Angelina Reaux, Mimi Barbara Daniels, Musetta Jerry Hadley, Rodolfo Thomas Hampton, Marcello James Busterud, Schaunard Paul Plishka, Colline Joseph McKee, Benoit Gimi Beni, Alcindoro Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, 1988 Norbert Balatsch, Maestro del Coro
Nonostante l'ottima esecuzione,con un Bernstein già seriamente malato,la critica non fu benevola,probabilmente perchè si attendeva un cast stellare mentre fu appropriatissima la scelta di Bernstein di utilizzare cantanti giovani,come il libretto richiede e tra di essi c'è ad esempio un certo Thomas Hampson che di li a poco diverrà un baritono richiestissimo.
Excellent performance, even with the Italian news break seeing as this was an Italian TV broadcast. Great cast, Jerry Hadley was such a talent. I would rather see a concert like this showing off really good talent instead of many of the tacky stagings today, like Rigoletto taking place in Las Vegas....ugh.
@@robertmanno5749 mi dispiace ma non ci sento le grandiose emozioni sentimentali che ha sempre Puccini, ma solo una certa freddezza musicale e teatrale che uccide il tutto, suoni magnifici ma freddissimi, per me.
@@robertmanno5749 eppure Bernstein in questa occasione (ero presente col mio coro di voci bianche) ebbe seri problemi proprio con l'orchestra che lo seguiva svogliatamente,senza alcun rispetto per un genio già molto malato che ci lascerà tre anni dopo! Ad un certo punto durante le prove,il violino di spalla si rivolse a Bernstein,osando dire : "Ma Maestro se lei non ci dà tutti gli attacchi!!"
Bernstein sure had balls taking this mediocre cast to Italy to present this, one of the most romantic works Puccini composed. What the Italian audience thought I shudder to think. The only decent voice is the late Hadley. Who the hell is/ was Angelina Reaux? She ain't no Tebaldi that's for sure.
I love and adore Bernstein, but this performance of La Boheme, IMO, is the least attractive recording he has ever done. The tempi seems to be loose and slow with little relation to the drama. Everything sounds calculated to obtain an effect that doesn't come. The singers fall short, vocally and dramatically, and their un-italianate singing seems to be dominated by the slow dynamics. A real pity.
Yes, he was two years away from his own death here and his failing health is starting to show. In his last few years, he started taking everything too slowly. A far cry from his work in the 1960's and 1970's when he was in peak form. This is an amazingly pedestrian performance for a conductor who was, for most of his career, anything but pedestrian.
