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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Royal Opera House, 30 June 1955
This June 1955 performance of Puccini’s Tosca marked Renata Tebaldi’s first appearance with the Covent Garden Company. The roles of Cavaradossi and Scarpia were filled by two of Italy’s finest singers, Ferruccio Tagliavini (Cavaradossi) and Tito Gobbi (Scarpia). All three went on to make memorable studio recordings for Decca, Cetra and EMI. The Times wrote on 29 June 1955, the day after the first performance of the revival, ‘The performance was tremendous, not only in the singing, which was up to the heroic standards of the past, but in dramatic tension’. The conductor came in for particular praise, ‘Mr Molinari-Pradelli gave no quarter to his singers and extracted every ounce of power out of the orchestra’. Of Tebaldi’s Tosca, The Times wrote, ‘With an imposing presence, a fine voice, and a sure judgement of dramatic gesture she made Tosca credible and sympathetic in phrases that were moulded to exploit every intonation of her voice’. The same critic praised Ferruccio Tagliavini, ‘his voice is generous. his mezza voice is pleasing and his tone does not harden in forte passages’ while Tito Gobbi’s Scarpia was described as ‘an aristocrat corrupted by power’. “Tebaldi's heady tone is equal to every one of the role's musical demands, while dramatically she proves an engaged and potent heroine...[Gobbi's Scarpia] as always is dramatically thrilling; though not the greatest voice for the brutal police chief, Gobbi's baritone arguably provides more theatrical frisson than any other exponent. Francesco Molinari-Pradelli is an idiomatic conductor of very respectable forces.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 *** “Tebaldi's voice is remarkably fresh and secure, with all five high Cs in place and offering no problems, the registers perfectly knit and the sound grand, beautiful and womanly...Gobbi, is, of course, sui generis. From his opening, snarling statement in church, through his lascivious, sneering 'Ebbene' and disgusting 'Tosca, finalmente mia' and even beyond, he terrifies.” International Record Review, July 2011 | | | (also available to download from $21.00) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vincenzo Bellini, Vol. 2 (1952-1953)
Maria Callas (soprano), Giuseppe Di Stefano (tenor), Angelo Mercuriali (tenor), Rolando Panerai (baritone), Nicola Rossi-Lemeni (bass), Carlo Forti (bass), Aurora Cattelani (soprano), Ferruccio Tagliavini (tenor), Lina Pagliughi (soprano), Armando Benzi (tenor), Cesare Siepi (bass), Wanda Ruggeri (soprano), Pier Luigi Latinucci (bass), Anna Maria Anelli (mezzo-soprano) Milan La Scala Orchestra , Milan La Scala Chorus, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin, Coro Cetra, Tullio Serafin, Franco Capuana | 
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| |  | Gaetano Donizetti, Vol. 1 (1949)
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| |  | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Vol. 3 (1939)
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| |  | HISTORIC MONO RECORDING: Torino, November 16th, 1954
Ferruccio Tagliavini (Riccardo), Giuseppe Valdengo (Renato), Maria Curtis Verna (Amelia), Pia Tassinari (Ulrica), Maria Erato (Oscar), Alberto Albertini (Silvano), Marco Stefanoni (Samuel), Vito Susca (Tom) & Emilio Renzi (Un Giudice) Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Torino della RAI, Angelo Questa “Another typical Cetra offering, with an exciting soprano and tenor, otherwise rather undistinguished singing and routine conducting” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 *** | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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Ferruccio Tagliavini (Il Duca), Giuseppe Taddei (Rigoletto), Lina Pagliughi (Gilda), Giulio Neri (Sparafucile), Irma Colasanti (Maddalena), Tilde Fiorio (Giovanna), Antonio Zerbini (Monterone), Alberto Albertini (Marullo), Tommaso Soley (Borsa), Mario Zorgniotti (Il Conte di Ceprano) Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI, Angelo Questa “I am surprised to find myself recommending this whole-heartedly...First, the 1954 mono sound has now been immeasurably improved from earlier issues...It is now clean, with the voices well forward and offers little distortion in climaxes...Taddei is heard at his best...If you had only one Rigoletto, there is no reason why it should not be this one.” MusicWeb International, June 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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Dorothy Kirsten (Tosca), Ferruccio Tagliavini (Cavaradossi), Paul Schöffler (Scarpia), Lawrence Davidson (Il Sagristano), Clifford Harvuot (Cesare Angelotti), Alessio de Paolis (Spoletta), George Cehanovsky (Sciarrone), Margaret Roggero (Un pastore), Algerd Brazis (Un carceriere) Orchestra and Chorus Metropolitan Opera, Fausta Cleva Recorded in New York in 1952 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Donizetti: | Lucia di Lammermoor Recorded on 1st January, 1949 Lily Pons (Lucia), Ferruccio Tagliavini (Edgardo), Francesco Valentino (Enrico), Felix Knight (Arturo), Thelma Votipka (Alisa), Jerome Hines (Raimondo), Anthony Marlowe (Normanno) Pietro Cimara | Verdi: | Rigoletto (excerpts) Recorded on 11th March, 1939 Lily Pons (Gilda), Lawrence Tibbett (Rigoletto), Jan Kiepura (Il Duca), Thelma Votipka (Giovanna), Giordano Paltrinieri (Borsa), Wilfred Engelmann (Ceprano), George Cehanovsky (Marullo) Gennaro Papi |
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| |  | Renata Tebaldi, Vol. 2 (1949-1956)
Renata Tebaldi (soprano), Ferruccio Tagliavini (tenor), Leonard Warren (baritone), George Cehanovsky (baritone), Gwynne Howell (bass), Tito Gobbi (baritone), Richard Tucker (tenor), Alessio De Paolis (tenor) Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden, Swiss Romande Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Alberto Erede | |
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| |  | O Sole mio - Neapolitan Canzone Volume 1
Embodying sunny climates, this collection of 24 Neapolitan canzone is perfect for this time of year! “Caruso sings the ‘title track’, very aptly. Don’t, however, overlook Lucien Muratore’s head voice in his 1915 Il pescatore pensa nor on any account the luminously fluid legato of Schipa’s O Marenariello.” MusicWeb International, March 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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