Recommended Recordings
Compiled by Peter Russell
Here I find I must break my self-imposed rule for these recommendations of ?no monaural recordings,? because I cannot in good conscience omit the classic EMI 1953 recording of Tosca conducted by Victor de Sabata and starring Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, and Tito Gobbi. This is one of very few complete operatic recordings that pundits regularly agree should be listed as one of the top ten recordings ever made. Given that it has been beautifully remastered and reissued, miss it at your own peril.
Di Stefano re-recorded Tosca a decade later under the leadership of Herbert von Karajan, with Leontyne Price and Giuseppe Taddei as his co-stars. While the years had unquestionably taken a toll on the freshness of his voice, di Stefano doesn't let the troops down so badly as to entirely discredit this set, especially since Price and Taddei sing here with considerable involvement and voluptuous voices, and Karajan paces a performance of great dramatic impact.
Renata Tebaldi's stereo recording of Tosca in 1959 for DECCA is an appreciable achievement as well. While this set represents neither Tebaldi nor del Monaco at their very finest, and conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli is not the equal of de Sabata or Karajan in his prime, it is plenty good enough to give us a whiff of why these two soloists, along with George London, their Scarpia, were regarded as giants back in the day.
Among videos, an intriguing experiment in 1992 by Teldec turned out to be a bona fide success: video-taping Tosca ?live and on location? in Rome (the orchestra and conductor Zubin Mehta were on location with the singers in the sound-stage) during the actual times of day and night during which the acts of the opera occur. The results, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi with Brian Large as video director, are surprisingly compelling and vivid, not least because the three principals?Catherine Malfitano, Placido Domingo, and Ruggero Raimondi?are all game, and play off one another convincingly throughout. Raimondi in particular is exceptionally riveting.
Finally, anybody who cares about opera at all simply must seek out the EMI video of the second act of Tosca as recorded live at Covent Garden in 1964 in the classic Franco Zeffirelli production starring Callas and Gobbi. It is shocking how well the acting styles of both principals hold up, and make for wrenching drama even 40 years later. Despite the lack of English titles, the relatively primitive lighting and use of camera angles, this black-and-white video clip is essential viewing.
Note: Concerning these recommendations for audio and video recordings, especially regarding audio recordings, it is critical to bear in mind that recordings go in and out of print constantly. If a recording is described herein as ?currently out of print,? it may again be available within the coming year, so it is always worthwhile to seek things out.
