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none ARTISTS: Nicola Martinucci, tenor. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1147/50 Our Price: $44.25 Quantity in Basket: none GIOVANNI MANURITA - ARIAS: Don Pasquale; L'Elisir D'Amore; Lucia di Lammermoor; Il Barbiere di Siviglia; La Sonnambula; Don Giovanni; Werther; Manon; I pescatori di perele; Marta; Mignon; Rigoletto; Pagliacci; Andrea Chenier; plus various songs. Giovanni Manurita, tenor; Lyrical Songand Chamber Airs. (4 CDs FOR PRICE OF 3 CDs) |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1156 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none 18 Che gelida manina" from La Boheme, Volume I. Anselmi; Bassi; Bergonzi; Bjoerling; Bonci; Borgioli; Caruso; Cecil; Cortis; D'Alessio; D'Arkor; Lomanto; Di Stefano; Fleta; Garbin; Gigli; Giorgini; Granda. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1159 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none Barioni; Bergonzi; Bjoreling; Cecchele; Corelli; Cortis; del Monaco; Filippeschi; Giacomini; Gigli; Granda; Kiepura; Labo; Lauri Volpi; Lazaro; Lindi; Martinelli; Merli; Pertile; Rosvaenge; Salvarezza; Thill; Valente; ziliani Various orchestras and conductors Thus, following the collections dedicated to “Di quella pira”, “Vesti la giubba”, “Sogno” by Massenet, “Che gelida manina” and “’O sole mio”, Bongiovanni has issued, after due consideration, 24 performances of “Nessun dorma”. For if it is true, as many claim, that the great epic age of opera ended with Giacomo Puccini, there is no doubt that Calaf’s aria, taken from the unfinished Turandot, is to be considered the last great page of music for tenor of the entire operatic repertoire, worthy of competing for the public’s favor against celebrated arias of the great composers, from Bellini to Verdi, from Donizetti to Mascagni. In actuality, “Nessun dorma” has found its way into operatic concerts and recorded recitals of the most famous tenors, and this fact testifies to the extent of its popularity. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1169 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none PIERO CAPPUCCILI - Arias from I Puritani; La Favorita; Luisa Miller; Ernani; Un Ballo in Maschera; La Forza del Destino; La Traviata; Faust; Il Guarany; Andrea Chenier; Zaza, etc.: Piero Cappuccilli (baritone). Ten years have passed since Piero Cappuccilli’s definitive retirement from the stage. His electrifying career is probably best put in perspective when one reads what Gustavo Marchesi wrote in his book “Canto e Cantani” – “(Cappuccilli) was for at least two decades the only Italian baritone with truly great vocal means, thus able to sustain the classic roles of national opera, which he took to every theater in the world.” This disc celebrates that talent containing previously unreleased excerpts. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1172 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none VIRGINIA ZEANI, VOLUME III - Arias from I Puritani; La Sonnambula; Lucia di Lammermoor; La Traviata; Manon Lescaut |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1183/4 Our Price: $29.50 Quantity in Basket: none OTELLO - Ramon Vinay; Renata Tebaldi; Gino Bechi; Piero de Palma, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli/Gabriele Santini - Live recording: Naples, December 13, 1952 (2 CDs) |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1202 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) Victor 88127, 1908; Carlo Bergonzi (1924) live recording, 1957; Antonio Paoli (1871-1946) Gramophone 05230, 1911; José Palet (1877-1946) Gramofono DB 721, 1912; Miguel Fleta (1893-1938) HMV DB 1053, 1927; Giovanni Martinelli (1885-1969) Victor 6212, 1923; Aureliano Pertile (1885-1951) Fonotipia 120048, 1927; Franz Völker (1899-1965) Grammophon 95377, 1930 (in German); Helge Rosvaenge (1897-1972) HMV DB 5580, 1940 (in German); Galliano Masini (1896-1986) Cetra BB 25096, 1941; Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) (from the film “Du bist mein gluck”, 1940); Jussi Bjoerling (1911-1960) HMV DB 3049, 1936; Rafael Lagares (1917-1999) live recording, 1949; Georgi Nelepp (1904-1957) live recording, 1952 (in Russian); Mario del Monaco (1915-1982) live recording, 1953; Franco Corelli (1921-2003) LPC 55018, 1956; Mario Filippeschi (1907-1979) live recording, 1956; Flaviano Labò (1927-1991) live recording, 1969 Aida is the most widely-performed opera ever and the aria “Celeste Aida” is what might be termed its calling card. After all, it is sung immediately following the Prelude and equally immediately sets the tone for the opera overall. This CD provides an overview of eighteen tenors, some household names, others known only to opera buffs, tackling this aria live and in the recording studio from the early years of the twentieth century until the late 1960s. Some of the tenors heard here produced more than one version with differing results, although the present CD is intended, as indicated, to be an overview of how tenors have evolved in performance technique and expression rather than establish who was better than who else. