Aida 1973 Tokyo

"Orianna Santunione Carlo Bergonzi Fiorenza Cossotto Gian Piero Mastromei and Ivo Vinco star in this 1973 mono recording of the Verdi opera with Oliviero De Fabritiis conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra"
Aida 1973 Tokyo
NR 2 hr 41 min
Here we catch Cossotto within the period when she was delivering the meatiest and arguably most satisfying singing of her career Her voice in 1973 remains a beautiful distinctive and responsive instrument one ideal for conveying both sides of Aidas rival outwardly fierce yet vulnerable and ultimately noble in spirit as well as birth Carlo Bergonzis Radamés signs of agerelated decline on the great tenors part are few The voice is a little thicker and less freely produced than in previous years and there is evidence here and there of a slight tug on some notes from the passagio upwards The soprano Orianna Santunione is a far less familiar and celebrated name seems to labor to meet demands of volume and in the early scenes gives the impression of conserving However beginning with her first aria she begins to pull it together and somewhere along the way her diligence and responsibility transmute into something more something quite affecting