Giuseppe Verdi – Otello (Pavarotti, Te Kanawa)

CD1
1. Otello / Act 1 - Una vela! Una vela!
2. Otello / Act 1 - Esultate!
3. Otello / Act 1 - Roderigo, ebben che pensi?
4. Otello / Act 1 - Fuoco di gioia!
5. Otello / Act 1 - Roderigo, beviam!
6. Otello / Act 1 - Inaffia l'ugola! Trinca, tracanna (Brindisi)
7. Otello / Act 1 - Capitano, v'attende la fazione ai baluardi
8. Otello / Act 1 - Abbasso le spade!
9. Otello / Act 1 - Già nella notte densa...Venga la morte
10. Otello / Act 2 - Non ti crucciar
11. Otello / Act 2 - Vanne! la tua meta già vedo
12. Otello / Act 2 - Credo in un Dio crudel
13. Otello / Act 2 - Ciò m'accora
14. Otello / Act 2 - Dove guardi splendono
15. Otello / Act 2 - D'un uom che geme sotto il tuo disdegno
16. Otello / Act 2 - Se inconscia, contro te, sposo, ho peccato
17. Otello / Act 2 - Desdemona rea!
18. Otello / Act 2 - Tu?! Indietro! fuggi!
19. Otello / Act 2 - Ora e per sempre addio
20. Otello / Act 2 - Pace, signor
21. Otello / Act 2 - Era la notte, Cassio dormia
22. Otello / Act 2 - Oh! mostruosa colpa!...Ah! mille vite
23. Otello / Act 2 - Si, pel ciel marmoreo giuro!

CD2
1. Otello / Act 3 - La vedetta del porto 
2. Otello / Act 3 - Continua 
3. Otello / Act 3 - Dio ti giocondi, o sposo 
4. Otello / Act 3 - Esterrefatta fisso 
5. Otello / Act 3 - Dio! mi potevi scagliar 
6. Otello / Act 3 - Cassio è là! 
7. Otello / Act 3 - Vieni; l'aula è deserta 
8. Otello / Act 3 - ...e intanto, giacchè non si stanca mai 
9. Otello / Act 3 - Quest'è il segnale 
10. Otello / Act 3 - Il Doge ed il Senato salutano 
11. Otello / Act 3 - Messeri! Il Doge 
12. Otello / Act 3 - A terra!...si...nel livido fango
13. Otello / Act 3 - Quell' innocente un fremito 
14. Otello / Act 3 - Fuggite! 
15. Otello / Act 4 - Era più calmo? 
16. Otello / Act 4 - Mia madre aveva una povera ancella 
17. Otello / Act 4 - "Piangea cantando nell'erma landa..." 
18. Otello / Act 4 - Ave Maria, piena di grazia 
19. Otello / Act 4 - (Otello compare) 
20. Otello / Act 4 - Diceste questa sera le vostre preci? 
21. Otello / Act 4 - Aprite! Aprite! 
22. Otello / Act 4 - Niun mi tema

Otello - Luciano Pavarotti
Desdemona - Kiri Te Kanawa
Iago - Leo Nucci
Cassio - Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Emilia - Elzbieta Ardam
Ludovico - Dimitri Kavrakos
Montano - Alan Opie
Roderigo - John Keyes

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 
Chicago Symphony Chorus 
Sir Georg Solti – conductor

As forgiving as the world was to the great Pavarotti, this Otello was ill-advised on his part. The voice and interpretation are completely off track--having a big lyric tenor still puts you in the category of a lyric tenor, not a heroic one. Pavarotti knew it, and he went through the experience with maximum anxiety. I happened to talk to the overseer of the project from the CSO's side, an he called it the biggest headache (actually, he used a stronger word) in his long career. I eagerly bought this prestige Otello when it first appeared in 1991 and found myself cringing, primarily because of Pavarotti, but Leo Nucci joins Aldo Protti in the roster of bad Iago's who try to bluster their way through a part they cannot actually sing.

Te Kanawa made a specialty of Desdemona, as have many Mozart-Strauss sopranos whose lyric voices are on the strong side. She's not Italianate in style, which didn't seem to bother adoring audiences -- sheer beauty of voice will get you a long way. But for me the memorable Desdemonas have been real Verdi-Puccini singers like Freni, the singer I turn to in this role on records. Te Kanawa and Pavarotti don't walk through their parts like preening stars, but their performances are certainly concert bound; you won't find yourself transported to La Scala on opening night. As for Solti, whose experience in opera was as extensive as Bohm's or Karajan's, I have no argument with his conducting, or wit the superb Chicago Sym.

At the time the Gramophone bent over backwards to plead on behalf of Pavarotti as a "sincere and serious musician," asking readers to forget his larger-than-life pop persona. the reviewer claimed that the tenor was in best voice by the time he made tis recording in Carnegie Hall after a nerve-racking Chicago debut. Let's grant all of that, however doubtfully. to my ears he sounds like what he was, an aging superstar tenor who was goaded into undertaking a role he didn't know and put very little effort in, besides hauling out his well-honed (and considerable) professional skills. --- Santa Fe Listener, amazon.com

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