The Young Giuseppe di Stefano

’’From the start, di Stefano was deeply sceptical of operatic practise as he found it: his reaction, even to some renowned performers, tended to be, “If that’s opera, you can keep it.“ But one or two things did impress him (notably, Gigli as Poliuto in 1940), and with the assistance of Montesanto, himself something of an individualist in his day, he developed an approach to opera performance which aimed to realise directly and emphatically the theatrical impulses that had prompted Verdi, Puccini and the others to write in the first place. To achieve such a goal, di Stefano trained himself carefully: his singing derived from deep study and from a serious consideration of the artistic and aesthetic responsibilities he held. Widespread views of insufficient training or lack of discipline are mistakenly deduced from his incurably breezy manner. He simply thought for himself and did not necessarily regard as gospel anything anyone else held to be standard practise.’’ 0:00 - Vola, vola, vola 2:43 - Canto, ma sottovoce 5:39 - Barcillunisa 8:03 - Cantu a timuni 10:13 - Abballati 12:32 - Mutteti di lu Paliu 16:08 - Se vuoi goder la vita 18:58 - Mamma 21:52 - Una furtiva lagrima 25:37 - Ed anchè Beppe amò 29:08 - O dolce incanto... Chiudo gli occhi 35:56 - Addio, Mignon! Fa core 36:04 - Ah! Non credevi tu 40:15 - Io son sol... Ah! Dispar, vision 44:56 - E la solita storia 49:07 - E lucevan le stelle 52:15 - La vita è inferno... O tu che in seno agli angeli 58:29 - Una parola sola! Or son sei mesi 1:02:28 - Ch’ella mi creda libero 1:04:50 - Avete torto! Firenze è come un albero 1:08:07 - Non piangere, Liù 1:10:53 - Nessun dorma 1:14:08 - Passione