The Greatest Recordings EVER! Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

Verdi: Simon Boccanegra. Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan, Claudio Abbado (cond.) DG

[@dizwell]

The first CD I ever purchased! In 1983, I think. A new piece for me at the time. Loved it ever since.

[@carmel1629]

Great opera . Abbado really nails the piece. Soloists are marvelous. Just an impeccable production. Couldn't agree more. The Council Chamber Scene is amazing.

[@christopherwilliams9270]

As I think you may know, Verdi added the Council Chamber scene later, with Boito (of Otello and Falstaff fame) providing the libretto. It elevates a good opera to a great one.

[@robhaynes4410]

I love this recording so much, I have it on CD & on LP, with another LP set on display in my office at work.

[@fabiopaolobarbieri2286]

Abbado's Mabeth from the same period blew me away. I've never heard another as good.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Muti's is as good, and very different.

[@johnd1442]

The Abbado version is quite magnificent not just for its conducting and singing, having originally been a stage production the direction by Giorgio Strehler and scenery by Ezio Frigerio were spectacular. I was thrilled to see it when La Scala visited Tokyo around 1981 with almost the same cast but with Veriano Luchetti in place of Jose Carreras and another artist replacing Jose van Dam. One of my great opera evenings and favourite opera recordings.

[@WesSmith-m6i]

Hurray! Thank you, Dave, a great opera and a great recording combined. Wonderful stuff. Thanks. Wesley

[@im2801ok]

Simon Boccanegra is my favorite Verdi opera. I first encountered it many years ago in a concert performance led by Daniel Oren with the IPO. The only soloist I can recall is Paul Plishka, who made a fabulous Fiesco. I attended that event with my Italian-born father-in-law. He had never heard the work before, and was blown away by the performance. So was I. By the end of the first act, Oren's jacket has been torn apart all along the middle, to which could be sung: "Votre habit à craqué dans le dos!" (Offenbach's hilarious ensemble materializing in Tel-Aviv). Yes, it was that intense :). The plot is not ridiculous - but it sure is complicated! It's also brilliant in many places where Boito revised it (for instance: Fiesco reveals himself before Boccanegra after years of hiding, long thought to have been dead, saying to him: "Simone, i morti ti salutano!" - paraphrasing the famous salutation of the Roman Gladiators to their Caesar; only that in Boccanegra's case, it is the Ruler who's dying (unbeknownst to him), being secretly poisoned by no other than Paolo!). In fact, Boito's and Verdi's revisions ennoble Boccanrgra's character and tighten the drama immensely, making Simon an almost Quixotic peace seeker who pays with his life trying to overcome bitter personal disputes, old family feuds and harsh political animosities - both internal and external. Two scenes particularly stand out: the later-added council scene, where that curse thing happens. It is actually another ingenious dramatic trick: Boccanegra already knows Paolo is plotting against him (Paolo made him Doge, hoping he becomes his all-obeying puppet, but Simon is cut out of a totally different cloth). But Simon has no proof of that, so he announces to the council that he knows there's a traitor amongst them, and that he also knows who he is; then he summons Paolo and forces him to curse the traitor in front of everybody, thus, in effect, cursing himself. The end of this scene is one of the most shattering endings in all of Opera. The other outstanding scene is the one ending the opera. It's almost an opera-within-an-opera, so dramatic, emotionally charged, uplifting and roundly satisfying it is. And yes, Abbado's recording really seems to be unmatchable!

[@ggannuch]

Thanks!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you very much!

[@violadamore2-bu2ch]

There's the BEAUTIFUL soprano aria that I think is worth sitting through all the rest of the opera. Come in quest'ora bruna. The orchestration is unlike anything I've ever heard in Verdi operas.

[@matthewbbenton]

“25 years have elapsed between the prologue and the first act of the opera. During this period, the baritone’s high notes have become a bit woofy and the soprano has developed a wobble around the passaggio.”

[@ViardotVSGrisi]

My favorite “oh, come on” moment in Boccanegra happens when Amelia decides to spill all her secrets to the Doge because they both eye-rolled at Paolo. The council chamber scene and the concertato that follows it “plebe, patrizi” is extraordinary. I played it on repeat after 1/6 as a way to try to digest the real life event/catastrophe.

[@murraylow4523]

Oh yes. Quite an unusual degree of convergence out there on the excellence of this recording (and we are talking opera people here!) Such a compelling work, marvellous realisation by Abbado et al. That the work still gets performed probably owes a lot to this recording, basically. Known it since my teens (and yes, hadn’t thought, but the opening of the revised prologue could be Brahms, yes…)

[@petterw5318]

This recording elevated Simon Boccanegra to the group of great Verdi operas. The council scene is terrific, and Cappuccilli manages to sing those long sentences with impecable legato and amazing fiato (there's a live recording and he also does it, so it's not a studio trick). And having Van Dam as Paolo, the conspirator, is luxury casting.

[@ftumschk]

Ah, Simon Boccanegra... aka "One Man and his Doge"

[@bbailey7818]

This opera is the Italian Boris; both tragedy-drenched scores. The Prologue of this opera has always felt to me like the last act of a prequel opera Verdi never wrote but which Wagner would certainly have done. The one thing I've never figured out is why Simon doesn't immediately introduce Amelia as his long lost daughter in the Council Chamber. There's no discernable reason to keep it a secret other than that would mean a happy ending and those became passe after around 1827. Then we'd miss the glorious last act with the baritone and bass--greatest not here, but with Gobbi and Christoff in the EMI set and Tibbett and Pinza from the Met.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

You're thinking too hard! If Ortrud had simply shut up in the last ten minutes of Lohengrin she'd still be the ruler of Brabant, and we'd have a perfect story about the triumph of evil over (sanctimoniously) good. But it can't happen that way, well, just because. Anyway, I'm not a fan of grotty historical opera recordings where you can barely make out what the orchestra is doing. This version of the last act is just fine, thank you.

[@bbailey7818]

​@DavesClassicalGuide It is just fine but we voice nuts must hear historical greatness. But Gobbi and Christoff come with fine sound, at least. 😊 Oh, yes, opera texts often don't bear close examination. 😂