Verdi

This sprawling epic has a very fine cast, with Renata Tebaldi as an almost ideal Leonora, and the loud impressive del Monaco as the hero. The early stereo sound is good, but the conducting is listless; the work drags, as it need not. Michael Tanner

Michael Tanner

Published: January 20, 2012 at 4:06 pm

COMPOSERS: Verdi
LABELS: Decca
ALBUM TITLE: La forza del destino
PERFORMER: Tebaldi, del Monaco, Bastianini; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome/Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
CATALOGUE NO: 475 8681

This sprawling epic has a very fine cast, with Renata Tebaldi as an almost ideal Leonora, and the loud impressive del Monaco as the hero. The early stereo sound is good, but the conducting is listless; the work drags, as it need not.

Michael Tanner

Michael Tanner

Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine

Michael Tanner is a critic for BBC Music Magazine and the opera critic of The Spectator. He is now a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, having lectured in the Philosophy faculty at the University of Cambridge for 36 years. In 2010, he released The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner.
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