Mario Del Monaco (Coll.Ed) [Box set, Import]

This 5 CD set of DelMonaco Decca recordings is an outstanding compendium of this great Italian tenor's work during the period 1952-1969. What is outstanding about this collection is that it includes not only operatic arias but Neapolitan songs and other popular songs as well. The only downside to these recordings is that DelMonaco's stentorian style did not fit well with the recording studio sound limitations and therefore do not do justice to the beauty of his voice. The recording of Otello under Von Karajan is perhaps one exception. There are also other historical recordings of DelMonaco on CD singing live performances and one can immediately hear and sense the dramatic power and vocal ability that has in my opinion not been heard since. I saw and heard DelMonaco live at the old Metropolitan Opera and in particular recall a 1957 performance of Otello with Renata Tebaldi and Leonard Warren. DelMonaco's voice, crystal clear, filled the house with ringing tones that easily reached to the "standees" who were positioned behind the Family Circle, almost at the ceiling of the Met. Critics of DelMonaco's recordings always miss the point that a falsetto tone that is used to great effect on a recording cannot often be heard over an orchestra in a live performance. Furthermore, his stentorian style did not interfere with his seriousness as an artist and his insightful interpretations. I have had the priviledge of hearing Corelli, Pavarotti and Domingo live and quite simply none of these great tenors matched DelMonaco for the intensity of his vocal and dramatic ability.

In this CD�s you are going to find a treasure of Opera!!!

You can here a special Mario del Monaco, his is not singing Otello, he is singing Napolitanas, and another opera arias!! in different years of his life.

For me it is one of the best pieces in my own collection!!! you can here Del Monaco in a good shape (vocal) in 1952-59 an then in 1962 with a different technique for sure he was proving but it wasn�t to nice the sound then in 1963 he had an car accident (he was in hospital for a year) and then he record again in 1964 and you can heard Del Monaco�s different sound, as the begining of his career, a little light voice but going again as the dramatic and heroic that we know about him. Then in 1969 you can heard mature Del Monaco with a perfect high notes and good center voice, a little open notes (not much) more than in his beginig but very good sound, i think the worst period of Del Monaco was 1961-62 cause he was trying different technique but he came back to his original technique and he was outstanding!! For sure he was one of the best singers ever!!! until this days.

You must have this CD�s in your collection!!!!!

This summary of Del Monaco activity with Decca is a veritable historical document.
It encompasses his vocal parabole from the start to the end, via crisis and resurrection. The early recordings show a voice that had (and has) no equal in terms of ring and volume. His interpreations were accurate and insightful as the first 2 reviewers appropriately noted. Listen to the almost wispering start of
"Vesti la giubba" from Pagliacci, he is the only one to do it, showing a total respect for the drama of Canio, or the dynamics of "O tu che in seno agli angeli" from Forza del Destino, or the very accurate account of " Cielo a mar" from Gioconda
this to say that he was very insightful in his approach. Certainly he was a son of his time and some things (sighs and laughters) are now looking obsolete, but the artist was a serious one. He suffered a vocal crisis around 1962-1964 period
(the recital with Mantovani and the Italian and German Arias, original LP title,with Isabeau and Francesca da Rimini etc were both frankly terrible)worsened by the road accident he was involved with, that kept him away from vocal exercise quite a while. During that period that started showing its first signs in Otello with Karajan (see my review there in case of interest)his vocality was a shadow of itself. A(for him) disastrous Carmen (1963, with Resnik, Sutherland, Schippers) bears also testimony. During this period he recorded also Adriana Lecouvreur with Tebaldi and Tabarro (again with Tebaldi)but the troubles were luckily far less noticeable. He finally resurrected in 1965 with the Sacred Music recital when his voice turned again to the voice of the past if somewhat "heavier" but never the less "recognizable". His last effort Verdi Arias was commendable for the discovery of less famous pieces of the composer but the voice (he was approaching 55) shows more of the same heaviness, still the volume and the ring are there but age was there too. During this period he recorded Cavalleria and Norma with Suliotis, Wally with Tebaldi and Fedora with Olivero and the voice is exactly as I mentioned, clearly "recognizable" but heavier less agile than in his prime. In the end a commendable issue by Decca for one of their top sellers (with his beloved Renata) before the arrival of Sutherland / Pavarotti era. Incidentally Decca had quite a run with Tebaldi/Del Monaco and Sutherland/Pavarotti, lucky people.