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Placido Domingo is the perfect Alfredo with his warm, romantic tenor voice.

Don't miss this one. 1000 stars!

44 of 49 found the following review helpful:

The greatest recording of Verdi's La traviataMar 12, 2000
By Daniel Reed Hanson
I am here to say that if you're looking to buy the best recording, this is the one. I have heard several Violettas but this is the best one, and the professional opera critics will agree with me on this one. I've listen to Maria Callas in her Portugal performance with Kraus (in which her voiced seemed strained), which is pretty good, but you can heard the audience thoughout the entire recording, plus, the recording isn't in stereo and isn't conducted as good as this one. Sutherland does a great job and jumps though the part with great easy, however, there is no "pathos" or great acting in the voice. Victoria de los Angeles can't reach some on the high notes (especially at the end of "Sempre libera") and has a really strained voice in some parts. Ileana Cotrubas sings though the hard parts very nicely with great emotion, unlike a lot of sopranos. Domingo gives a great Alfredo along with Milnes as Germont. The orchestra and the conducting are superb. There is a good balance with the choir as well. Therefore, this IS the greatest recording for any opera beginner's collection.

32 of 35 found the following review helpful:

A puccinian La TraviataSep 03, 2000
By J. Luis Juarez Echenique "pepechenique"
It seems everyone has an opinion on Cotrubas as Violetta, so I will give mine. I heard her sing the role back in 1986 at the Vienna State Opera, and she was a small scale, vulnerable Violetta. I have always felt that Puccini' s women are pathetic, while Verdi's are "heroic". Her Violetta seem doomed from the very beginning, it was obvious this Violetta was a loser. She carried the 3 difficult voices of the role with aplomb, but somehow she didn't seem to live the role inside-out. Her conductor in Vienna was Michel Plasson, with whom she seemed to have a much better rapport than with Carlos Kleiber. Kleiber fils conducts a white-hot very dramatic La Traviata, but Cotrubas is not with him. She is too fragile for his view, I think Julia Varady would have fit much better in this recording. Domingo is fine as Alfredo, though he makes a weird sound at the end of the cabaletta. Milnes is not a natural Germont, Giorgio Zancanaro is much, much better either with Gruberova (TELDEC) or Devia (Bongiovanni). But La Traviata stands or falls on its heroine. No finer stereo or even studio recording exists than DG previous recording with Renata Scotto, who lives Violetta like no other soprano since Maria Callas. And since La Divina didn't have luck recording this opera, the Scotto version is a mandatory purchase.

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:

A magnificent recording, but there are reservationsJan 17, 2005

This recording of "La traviata" ranks with the best. The best thing about it is Carlos Kleiber's magnificent conducting. He paces the opera in just the right way. His conducting of Acts 1 and 2, plus the two preludes, is brilliant. His tempi for Violetta's Act 1 aria are virtually perfect. He keeps the orchestra playing at a white-hot intensity and has a special gift for creating dramatic tension. He manages to make every instrumental line clear. The orchestra is extraordinarily vivid under his baton. I found his conducting of Act 3 to be slightly less satisfying. Somehow, things seem rushed in this act. His tempi for "Addio del passato" and "Parigi, o cara" are too fast. He rushes Cotrubas through "Addio del passato". On top of that, the second verse is cut. Curiously, the short ensemble right before Violetta's death does not work. It sounds too rushed.

The cuts in this recording are unacceptable. Besides Violetta's third act aria, her "Ah, fors'è lui" is missing one verse. The duet "Parigi, o cara" is missing its second verse. The "Gran Dio, morir si giovine" section is truncated. Also, Alfredo's cabaletta is missing its second verse, though with Domingo singing, this is a blessing in disguise. Also, Germont's cabaletta is missing its second verse, though this is no big loss.

Plácido Domingo is a virile and ardent Alfredo, but the role does not suit his spinto voice. He sings the Brindisi charmlessly, but is quite good in his other music. The Germont of Sherrill Milnes is very good. It is an effective portrayal.

A note about Domingo's singing: In the last fifteen seconds of singing in Alfredo's cabaletta, the sound acoustic changes, so that the listener is made aware that Domingo rerecorded this section of the music and had it spliced into the recording. His electronically enhanced high C at the conclusion is ridiculous and sounds very weird.

Ileana Cotrubas is a wonderful Violetta. She's not the best, but she is very good. I like her fragile, vulnerable, quirky, and spontaneous portrayal. She has an endearing way of singing coloratura, though her trill is not great. She has some great high notes. She sometimes declaims in her lower register, like just before "Amami, Alfredo" and right before her reunion with Alfredo in the last act (before the two lovers exclaim "Alfredo/Violetta! Oh gioia!"), and it is very effective at portraying Violetta's desperation and passion. She needs a bit more voice in order to make "Amami, Alfredo" really effective. Her voice is rather small, but quite beautiful. It is full and creamy. She sings the grace notes in the Brindisi very clearly, unlike Domingo. The only part of her portrayal that I truly dislike is her singing in the party scene in Act 1. She sounds too morose. Violetta should sound happy and carefree in this part of the opera.

The chorus sings very well and the orchestra plays beautifully. The sound is excellent.

This recording of "La traviata" should be included in every recording library.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Cotrubas, Domingo and Kleiber make magic....Oct 09, 2001
By Nathan "nathanoj"
When three artists at the very height of their powers came together to create this truly magnificent Traviata we were left with one of the finest artistic musical interpretations of the modern recording era.
Carlos Kleieber seems to see, or hear, into the head of the great maestro, exposing every note of musical beauty and every fiber of emotional expression. When Ileana Cotrubas replaced an ailing Mirella Freni in Kleiber's now legendary Boheme at La Scala, she not only dramatically launched her international career, but caused Carlos Kleiber to comment "At last, I've found my Violetta".
The rest, as they say, is history, and this recording. With Ileana Cotrubas, Kleiber had found a young singer blessed with not only a ravishingly beautiful soprano, creamy and full, with an exquisite upper register, but a singing actress with the intelligence and artistic refinement capable of interpreting the role of Violetta Valery with the mature passion and emotional integrity the role requires. She creates, in my opinion, the definitive Violetta.
Placido Domingo, as ever when paired with Cotrubas, sings the role of Alfredo with such ardor and conviction, you feel his heart might truly burst with longing, and eventually, sadness. Sherrill Milnes is a fine Papa Germont and the orchestra play for Kleiber with obvious devotion.

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