Nicolai Gedda/Shirley Verrett- Duet, (Berlioz, Les Troyens) Live 1969

Tenor Nicolai Gedda (1925-) and soprano Shirley Verrett (1931-) sing the duet from act 4 of the Trojans by Hector Berlioz. (not a favorite of mine, but this music is sublime.) This is from a live concert performance in Rome, 1969. Rome Opera Orchestra conducted by Georges Prêtre.

Beautiful B from Gedda at about 4:37. :-O

Enjoy =)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• nicolai
• gedda
• sweden
• tenor
• shirley
• verrett
• soprano
• mezzo
• les
• troyens
• the
• trojans
• hector
• berlioz
• duet
• nuit
• d'ivresse
• yt:quality=high

[franceseattle]

Personally, I think the slower one is dreadful, as one loses the flow of those beautiful long melodious Berlioz lines, as well as the interweaving of tenor and soprano lines. All of the Troyens recordings and performances I have heard with the exception of Alagna/Gheorghiu take a tempo more like this one. From my long acquaintanceship with Berlioz scores, I think it unlikely that he intended this duet to drag as slowly as that.

[ShawDAMAN]

@franceseattle I agree. Just listening to this again now... it's been a long time. it's beautiful ;)

[1Infini]

In fact, when this recording took place, there was a mistake in the tempi of this duet, and of the preceding septuor; they were way too fast. As the mistake was in the officially published partition, everyone thought these were the right tempi. The real, much slower ones were only discovered later. So, it was not a choice from the interprets to speed things up.

[ShawDAMAN]

@1Infini interesting. I happen to love the result

[jackylen57]

Magnifique duo ! Voix superbes !

Thanks

[ShawDAMAN]

Oui, en effet! Meilleure version de ce que j'ai entendu.

[poolification]

I think it is fantastic that artists actually tries to give an interpretation of the music rather than just play it. In this case it's an increase in tempo. The result - the best version of this duet I've ever heard. According to others, it stinks. So we have different tastes and, luckily, also different versions available.

[joaopedro12]

omg wasnt expecting to like so much, the tempi actually makes sense, they were superb wow very happy

[AulicExclusiva]

@franceseattle I don't think this speed is impossible, but Georges Prêtre himself takes a slightly slower tempo in his 1965 studio recording with Régine Crespin and Guy Chauvet, which is just perfect. It is, after all, a dream-like, nocturnal duet.

[dapheneo]

Magnifiques ! Voix merveilleuses et tres credibles.

Verrett moins voluptueuse et erotique que Crespin. Gedda Parfait ; bien sur !

L'ideal ? : CRESPIN / GEDDA. Il y a eu Vickers / Crespin a San Francisco en 66 : y a t 'il un live ?

[canzonettasullaria]

Wonderful! Just a little bit to fast.