Aida Resources

« Back to Aida Page

Recommended Recordings

Decca #417416


This is Leontyne Price’s earlier recording (when her voice was fresher and lighter while still being rich and lush) along with Jon Vickers (in heroic steely voice), Robert Merrill (great tonal production) and a under-appreciated Rita Gorr.  Everyone is in great voice, the sound is great, Solti conducts a thrilling and dramatic performance, and it’s in great sound.  This is probably the best bet for anyone for a first choice.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman

 

RCA 6652


This is my personal favorite but it was recorded in 1956 in mono sound.  It stars Zinka Milanov, Jussi Bjoerling, Fedora Barbieri, and Leonard Warren.  When opera fanatics refer to the Golden Age of Voices, this is what they were talking about.  Everyone is in amazing voice and while the conducting is not on a level as the Solti above, it’s just a super performance.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman

 

EMI 62678


If mediocre mono sound doesn’t bother you (along with the audible prompter), this is the most exciting, viscerally thrilling Aida on disc.  From a live performance in 1951 in Mexico City, it stars the very young Maria Callas (just a few months before her La Scala debut and subsequent ascent to superstardom), Mario Del Monaco (in a voice that must have been audible all over Mexico City, Giusseppe Taddei (one of the best post war Verdi baritones) and Oralia Dominguez (not really known to me before I heard this recording but she matches everyone else).   Opera fanatics always feel that artists are a little buttoned down in the recording studio and that they let it all hang out in live performances.  This is the proof of that theory.  This is a white hot performance filled with highlights but none more exciting than Callas’ capping the Triumphal Scene with a high E flat (I think).  If you already have a few Aidas and want to walk on the wild side, try this one.  WARNING:  there is another Callas Aida from Mexico City the year before.  Do NOT buy that one.  The one to get is conducted by Oliviero de Fabritiis.  The good one is also available on other labels at different prices.  The one on EMI should have the best sound of the bunch.

 

There are many other fine recordings including one with Tebaldi and Bjoerling, a recent remastering of one with Birgit Nillson and Franco Corelli, Price and Domingo, but I like best  the ones I featured above.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman

 

 

Recomended Videos

DG DVD 73001


This is a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera starring Millo, Domingo, Milnes and Zajic.  While April Millo would not be my first choice on an audio CD, this is a very fine performance.  Everyone is in excellent voice and the production is spectacular.  I saw it the first year it was staged and I was very impressed.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman

 

Hardy Classics #4010


A live performance from the Verona Arena in B&W and very good sound for 1966.  The production is one of those incredible Verona spectacles with literally a cast of hundreds and big sets.  It stars Leyla Gencer, Carlo Bergonzi and Fiorenza Cossotto all in great voice.  Subtitled.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman

 

Testament #1005


Recently issued, this is a set of DVDs featuring Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Philharmonic from live television broadcasts in the years of 1948-1952.  Can you believe there was actually a time when television networks thought part of their mission was to bring culture to the citizens of the United States?  These series of broadcasts are in mostly excellent video (except for a couple of the earliest ones) and very fine sound.  The conducting, as you might expect, is absolutely galvanizing.  The soloists are Herva Nelli (not the best of Aidas but very respectable), a young Richard Tucker in clarion voice, Giuseppe Valdengo and Eva Gustavson.  This is a concert performance—no sets, no costumes.  In fact, the soloists just stand there with their hands clasped in front of them with almost no interaction between them.  It’s a very static visually.  But this is a wonderful performance.  The Johnson County Public library has the entire 8 disc set and it is fascinating to watch Toscanini conduct.  His podium manner is very precise, disciplined and economical—think of the opposite of Leonard Bernstein.  Lots of great performances on the DVD set with lots of Beethoven Wagner excerpts, Brahms and lots more.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.

 

There is a Pavarotti Aida on DVD with Maria Chiara that I like a lot also.  There is even a dubbed Aida starring Sophia Loren and dubbed by Renata Tebaldi which I saw years ago and thought was a hoot.  Beautiful color and big sets and costumes.  It’s a lot of fun.

Reviewed by Lee Goodman