Amilcare Ponchielli (1834 - 1886)
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Ebe Stignani, Alessandro Granda
Camilla Rota, Gaetano Viviani, Corrado Zambelli
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
dir: Lorenzo Molajoli
ZYX (1998) PD 3002 3 CDs ADD (?) mono
Naxos (2000) 8.110112-14 3 CDs ADD mono
(Bonus Arangi-Lombardi in Rossini, Bellini Donizetti & Verdi)
[cue & flac, cover, inlays, booklet & disc scans]
This is the first complete recording of la Gioconda and it was made by Italian Columbia in 1931 and released on nineteen 78 -rpm discs thanks to electrical recording started in 1924. The cast was almost entirely Italian with the exception de Alessandro Granda (Peruvian) and they show how Italian opera was sung by Italians in the inter-war period, The conductor is Lorenzo Molajoli an Italian opera conductor whose life and career little is known except that he was very active in the recording industry during 1920s and 1930s. He conducted twenty complete or abridged operas for Columbia between 1928 and 1932, including the first complete recordings of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Boito's Mefistofele and this one of Ponchielli. Giannina Arangi-Lombardi is an underrated singer nowadays but in her days she was a prominent spinto soprano associated to the Italian repertoire, a singer highly esteemed in Italy and South America.
I'm posting two different sets of the same recording, one from ZYX and the other from Naxos. Why? Well you see, Ward Marston’s remasterings for Naxos and others labels are well known and highly appreciated. I treasure many of these recordings myself but in this case I find that the hiss noise is too present and it is a little annoying. On the contrary in the edition of the unknown (at least for me) ZYX label this noise is very reduced in comparison and you only notice it more rarely. At least this is my impression , but I include both so you can judge for yourselves.
Review (for the NAXOS set)
"...Each of the principals was on top vocal form at the time this recording was made, and had benefited from being part of the great ensemble established at La Scala by Toscanini, following his appointment as artistic director in 1920. Whilst not conducted by the maestro, the records surely convey something of the influence he exerted on his singers during his regime.
Arangi-Lombardi's is perhaps the most beautifully sung - as opposed to most dramatic - Gioconda of any complete recorded version. Her vocal security is always exciting; hear the final pages of Act 2, first the duet with Laura followed by Enzo's rejection. From full floods of fury at her rival in love she softens to a melting 'Son la Gioconda' as she sends Laura to safety. With Alessandro Granda on equally good form, the closing moments of the act crackle with Italian passion (the orchestra well recorded here, too). The great Act IV aria 'Suicidio' is sung as a true soliloquy, more introspective than on many familiar recordings. Always the voice reveals its mezzo origins, rich and wonderfully coloured, heard also to good effect in the additional arias included on CD3. The duet from Ernani offers the best dramatic performance -recorded in a sympathetic acoustic, too - 'Casta Diva' is cool but elegant, 'Com'e bello!' from Lucrezia Borgia finely poised. These extra tracks show Arangi-Lombardi to advantage in some of the roles that she did not record complete.
Alessandro Granda displays a combination of lyricism and ardour far more frequently encountered in his own time than in ours. His delivery is forthright and assured without any sense of strain. Occasionally intrusive aspirates and emotional gulps spoil his smoothness of line but Granda brings Enzo vividly to life (try his Act 2 duet with Laura and 'Gia ti veggo' in Act 3). After an uncertain start to 'Cielo e mar' (might this be a technical flaw on the original 78?) he continues in heroic form, confident in his phrasing and ending with an appealing' Ah vien'. His singing is too little remembered these days, unfairly, for he was, as the music critic Herman Klein averred, 'the possessor of a remarkably fine tenor voice'.
Although not yet thirty when these records were made, Stignani already displays the grand style for which she later became well known; no aggression here, little of the furiously jealous rival in love, but a beautifully sung and controlled performance of Laura. She fills the phrases with generously warm tone, matching Gioconda point for point in their duet, which in other 'hands' can become merely a shouting match, and her vocal colour contrasts effectively with Arangi-Lombardi's. Gaetano Viviani, not a singer whose reputation has survived to our generation, distinguishes himself in this more famous company. His incisive baritone remains clearly focussed at volume and stands out well in his ensembles; yet he can caress a malevolent phrase as he spins his web of intrigue. From Act 1 try 'O monumento!' with its challenging final 'Parla!' - very exciting. Barnaba is very much a brother under the skin to Verdi's Iago.
So here indeed are four excellent singers who bring La Gioconda vividly to life. The sound quality of the early recording does not always do them full justice, but the energy of their performance springs vigorously across seventy years; the opera could hardly want more persuasive advocates.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi began her career in Rome as a mezzo in 1920 but four years later, after further study, emerged again as a soprano, making her second debut in Milan. Born near Naples in 1891, Arangi-Lombardi was one of the most admired 'classical-style' sopranos of her day, basing her career at La Scala; she appeared in South America and throughout Europe (but never at Covent Garden) in a number of spinto roles and her portrayals of Lucrezia Borgia, Aida and La Gioconda were specially successful In retirement she taught in Milan and Turkey and died in Italy in 1951.
Alessandro Granda, a native of Callao in Peru, was born in 1898. After an enthusiastic reception for ills first performances at Lima's Forero Theatre he trained in Milan and made his European debut in Mascagni's Iris in 1927. Selected by Toscanini for the Italian premiere of Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus, Granda sang frequently at La Scala, including Rigoletto with Toti dal Monte. His developing career took him to Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Finland and Egypt. Having visited Chile and the USA in the 1930s he returned to Italy, retiring after the war to Peru, where he died in 1962.
Ebe Stignani was born in Naples in 1903, made her operatic debut there at the age of 22 and triumphed as one of the world's leading dramatic mezzos until her retirement in 1958. Toscanini engaged her for La Scala in 1926, after which she sang extensively throughout Italy and Europe. Visits to the Americas both before and after the war consolidated her supremacy in nineteenth century Italian opera, whilst her repertoire also included roles by Gluck, Wagner and Bizet. Stignani is particularly remembered for her performances in Norma with Callas at Covent Garden and elsewhere. She died in 1974.
The shadowy figure of Lorenzo Molajoli is a mystery in the annals of opera. Nothing seems to be known of his career other than that he conducted many recordings in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly for Columbia in Milan. From the evidence of those discs (this La Gioconda an excellent example) he was clearly a very competent musician, experienced at handling large orchestral and vocal forces - and yet where? One might be tempted to guess that his was the nom de disque of another celebrated conductor who could not, for contractual reasons, be named. Shall we ever know?"
Paul Campion - www.naxos.com