# Verdi's Otello



## Scarr (Jun 3, 2014)

I have grown to love Verdi's Otello over the past few years and have listened to many performances. Though I admire Domingo' artistry very much I find he overthinks the role and is never quite convincing as the enigmatic warrior general. Del Monaco has a tendency to bark but his robust tenor and 'on the edge'and visceral performance is electric in a wonderfully conducted Karajan Decca. Vickers seems to find the right balance but Serafin's conducting seems soft and up involving and his Desdemona lacks fragility. Toscanini is riveting and his Desdemona and Otello are deeply moving.

If you could combine elements from the many recordings, who would you choose as your dream team? 

I think I would keep Toscanini, hold on to Vickers and then choose between Tebaldi or Nelli for the Desdemona Milnes or Valdengo would fill Iago' shoes.

Steve


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

In recent years I too have come to love OTELLO. Before I certainly respected it, but now I can truly say I love it; it would be on any short list of my favorite Verdi operas.

It's interesting what you say about Domingo. Since relatively few tenors can ever sing the role of Otello, every generation, it seems, has "its" Otello (though I suppose Domingo has really spanned more than one generation); Domingo is "my" Otello largely because he's the only one I have personal memories of -- not that I heard him live, but I do recall a couple of Met broadcasts with him, and I have his 1990's Covent Garden performance on DVD, in addition to his 1978 studio recording. I think his real distinction was that he brought a bel canto quality to the music, especially on his '78 studio recording.

As for Iago, I've always been partial to Sherrill Milnes, who unlike Sergei Leiferkus -- whom I also admire in the part -- had a real Verdi baritone voice, and I like the humor he brings to the role on that Domingo recording. I suppose Tito Gobbi was the greatest of all Iagos, though (I did hear the Vickers/Gobbi recording on the radio years ago but don't own it and can't recall much about it). I know that many people think Renata Scotto the most intelligent of Desdemonas, but speaking personally I'll take the most beautifully sung performance over the most intelligent performance of that role. I'm not saying that Scotto didn't have a beautiful voice; what I am saying is that by 1978 her high register was pretty out of control and tended to screech, which sometimes coarsens the character. My ideal Desdemona would probably be Kiri Te Kanawa, who sings beautifully on that Covent Garden DVD with Domingo. She looks beautiful as well.

OP, have you experienced Leiferkus as Iago, and if so what do you think of him? My feeling is that he had a perfect voice for the _character_ of Iago -- a cold, heartless voice, poison as sound -- but not the best voice for Iago's _music_. For example, I find his Credo disappointingly underpowered, and I keep wanting more _mezza voce_ from him. What I like about his acting is that he (unlike Milnes) does not try to present Iago as a jovial good guy. Instead, he shows us a man who even in the "public" scenes is always brutally honest in his own way. There's nothing at all wrong with the "jovial good guy" Iago -- it's the way most baritones, and most straight actors, interpret the part -- but I find Leiferkus's conception more intriguing.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Domingo is good but perhaps just misses the ultimate powerhouse voice.
Vickers is superb for Karajan 2 but the recording is a bit quirky.
Vinay was 
Toscanini's choice.
De Monaco was exciting but as subtle as a brick.

For Desdemona, Tebaldi is the best all round though both Studer and Freni are affecting too.

For Iago - Gobbi - see link below

www.youtube.com/watch?v=swBZoW0nECM


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Scarr said:


> Del Monaco has a tendency to bark but his robust tenor and 'on the edge'and visceral performance is electric in a wonderfully conducted Karajan Decca.


His performance on Erde recording (also with Tebaldi) might be even more electric.

As for "tendention to bark", it's pretty overhyped element of his singing, like urban legend that some repeat because they have heard it so many times that they assume it must be true. I always wonder why people complain about him being too loud and too powerful when they can stand Domingo's higher register sounding like somebody blowing with all too much force into little, wooden piccolo flute in hope to make it sound like french horn. MdM never produced such ridiculous, unmusical sound.


----------



## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Giuseppe Giacomini is a superb Otello on the recording with Margaret Price conducted by Alain Lombard


----------



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

My favorites are Del Monaco, Tebaldi and Warren.

