I am writing this a few days after Rysanek made her emotional farewell to the opera house (as Klytemnestra in Elektra) at the Salzburg Festival after virtually 50 years on stage, a remarkable if not unique record. Though she has been long recognized as an exceptional interpreter of Leonore and of many roles in the operas of Wagner and Richard Strauss, her extraordinary skills in the Italian spinto repertory have not been so fully recognized, at least in Britain. In the United States at the time the tracks on this CD reissue were made (1958-60) she was proving something of a sensation in many of the parts chronicled here – as she relates in a brief but telling note to this release. She also writes, correctly, that she was for the most part at her best in the opera house, a fact confirmed by many off-the-air issues. She makes an exception – again rightly – of the LP she made for RCA in 1958, which is the basis for this CD.
In all the wide-ranging arias she chooses she proves herself one of the most exciting and exacting interpreters of the respective roles on disc. She provided a kind of ideal marriage between the styles of her coevals, Callas, Tebaldi and Leontyne Price, with the interpretative insights of the one, the vocal opulence of the others, confirmed in her Aida solos. In every piece she has thought herself into the heart of the role and in every case she substantially obeys what is written in the score as regards phrasing and dynamics, most notably perhaps in “O patria mia” and “In questa reggia”. In the latter she presents a very human, vulnerable woman, not an ice princess, and retells the indignities perpetrated on her ancestor with unusual sympathy yet at the climax there is nothing wanting in sheer vocal power, Rysanek’s voice then in its absolute prime. Tosca was one of her few Covent Garden roles and “Vissi d’arte” shows her as the sensual heroine of Puccini’s opera par excellence.
The Ballo items, excluded for space reasons from the original LP issue, are invaluable. I happened to hear her twice as Amelia in Vienna, in 1964 and 1970, and these performances corroborate memories of her in the part, so aware of the dramatic situation in each. The Otello love duet with Vickers comes from the admired complete set, a wonderfully balanced, eloquent rendering on both sides, Rysanek here as elsewhere providing ravishing piano singing to recall that of Milanov. The solos from Act 4 come from the 1958 recital, again showing all the soprano’s attributes of full, glowing tone and exemplary fashioning of the line. Only the absence of preludes and postludes is regrettable. The Macbeth items come from the complete RCA set and prove why the diva caused such a stir when she replaced Callas in the part at the Met in 1959, though here I would have liked more acute use of consonants.
On the recital items Basile is a vital accompanist. The recordings sound much more vivid than on LP, marred by only fleeting moments showing tape degradation. No lover of Italianate singing at its best should be without this invaluable issue, as generous in its length as is the soprano in her totally absorbing performances. This will undoubtedly feature in my “Critics’ choice” next month.'