Don Carlo for a very long time has been one of my favourite Verdis, as well as one of my favourite operas. The ending is inconclusive, but the complex and interesting story and characters and the magnificent music do so much to make it not so big an issue. When it comes to my favourite productions of the opera, they are the 1984 Met production with Domingo, Freni and Ghiaurov, the 1980 Met telecast with Scotto, Milnes and Plishka and the 1996 Chatelet performance with Alagna, Hampson and Van Dam. The controversial 2005 production with Vargas is the only one I dislike.
This Don Carlo is brilliant, having had it on audio CD for a while, it just beats the Giulini recording for the best Don Carlo on record. I only have one problem with it though. I have often heard that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Posa was miscast. I'm afraid I have to agree. I actually love Fischer-Dieskau, he is a very musical and intelligent artist, especially in Leider. However, I find him too blustery vocally in the role here, and on the barking side too. I also find he pushes in the more dramatic passages, going a tad sharp when he accents, lyric passages show off his voice and musicianship much more.
On the other hand, there is much to love, such as the superb orchestral playing particularly in the Grand Inquisitor scene, and while Georg Solti's conducting is not as poetic as Giulini's, as full of depth as Karajan's, as brisk as Levine's(though some may find that a not so good thing) or as subtle as Molinari-Pradelli's, but it is musical, authoritative, well-judged in the tempos with the big scene between Posa and Phillip very dramatic and never dragging.
The other performances are great. I admire Carlo Bergonzi, and while I worried about him having the ideal voice for the role I needn't have worried. For while Bergonzi's voice was never the largest in size of any tenor, he does have some of the best beauty of tone and musicality of any Don Carlo I've heard. Renata Tebaldi had one of the biggest and most beautiful soprano voices ever to me.
Here as Elisabetta she may not be at her prime with some high notes that feel a little flat for my tastes, and I would personally go for her performances as Tosca, Desdemona, Mimi, Cio-Cio San, Aida, Adriana Lecouvreur and Leonora(La Forza Del Destino) over this. This said, her Tu Che Le Vanita is wonderful and sung with great sensitivity and musicianship as well as attention to diction and tone colour, even if you do miss for example Caballe's heavenly pianissimo singing. Grace Bumbry is one of the better Ebolis I know of, the Veil song does have the lightness and securely articulated ornamentations it should and O Don Fatale is very moving and dramatic. Bumbry is also very fiery, with some fierce chest notes, and doesn't sing sharp as noticeably as she did later.
Don Carlo(1965) for me is memorable for two performances. One is Nicolai Ghiaurov, while there have been some outstanding basses in this complex role(Paul Plishka, Robert Lloyd, Samuel Ramey, Ferruccio Furlanetto) Ghiaurov with his sumptuous timbre and elegant legato in Ella Giammai Mammo in particular is for me one of three basses to embody the role, Christoff and Siepi being the others. Ella Giammai Mammo is one of those you can't even think after hearing performances, and in other scenes he strikes me as somebody intelligent, heavily burdened yet somewhat tyrannical and quite scary in his duet with Posa, where Posa speaks against him and Phillip tells him to beware of the Grand Inquisitor. The other is Martti Talvela as the Grand Inquisitor, a performance that has only been matched by Jerome Hines, Furlanetto and Salminen on stage and Neri on record. Talvela is not just terrifying with one of the darkest and most authoritative basso profundo voices to sing the Grand Inquisitor but he also brings many nuances and vocal colours to the role that not many others don't.
In my opinion, this Don Carlo is notable for the best rendition of the Grand Inquisitor duet on record, the very definition of a clash of the titans moment, especially for Talvela. Overall, apart from Fischer-Dieskau this is a brilliant Don Carlo. 9/10 Bethany Cox
This Don Carlo is brilliant, having had it on audio CD for a while, it just beats the Giulini recording for the best Don Carlo on record. I only have one problem with it though. I have often heard that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Posa was miscast. I'm afraid I have to agree. I actually love Fischer-Dieskau, he is a very musical and intelligent artist, especially in Leider. However, I find him too blustery vocally in the role here, and on the barking side too. I also find he pushes in the more dramatic passages, going a tad sharp when he accents, lyric passages show off his voice and musicianship much more.
On the other hand, there is much to love, such as the superb orchestral playing particularly in the Grand Inquisitor scene, and while Georg Solti's conducting is not as poetic as Giulini's, as full of depth as Karajan's, as brisk as Levine's(though some may find that a not so good thing) or as subtle as Molinari-Pradelli's, but it is musical, authoritative, well-judged in the tempos with the big scene between Posa and Phillip very dramatic and never dragging.
The other performances are great. I admire Carlo Bergonzi, and while I worried about him having the ideal voice for the role I needn't have worried. For while Bergonzi's voice was never the largest in size of any tenor, he does have some of the best beauty of tone and musicality of any Don Carlo I've heard. Renata Tebaldi had one of the biggest and most beautiful soprano voices ever to me.
Here as Elisabetta she may not be at her prime with some high notes that feel a little flat for my tastes, and I would personally go for her performances as Tosca, Desdemona, Mimi, Cio-Cio San, Aida, Adriana Lecouvreur and Leonora(La Forza Del Destino) over this. This said, her Tu Che Le Vanita is wonderful and sung with great sensitivity and musicianship as well as attention to diction and tone colour, even if you do miss for example Caballe's heavenly pianissimo singing. Grace Bumbry is one of the better Ebolis I know of, the Veil song does have the lightness and securely articulated ornamentations it should and O Don Fatale is very moving and dramatic. Bumbry is also very fiery, with some fierce chest notes, and doesn't sing sharp as noticeably as she did later.
Don Carlo(1965) for me is memorable for two performances. One is Nicolai Ghiaurov, while there have been some outstanding basses in this complex role(Paul Plishka, Robert Lloyd, Samuel Ramey, Ferruccio Furlanetto) Ghiaurov with his sumptuous timbre and elegant legato in Ella Giammai Mammo in particular is for me one of three basses to embody the role, Christoff and Siepi being the others. Ella Giammai Mammo is one of those you can't even think after hearing performances, and in other scenes he strikes me as somebody intelligent, heavily burdened yet somewhat tyrannical and quite scary in his duet with Posa, where Posa speaks against him and Phillip tells him to beware of the Grand Inquisitor. The other is Martti Talvela as the Grand Inquisitor, a performance that has only been matched by Jerome Hines, Furlanetto and Salminen on stage and Neri on record. Talvela is not just terrifying with one of the darkest and most authoritative basso profundo voices to sing the Grand Inquisitor but he also brings many nuances and vocal colours to the role that not many others don't.
In my opinion, this Don Carlo is notable for the best rendition of the Grand Inquisitor duet on record, the very definition of a clash of the titans moment, especially for Talvela. Overall, apart from Fischer-Dieskau this is a brilliant Don Carlo. 9/10 Bethany Cox