However, my preferred Otello recorded fragments, though they are not from a complete version, are these ones:











So, probably I would change my Otello's choice to Merli.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

If Scotto were the Desdemona on the Serafin, then it would be my perfect recording. Vickers is caught a bit early in his traversal of the role, but he is still my favourite Otello. I also like Serafin's non-interventionist Italianate approach to the score. That doesn't mean he is anonymous, but he lets the music speak for itself with a natural flow and feel for the lyricism as well as the drama. Scotto would also have been a lot younger at the time of the Serafin and more in control of her top register. That said, I still find her the most affecting of all Desdemonas. 

I retain an affection for the first Karajan recording recording,as it is the one I got to know the opera through, but Protti is woefully inadequate. Tebaldi sings beautifully, but, as usual, I find her uncommunicative. Karajan's second recording is a non-starter because of the odd recording balances and a heinous cut in the big ensemble.

I also like the Levine with Domingo. Scotto, as I said, is a more affecting and positive Desdemona than any other, though I grant the top of the voice is now a bit hard. Milnes is a good Iago, though not the equal of the unsurpassed Gobbi.

Leiferkus is also a very interesting Iago, though the voice is not in the least bit Italianate. My problem here is Studer, a singer I never responded to, try as I might.

Leiferkus can be seen as well as heard in the Covent Garden performance with Domingo, and Te Kanawa a most affecting (and lovely looking) Desdemona, though Solti is not a conductor I enjoy, particularly in Verdi. There is also a fine Met performance with Vickers, Scotto and Cornell MacNeil a slightly over the top Iago. Seen instead of just heard, I often find Scotto's mannered acting distracting, and indeed it is so here, though she is in better voice than on the Levine.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I forgot another live performance which is worth seeking out, a live Met broadcast from 1958, with Del Monaco, unsubtle but thrillingly visceral, Warren an excellent Iago, and De Los Angeles might just be the most touchingly vulnerable Desdemona of them all.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> Karajan's second recording is a non-starter because of the odd recording balances and a heinous cut in the big ensemble.
> 
> .


I wouldn't put it as a non-starter. Flawed, certainly, but with much to enjoy, not least Vockers.


----------



## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Vinay/Nelli/Gobbi


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I wouldn't put it as a non-starter. Flawed, certainly, but with much to enjoy, not least Vockers.


That swathing cut just puts it out of the running for me. I mean Why? Vickers can be found and enjoyed elsewhere, though it's a shame Freni never got to record the role again.

One of my favourite Desdemonas is actually Ricciarelli, but there are yet again too many problems with the Maazel recording (Diaz, odd sound balancing) though it is complete (unlike the film for which it was a soundtrack).


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> Vinay/Nelli/Gobbi


I'm intrigued that two people now have mentioned Nelli as their ideal Desdemona. I've never heard that Toscannini recording with her, Vinay, and Valdengo (I know, I really should), but I've always read rather disparaging comments about Nelli's performances with Toscannini. I myself have never heard her at all. She's underrated, then, in your opinions?

In my post above I forgot to name a conductor. Well, never having heard Toscannini I'd guess that it's Levine's interpretation that comes the closest to Toscannini's (am I right?). I've heard Karajan and think he's awfully slow; Solti is great, but I'd probably choose Levine for my ideal OTELLO conductor.


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

GregMitchell said:


> If Scotto were the Desdemona on the Serafin, then it would be my perfect recording. Vickers is caught a bit early in his traversal of the role, but he is still my favourite Otello. I also like Serafin's non-interventionist Italianate approach to the score. That doesn't mean he is anonymous, but he lets the music speak for itself with a natural flow and feel for the lyricism as well as the drama. Scotto would also have been a lot younger at the time of the Serafin and more in control of her top register. That said, I still find her the most affecting of all Desdemonas.
> 
> I retain an affection for the first Karajan recording recording,as it is the one I got to know the opera through, but Protti is woefully inadequate. Tebaldi sings beautifully, but, as usual, I find her uncommunicative. Karajan's second recording is a non-starter because of the odd recording balances and a heinous cut in the big ensemble.
> 
> ...


