Verdi: La Traviata / Scotto, G. Raimondi, Bastianini, Votto

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Music reviews of Verdi: La Traviata / Scotto, G. Raimondi, Bastianini, Votto

Music Review: A class by herself
Rating: 4 Stars

Recent re-listening, FWIW, to a range of "traviate";-) has left me pondering the field with somewhat less frustration (though only marginally so) than I had a while ago. It may be useful to understand the pitfalls involved in some detail before understanding my (highly subjective?) reasons for making the recommendations I do.

If one wants (and, yes, I do!) a set with a thoroughly committed heroine, colleagues who are at least within hailing distance of her wavelength and her vocalism, a conductor who, at a minimum, is a viable enough storyteller with neither a tendency to thump, to rush nor to snooze, and sound quality that (even when monaural) at least gives a reasonably undistorted picture of what the artists are trying to do, then one has a long search in store.

The pleasant surprise here is how much I am now drawn in to the earlier Scotto Traviata on DG (under Antonino Votto) and the Virginia Zeani recording on Vox (under Jean Bobescu). Neither of these are any less uncut than most of the others, but they successfully hold my interest in ways that the others don't. Committed heroines, simpatico colleagues, responsive and sensible (if not necessarily inspired) conducting, reasonably clear sound -- all these assets seem more present than absent in both these sets.

Slightly surer conducting and a stronger rapport in the crucial meeting of Germont pere and Violetta may give the Zeani set, as a whole, a slight edge. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- that sums up the virtues of this set.

But both the DG Scotto and the Zeani are fine performances, and John Steane, in his classic book, The Grand Tradition, points out correctly, in my view, that the young Scotto's mastery of all the demands, expressive and vocal, of the tricky Act I scena puts her in a class by herself. La Scala's more seasoned forces are also an asset here.

No, neither set has an absolutely ideal cast, neither set is uncut, neither set plumbs all the expressive potential in the score -- but there is relatively little to distract one from listening to a compelling drama told clearly through inspired vocal (and orchestral) writing -- more than one can say (IMO) of any of the others. These two give me a feeling that I'm hearing a generally accomplished and "lived-in" reading where the experience is not being "filtered" through stopgaps for this or that or through the vicissitudes of amateurish recording quality or through the necessity for applying due appreciation for high artistic intent compromised by uneven result. Instead, one is set up with certain expectations that are, by and large, fulfilled.

Unfortunately, so far as I know, neither set provides a libretto/text of the opera as part of its packaging, let alone an English translation! So one would have to look elsewhere for a separate libretto, I'm afraid.

Description of Verdi: La Traviata / Scotto, G. Raimondi, Bastianini, Votto

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