Verdi: Macbeth
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Music CD Cover
Performer: Alfredo GiacomottiPerformer: Giovanni Foiani
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Orchestra: La Scala Theater Orchestra & Chorus
Performer: Pl?cido Domingo
Performer: Alfredo Mariotti
Performer: Antonio Savastano
Performer: Carlo Zardo
Performer: Maria Fausta Gallamini
Performer: Massimo Bortolotti
Performer: Nicolai Ghiaurov
Performer: Piero Cappuccilli
Performer: Sergio Fontana
Performer: Shirley Verrett
Performer: Stefania Malagu
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-01-28
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Macbeth: Preludio
- Macbeth: Act I: Introduzione e Coro di streghe - 'Che faceste? dite su!'
- Macbeth: Act I: Scena e Duetto - 'Giorno no vidi mai' - 'due vaticini compiuti or sono' (Macbeth, Banco, Coro di streghe, Messaggeri)
- Macbeth: Act I: Coro di streghe - Stretta dell'introduzione - 'S'allontanarono!'
- Macbeth: Act I: Scena e Cavatina - 'Nel di della vittoria' - 'Vieni! t'affretta! ... Or tutti sorgete' (Lady Macbeth, Servo)
- Macbeth: Act I: Scena e Marcia - 'Oh, donna mia!' (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act I: Gran Scena e Duetto - 'Sappia la sposa mia' - 'Fatal mia donna!' (Macbeth, Lady Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act I: Scena e Sestetto - Finale I - 'Di destarlo per tempo il re m'impose' - 'Schiudi, inferno, la bocca' (Macduff, Banco, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Dama, Malcolm, Coro)
- Macbeth: Act II: Scena ed Aria - 'Perche mi sfuggi'
- Macbeth: Act II: Scena ed Aria - 'La luce langue' (Lady Macbeth, Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act II: Coro di sicari - 'Chi oso mandarvi a noi?'
- Macbeth: Act II: Gran Scena - 'Studia il passo...Come dal ciel precipita' (Banco)
- Macbeth: Act II, Finale II: 'Salve, o Re!'
- Macbeth: Act II, Finale II: 'Si colmi il calice'
- Macbeth: Act II, Finale II: 'Va', spirto d'abisso!' (Coro, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Dama, Macduff, Sicario)
- Macbeth: Act III: Coro d'introduzione - Incantesimo - ' Tre volte miagola
- Macbeth: Act III: Ballo - Allegro vivicissimo - Un poco ritenuto - Allegro - Andante - Allegro - Valzer. Allegro vivacissimo - Poco piu mosso -
- Macbeth: Act III: Gran Scena delle apparizioni - 'Finche appelli'
- Macbeth: Act III: Gran Scena delle apparizioni - 'Fuggi, regal fantasima' (Macbeth, Coro di streghe, 3 Appparizioni)
- Macbeth: Act III: Coro di streghe e Ballabile - 'Ondine e Silfidi'
- Macbeth: Act III: Scena e Duetto - Finale III - 'Ove son io?' - 'Ora di morte' (Macbeth, Araldo, Lady Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Coro di profughi scozzesi - 'Patria oppressa!'
- Macbeth: Act IV: Scena ed Aria - 'O figli, o figli miei!...Ah, la paterna mano' (Macduff)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Scena ed Aria - 'Dove siam? che bosco e quello?' (Malcolm, Macduff, Coro)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Gran Scena del sonnambulismo - 'Vegliammo invan due notti'
- Macbeth: Act IV: Gran Scena del sonambulismo - 'Una macchia e qui tuttora' (Medico, Dama, Lady Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Scene ed Aria - 'Perfidi! All'anglo contro me v'unite!'
- Macbeth: Act IV: Scene ed Aria - 'Pieta, rispetto, amore' (Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Scena e battaglia - 'Ella e morta!' (Coro, Macbeth, Dama, Macduff)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Morte di Macbeth - 'Mal per me che m'affadai' (Macbeth)
- Macbeth: Act IV: Inno di vittoria - Finale - 'Vittoria!' (Coro, Malcolm, Macduff)
Free Music Notes for Verdi: Macbeth
Free Music Review: A minor Shakespearean and gigantic Verdian triumph
Hit: 5 Stars
Verdi's two greatest Shakespearean operas, Otello and Falstaff, are generally ranked atop Macbeth. However, few of Verdi's works are as rich and succulent in melodic line as this dark tale of the ill-fated Scottish king driven to destruction by his own tormented conscience. Additionally, this recording is the finest available today, with four of the optimum singers and one of the most inimitable Verdian conductors, assembled with the greatest of all Italian orchestras. Claudio Abbado leads the Coro and Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala with bombast; the Prelude is jarring and unsettling, beautiful in its own misty, eerie way. The brief overture immediately sets a cold, desolate scene upon which the morose drama takes place.
Piero Cappucilli gives one of his greatest performances, not only musically (though he is sublime) but also dramatically. He captures the character of the guilt-stricken Macbeth, accentuating his timidity and moral complexity, which was the root of his downfall and insanity. His greatest moment is during "Sappia la sposa mi ache, pronta appena" ... "Sulla met? del mondo," in which his every utterance is spellbinding. This is, despite its placement in one of his earliest operas, one of Verdi's most complex and captivating monologues, which drifts from evil hallucinations to an earth-shattering cry for Duncan's murder. Shirley Verrett is the epitome of the deceptive, self-righteous Lady Macbeth, the greatest villainess of all literature. She hisses through "Vieni! t'affreta! accendere!", her great Act I aria and one of the finest Verdi ever composed for the mezzo-soprano voice; she attacks "Or tutti sorgete" like a demonic "Sempre libera." Her rendition of "La luce langue" is foggy and dense; her performance of the drinking song "Si colmi il calice" is jovial and balmy. During the Act III scene "Una macchia ? qui tuttora," the greatest and most infamous scene of Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, Verrett is genuinely deranged as the horrid woman infected by her own greed, aggrandizement, and malice.
The other roles are fairly minor, which makes the star quality invested in them even more impressive. Nicolai Ghiaurov is a glum, brooding Banquo. His Act II aria "Come dal ciel precipita" is hauntingly pitiable and doomful. His Act I trio with Cappuccilli and the chorus of messengers ("Due vaticini compiuti or sono") is steeped richly in a marvelous Verdian charm. Pl?cido Domingo is sublime as Macduff, lord of Fife, who carries out the Weird Sisters' prophecy. His lone Act IV aria ("Ah, la paterna mano") is presented with excellent ingenuity and valor through its mournful atmosphere.
Verdi invested most of his efforts with this opera into the various choruses, which are supported ably by the La Scala orchestra. (The sawing basses and cellos during the witches' chorus "S'allontanarono!" is singularly chilling.) The finale of Act I ("Schiudi, inferno, la bocca ed inghiotti") is a deafening chorus of fury and vengeance which melts into a heart-wrenching ensemble of sorrow and supplication ("O gran Dio, che ne' cuori pen?tri"). "Sparve il sol...la notte stenda il vel," the satanic Act II chorus of the murders; "Tu, rospo venefico," the immortal cauldron scene with the witches concocting their brew; "Ondine e Silfidi dall'ali candied," through which the witches conjure aerial spirits and mythological creatures; and the jubilant Act IV finale "Macbeth, Macbeth, ov'??" are all tiny masterpieces which precede many of Verdi's more famous (and infamous) ensembles and choruses.
Overall, this 1976 recording of Macbeth is a thorough luxury, and is even more enjoyable when coupled with Abbado's 1977 recording of Simon Boccanegra, which also included Piero Cappuccilli and Nicolai Ghiaurov.
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