Wow, and I thought I was the only one! I've seen Scotto in other video performances (like LUISA MILLER) and had no complaints about her acting, but for some reason in the OTELLO telecast you mention I do find her mannered to the point of being irritating. I know most people won't agree with me; I guess I just have a different visual image of Desdemona.


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> GregMitchell: Karajan's second recording is a non-starter because of the odd recording balances and a heinous cut in the big ensemble.


Okay, but on a supremely positive note for the Karajan: the "_Una vela!" _opening cut is most epic and heroic I've ever heard: brass, chorus, conducting, sweep of the Berlin strings-- everything. He really marshalls his forces superbly in whipping up the ferocity of the storm. In the film version of the Karajan EMI Othello, this cut is tracked to the storm footage from the MGM_ Mutiny on the Bounty_-- and Karajan's pacing and phrasing work _perfectly_.

Yes, that does not a whole opera make; but the visceral excitement is unrivaled in my view.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

There is another famous recording that nobody has mentioned yet, another Met broadcast from 1940, and often considered the best conducted version of them all. That is the Panizza recording with Martinelli, Rethberg and Tibbett. Ancient sound of course, but it takes some beating.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Okay, but on a supremely positive note for the Karajan: the "_Una vela!" _opening cut is most epic and heroic I've ever heard: brass, chorus, conducting, sweep of the Berlin strings-- everything. He really marshalls his forces superbly in whipping up the ferocity of the storm. In the film version of the Karajan EMI Othello, this cut is tracked to the storm footage from the MGM_ Mutiny on the Bounty_-- and Karajan's pacing and phrasing work _perfectly_.
> 
> Yes, that does not a whole opera make; but the visceral excitement is unrivaled in my view.


I have to admit it's a long time since I've heard it, but I seem to remember I was put off by all the obvious knob twiddling that went on in the recording.


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Originally Posted by Marschallin Blair
> 
> Okay, but on a supremely positive note for the Karajan: the "Una vela!" opening cut is most epic and heroic I've ever heard: brass, chorus, conducting, sweep of the Berlin strings-- everything. He really marshalls his forces superbly in whipping up the ferocity of the storm. In the film version of the Karajan EMI Othello, this cut is tracked to the storm footage from the MGM Mutiny on the Bounty-- and Karajan's pacing and phrasing work perfectly.
> 
> ...


Now I'm going out on a limb here, but I think this is more 'pattern' than 'coincidence': Greg doesn't like the balances on the EMI Karajan_ Don Carlos_; nor on the EMI Karajan_ Othello_. . . dare I say that he doesn't particularly incline to the engineering balances of the EMI Karajan_ Aida _either? Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Now I'm going out on a limb here, but I think this is more 'pattern' than 'coincidence': Greg doesn't like the balances on the EMI Karajan_ Don Carlos_; nor on the EMI Karajan_ Othello_. . . dare I say that he doesn't particularly incline to the engineering balances of the EMI Karajan_ Aida _either? Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.


The *Aida* is better, though I still feel he pushes the orchestra into the foreground too much. It seems a bit crazy to cast a group of essentially lyric voices and then proceed to drown them out every time there is an orchestral _tutti_. That said, the extremes aren't so wide as they are for the *Don Carlo*, which is impossible to listen to unless you live in the middle of the country with no neighbours nearby. Maybe it's better on headphones, but it could be dangerous. With the sound turned up loud enough to hear the quiet passages, you're likely to to be deafened every time the brass enter _fortissimo_.

Incidentally, the *Aida*, like his *Salome*, used the Vienna Phil, and coincidentally the sound is more palatable on both.


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Originally Posted by Marschallin Blair
> 
> Now I'm going out on a limb here, but I think this is more 'pattern' than 'coincidence': Greg doesn't like the balances on the EMI Karajan Don Carlos; nor on the EMI Karajan Othello. . . dare I say that he doesn't particularly incline to the engineering balances of the EMI Karajan Aida either? Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.
> 
> ...


