Search - Anna Moffo :: "La Bellissima" Anna Moffo: The Debut Recordings

Truly Bellissima

07/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anna Moffo has the most beautiful voive ever heared, anywhere, ever. The arias on this CD showcase her drop-dead-gorgeous tone quality, stellar technique, and versitility. She sings everything one wants to hear, from the classic Puccini war-horses that are sure to get stuck in one's head (especcially since she sings them with perfect fluidity) to bel canto stuff on which she shocks you with coloratura ability (listen to "Una voce poce fa"). Moffo is the most underrated opera star of the golden age; voices and stage-presences like hers are nearly impossible to find today. Skip the spiffy new Renee Flemming disk - buy "La Bellissima" and go slack-jawed."

Anna Moffo's voice is heaven sent!!!!!!

11/26/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is phenomonal! Anna makes the most challenging aria sound effortless. Her voice is nothing short of spectacular!"

A fine sampling of the early career of Anna Moffo

Steven A. Peterson | Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL) | 12/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, I have to confess that Anna Moffo was one of my favorite sopranos of the 1960s and early 1970s, when I first encountered opera. Thus, I do have a bias when reviewing this CD. The 5 stars that I award are for a CD that represents her early years well. You get a very good sense of the Anna Moffo of the 1950s, at the very outset of that career. And, at that level, this is a terrific CD.



Second, she was clearly a very talented lyric soprano, with a voice that was absolutely lovely. Along with this, she was a fine singing actress, able to create characters that had some believability on the opera stage.



Thirs, although she was a terrific lyric soprano, she was not a great coloratura soprano. But more on that as this review proceeds. Let's take a look at several cuts to get a sense of her art.



"Quando m'en vo": One of her first recordings was as Musetta in the Callas version of Puccini's "La Boheme" (Later on, Moffo sang Mimi, but she began here as Musetta), which is where this cut comes from. Her lovely, rich voice shows well in this aria. Her lush lyric soprano voice was a key hallmark of her singing. Liner notes refer to her, accurately from my perspective, as having a "warm, full, radiant tone." This is an animated and good version of Musetta's Waltz.



"Voi che sapete": From Mozart, she displays, again, a lovely voice that fits this piece well. She was regarded as a fine singing actress, and there are some nice hints of a character in this cut.



"Mad Scene": From "Lucia di Lammermoor," we have an early version of her singing the "Mad Scene" (later recordings suggest better coloratura singing). In "Il dolce suono" and "Ardon gl'incensi," her voice works well. Sweet, lovely singing. . . . Staccato technique in the latter is fine indeed. Moffo was never a great coloratura soprano, although she could be described as competent in this repertoire. And here is where the cabaletta, "Spargi d'amaro" comes into play. She shows decent vocal agility. The first pass is fairly vanilla (although her voice is lovely); the second picks up somewhat. She does show vocal agility; she can hit a decent high note. But she does not trill (later on, she displayed an adequate--but not great--trill).



"E strano. . .Ah fors e lui. . .Sempre libera": Her Violetta from Verdi's "La Traviata" was a signature role. Her later recording of this opera with Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill, in my humble opinion, is one of the better recordings of this work (and I have reviewed it elsewhere on Amazon). Her vocal qualities are perfect for the early part of this work. "Sempre libera" is sung nicely, with proper agility on her part. Compared with the coloratura version by Sutherland, hers does not match well. But, musically, her voice and characterizations fit nicely this cabaletta.



So, I think that this CD deserves considerable merit for giving us a good glimpse of the early career of Anna Moffo, one of the best American sopranos of the past fifty years, although perhaps underrated at that. She was not perfect in the repertoire on this CD, but the sampling of her art is very well done indeed.

"