TURANDOT Macerata 1970 | Corelli vs. Nilsson

The showdown Nilsson described in her book. I left Calaf's part complete save the few interjections in act I (Ping, Pang, Pong) and III (after Liù's death). Private recording.

00:00:00 Padre mio padre
00:05:38 O divina bellezza
00:07:56 Turandot, Turandot, Turandot!
00:08:20 Non piangere, Liù - finale atto I
00:13:03 Un giuramento atroce
00:16:00 Quel grido e quella morte
00:17:50 Gli enigmi sono tre
00:19:05 Straniero ascolta!
00:25:56 No, no, principessa
00:26:38 Tre enigmi m'hai proposto
00:28:28 Nessun dorma
00:31:12 Inutili preghiere...Crollasse il mondo
00:32:25 Principessa di morte
00:35:50 O mio fiore mattutino
00:38:35 Io son Calaf, figlio di Timur!

Cast:
Turandot - Nilsson // Calaf - Corelli // Liù - Cannarile Berdini // Timur - Zerbini // Ping - Scaravelli // Pang - Artioli // Pong - Ferrara // Altoum - Cesarini // F. Mannino // Macerata, July 4, 1970

From my book on "Turandot on record":

Franco Corelli was in much better shape in his next duel with his Swedish nemesis. This time, the venue was the open air arena in Macerata on the Adriatic coast – not far from Corelli’s hometown Ancona. Thus, the tenor enjoyed home track advantage, and the prospect of humiliating Nilsson in front of a home crowd probably made for some extra adrenalin. Nilsson, on the other hand, probably received some additional motivation by the mere idea of outdoing Corelli on his home track. And as to be expected, the two sing their lungs out in order to bring back some of the glory of yore and, of course, to outgun one another. Nilsson is in top shape and delivers a performance that reminds of her best days. Her „In questa reggia“ triggers an ovation on open stage and is, arguably, one of the best recordings of Nilsson in that particular excerpt. Her staying power in the upper range is spectacular. Corelli, of course, doesn’t take all of this sitting down and goes all-in. And even though his vocal means weren’t the same as a few years earlier, his performance is a lesson in how to sing for the greatest possible effect. All rubati, pianissimi and other utensils of romantic pathos are maxed out, all acuti are taken full-force, held ad infinitum and designed to provoke applause – in which Corelli succeeds several times. What he displays here isn’t very true to the score nor very pretty – but it’s crowd pleasing at its finest. During the direct showdown in act II, Corelli doesn’t care about Maestro Mannino – instead, he is carefully observing Nilsson’s every move making sure that he would „win“ the contest note for note. Mannino, a mere spectator, follows the two instead of taming them. The result: the longest, loudest and most laughable „gli enigmi sono tre“ and the most shameless show of those hypertrophied egos on record. However: this is Puccini in an open air arena in Italy and not Wagner in Bayreuth. And as annoying as the musical inaccuracies are – the race for the loudest and longest can be amusing in a setting such as this one. Vocal duels and showing off have, after all, always been part and parcel of the Italian tradition of performing opera. Dismissing them completely would mean to misunderstand opera as the theatrical spectacle it was meant to be. Antonietta Cannarile-Berdini is a convincing Liù, Antonio Zerbini a large voiced and excellent Timur. Of the three ministers, Walter Artioli is the one who stands out by means of his pleasant timbre and elegant phrasing. All things considered, a good and, first of all, entertaining recording.