Giuseppe Verdi, Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi ‎– Un Ballo In Maschera

This Ballo has been regarded, by many, as the best commercially available Ballo. Votto has chosen the well-tried formula of Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi and Barbieri. To me the set’s strengths and weaknesses are similar to the Callas EMI Il Trovatore recording although here I find Di Stefano more bearable for the role of Riccardo than Manrico. Returning to Callas, her Amelia is exciting and mysterious. Her unique “mezza notte” outburst in the first big aria always drives me crazy. I do sometimes miss the spinto voice and grand manner that Tebaldi (more evident in her first recording of the opera’s arias) and Price have. However, Callas here is unforgettable, making me regard this as one of her best performances on disc. If only she had focused more on Verdi and especially early Verdi (Macbeth, Nabucco etc) and avoided Puccini.
Di Stefano is again, as in Il Trovatore, somewhat miscast. Fortunately, here he does not have to sing the high notes Manrico requires. Despite quite a few shouting moments, he is generally acceptable, although any comparison to the one-and-only Carlo Bergonzi (NOT TO BE MISSED) or Pavarotti in the early decca recording is fatal for Di Stefano. Just listen to what Bergonzi does with the laughing scene…and then listen to Di Stefano…a world of difference! Equally important as the tenor in this opera is the baritone and Gobbi is fine indeed. Sure, he pushes it too far sometimes and shouts but there are not many who gave so much life to the wonderful character of Renato. Merril on the RCA set gives vocally a much better performance but still Gobbi is good. I also liked Barbieri’s Ulrica but Verrett is more convincing. Ratti good, if a bit shrill at times. Votto, if not Serafin, remains a credible conductor.
In general, a great Ballo recording that stands out because of Callas and Gobbi. I do find it unacceptable that in ’56, EMI still had mono recordings but anyway(decca had stereo in ’53)! The RCA with the dream cast Bergonzi, Price, Merrill and Verrett contains supreme singing. The Decca Tebaldi – Pavarotti (Tebaldi’s last recorded opera) and DG Doming-Ricciarelli also have their fans.

By Armindo