Above: Zinka Milanov
A performance of Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER given in 1960 by The Met on tour in Atlanta has just popped up on YouTube. Listen here.
This was at the time when I was just falling in love with opera, though I had not yet discovered the Met Texaco broadcasts. Zinka was on the very first opera LP that my parents gave me; Bergonzi was Pinkerton on the first complete opera set I ever bought (the ‘second’ Tebaldi Cio-Cio-San); and not long after, I bought the de los Angeles TRAVIATA on which Sereni sang Germont.
One of the things I loved most about finding this Atlanta CHENIER was that the cast includes three mezzo-sopranos who – over time – were to give me so many wonderful memories: Belén Amparán, Helen Vanni, and Mignon Dunn. And just look at the Met stalwarts cast in the supporting male roles:
Atlanta, Georgia (Metropolitan Opera on tour)
May 2nd, 1960
ANDREA CHÉNIER
Andrea Chénier..........Carlo Bergonzi
Maddalena...............Zinka Milanov
Carlo Gérard............Mario Sereni
Bersi...................Helen Vanni
Countess di Coigny......Mignon Dunn
Abbé....................Gabor Carelli
Fléville................George Cehanovsky
L'Incredibile...........Alessio De Paolis
Roucher.................Clifford Harvuot
Mathieu.................Ezio Flagello
Madelon.................Belén Amparan
Dumas...................Osie Hawkins
Fouquier Tinville.......Norman Scott
Schmidt.................Louis Sgarro
Major-domo..............Lloyd Strang
Conductor...............Fausto Cleva
So, despite the sometimes wonky sound quality, this recording is such a treasure to me.
Oberon's Glade 