Mozart - Idomeneo, K366 - Pavarotti -1964 Glyndebourne debut recording

ID: GFO00664 (EAN: 878280000061)  | 2 CD | DDD
Released in: 2010

LABEL:

GLYNDEBOURNE

Subcollection:

Opera

Composers:

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus

Interprets:

PAVAROTTI, Luciano (tenor)

Ensembles:

Glyndebourne Chorus | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductors:

PRITCHARD, John

Other info:

Recorded live at Glyndebourne 14 August 1964.
Includes 2 discs in a 113 page hard-bound book


Mozart is very much Glyndebourne’s signature composer and as a point of fact Glyndebourne was instrumental in putting Mozart back into the repertoire in the UK, so much so that the performing edition of Idomeneo was commissioned by Glyndebourne’s music director Fritz Busch. Glyndebourne’s 1951 Messel production of Mozart’s Idomeneo was the first professional performance in Great Britain. This 1964 recording is from the last staging of the Messel production and an opera John Pritchard had conducted at Glyndebourne since 1952. Pritchard was a consummate Mozartian and this recording allows, for the first time, Janowitz and Pavarotti to be heard before their respective international careers took off. Their vocal timbres are instantly recognisable - fresh, vital, flexible and already burgeoning with a distinctive projection of the text and drama. Pavarotti went on to have a long association with this opera, moving to the title role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and recording it in the early digital age of 1983 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted once again by Pritchard. Richard Lewis as Idomeneo in the recording has a gracious sense of style and carries the day.

In the past (10+ years ago) there have been pirated/bootlegged releases of this production taken from a BBC off air recording. This release is from Glyndebourne’s own archive and is NOT the previously available BBC performance.


Richard Lewis (Idomeneo), Gundula Janowitz (Ilia), Luciano Pavarotti (Idamante), Enriqueta Tarrés (Elettra), Dennis Wicks (Nettuno), Neilson Taylor (Arbace), David Hughes (Gran Sacerdote)

London Philharmonic Orchestra & The Glyndebourne Chorus, John Pritchard


Track list:
CD: 1
Idomeneo, rè di Creta, opera, K. 366
1. Ouverture
2. Act 1. Recitativo. Quando avran fine omai
3. Act 1. No. 1. Aria. Padre, germani, addio!
4. Act 1. Recitativo. Ecco, Idamante, ahimè!
5. Act 1. Recitativo. Radunate i Trojani, ite
6. Act 1. No. 2. Aria. Non ho colpa
7. Act 1. Recitativo. Ecco il misero resto de' Trojani
8. Act 1. No. 3. Coro. Godiam la pace, trionfi Amore
9. Act 1. Recitativo. Prence, signor, tutta la Grecia oltraggi
10. Act 1. No. 4. Aria. Tutte nel cor vi sento
11. Act 1. No. 5. Coro. Pietà! Numi pieta!
12. Act 1. Recitativo. Eccoci salvi alfin
13. Act 1. No. 6. Aria. Vedrommi intorno l'ombra dolente
14. Act 1. Recitativo. Cieli! che sento?
15. Act 1. No. 7. Aria. Il padre adorato
16. Intermezzo. No. 8. Marcia
17. Intermezzo. No. 9. Coro. Nettuno s'onori, quel nome risuoni
18. Act 2. No. 10. Recitativo. Siam soli. Odimi Arbace
19. Act 2. Recitativo. Se mai pomposo apparse
20. Act 2. No. 11. Aria. Se il padre perdei
21. Act 2. Recitativo. Qual mi conturbai sensi
22. Act 2. No. 12. Aria. Fuor del mar ho un mar in seno
CD: 2
1. Act 2. Recitativo. Chi mai del mio provò piacer più dolce?
2. Act 2. No. 13. Aria. Idol mio, se ritroso
3. Act 2. No. 14. Marcia. Odo da lunge armonioso suono
4. Act 2. Recitativo. Sidonie sponde!
5. Act 2. No. 15. Coro. Placido è il mar, andiamo
6. Act 2. Recitativo. Parti Idamante
7. Act 2. No. 16. Terzetto. Pria di partir, oh Dio!
8. Act 2. No. 17. Coro. Qual nuovo terrore!
9. Act 2. Recitativo. Eccoti in me, barbaro Nume!
10. Act 2. No. 18. Coro. Corriamo, fuggiamo
11. Act 3. No. 19. Aria. Zeffiretti lusinghieri
12. Act 3. Recitativo. Eistesso vien... oh Dei!
13. Act 3. Recitativo. Principessa, a'tuoi sguardi
14. Act 3. No. 20. Duetto. Spiegarti non poss'io
15. Act 3. Recitativo. Cieli! che vedo?
16. Act 3. No. 21. Quartetto. Andrò ramingo e solo
17. Act 3. No. 24. Coro. O voto tremendo!
18. Act 3. No. 25. Marcia
19. Act 3. No. 26. Cavatina con coro. Accogli, o rè del mar
20. Act 3. Coro. Stupenda vittoria!
21. Act 3. Recitativo. Qual risuono qui intorno
22. Act 3. No. 27. Recitativo. Padre, mio caro padre
23. Act 3. No. 27a. Aria. No la morte
24. Act 3. Recitativo. Ma che più tardi?
25. Act 3. No. 28a. La Voce. Idomeneo cessi essere
26. Act 3. Aria. D'Oreste, D'Ajace
27. Act 3. No. 30. Recitativo. Popoli, a voi l'ultima legge impone
28. Act 3. No. 30a. Aria. Torna la pace alcore
29. Act 3. No. 31. Coro. Scenda Amor, scenda Imeneo

