In the 1950s and much of the 60s, the great bass roles in the Italian repertoire and the title part in ‘Don Giovanni’, were synonymous with the name of Cesare Siepi. Gifted with a commanding presence on stage and a firm, sonorous, pliant ‘basso cantante ‘– a true successor to the mantle of Pinza and Pasero, his great Italian forebears – he was in demand in all the major houses of the world. At the same time, Decca used him regularly for complete recordings of opera; he was a renowned interpreter of Verdi. Many of these arias come from a recital he committed to disc in 1954 when his voice was at its sappy best. In 1957, he was the natural choice for the implacable Alvise in ‘La Gioconda’, here telling his unfaithful wife that she is about to die for her adultery. He was also inevitable casting for the 1958 recording of Boito’s ‘Mefistofele’ whose two solos are given with relish and a spirit of negation just right for the incarnation of the devil so sharply caught in Boito’s writing.
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Le nozze di Figaro, KV 492
Bravo, signor padrone … Se vuol ballare
Non più andrai
Wiener Philharmoniker
Erich Kleiber
Don Giovanni, KV 527
Fin ch’han dal vino
Deh! vieni alla finestra
Wiener Philharmoniker
Josef Krips
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Don Carlo: Ella giammai m’amo
Nabucco: Vieni, o levita … Tu sul labbro dei veggenti
Ernani: Che mai vegg’io … Infelice! Et tu credevi
ANTONIO CARLOS GOMES
Salvator Rosa: Di sposa, di padre le gioie serene
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Simon Boccanegra: Il lacerato spirito
GIACOMO MEYERBEER
Les Huguenots: Signeur, rempart et seul soutien … Piff, paff
Robert le diable: Nonnes qui reposez
JACQUES HALÉVY
La Juive: Si la rigeur et la vengeance
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Alberto Erede
AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
La Gioconda: Sì, morir ella de! … Là turbine e farnetichi
Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale, Florence
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
ARRIGO BOITO
Mefistofele
Ave Signor!
Sono lo spirito che nega
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Tullio Serafin
Recording Producers: James Walker (5, 14); Peter Andry (1–4); Victor Olof (6–13); Christopher Raeburn (15–16)
Balance Engineers: James Brown (5); Cyril Windebank, James Brown (1–4); Gil Went (6–13), Roy Wallace (14–16)
Recording Locations: Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy, 13–22 July 1954 (6–13), 2 July–7 August 1955 (5), June–September 1958 (15, 16); Redoutensaal, Vienna, Austria, 6–21 June 1955 (3, 4); 21–27 June 1955 (1, 2); Teatro Pergola, Florence, Italy, 22 June–6 July 1957 (14)
Remastering Engineer: Chris Bernauer
‘resonantly sung’ (Don Carlo, Nabucco & Ernani arias) Gramophone, April 1955
‘anyone in doubt still of the artistic progress of the present singer might well begin by hearing the grand, not to say majestic, fashion in which he handles both the minor section and flowers out into the consoling major theme [of the ‘Boccanegra’ aria]. It is Verdi most nobly done. … first rate’ (Verdi: Simon Boccanegra, Gomes, Meyerbeer, Halévy) Gramophone, June 1955