July: Featured Classical Music CDs

TURANDOT
OP1237. Live Performance, 1972, Barli, w.Annovazzi Cond. Teatro Petruzzelli Ensemble; Marion Lippert, Flaviano Labò, Lydia Marimpietri, Angelo Mercuriali, Antonio Zerbini, Renato Capecchi, etc.; Marion Lippert: Tosca (1971) & Il Trovatore (1973) - Excerpts (both Stuttgart). (Portugal) 2-Gala 100.782. $23.90, the Set.

“The title role of Puccini’s Turandot is one of the most cruel in the soprano repertory. At the Metropolitan Opera it has been sung mostly by Birgit Nilsson, who has made it one of her great roles. All the alternates have been at best adequate. Last night, however, the part was taken by Marion Lippert, a German soprano making her American debut, and the Met seems to have made something of a ‘find’. Although the Munich-born artist has been singing for a dozen years in European houses, her appearance here was not preceded by any special acclaim. In fact, no one seemed to know who she was. Only from the Met personnel, where she had been heard in rehearsal, was there any advance comment that the company might have a ‘sleeper’ in the new soprano. Miss Lippert met all the demands of her vocally taxing score without any trouble. This in itself says a great deal. She has a big voice, one that is clear and warm, and it has no trouble reaching the heights of Turandot’s music. It is securely produced and can be very beautiful when softened….In the third act the voice sounded glorious.”

- Raymond Ericson, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4 Oct., 1968

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