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1206 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none GASPARE SPONTINI (1774 – 1851): Agnese Di Hohenstaufen: “O Re dei cieli”; VINCENZO BELLINI (1801 – 1835): Norma: “Casta diva”; GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901): Ernani: “Ernani involami”; I Vespri Siciliani: “In alto mare”; “Mercé, dilette amiche”; Un Ballo in Maschera: “Ma dall’arido stelo”; “Morrò, ma prima in Grazia”; Don Carlo: “Tu che le vanità”; Aida: “Ritorna vincitor”; “O cieli azzuri”; “La fatal pietra… O terra addio” (with Arrigo Pola); ALFREDO CATALANI (1854 – 1893): La Wally: “Ebben, ne andrò lontana”; UMBERTO GIORDANO (1867 – 1948): Andrea Chenier: “La mamma morta” During a conference held some thirty years ago, a renowned Italian musicologist illustrated how Callas and Tebaldi approached singing and choosing their repertoire. As the two antagonists par excellence on the opera scene in the 1950s, it is no surprise that the roles which each chose as what might be termed her party pieces were utterly unlike her rival's as regards the psychological makeup of a particular character, with Desdemona, Aida and Leonora from La Forza del Destino on one side of the divide and Norma, Lady Macbeth, Violetta and Abigaille on the other. One group comprises women who are traditionally feminine and accept what happens to them unquestioningly and resignedly while the other group is made up of stronger characters who meet their fate head on like a great force of nature and are fully aware of the tragedy looming over them. Anita Cerquetti, by contrast, was a most accomplished artist and so could handle the roles of very different types of operatic heroines. Whatever the character she played, the vocal and emotional depth which she brought to her performances as Norma, Abigaille, Leonora, Aida, Elvira and Elisabetta were as intensely fine as they were uncommon and are landmarks in the history of the soprano voice. It is a matter of record that her career lasted less than a decade, yet when she retired from the stage in 1960, she was a mature artist who was still at the height of her vocal powers. Indeed, she had matured artistically remarkably early, as is evident in the arias from Aida which she performed at the age of just twenty-three in 1954. In this and the other scenes and arias heard on the present recording, listeners will be immediately struck by the beauty of her tone and the even nature of her vocal prowess throughout her range. And it will be readily apparent that her line is perfect, with no stylistic excesses or complacency in her singing. Verdi was undoubtedly in Cerquetti's vocal cords, so to speak, and it may confidently be said that she was among the greatest operatic sopranos of her day. Her range of heroines comprises virtually all the most famous, demanding dramatic roles which she dispatched with all the resources at her disposal and perfectly in tune with the nature of the character she was playing. Like all singers who abandoned the stage while still at their finest, Cerquetti is much missed by opera lovers and the praise heaped on her by Maurizio Modugno is as fine a tribute as any. Her voice “appeared immediately like a sort of vast basilica of sound with columns, naves and arching ceilings, with gold shining, stained glass and velvet surfaces”. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1207 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901): Aroldo: “Sotto il sol di Siria ardente” (Firenze, 1953); Attila: “Qui, qui sostiamo… Ella in poter del barbaro”; “Qui del convegno… Che non avrebbe il misers” (Venezia, 1951); Simon Boccanegra: “O inferno… Cielo pietoso rendila”; Il Trovatore: “Di quella pira” (studio recordings ca. 1953); “Ah, sì, ben mio”; “Gioie di casto amor… Di quella pira” (with Maria Callas, Milan 1953); Aida: “Celeste Aida”; La Forza del Destino: “O tu che in seno agli angeli” (Naples, 1954); VINCENZO BELLINI (1801 – 1835): Norma: “Meco all’altar di Venere… Me protegge, me difende” (studio recording ca. 1953) BONUS: GIUSEPPE CAMPORA – RECITAL (Studio Recordings 1952 – 1955); GIUSEPPE VERDI: Rigoletto: “Questa o quella”; Aida: “Celesta Aida”; La Traviata: “Parigi, o cara”; GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924): Madama Butterfly: “Adesso voi… Vogliatemi bene”; AMILCARE PONCHIELLI (1834 - 1886): La Gioconda: “Cielo e mar” Various