Alfredo Catalani - La Wally- Tebaldi, Del Monaco, Cappuccilli - Cleva 19682CDs - ADD - Scans - 71:13, 53:17
Decca 1968
Renata Tebaldi - Wally, Justino Diaz - Stromminger, Stefania Malagù - Afra, Lydia Marimpietri - Walter, Mario del Monaco - Giuseppe Hagenbach di Sölden, Piero Cappuccilli - Vincenzo Gellner dell'Hochstoff, Alfredo Mariotti - Il Pedone di Schnals
Turin Lyric Chorus; Monte Carlo National Opera Orchestra
Cond. : Fausto Cleva
Recorded in June 1968, Alcazar Hall, Monte Carlo, remastered in 2007
The opera is best known for its aria Ebben? Ne andrò lontana, (Act I, CD1 track 9), sung when Wally decides to leave her home forever. Catalani had composed that aria independently as Chanson Groënlandaise in 1878 and later incorporated into his opera. There is even in this work (CD1 track 2) a song which is supposed to be a yodelling song, but which sounds more Spanish than Alpine!
The opera also features one of the most memorable of operatic deaths, in which the heroine throws herself into a passing avalanche. It is seldom performed as such, but arias are sung frequently.
Find more at Amazon and Gramophone
