{"id":91005,"date":"2024-08-09T11:21:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T15:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/?p=91005"},"modified":"2024-08-09T11:21:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T15:21:15","slug":"cd-review-hdtts-il-trovatore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/cd-review-hdtts-il-trovatore\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: HDTT\u2019s ‘Il Trovatore’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cellini\u2019s golden \u201cTrovatore\u201d from 1952 is arguably one of the most enduring in discographic history. It has always been a favorite of English-speaking critics, bringing together the Met\u2019s roster of international superstars: Bj\u00f6rling<\/a>, Milanov<\/a>, Warren<\/a>, and Barbieri<\/a>. In Italy, its critical fortune has been more mitigated; yet when pressed, even as staunch a skeptic as the notoriously exacting Elvio Giudici would likely concede it is a near-peerless condensation of vocal fireworks, framed by the equally idiomatic pacing of its conductor.<\/p>\n

Zinka Milanov\u2019s relatively open middle register may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, and the interpretation (let alone the phrasing) of the then 41-year-old tenor is miles away from the Belcantist approach in subsequent decades. Yet when measured against its competitors – in chronological order, Serafin, Erede, and maybe Karajan – the 1952 record has a lot going for it.<\/p>\n

Proverbially, there is no disputing about taste; and HDTT\u2019s sumptuous remaster, to be fully appreciated, needs to be approached thus: as an homage, beyond personal preference, to the quasi-hedonist indulgence in the legendary voices of days gone by.<\/p>\n

The ‘Highest Definition Sound’<\/b><\/h3>\n

HDTT\u2019s release was sourced from \u201cpreviously unplayed British HMV monophonic commercial reel-to-reel tapes\u201d (according to the press statement). They may be the closest substitute to RCA\u2019s presumably lost master tapes, and are generationally different from Mark Obert Thorn\u2019s equally meticulous restoration for Naxos Historical\u2019s opera series in 2003.<\/p>\n

Consequently, HDTT restitutes an unsuspected crispness to the voices; they are put under the magnifying lens, as the label\u2019s John H. Haley painstakingly recreates three-dimensional acoustics to metaphorically fill the flattened soundscape of the opera\u2019s earlier pressings. This pays off, especially in the troubadour\u2019s off-stage \u201cDeserto sulla terra,\u201d and the somberly desperate \u201cMiserere.\u201d What is more, Haley\u2019s sonic wizardry stays clear of any artificial or purposely willful alterations to his source. There is no tapering with reverberations, and the hall reverb of Manhattan Center – compressed on the BMG release, for instance – retains an all-natural flavor. It undoubtedly works in favor of Cellini\u2019s slightly belittled conducting efforts, though \u201cIl Trovatore\u201d remains firmly grounded in the mono sound of the original release with its characteristically edgy, steely ring.<\/p>\n

Paradise Regained<\/b><\/h3>\n

Haley\u2019s remaster is aimed towards the purists of sonic innovation more than at the semi-casual layman whose good intentions might not immediately grasp the value of having a \u201cdecongested,\u201d golden-era recording of \u201cIl Trovatore\u201d right at hand. It is justifiably hard to fault him – given the slightly esoteric nature of an otherwise widely known performance.<\/p>\n

Yet if for nothing else, he would not stay indifferent towards the bonus track of \u201cAn Audio Restorer\u2019s Fantasy,\u201d Haley\u2019s phantasmagorical recreation of a 1955 performance with Bj\u00f6rling and Maria Callas in Chicago. It was to remain both singer\u2019s only collaboration in their respective, fleetingly short careers; no audio document of their performances on the 5th and 8th of November, 1955 is known to still exist.<\/p>\n

By artfully removing the tenor part of a Callas recording from 1951, Haley shapes a template in which he inserts Bj\u00f6rling\u2019s voice from a radio performance of \u201cIl Trovatore.\u201d The resulting \u201cMiserere\u201d and continuing scene is quite simply a miracle of technical engineering, making \u201cthe two singers sound\u201d – in Haley\u2019s words – \u201clike they are in the same performance, in the same sonic time and space.\u201d HDTT proves to have its own maestro, resuscitating from operatic hearsay one of the Holy Grails in performance history – or at least the stunning and utterly deceptive illusion of it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cellini\u2019s golden \u201cTrovatore\u201d from 1952 is arguably one of the most enduring in discographic history. It has always been a favorite of English-speaking critics, bringing together the Met\u2019s roster of international superstars: Bj\u00f6rling, Milanov, Warren, and Barbieri. In Italy, its critical fortune has been more mitigated; yet when pressed, even as staunch a skeptic as the notoriously exacting Elvio Giudici {…}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":91106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,8],"tags":[2026,14836,408,1615,1443],"class_list":["post-91005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvd-and-cd-reviews","category-in-review","tag-fedora-barbieri","tag-ii-trovatore","tag-jussi-bjorling","tag-leonard-warren","tag-zinka-milanov"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCD Review: HDTT\u2019s 'Il Trovatore' - OperaWire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cellini\u2019s golden \u201cTrovatore\u201d from 1952 is arguably one of the most enduring in discographic history.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/operawire.com\/cd-review-hdtts-il-trovatore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CD Review: HDTT\u2019s 'Il Trovatore' - 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