Orchestras and Conductors The Two Tenors From Piedmont Being a tenor in Italy in the early 1950s can't have been the easiest of career options. The scene was dominated by still-active legends from the past, such as Gigli and Lauri Volpi, by Del Monaco and Di Stefano who could do no wrong with audiences and who swept aside any opposition, by Masini and Filippeschi who were enjoying the fruits of their earlier successes and by the highly promising newcomers Corelli and Bergonzi. And since those names are by no means the only top-class singers dominating stages and recordings then, you really have to wonder what chance at all any young hopeful had of making his mark on the world of opera. The two tenors on the present recording may not have been in the same league as any of those big names when it comes to having a special timbre or indulging in histrionics but they knew what they were capable of and became front runners, albeit with differing fortunes. Gino Penno (Felizzano, Alessandria, 1920 – Milan, 8 February 1998) had a meteoric rise and then faded from view equally rapidly. In many respects, his career got under way to a prestigious start but he withdrew from performing prematurely, thus putting an end to a career which had not lasted even a decade. Yet Penno was highly promising, because the impressively broad sweep of his voice, (which may have been one of the most powerful to come along in the post World War II period), his bronze-like tone, his broad and well-sculpted phrasing together with a commendably noble style of expression all made him the ideal leading male for Verdi. Giuseppe Campora (Tortona, 30 September 1923 – Tortona, 5 December 2004) was different, although like Penno he came from the province of Alessandria and began his career during the same era. Campora too made his professional debut in 1949 in a Bohème at the Petruzzelli Opera House in Bari when he was the emergency replacement for the indisposed Galliano Masini. In 1952 he was already at La Scala, apparently because of a recommendation by Toscanini, and really made his mark there in1953 in Adriana Lecouvreur with Renata Tebaldi who he had partnered in the studio in her first recordings of Butterfly and Tosca for the soundtrack of the opera film Aida that would launch the emerging Sophia Loren's career into the stratosphere. Campora rapidly began to feature at the major opera houses, such as the Rome Opera, the Arena in Verona, (the venue for Traviata with Callas in 1952), the Colon in Buenos Aires and the Municipal in Rio de Janeiro before making his debut at the Met in 1954, where he became one of Rufolf Bing's favourite tenors for Italian repertoire. Which explains why he was the favourite for the other two operas, (Tosca and Lucia), marking the much-awaited debut of Maria Callas in New York, following her Norma there in 1956. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1209 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none Giuseppe Borgatti (1871 - 1950)(rec. 1905); Enrico Caruso (1873 - 1921)(rec. 1909); Giovanni Martinelli (1885 - 1969)(rec. 1914); Hipolito Lazaro (1887 - 1974)(rec. 1916); Beniamino Gigli (1890 - 1957)(rec. 1921); Alfred Piccaver (1884 - 1958)(rec. 1923); Ferdinando Ciniselli (1893 - 1954)(rec. 1927); Giacomo Lauri Volpi (1894 - 1979)(rec. 1928); Antonio Cortis (1891 - 1952)(rec. 1929); Miguel Fleta (1893 - 1938)(rec. 1929); Giovanni Zenatello (1876 - 1949)(rec. 1929); Galliano Masini (1896 - 1986)(rec. 1929); Aureliano Pertile (1885 - 1952)(rec. 1932); José Luccioni (1903 - 1978)(rec. 1936); Jussi Bjoerling (1911 - 1960)(rec. 1937); Giuseppe Lugo (1899 - 1980)(rec. 1939); Giovanni Malipiero (1906 - 1970)(rec. 1939); Helge Rosvaenge (1897 - 1972)(rec. 1942); Giuseppe Di Stefano (1921 - 2008)(rec. 1948); Mario Filippeschi (1907 - 1979)(rec. 1950); Mario del Monaco (1915 - 1982)(rec. 1954); Ferruccio Tagliavini (1913 - 1995)(rec. 1955); Franco Corelli (1921 - 2003)(rec. 1957); Gianni Poggi (1921 - 1989)(rec. 1957); Daniele Barioni (1930)(rec. 1961); Flaviano Labò (1927 - 1991)(rec. 1969) An opera becomes popular only if at least one of its arias is a success: Tosca contains many famous pieces, but one above all, “E lucevan le stelle”, has always brought on the applause. And even though the aria presents no particular vocal difficulties or showy high notes, every ambitious tenor must perform it well and every audience eagerly awaits it. