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Muti's Nabucco and Ivan. Readers of this department may have noticed the frequency with which we hedge our bets. This is not accidental: when it comes to recording plans, nothing is certain until it's on tape (and some times not even then!). Thus when we told you in July about RCA's planned Solti/Chicago Verdi Requiem, we de scribed Leontyne Price, Janet Baker, Vladimir Atlantov, and Nicolai Ghiaurov as "the announced solo quartet." And a good thing we did, for by the time the recording was made, Veriano Luchetti (a tenor who attracted some favorable comment dur ing last year's La Scala visit and comes to the Met this season as Puccini's Rodolfo and Pinkerton) and Jose van Dam had replaced Atlantov (who canceled his planned U.S. trip, which was to have included his Met debut as Cavaradossi) and Ghiaurov. Similarly, by the time EMI got around to recording its much talked-about Nabucco in July, the title role was taken by Piero Cappuccilli and not, as previously announced, Sherrill Milnes. But the story doesn't end there. Although work began on schedule, it came to a halt when Cappuccilli became indisposed. And word is that when recording resumes--in February, it is hoped-there will "probably" be a new Nabucco. The likely replacement is a first-rate and much under-recorded Verdi baritone, but perhaps this time we should hold off until we have more certain word. If all goes well now, patient Verdians should be amply rewarded: EMI has Ghiaurov as Zaccaria, a role that the Bulgarian bass was first scheduled to record more than a decade ago, in Decca/London's stereo premiere of the opera. As reported, EMI's Abigaille is Renata Scotto; Luchetti turns up again as Ismaele. Riccardo Muti conducts the New Philharmonia and the Ambrosian Singers. The same orchestra and chorus participated in Muti's other major summer project, which featured yet an other tyrant: Ivan the Terrible. Also on hand for the cantata drawn from Prokofiev's music for the Eisenstein films were mezzo Irina Arkhipova and baritone Anatoly Mokrenko (the latter having already participated in the Soviet recording available here for the last decade on Melodiya/Angel). Prokofiev's Sinfonietta had been taped earlier for the set's fourth side. Sheriff Milnes. Milnes fans will get to hear their man in roles unexpected and expected. The unexpected is Sheriff Jack Rance in Puccini's Fanciulla del West. We told you in June that Deutsche Grammophon would be making a record based on the Covent Garden production, but in the interim the scheduled Rance, Ingvar Wixell, withdrew. DG and Covent Garden went their separate ways in replacing him, with Silvano Carroli reportedly scoring a great success in the live performances. The other principals--Carol Neblett in the title role, Placido Domingo as the outlaw Ramerrez-re created their stage roles: Zubin Mehta, in his DG debut, conducted. As noted in February, Milnes was also scheduled to record Don Giovanni, in Karl Bohm's new version to be made at the past summer's Salzburg Festival. The rest of the cast was shaping up as follows: Walter Berry (Leporello), Teresa Zylis-Gara (El vira), Anna Tomova-Sintov (Anna), Peter Schreier (Ottavio), John Macurdy (Commendatore), Edith Mathis (Zerlina), and Dale Duesing (Masetto). Obraztsova in the studio. No doubt about it: Since Elena Obraztsova burst onto the American operatic scene during the Bolshoi Opera's 1975 U.S. visit, the dramatic mezzo (a rarity indeed these days) has won the hearts of American operaphiles. The record companies, it seems, are beginning to get the message, and she is scheduled to record three (non-Russian) roles. After taping an operatic recital disc for EMI (begun in the time originally allotted for completion of Nabucco--see above), and Adriana Lecouvreur for CBS in London, she was due in Berlin in late September to sing Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovotore, a recording that grows out of Herbert von Karajan's triumphant Salzburg and Vienna productions last spring. Scheduled to re-create their Vienna roles were Leontyne Price (her third Leonora) and Piero Cappuccilli (Di Luna). Obraztsova replaces Christa Ludwig, the Vienna Azucena, while Franco Bonisolli replaces Luciano Pavarotti, who of course is the Manrico of the new Decca/London Trova tore. The Ferrando is Ruggero Raimondi, the orchestra the Berlin Phil harmonic. Next year for Deutsche Grammophon she is to be Saint-Saens's Dalila (in which role she caused quite a stir last spring at the Met), with Placido Domingo as Samson and Daniel Barenboim conducting. Back on home ground, this winter Obraztsova will be singing Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticanu (in Italian) in Moscow, both in concert and at the Bolshoi. Undoubtedly it has occurred to someone that that would be a suitable recording vehicle for her! Ashkenazy at the keyboard. Last month we reported on new developments in Vladimir Ashkenazy's con ducting activities, but it should not be thought that he is about to abandon the piano. In addition to continuing his long-running Decca/London series of Beethoven sonatas and Chopin piano works, Ashkenazy has recorded a second disc of Scriabin sonatas (Nos. 2. 7, and 10) en route to yet another integrale. He has also taped the Schumann concerto with Uri Segal and the London Symphony, as well as two more discs with soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom: Vol. 3 in their series of Rachmaninoff songs and a Mussorgsky collection. Decca/London, we are told, is now looking for suitable repertory to continue the collaboration. Lorengar and De Larrocha. Decca/ London has paired two artists on its roster to form another happy duo. Those illustrious Spaniards Pilar Lorengar and Alicia de Larrocha have recorded a disc of songs by their countryman Enrique Granados. De Larrocha. meanwhile, has recorded yet another sequel to her highly successful "Mostly Mozart" collections, featuring solo works by Mozart and Bach. Lombard branches out. Alain Lombard's ambitious recording program in Strasbourg is going international in more ways than one. His Faust for Erato (released domestically by RCA, to be reviewed next month) broke ground in the matter of casting, bringing in such distinguished non-French singers as Montserrat Caballe. Giacomo Aragall, and Paul Plishka. Now Lombard will be moving outside the French operatic repertory, and at least one of his projects is for a non-French company. EMI plans to record Puccini's Turandot in Strasbourg with Caballe (Decca/London's Liu last time around) in the title role, Mirella Freni as Liu, Jose Carreras as Calaf, and Plishka as Timur. On the Erato sched ule is Mozart's Cos) fan tutte, with Kiri Te Kanawa (Fiordiligi). Frederica von Stade (Dorabella), Teresa Stratas (Despina), David Rendall (Ferrando), Jose van Dam (Guglielmo), and Jules Bastin (Don Alfonso). --------- (High Fidelity, Nov. 1977) Also see:
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