This performance of Verdi’s first great success comes from the Netherlands in 1960 and has a great deal to recommend it. Fans of the huge-voiced, always interesting Anita Cerquetti will find it self-recommending, and indeed she gets through Abigaille’s challenging, cruel music pretty much unscathed. The very top and bottom notes are respectively wiry and weak, but they’re definitely there and the criticism is more for the sake of completeness than to discourage possible listeners. There’s excitement galore, and Cerquetti is marvelously expressive. She’s quite lovely in the softer moments too.
In the title role Dino Dondi surprises with his attractive tone and involvememt, and Ugo Trama’s Zaccaria is suitably imposing. Gian Paolo Corradi as Ismaele seems to be sight-reading; Giovanna Fiorini’s Fenena tries to impress. Orchestra and chorus are pretty good but work very hard, and conductor Fulvio Vernizzi finds plenty of good stuff in this early rabble-rouser. There are precious few performances of Nabucco available and this one is top of the line, and the sound is not bad for its age. The second CD is filled out with arias from Spontini’s Agnese di Hohenstaufen, along with selections from Verdi’s Ernani, Aida, and Forza, all sung with authority and big, bold tone by Cerquetti.