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1210 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none WILLIAM MATTEUZZI - RECITAL GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792 – 1868): Ricciardo e Zoraide: “S’ella m’è ognor fedele”; Le Comte Ory: “Que les destins prospères”; Otello: “Che ascolto… Ah come mai non senti”; Tancredi: “Ah segnar invan io tento”; La Gazza Ladra: “Vieni fra queste braccia”; Zelmira: “Terra amica”; Cenerentola: “Sì, ritrovarla io giuro”; Il Barbiere di Siviglia: “Cessa di più resistere”; L’Italiana in Algeri: “Languir per una bella” WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756 – 1791): Così fan tutte: “Un’aura amorosa” DOMENICO CIMAROSA: Il Matrimonio segreto: “Pria che spunti in ciel l’aurora” FRANZ LEHAR (1870 – 1948): La vedova allegra: “Come di rose un cespo” GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924): Gianni Schicchi: “Firenze è come un albero fiorito” VINCENZO BELLINI (1801 – 1835): I Puritani: “Credeasi misera” Live recordings: 1980 – 1999 The live recordings on this CD feature William Matteuzzi in several of these roles plus others from Rossini’s comic operas which are the ideal vehicle for his talents: he was, after all, one of the first to perform Almaviva’s acrobatic rondò live or to take on the cavatina for Lindoro in a dizzying cadenza and send his voice up into the stratosphere. As happens in the famous “Credeasi misera” from the Puritani, where the impossible F in the upper treble is sung full-voiced for the first time ever in a truly vibrant manner with the proper timbre. This is utterly different from the big falsettos produced by Rubini in several studio recordings which had made his Arturo famous in the pre-Matteuzzi era. Which brings us to the curious state of affairs occuring with those arias that any light tenor takes in his stride, yet for a voice so inclined towards the upper reaches of the range prove more troublesome than the great Rossini set-pieces - “Un’aura amorosa”, the aria for Paolino in Matrimonio segreto and the role of Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. Here Matteuzzi is more lyrical and measured with no fireworks. His unwavering elegance and expression, however, prove that his reputation does not rest merely on his abilities in the upper treble but is thoroughly justified by his style, sensitivity, intelligence and natural appeal as one of the most communicative singers in living memory. William Matteuzzi’s gradual retirement from the stage to become an in-demand teacher is as much a loss to opera lovers as a gain for the students of this unique tenor. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1211 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none GIUSEPPE GIACOMINI – RECITAL VINCENZO BELLINI (1801 – 1835): Norma: “Meco all’altar di Venere” GISUEPPE VERDI (1813 – 1901): Ernani: “Come rugiada al cespite”; Il Trovatore: “Ah sì, ben mio”; “Di quella pira”; Don Carlo: “Io la vidi”; Aida: “Celeste Aida”; Otello: “Esultate”; “Ora e per sempre addio”; “Dio mi potevi scagliar”; “Niun mi tema” GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924): La Boheme: “Che gelida manina”; “Questa è Mimì”; “Marcello finalmente”; Tosca: “Recondita armonia”; “E lucevan le stelle”; La Fanciulla del West: “Or son sei mesi”; “Ch’ella mi creda”; Turandot: “Nessun dorma” UMBERTO GIORDANO (1867 – 1948): Andrea Chenier: “Un dì all’azzurro spazio”; “Credo a una possanza arcana”; “Sì, fui soldato”; “Come un bel dì di maggio” Live recordings: 1969 - 1996 The arias included in this CD respect the chronological order in which the operas were composed. And the opera that follows Otello is Puccini’s La Bohème: three extracts recorded in the 1960s that reveal the truly golden-toned voice and spontaneous phrasing of the young Giacomini: “For me Rodolfo was one of the most congenial roles: along with Des Grieux, a part that I sang only very rarely, I felt that through the character I could give voice to my own inner life”. In another Puccini role - Cavaradossi in Tosca - we find further confirmation of the singer’s technical and expressive resources: the diminuendos that grace the vocal line in “E lucevan le stele” are worthy of the finest traditions of Italian song and yet we never feel that the voluptuous recollections of the character are being transformed into a mere display of tenorial vanity. |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1212/3 Our Price: $29.50 Quantity in Basket: none GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924): Manon Lescaut Live recording: Piacenza, Teatro Municipale, January 4, 1974 BONUS: Virginnia Zeani sings arias from I Puritani and La Boheme Flaviano Labò sings arias fro La Fanciulla del West Live recording: Piacenza, Teatro Municipale, January 4, 1974 (2 CDs) |
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Label: BONGIOVANNI MID 1214 Our Price: $14.75 Quantity in Basket: none Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1875-1924): I pagliacci: Si può? si può? As sung by sixteen different singers |
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