Herbert von Karajan made two commercial recordings of Verdi's Aida, each of which has been reissued on compact disc. The first, recorded by London in 1959, stars Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi, Giulietta Simionato, and Cornell MacNeil. A 1979 EMI release features Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, and Piero Cappuccilli. In both recordings Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Now Urania has issued another Vienna-based Karajan Aida, a 3 February 1951 performance from the Grosser Musikvereinssaal. According to the liner notes, it represents the earliest recorded documentation of a complete Verdi opera conducted by Karajan.

From the very beginning Karajan establishes his dominance over the performance. The opening Prelude, gorgeously performed by the Vienna Symphony, clocks in at 5:23. Compare that timing with the 3:50 Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic take to perform the same music in the 1959 London recording. Throughout this Aida Karajan often uses broad tempi to savor Verdi's rich orchestral writing. The introduction to the Nile Scene, for example, is wonderfully atmospheric, one of the best renditions I've heard of this music. There are also moments when the music proceeds at a lightning pace. And Karajan frequently introduces pronounced ritardandi and acclerandi.

Some will find this approach overly mannered and self-indulgent. On this occasion I find virtually all of Karajan's choices dramatically convincing. I have no doubt that the musicians' superb execution of Karajan's interpretive choices goes a long way toward convincing me. This is certainly not the only way to perform Verdi's great score but it is, in its own way, highly compelling.

In the liner notes that accompany this performance Riccardo Mainardi opines that in this 1951 Aida, Karajan is hampered "by a cast of minor singers."  I certainly don't agree with his characterization (nor, for that matter, with Mainardi's assessment of the 1979 EMI recording as "still unrivalled"). Virtually all of the principal singers had important careers, and most offer worthy contributions to this performance.

The Aida is the Yugoslavian soprano Dragica Martinis, best known on recordings as Desdemona in Wilhelm Furtwaengler's 1951 Salzburg Otello. Aida, recorded six months earlier, finds Martinis in better voice. The registers are better equalized and the tone more consistently attractive. In the Furtwaengler Otello, Martinis proved herself to be an artist of considerable intensity. That is once again the case in Aida, but Martinis's superior vocal estate produces far more satisfying results. With the exception of her unidiomatic Italian diction, this is a first-class assumption of one of the most difficult soprano roles in the entire repertoire.

German tenor Lorenz Fehenberger had an important career in Munich and Vienna in the '40s and '50s. He may be heard on several recordings, including the title role in Eugen Jochum's early '50s DGG recording of Wagner's Lohengrin (as far as I know, never reissued on CD), a fine Riccardo in a German-language Un ballo in maschera (Gala 100.509), Leukippos in Strauss's Daphne (MYTO 2 CD 994.H033) and Max in Weber's Der FreischÄtz (Preiser 90386). There is also an excellent compilation of operatic excerpts on Preiser (89520). The recordings demonstrate that Fehenberger was a singer of considerable talents, an artist who employed an attractive lirico-spinto tenor with musicality, imagination, and temperament.

In all of the recordings mentioned above Fehenberger sings in his native German. The Aida is performed in the original Italian. I don't think it is any coincidence that the results are less impressive. Fehenberger seems to have considerable difficulty (more so than Martinis) in negotiating the Italian text, often resulting in rather choppy and unidiomatic phrases. He also lacks authority in the lower part of his voice, a flaw most notable in the final confrontation scene with Amneris.  On the other hand, Fehenberger sings with a very attractive tone and plenty of authority and ring in the upper register. He also knows how to summon some real Italianate passion, as in the conclusion of the Nile Scene. And in the concluding Tomb Scene Fehenberger offers some truly poetic singing. A flawed but interesting performance.

American mezzo Nell Rankin's Met career spanned almost a quarter of a century, and featured 18 different roles, including 39 performances of Amneris. She lacks the grand authority of Ebe Stignani or Giulietta Simionato but Rankin is still an artist with an attractive tone from top to bottom, and plenty of dramatic fire. Her Amneris is a worthy component in this Aida.

Baritone Giovanni Malaspina is a name that is new to me. I very much like his dark, Italianate tone, most appropriate for Amonasro. He gets a bit lost in the Triumphal scene. But Malaspina (and Martinis) rise to the occasion to give a fiery rendition of the Aida-Amonasro confrontation in Act III.  Mario Petri's basso is attractive, but without the power and bite found in the best exponents of the high priest, Ramfis. Alois Pernerstorfer is an unremarkable King of Egypt.

The recorded sound is superb, the equal of studio recordings of the period. In fact it offers a far more realistic balance between singers and orchestra than do the two Karajan commercial recordings of Aida. Although there are many more stars to be found in the London and EMI recordings I found this to be the most dramatically convincing of the Karajan Aida recordings and certainly recommend it to fans of the conductor and the various singers represented. Devotees of this great opera will find much of interest, assuming that they are not taken aback by the surfeit of "qvestas" and "qvellas."î

K.M. (Jan. 2002)