How right you are on the_ Salome_. I haven't heard the Karajan _Aida_ in ages, so I can't attest to it-- but what's so magnificent about the engineering on the EMI Karajan/VPO _Salome_ is that the orchestra can positively_ ROAR_-- and yet, the singing is never drowned out; it's clearly and beautifully captured; and the balances don't sound artificial in the least.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Bellinilover said:


> I'm intrigued that two people now have mentioned Nelli as their ideal Desdemona. I've never heard that Toscannini recording with her, Vinay, and Valdengo (I know, I really should), but I've always read rather disparaging comments about Nelli's performances with Toscannini. I myself have never heard her at all. She's underrated, then, in your opinions?
> 
> In my post above I forgot to name a conductor. Well, never having heard Toscannini I'd guess that it's Levine's interpretation that comes the closest to Toscannini's (am I right?). I've heard Karajan and think he's awfully slow; Solti is great, but I'd probably choose Levine for my ideal OTELLO conductor.


I've excerpts from the a Toscanini recording. There is a tremendous thrill to the opening storm. Of course, he played cello under Verdi himself so there is tremendous authority, but I do confess to liking HvK's slower speeds. 
Nelli is IMO pretty feeble. She has tuning problems and the tone is thin. Of course this may partly be due to the old recording. Both Vinay and Valengo are good but I think they have been surpassed elsewhere.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> I have to admit it's a long time since I've heard it, but I seem to remember I was put off by all the obvious knob twiddling that went on in the recording.


They should have kept Karajan out of the recording booth and employed a Culshaw or a Legge. The Don Carlo is a great performance but needs to be heard in a large open space!


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> DavidA: I've excerpts from the a Toscanini recording. There is a tremendous thrill to the opening storm. Of course, he played cello under Verdi himself so there is tremendous authority, but I do confess to liking HvK's slower speeds.


I don't think the Karajan is slow _per se_; only_ vis-a-vis _a lot of other recordings. To my ears, at a slower speed it sounds _more_ intense with heavier braying brass and chorus.

But this, as anything else, is a _'non-disputandum' _thing. Everyone has their individuated tastes.


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

DavidA said:


> They should have kept Karajan out of the recording booth and employed a Culshaw or a Legge. The Don Carlo is a great performance but needs to be heard in a large open space!


It's a shame Karajan signed-on to DG and not to Decca. Imagine all of that great Philharmonia Sibelius, Strauss, and Mozart he did from the fifties being engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson of Decca instead of the team of recording engineers at EMI.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DavidA said:


> They should have kept Karajan out of the recording booth and employed a Culshaw or a Legge. The Don Carlo is a great performance but needs to be heard in a large open space!


Too right. If you live in a small flat in the middle of central London, it's completely impossible, which is a shame, because it is a great performance, though I regret the absence of the Fontainbleau act.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Marschallin Blair said:


> It's a shame Karajan signed-on to DG and not to Decca. Imagine all of that great Philharmonia Sibelius, Strauss, and Mozart he did from the fifties being engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson of Decca instead of the team of recording engineers at EMI.


It wasn't the fifties that were the problem. It was his later work with EMI in the 70s when, as Culshaw says, he was 'knee deep in doormats who were willing to bow to his every whim'. Someone in the Otello recording should have stood up to him about the ridiculous cut at least. As it was Glotz let him have his way with Verdi's mature masterpiece. Ridiculous!
Mind you, I'm listening to the storm sequence now and it nearly blows you out the chair!
The other thing that plague some of the recordings is the infernal knob twiddling which fades singers in and out. The problem was the HvK was intensely interested in the recording process but, as Culshaw said, he didn't know as much as he thought he did. 
Having said that, the recordings are tremendously exciting. The Fidelio, Salome, Mastersingers, Don Carlo and even the flawed Otello, Tristan, il Trovatore, etc are recordings to treasure!


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Too right. If you live in a small flat in the middle of central London, it's completely impossible, which is a shame, because it is a great performance, though I regret the absence of the Fontainbleau act.


Not entirely.

You can get some awesome headphones and a suitably-appropriate D/A converter or a headphone amp-- which will blow most stereo set-ups away in terms of sound-stage depth, timbre, and clarity of texture.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

GregMitchell said:


> , though not the equal of the unsurpassed Gobbi.
> 
> Leiferkus is also a very interesting Iago, though the voice is not in the least bit Italianate. My problem here is Studer, a singer I never responded to, try as I might.
> .


