Search - Eduardo di Capua, Salvatore Cardillo, Ernesto de Curtis :: Verdi: Requiem

Franco Corelli And Grace Bumbry Fans Check It Out

02/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What ? Franco Corelli sang in Verdi's Requiem ? I was pleasantly surprised to discover that indeed he had sometime in the 70's. Upon hearing this live recording, which, by the way, suffers from bad sound quality, one can still note that Corelli is past his prime but is blessed by fine microphone placement. Nevertheless, his voice is not underpowered and is perfectly suited to the tenor part in the Requiem. Dame Gwyneth Jones sings the soprano part, Grace Bumbry the mezzo part and Ezio Flagello the baritone/bass part. Gwyneth Jones is not my favorite soprano. She was a beautiful woman physically and her voice was once beautiful but she took on too many taxing roles and her voice was wobbly and her vibrato was wide. All that is evident in this recording. Grace Bumbry, on the other hand, steps up to the challenge of singing the mezzo part of the Requiem quite well. Her is a big, dramatic, lush voice and she has keen sense of musicality for this part. Ezio Flagello is considerably weak next to better basses that have sung the part- Samuel Ramey, Jose Van Dam, Nicolai Ghiaurov and others. This is a fine document of tenor Franco Corelli's career as it is Grace Bumbry's."

Year 1967: The First Reviewer Is Wrong

Monica | Romania | 03/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was performed on November 14, 1967. Franco Corelli's only performance of the whole tenor part in the Verdi Requiem. He had recorded "Ingemisco" commercially in 1963.



Asked "What was your best year?" by Stefan Zucker, Corelli answered: "1966-1967." (Conversations with Franco Corelli, Program 1, "Opera Fanatic," WKCR-FM radio, February 3, 1990, New York. Available online from the Bel Canto Society).



"