Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore - Di Stefano, Gueden, Capecchi, Corena - Molinari-Pradelli 1955Performer: Fernando Corena, Luisa Mandelli, Renato Capecchi, Hilde Gueden, Giuseppe Di Stefano
Conductor: Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Orchestra/Ensemble: Florence Maggio Musicale Orchestra, Florence Maggio Musicale Chorus
Date of Recording: 09/1955
Venue: Teatro Comunale, Florence, Italy
As for the performance, it has never been surpassed on records. Perhaps many listeners will prefer Luciano Pavarotti in his two recordings to Giuseppe di Stefano, but I for one do not, since I never can reconcile Pavarotti’s enviable reputation as a bel canto tenor with his apparent inability to sing mezza voce. Here di Stefano shows what he might have been had he stuck to lyric roles and, at his best, he’s incomparable, amusing and almost always spinning vocal gold. I wish he was at his best in “Una furtive lagrima,” but even so, he’s good enough. Yet, it isn’t the tenor who makes this set the finest available by far—it’s Fernando Corena, whose definitive Dulcamara (the opera’s key role) is in a class by itself.
... The lovely Hilde Güden has always been a favorite of mine. She had charm to burn and is an ideal Adina, a role that was originally created by a popular German diva, Sabine Heinefetter (1809–72). --Arkivmusic
Find more at Arkivmusic (another release) and listen to the tracks at Amazon