Leiferkus is good as a vocal actor but as you say it's the timbre of the voice which might be a problem. Also Chung's tendency to change the tempi every other bar! Something reviewers seemed to overlook when the DG set came out.
Studer I enjoy.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> If Scotto were the Desdemona on the Serafin, then it would be my perfect recording. Vickers is caught a bit early in his traversal of the role, but he is still my favourite Otello. I also like Serafin's non-interventionist Italianate approach to the score. That doesn't mean he is anonymous, but he lets the music speak for itself with a natural flow and feel for the lyricism as well as the drama.


I second this. Serafin knows the work has nobility and beauty as well as excitement; Otello may have an explosive temper, but the score doesn't have to be constantly blowing up in your face. Vickers and Gobbi can't be beat, and Rysanek's timbre bothers me less than it does some others.

Allow me to mention a recording I recently discovered, a live performance from 1951 at the Vienna State Opera under Wilhelm Furtwangler and starring Ramon Vinay, Dragica Martinis, Paul Schoeffler, Anton Dermota (as Cassio), and Sieglinde Wagner (as Emilia). These are distinguished singers and they give a dedicated performance, one that accumulates power as it goes. Furtwangler is magnificent, the equal of anyone, I think. The hitch is the sound: not horrible, but shallow and opaque, with some balance problems and some lines that don't get their due; Otello's "Esultate" is obviously sung well upstage and goes for little. You have to be patient with the poor sound perspectives of the opening scene, but things do improve. Of the cast I want to mention Martinis, a Croatian soprano admired in Vienna for her Verdi roles. Her voice is not plush, but she sings affectingly and catches the character perfectly; no one has moved me more deeply in Act 4, where her prayer is a deeply personal plea with more than a hint of desperation, and her floated high notes heavenly. This recording is available on an inexpensive Opera d'Oro set. I recommend it.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Looking at all the Otellos on record, it just emphasises the point in just how difficult it is to get the perfect performance. Why we should be grateful for discs like the Karajan Falstaff or the Guilini Don Giovanni where just about everything was right! They are few and far between.
Interesting that Falstaff has been far luckier on record than Otello.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Marschallin Blair said:


> I don't think the Karajan is slow _per se_; only_ vis-a-vis _a lot of other recordings. To my ears, at a slower speed it sounds _more_ intense with heavier braying brass and chorus.
> 
> But this, as anything else, is a _'non-disputandum' _thing. Everyone has their individuated tastes.


Karajan's later recording is described by his biographer, Richard Osbourne, as 'eccentrically balanced and musically cumbersome'. This is a pity, because the performances on stage at the time were, to judge by the reviews, electrifying. A pity we can't have more of Karajan's live performances?


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

DavidA said:


> Karajan's later recording is described by his biographer, Richard Osbourne, as 'eccentrically balanced and musically cumbersome'. This is a pity, because the performances on stage at the time were, to judge by the reviews, electrifying. A pity we can't have more of Karajan's live performances?


I completely agree: Karajan's Bayreuth_ Tristan_, Karajan's Vienna State Opera _Die Frau ohne Schatten_, the Callas/Karajan _Lucia_. . . live performances of that stamp?-- thrilling.


----------



## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Bellinilover said:


> I'm intrigued that two people now have mentioned Nelli as their ideal Desdemona.


Only when partnered with Vinay. I wouldn't necessarily choose either Vinay or Nelli except there's a certain je ne sais quoi when they're together.


----------



## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I'm waiting for Jonas Kaufmann to sing the Moor. 

Otherwise, my choices would be Domingo, Ricciarelli, and Milnes.


----------



## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

MAuer said:


> I'm waiting for Jonas Kaufmann to sing the Moor.
> 
> Otherwise, my choices would be Domingo, Ricciarelli, and Milnes.


Yes, I've been daydreaming about hearing Kaufmann's Otello at the Met ever since I heard "Dio mio potevi" on his Verdi CD.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

MAuer said:


> I'm waiting for Jonas Kaufmann to sing the Moor.


Until then, what about Vickers and Scotto?


----------

