Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo: Pagli

2-CDs + Blu-ray Audio disc, deluxe hardback edition presenting Herbert von Karajan’s glorious 1965 double-feature of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Fiorenza Cossotto (Cavalleria) and Giuseppe Taddei and Rolando Panerai (Pagliacci); with both casts featuring the great Carlo Bergonzi in lead roles. Includes an essay on Cavalleria Rusticana by Bernhard Uske; on Pagliacci by Angelo Foletto; and a note by Recording Producer, Hans Weber. “Karajan and his La Scala forces bring a real feel of the theatre to these two-much-loved works. Bergonzi, Panerai, Carlyle and Cossotto are on top form. And the Scala chorus are thrilling in the great choral numbers.” - Gramophone “Karajan takes real care to bring clarity and definition to music that in the wrong hands can leave you wallowing in emotional treacle . . . His graphic handling of orchestral texture brings the world of "Cavalleria" to life, with every nuance of light and color brought into focus in the playing of La Scala's orchestra. Cossotto is quite outstanding, surely one of the finest mezzos on record. Here she sings with exquisite pathos and dramatic intensity . . . [Bergonzi] brings instead an elegance that captures something of Turiddu's duplicitous charm . . .” - BBC Music Magazine “Conviction and insight instill this Pagliacci with excitement and real drama. A troupe of actors arrives to give a performance of a commediadell'arte play. The illustration of real love, life and hatred is portrayed in the interplay of Tonio, Silvio, Nedda and her husband Canio. As the two rivals, Caro Bergonzi and Giuseppe Taddei are superb. Taddei's sinister, hunch-backed clown, gently forcing the play-within-the-play closer to reality until it finally bursts out violently is a masterly assumption, and Karajan controls the slow build-up of tension with a grasp that few conductors could equal. The forces of La Scala, Milan respond wholeheartedly and the 1965 recording sounds well.” - Gramophone

Price: $38.98