Search - G. Verdi :: Traviata-Hlts

Cebotari Is a Divine German-Language Violetta.

Edward R. Oneill | San Francisco, CA | 11/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I find this recording sublime. At one point I listened around to determine who was my ideal Violetta. Hard. Do you go with the dramatic soprano lungs-of-steel approach? Or the twittering coloratura approach? Is it verismo? Or a high-wire act? Certainly Caballe has one of the most convincing hybrids around.



Cebotari knocks them all out of the park. She's both at once. As a great Straussian (like, in a way, Caballe), she's got power and focus, and she has the accuracy and delicacy, too. After hearing her Mozart (the Countess from The Marriage of Figaro), I was won over by her shaping of the musical line. And to my mind she triumphs in this Traviata.



But be warned.



First, this is in German. Yes, it was "the practice of the era." But it's weird.



Also, this is highlights. They didn't really do full-length recordings in that era either.



Further, judging by the date, this was recorded in Germany during World War II. Unsavory. This makes it being in German feel a bit creepy. Being a film buff, I imagine guys in uniforms listening and crying. Considering how scarce resources must have been, it's remarkable they were putting on operas and recording them. But I suppose they must have felt that their great civilization was marching beautifully forward, and German culture embodied...whatever.



Fantastic recording, with reservations."