Search - Giacomo Meyerbeer, Plácido Domingo, Shirley Verrett :: Meyerbeer: L'Africaine / Domingo, Verrett

L'Africain, or the Badly Mutelated Girl

J Overdijkink | the Netherlands | 05/18/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This 'Africain' is a typical Meyerbeer recording, being HEAVILY MUTELATED through SEVERE CUTS. It is SO BADLY DAMAGED, that Meyerbeers original conception and intensions have been completely obscured. There is hardly ANY aria, duet, ensemble or finale wich is complete. For example: the third act finale has been deprived of the final Indian chorus. This should come AFTER the shipwreck and serves as the logic connection with- and explanation for the state of affairs at the beginning of- the fourth act, in wich the Portuegese have been condemned to death and are being slaughtered. The great and sublime fourth act duet between Vasco and Selika has also been heavily cut and there are many more minor and mayor cuts. All these ommissions put a severe strain on the coherence and logic of the plot. They are the actuall fullfillment of Wagners's comment about "effects without causes", a comment based on nothing but ignorance, prejudice, jealousy and anti-semitism. But back to the opera itself. The reasons for these assaults on the score are plentyfull, but are mostly based on the misconception that the work would otherwise be too taxing for performers and audiences. (The producers conveniently forget the monumental size of Wagner's opera's and, for example Verdi's Don Carlos and Berlioz' Les Troyens.)The truth is that producers are only very halfheartedly committed to Meyerbeers works, especialy L'Africain. This is odd, for it is the Master's last and most sophisticated work, allways greatly loved by the few lucky audiences that get to see it.However, what DOES appear on this CD(and that is not more than on any other commercial recording), is thrilling to hear, allthough the quality of the recording is not too good. The duets and trio's (wich are plentyfull) are beautifully rendered. Shirley Verret is very well equiped for the part (Selika), with her warm, dark voice, and is a great pleasure to hear. Domingo is not so well suited for his part (Vasco). But he does his best (and was at time of recording the best singer available, so it is hard to complain). All in all he is pleasent to listen to and can at times be quit exiting. As I said before, the sound itself is not very good. The loud pieces, especialy the act I and III finales have a lot of static. In conclusion I can say that what IS on the CD is allright. Since there is no better and completer version around, you'd better by it, if you can bear the mutelations that is. But every Meyerbeer-, Grand Opera- and French-opera-in-general-lovers, should APPEAL TO THE RELEVANT PUBLISHERS (e.g. Opera Rara) for an issue of a complete, well starred 'Africain' (some tapes are already available! ).Joost Overdijkink"

Bonus performance

John Cragg | Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada | 06/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The main part of this recording is of a single performance in San Francisco in 1973. The sound is very good for such a source and the enthusiastic audience does not intrude inappropriately for an aural presentation too often. Verrett's rich mezzo makes much of the title role while Domingo demonstrates how wonderfully he could use his rich voice to interpret a role when he was engaged in it. No tenor of the period was a better musician! The baritone, Norman Mittleman, is less satisfactory -- at times he seems to be having difficulty getting the role to flow adequately--but at others he produces some beautiful singing. By contrast, Evelyn Mandac is a delight in the significant though secondary part of Inez. The conductor, Jean Perisson, keeps things moving well with a good orchestra and chorus.The set has the oddity that, having provided over two and a half hours of opera, it proceeds to give roughly half an hour of highlights from a production in Barcelona in 1977. This one involved Caballe and Domingo and the chemistry between these two is more intense than between Verrett and Domingo. The recorded sound here really is wretched.Gala provides no libretto and only the very sketchiest of synopses, so that one has little way of knowing what is going on since the singers pronunciations are not clear enough to allow one to follow the French. This serious weakness does hide cuts and changes to the opera, which will only be evident if one has another source for the libretto."

Non si parla se non si conosci.

enrico morantti | Gli Estati Uniti | 08/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"E meglio non leggere alcuni pazzi letteras che l'ignoranza fa in un uomo come il signore ch'a scritto in questo sitio. Come osa dicere che il Meyerber e fatuo? Non gl'intendo. Comparazione con Donizetti, Verdi e Wagner al stesso tempo? Comme si fa per ser quasi stupido? Signor: primo tu hai de cantare il Meyerber e poi scrivete con properta. Ma non fa il ridiculo con la sua opinione che non fa anche il ver sua plena ignoranza. Il Meyerber, e L'Africanna son grandi, e gl'interpretti son sensazionale. Va primo al teatro, canta, e fa l'opera, e poi parla. Grazie."