How funny, Jesús López-Cobos recorded Lucia di Lammermoor with Montserrat Caballé in 1977 for Philips, in the first critical edition (mostly) without the high notes, as it was originally composed.
37 years later he returns to the traditional and corrupt edition, high F´s and all -you just can´t keep a coloratura girl low-.
Diana Damrau is perhaps the most celebrated Lucia of this decade. She sings more truly than Natalie Dessay who has recorded Lucia twice, in French and Italian, she is also very histrionic, not perhaps a bad thing in this super demanding and extreme role. She delivers both arias with aplomb, I´ll even say with panache considering that this is a live concert recording. In the end what one misses is the sense of style and elegance that Mariella Devia brought to the role not that long ago, she was surely the last GREAT, truly GREAT in capital letters, Lucia di Lammermoor.
But Damrau is never less than accomplished, often much more than that. Joseph Calleja is a good match for her, his Edgardo is easy on the ear and kind of stylish. Ludovic Tézier as the evil brother is also an elegant singer, just misses the macho Italianate tone that made Rolando Panerai and Ettore Bastianini so exciting in this role.
Jesús López-Cobos knows this repertoire and keeps things moving. The Munich orchestra is fine.
The set comes in a pathetic twofer without libretto but sells under 20 dollars. Not a bad Lucia, but not the best there is, and guys there are some terrific Lucias out there.
