# Solti Verdi Box



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Very tempting as it would give me the Don Carlo recording that I'm strongly considering as well as a second Aida, which I know is a great one. Anyone have the Verdi Solti opera box? How do you like it? What are strengths and weaknesses of the set? Sound quality?


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

To much Solti haters here 
(Not me, but hey, what do I know )


----------



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I like Solti in opera. A little extra juice is a good thing in drama. Not so much of a fan for Mahler and Beethoven stuff.


----------



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Cool, I think I'll go for it. Sooner or later....probably a Christmas present request.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The weaknesses are Solti's conducting. He has no idea how to conduct Verdi; often bombastic, often over-driven. He has no sense of the long lyrical line. Compare the way he conducts, say *La Traviata* with conductors like Giulini, Toscanini, Muti, Serafin, even Levine. All you hear with Solti are Verdi's oom pah pah rhythms, where the other conductors makes the strings soar and sing. He ruined Gheorghiu's Violetta for me (I saw it in the theatre) and he ruins his brilliantly cast *Aida*, which is over-emphatic and insensitive.

Solti is no Verdi conductor, as far as I'm concerned.


----------



## KRoad (Jun 1, 2012)

I purchased this box set - not least of all - because the libretti are included (electronically). Always a deciding factor IMO.


----------