"In 1964, Luciano Pavarotti was an up-and-coming tenor, just beginning to be heard outside of his native Italy. He was three years into his career when he sang the the role of Idamante at the Glyndebourne Festival. The performances were crucial to exposing the singer to English audiences, not to mention acquainting him with the Mozart opera that he would be associated with later in his career, when he would take on (and record) the more demanding title role.
This recording is the document of those performances. It finds the young Pavarotti in top form. He might be a little raw in spots, but that could also be the fault of the sound quality. The power, range and flexibilty of his instrument are all present, along with that rich, orotund sound that the world fell in love with. Listening to this set, one gets the sense of a young man on his way up, about to conquer the world.
The rest of the cast is incredibly strong. Gundula Janowitz soars as Ilia. She's only 27 here, and the great Karajan recordings were in her future. Like Pavarotti, she was heading for bigger things. Tenor Richard Lewis is strong in the role of Idomeneo, a part which Pavarotti would take on later in his career when his voice had matured a bit. John Pritchard leads a skilful, light-footed performance, conducting from the keyboard.
It should be noted that this recording does not hold up as an ideal first choice for Idomeneo. The performers are using an edited edition of the score which hurts the work's dramatic flow and omits the ballet music. And the live-recorded sound is occasionally thin, as if the microphones were sometimes in the wrong place. However, this is a valuable document and a great performance. It's also a must for Pavarotti fans who want to hear what their hero sounded like when he was just starting out." -Paul Pelkonen -- Superconductor: May 25, 2010 - http://super-conductor.blogspot.com/2010/05/cd-review-pavarotti-in-idomeneo-from.htmlBecause of Luciano Pavarotti's youthful participation as Idamante in this series of performances, the 1964 Glyndebourne Idomeneo has long been available on pirate issues in relatively poor sound -- often with the Italian tenor's name uppermost or alone on the jacket. (Some of those releases derived from a Royal Albert Hall concert of August 17.) Whatever its limitations as to edition, there is built-in fascination due to the casting, and it's salutary to have an August 14 in-house recording from the Lewes-based festival available from Glyndebourne's house label, in solidly engineered if boxy sound.
Fritz Busch spearheaded Britain's first professional production of Idomeneo at Glyndebourne in 1951; John Pritchard conducted it from the following summer, taking it into the studio for EMI in 1956. Pritchard conducted another studio recording (1983, with Pavarotti in the title role) and led it (again with the Glyndebourne-favored use of a tenor Idamante) in autumn 1989 in San Francisco, shortly before he died. By today's standards his tempos are too stately and the cuts excessive, but the London Philharmonic plays well, and there's a consistent style.
Richard Lewis's Idomeneo had been part of the picture from the beginning. English-born but of Welsh origin, the distinguished tenor's American opera career was concentrated in San Francisco, though two years after this Idomeneo he sang Vere in Billy Budd's New York concert premiere. Lewis's flexibility and sensitive musicianship were not, unfortunately, matched with linguistic gifts. Though his performance is dramatically informed and moving, his Italian is awful, worse than on the studio version.
Sena Jurinac and Léopold Simoneau had been the terrific Ilia and Idamante of the Glyndebourne premiere and on the EMI recording; both qualified as Mozartean legends in their own time. How could Glyndebourne fill their shoes in 1964? They didn't, quite, on the stylistic level, but in terms of showcasing future stars, they couldn't have done much better than Gundula Janowitz (then twenty-seven) and Pavarotti (twenty-nine). Janowitz starts disconcertingly, with vibratoless tone -- like a parody of Teresa Stich-Randall, but without that artist's curious charm. By "Se il padre perdei," her fresh tones and treble-like high attacks provide more pleasure, though I for one prefer Jurinac's darker-hued radiance. Janowitz's sigh after "Spiegarti non poss'io" seems echt postwar Vienna Mozart style. Pavarotti was as yet undiscovered by the Bonynges and Decca. Audibly not a practiced Mozartean singer, he still commands affection (and the audience's applause) for his sheer vocal beauty and the clarity of his diction. How few Italians have recorded Idomeneo! Any Pavarotti fan will want to hear his three arias ("No, la morte" is included) and ensembles.
Spanish soprano Enriqueta Tarrés (Elettra) appeared with major companies in Germany and Austria; she shows a fine, bright soprano tending to go flat on forte high notes. She's not exactly magical of timbre, but she sings the difficult arias better than many famous interpreters have done. Baritone Neilson Taylor, poised in the between-Fach tessitura of Arbace, gets neither of his arias nor much recit.
-- Opera News, David Shengold


“Of the newcomers to the cast, 27-year-old Gundula Janowitz, of the Vienna State Opera, created an immediate impression as the captive Princess Ilia. She is the possessor of a lovely soprano voice, crystal clear and even over its entire range. Her phrasing is beautifully executed and she has, in addition, a charming stage presence.” Daily Mail, July 1964

“Luciano Pavarotti’s Idamante provided the most charming vocal tone of the evening’ Daily Telegraph, July 1964

“This has always been one of John Pritchard’s favourite pieces…he inspired the orchestra and chorus to some of the best playing and singing they have given us this season.” The Observer, July 1964