A nice lp of familiar music by Gounod and Verdi conducted by Fausto Cleva, longtime resident conductor of French and Italian repertoire at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Maestro Cleva leads the Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera Association in vigorous and purposeful performances, if not the first word in refinement.
Fausto Cleva was the real deal in that he was wholly and totally a creature of the opera house. A tireless conductorand trainer, he led over 700 performances at the Met, along with hundreds more at opera houses from Havana to Helsinki. Cleva had a strong reputation of working effectively and constructively with singers and his intimate knowledge of the stage led to a level of consistency that surprisingly few others could attain to. A Cleva production was usually a guarantee of quality and integrity.
The Met Orchestra during these recordings (mid 50's) was far from the orchestra it is today. In fact, some recent critics have labelled the Met as one of the great performing ensembles on the planet. Back in Cleva's day, the Met had fewer full time musicians and relied more on subs and freelancers to fill the ranks. That said, Cleva does obtain the desired result as the the performances are idiomatic and appropriately exciting in all the right places.
A nice remembrance of a fine musician.
.
DOWNLOAD
