This is a juicy performance of Verdi’s fifth opera, a work brimming with great melodies and exciting arias, duos, trios, and ensembles. It has great energy, thanks to the leadership of Dimitri Mitropoulos, who appreciates it for, rather than despite, its old-fashioned plot. He takes banditry, honor, and nationalism to be as serious and vigorously important as do the opera’s one-dimensional (well, two-dimensional at best) characters. There’s never a flagging in the action, and his cast, the heavyweights of their era, are just as committed.
Anita Cerquetti, who had a peculiarly brief career, was the possessor of a plush, luxurious, broad tone, with gleaming high notes (at times a bit too gleaming, if truth be told), nice agility, and what seems to be involvement in her character, and she cuts through the orchestral fiber and ensembles like a true star. Mario del Monaco, unsubtle as always, pours out acres of bronze tone in the title role, and if his every vocal gesture is predictable, well, they are still exciting and unique.
Ettore Bastianini’s undertaking of the role of Don Carlo, King of Spain, is noble and mellifluous; he sings with elegant legato and intelligence. And rounding out the cast is the fabulous Boris Christoff, as the wronged, unyielding Silva. He uses his dark, cavernous bass voice as a wall of sound. He’d never pass for an Italian, either linguistically or stylistically, but he makes the most remarkable noise. This performance, taped live in Florence in 1957, has been available often and on different labels, but Bel Canto has cleaned up the sound well enough for it to sound like a studio set from around the same period, albeit a bit thumpier. First choice for an Ernani recording remains the RCA with Price and Bergonzi, but this one is thrilling, and it’s a must for fans of the individual artists.
