Search - Mascagni, Tassinari, Tagliavini :: L'Amico Fritz (From Turin 1941)

A Gem from Wartime Italy

Paul A. Dunphy | Bogota, New Jersey USA | 09/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""L'Amico Fritz" has not had much success on this side of the Atlantic with the exception of some smaller opera companies. The story is very slight, the cast small and the chorus never appears onstage. Nevertheless, it contains some of Mascagni's most charming and engaging music.

Ferruccio Tagliavini was an exciting new tenor in 1941 when this recording was made. His lyrical instrument was still in its pristine condition and he avoids some of the bad habits which he acquired in later years. (As an aside, I heard Tagliavini perform this opera in concert at Carnegie Hall shortly before his death and his voice still had the unique timbre if no longer the honeyed pianissimo which was his trademark).

His new wife, Pia Tassinari, was singing soprano at this time and is a very affecting Suzel. She would later switch to mezzo roles after some rather unsuccessful performances at the Met.

Saturno Meletti as the doctor David (actually a rabbi-forbidden onstage during fascism)and Amalia Pini as Beppe, the gypsy boy, fill their roles admirably.

Mascagni conducts with better attention to tempi than is evident in his later "Cavalleria Rusticana" recording but, then again, this music does not have the intensity of his earlier masterpiece.

If you want to hear this opera in stereo, then go for the Pavarotti - Freni recording on EMI but this mono recording is worth having for its historical value as well as some enchanting singing."