Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Verdi: Luisa Miller

Lilian Sukis (Luisa), Giuseppe Taddei (Miller), Bonaldo Giaiotti (Graf von Walter), Franco Bonisolli (Rodolfo), Christa Ludwig (Federica), Malcolm Smith (Wurm), Milkana Nikolova (Laura) & Horst Nitsche (Bauer)

Chorus & Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Alberto Erede

Worth looking at...the cast includes Franco Bonisolli's visceral Rodolfo, Bonadlo Giaiotti's reliable Walter, Christa Ludwig's forthright Federica and Giuseppe Taddei's slightly worn Miller,... — Opera Now, January 2012, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 1st Mar 2010
Catalogue No: C784102
Label: Orfeo
Series: Orfeo d'Or, Wiener Staatsoper Live
Length: 2 hours 16 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Verdi: Luisa Miller, Act I

Work length56:37

$18.00

$23.40

Christa Ludwig, Milkana Nikolova, Lilian Sukis, Malcolm Smith, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Franco Bonisolli, Giuseppe Taddei
Wiener Staatsoper, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Alberto Erede

Sinfonia (Live)

Track length6:06

$1.00

$1.30

Ti desta, Luisa (Live)

Track length2:23

$1.00

$1.30

Ecco mia figlia (Live)

Track length1:37

$1.00

$1.30

Non temer più nobil spirito (Live)

Track length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

Mia diletta! (Live)

Track length4:38

$1.00

$1.30

Ferma ed ascolta (Live)

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.30

Sacra la scelta è d'un consorte (Live)

Track length3:04

$1.00

$1.30

Costarti o vecchio debole (Live)

Track length3:34

$1.00

$1.30

Che mai narrasti! - Il mio sangue, la vita darei (Live)

Track length5:00

$1.00

$1.30

Padre! (Live)

Track length3:45

$1.00

$1.30

Congiunti! amici miei (Live)

Track length1:01

$1.00

$1.30

Duchessa (Live)

Track length6:26

$1.00

$1.30

Sciogliete i levrieri (Live)

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.30

O padre mio! Che fu? (Live)

Track length1:21

$1.00

$1.30

Luisa, non temer (Live)

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.30

Tu, signor, fra queste soglie! (Live)

Track length2:34

$1.00

$1.30

Fra'mortali ancora oppressa (Live)

Track length7:19

$2.00

$2.60

Verdi: Luisa Miller, Act II

Work length40:13

$10.00

$13.00

Franco Bonisolli, Lilian Sukis, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Horst Nitsche, Milkana Nikolova, Christa Ludwig, Malcolm Smith
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper
Alberto Erede

Ah! Luisa, Luisa, ove sei? (Live)

Track length2:28

$1.00

$1.30

Il padre tuo (Live)

Track length3:27

$1.00

$1.30

Tu puniscimi, o Signore (Live)

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.30

Qui nulta s'attenta (Live)

Track length4:38

$1.00

$1.30

Sul mattin degli anni (Live)

Track length7:33

$2.00

$2.60

Vien la duchessa! (Live)

Track length6:47

$1.00

$1.30

Il foglio dunque? (Live)

Track length2:43

$1.00

$1.30

Quando le sere al placido (Live)

Track length4:29

$1.00

$1.30

Di me chiedeste? - L'ara o l'avello apprestami (Live)

Track length5:02

$1.00

$1.30

Verdi: Luisa Miller, Act III

Work length39:27

$10.00

$12.95

Lilian Sukis, Giuseppe Taddei, Franco Bonisolli, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Milkana Nikolova
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper
Alberto Erede

Come in un giorno, solo (Live)

Track length5:09

$1.00

$1.30

Pallida, mesta sei! (Live)

Track length3:12

$1.00

$1.30

La tomba e un letto sparso di fiori (Live)

Track length10:31

$3.00

$3.85

Ah! l'ultima preghiera (Live)

Track length6:47

$1.00

$1.30

Piangi, piangi (Live)

Track length7:06

$2.00

$2.60

Quai grida intesi? Chi veggo? (Live)

Track length1:27

$1.00

$1.30

Padre, ricevi l'estremo addio (Live)

Track length5:15

$1.00

$1.30

About
Reviews
Explore

About

The first performance at the Vienna State Opera of Verdi’s rarely played drama of love and deadly intrigue. Musically superb, it has a protagonist possessed of a virginal tone in both timbre and expression, three of the best Italian male singers of their generation, first-rate singers in the secondary roles, and a conductor at home both north and south of the Alps and thus ideally suited to the work. It took a long time – more than 120 years – before Vienna’s opera fans were able to experience Verdi’s Luisa Miller (based on the spoken drama Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller) in its original Italian. This first performance did not take place until January 1974, though the impressive cast assembled for it could be said to have made up for the fact. It is this production that can now be heard on CD. Under the baton of Alberto Erede, the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera gave a superb performance such as is sadly all-too-rare for Verdi’s early and middle-period works. The instrumental tone is supple and full of colour across the whole orchestra, which plays as it were in ‘high definition’, whether at dramatic climaxes or when accompanying the singers. But the protagonists themselves could hold their own too. Lilian Sukis sang the title role of the bourgeois girl Luisa – innocence personified, but doomed by the intrigues of her lover’s aristocratic family. Sukis was from Canada and had already in the 1960s sung at the New York Met. She here gives impressive proof of why she also acquired an excellent reputation in Europe as a lyric soprano. Her slender, but always open, floating voice is a joy in this portrayal of a young girl; here, any artificiality or affectation in the high notes would have been doubly damning. The role of the count’s son Rodolfo is played with lyric-dramatic aplomb by Franco Bonisolli, though without sacrificing nuance or elegance of tone in favour of his brilliant top notes. Giuseppe Taddei was ideal for the role of Miller, finding just the right tone for both the tender love of Luisa’s father and for his anger at those whom society has placed above him, and who misuse their position shamelessly to their own advantage. The villain in question, Count Walter, was given music by Verdi that was almost too “beautiful” for him, though this is no problem in Bonaldo Giaiotti’s authoritative characterization. And that even this powerful man is manipulated by his own secretary is evident from the portrayal by Malcolm Smith, whose bass voice is no less memorable. This extravagantly gifted team of singers is completed by Christa Ludwig as Rodolfo’s fiancée, Federica. She has a brief role with just two appearances, but Ludwig’s unmistakeable mezzo-soprano allows her to convey in succinct fashion the human aspect of this character, swaying as she does between sympathy and jealousy.

Reviews

Opera Now January 2012

Worth looking at...the cast includes Franco Bonisolli's visceral Rodolfo, Bonadlo Giaiotti's reliable Walter, Christa Ludwig's forthright Federica and Giuseppe Taddei's slightly worn Miller, while the title-role is in the capable hands of Lithuanian-born, Canadian soprano Lilian Sukis.

Verdi: Luisa Miller

2 CDs

Downloads

Contents

Download queue