Boito's "Mefistofele"--comparing complete recordings

The last week or so I've spent in Heaven (at least during the Prologo), listening to some of the complete recordings of this fascinating work. Some operas have been really lucky on disc, and this is certainly one of them. Because I'd been remembering Norman Treigle so vividly, I started with his EMI set. He was a newcomer to international opera, but his conductor was Julius Rudel, who'd led many performances of this work with Treigle at NYCO; they breathe together, and the music breathes a unique atmosphere with them. The young Domingo, who spent some of his early career at NYCO, with Caballe as Margarita--and Thomas Allen as the only baritone Wagner I can find in any of these sets (many of the rest feature "the prince of comprimarios", Piero de Palma, in that role) provide excellent support. No disrespect to de Palma--Allen's the best, although the score clearly calls for a tenor Wagner.

I listened to several others: Siepi, a suave and very well-mannered Devil for Decca, with Mario del Monaco (not so well-mannered) and Renata Tebaldi, under Tulio Serafin; Ghiaurov, a little past his prime but still very impressive, supported by Pavarotti and Freni, with Caballe again, as Helen of Troy this time. A strangely cut version (EMI again, with no Helen of Troy at all, but many other inexplicable cuts as well--were these traditional theatrical cuts, or imposed on this recording for cost-saving reasons?)under the venerable Vittorio Gui, starring Boris Christoff; and one of the strongest sets, the 1932 La Scala recording under Lorenzo Molajoli. Starring the prodigious Nazareno de Angelis in the title role, the wonderfully intense Mafalda Favero, chest tones amply displayed, as Margarita, and the almost-forgotten Antonio Melandri as one of the finest interpreters of Faust. What a star he'd be today, but in the 30's, his competition--Gigli, Pertile, Martinelli--was overwhelming, and their recordings have almost erased his memory. He's an excellent Alvaro in a complete "Forza", too. From the early 50's comes a Cetra recording, remastered badly, squelching the overtones and draining excitement, with the "black bass" voice of Giulio Neri taunting Marcella Pobbe and Ferruccio Tagliavini. This set is an unfortunate example of an old recording "improved" very nearly to death.

I'll return to these sets soon for a closer look at a work that's provoked a very wide range of critical reactions. But for now, I'd like to point listeners to about 15 minutes of *live* recordings from Covent Garden, made in 1928, just after the invention of the microphone made such things possible (Col. Mapleson's much earlier experiments aside): Fyodor Chaliapin's "Ave Signor," and the climax of the Walpurgisnacht scene, featuring the bass interpolating cries of "Saboe, Saboe!" It's difficult to imagine any conductor, or stage director(!) today allowing a star such liberties; but Chaliapin was a law unto himself, and in these ancient echoes we can really hear what he was about. It's outrageous--and very, very exciting.