mezzo-tenor's Full Review: Puccini: Turandot / Molinari-Pradelli, Nilsson, Co...
Curiously, not everyone who likes Puccini likes "Turandot," his last work, one that he left unfinished at his death for others to complete from sketches. Some people find it a bit too "symphonic," a bit eclectic in its occasionally Bartokian harmonies (Act I alone gives two instances of bitonality), and, from a feminist standpoint, quite offensive for the way it excuses the hero's reckless and consuming lust for the unattainable title character. But then there's the rest of us, for whom it scratches a major itch and to whom it represents the last major achievement in the Italian bel canto legacy.
People who know their opera backwards and forwards can argue endlessly on which recordings give the finest renditions of certain moments. But few neophytes are able or willing to purchase every possible recording and find the good points of each. This is the set I'd recommend for someone coming to this opera for the first time, and you'll not find a better one at its price.
Even though Puccini doesn't give us a mere virtuosity vehicle for the two leads, theirs are crucial parts and Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli pretty much owned these roles at the time of the recording, the early 1960s. The role of Turandot calls for an imposing dramatic soprano with power to spare in all ranges, and Miss Nilsson brings all her Wagnerian capabilities to bear while respecting the dictates of Italian style. As Prince Calaf traveling incognito, Franco Corelli may be a hair much for purists, with his interpolated high notes (like the high C at the end of the riddle scene) and his occasionally imperfect diction (I hear an obvious lisp on the "ss" of "Nessun Dorma"). These points aside, he's dramatically persuasive as the headstrong, amorously inflamed protagonist called for in the libretto.
Renata Scotto sounds in Act I like she's auditioning for future lead roles rather than portraying the humble servant Liu, but she certainly delivers on the opera's most emotionally affecting moment in Act III. There is generally fine work from supporting players, and the bloodthirsty crowd in the opening scene is very capably embodied by the Italian choristers, if in quieter passages their singing isn't perfectly controlled.
Maestro Molinari-Pradelli gives an intelligently committed, fluid interpretation, but I find his orchestra to be rather sub-par in the brass department. Also, I think the sound gets a bit congested in a couple of big moments. That being said, this set is free from certain glaring deficiencies in other celebrated studio recordings. On RCA, for example, Nilsson (again) and the orchestra are great, but conductor Erich Leinsdorf misjudges tempos too often for my taste, and the casting of elegant but small-voiced Jussi Bjorling would have been ludicrous onstage. On Decca, a youngish Zubin Mehta gets glorious sound from the London Symphony Orchestra and good sound engineering (and the best boys' chorus I've heard), but Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti are just a shade underpowered for these roles -- him vocally, her dramatically. (Actually the Decca disc of excerpts, also quite affordable, is worth getting as a second specimen; note Montserrat Caballe's remarkable if uncalled-for high pianissimos as Liu.)
A propos of nothing: There are some wonderful anecdotes of how Nilsson and Corelli despised one another and complained to their respective friends about the indignity of performing together. At one performance, Corelli is said to have retaliated to Nilsson's combativeness by biting her ear during a stage kiss. She called her agent the next day complaining that she had contracted rabies. But decades later, having outlived Corelli, Nilsson cited him as a great singer. Call me nuts, but I think there's a great movie to be made about these two singers and the sensation they created with this opera.
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