Teldec / Warner Classics: Plácido Domingo — The First Recital (1968) Audio CD

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Teldec / Warner Classics & Jazz
• Artist: Plácido Domingo (tenor)
• Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
• Conductor: Nello Santi
• Recorded: Berlin, May 1968
• Release Year: 2010 (original recording: 1968)
• Genre: Classical, Opera
• Style: Italian Opera, Tenor Recital
• Catalog Number: 2564 68365-9
• UPC: 825646836598
• Condition: Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total Runtime: 51:39
• Audio: ADD (Analogue recording, Digital mix/mastering)
• Booklet: Text in English, French, and German
• Made in the EU
• Packaging: Standard jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped

Overview

Berlin, May 1968. Plácido Domingo was 27 years old, already performing at major houses, and about to make his first solo studio recording. The programme he chose says everything about his ambitions: Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Verdi (three times), Puccini, Ponchielli, Donizetti, Cilea, Giordano. Eleven arias, 51 minutes, no filler.

What strikes you immediately is how fully formed the voice already is. The warmth, the easy top, the natural legato — none of it sounds like a young tenor finding his way. "Nessun dorma," "Celeste Aida," "Vesti la giubba" — these are among the most demanding calling cards in the Italian tenor repertoire, and Domingo delivers each one with a security that most singers spend decades trying to reach.

Nello Santi conducts the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin with the kind of lean, focused support that lets the voice do its work without orchestral fuss. The 1968 Teldec recording has been cleanly reissued here by Warner Classics & Jazz in 2010, with the ADD source material holding up well. For anyone interested in the arc of one of opera's great careers, this is the document to own — not as nostalgia, but because it genuinely holds its own against anything recorded later.

Interesting Facts

• Plácido Domingo (born Madrid, 1941) had already performed over 200 operatic roles by the time he made this debut studio recording in Berlin at age 27.
• This session with the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin was originally released on the Teldec label — at the time a joint venture between Telefunken and Decca — before being reissued by Warner Classics & Jazz in 2010.
• "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, included here, became globally iconic after its use at the 1990 FIFA World Cup; Domingo's 1968 reading predates that cultural moment by over two decades.
• The Lucia di Lammermoor excerpt (track 8) runs 7:42 — the longest item on the disc — covering both "Tombe degli avi miei" and "Fra poco a me ricovero," Edgardo's final scene.
• Domingo is one of the few tenors to have also conducted major operas professionally; he has led productions at the Washington National Opera and beyond, adding a dimension to his relationship with the orchestral scores he sings here.
• Nello Santi (1931–2020) was a Swiss conductor particularly associated with the Italian repertoire and was a regular presence in the major European opera houses for over six decades.

Track Listing

1. Mamma, quel vino è generoso — Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana — 4:11
2. Vesti la giubba — Leoncavallo, Pagliacci — 4:04
3. Ma se m'è forza perderti — Verdi, Un ballo in maschera — 5:31
4. Cielo e mar — Ponchielli, La Gioconda — 5:59
5. La dolcissima effigie — Cilea, Adriana Lecouvreur — 2:43
6. Nessun dorma — Puccini, Turandot — 3:21
7. Amor ti vieta — Giordano, Fedora — 2:07
8. Tombe degli avi miei… Fra poco a me ricovero — Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor — 7:42
9. Celeste Aida — Verdi, Aida — 4:56
10. Ah sì, ben mio — Verdi, Il trovatore — 4:39
11. Un dì, all'azzurro spazio — Giordano, Andrea Chénier — 5:42

Total: 51:39

Publishers

Originally recorded May 1968, © 1968 Teldec Classics. This edition © 2010 Warner Classics & Jazz, Warner Music UK Ltd., a Warner Music Group Company. Made in the EU.

Just rediscovered this one? Tell other collectors what you think.