Puccini - La Rondine - Moffo, Barioni - 1966Performer: Daniele Barioni, Anna Moffo, Mario Sereni, Graziella Sciutti, Piero de Palma
Conductor: Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Orchestra/Ensemble: RCA Italian Opera Orchestra, RCA Italian Opera Chorus
Anna Moffo is the perfect Magda. As with her "Traviata", "Boheme", and "Luisa Miller", this recording is Moffo at the peak of her vocal and interpretive gifts. Moffo is really superior to her rivals in the other studio recordings of this opera. Angela Gheorghiu, (EMI), is exquisite, but often precious and mannered, and sounds enamored with her own voice. Kiri Te Kanawa (COLUMBIA) is also beautiful, but is cool and aloof much of the time, and occasionaly sounds like she is singing Strauss rather than Puccini. Moffo is always warm, sensual, and beautifully phrased and inflected. These other sopranos give fine performances, but Moffo finds nuances that the others miss.
Daniele Barioni as Ruggero is dashing, charming, and youthful, with a great voice that just keeps giving. It is truly perplexing why the major record companies did not see fit to make more recordings of this man's voice. Graziella Sciutti and Piero De Palma contribute character filled portrayals of Lisette and Prunier. Their counterparts in the other recordings all sing prettier, but none are more alive and amusing. --Amazon customer
