Giuseppe Di Stefano - Torna a Surriento Songs of Italy & Sicily

The 2 collections in this set are classics, and for good reason. Giuseppe De Stefano was perhaps the greatest tenor of Italian lyrical opera in our lifetime--at least for many of us who were already around in the 1950's and 60's. Yes, he was so for only a brief time. He apparently lived la dolce vita and abused his voice. But fortunately, he came to prominence when Angel Records was producing extraordinarily high quality recordings, and many of his performances in the studio were created and preserved. These include his historic operatic performances with Maria Callas which have long since been digitized and converted to cd's. Among others, the TOSCA and LA BOHEME performances are mindbogglingly magnificent. Indeed, whenever I've played these for friends over the years, they always ask about the tenor--i.e., Di Stefano--and rate his performances as the most extraordinary they have ever heard. In any event, as his operatic voice was in early decline in the mid 60's, he began to record traditional Italian love songs--both Neapolitan and Sicilian. (He was Sicilian, and included several gorgeous songs from Sicily in his albums. I'm Sicilian-American, so I'm partial to these.) The depth of feeling, emotion, loss, anguish, regret, reminiscence, love, euphoria (Maybe a bit manic-depressive here!), together with his gloriously virile yet exquisite vocal instrument and fervor make this collection a virtually certain favorite for anyone who appreciates (as in loves) this universal, eternal music that speaks directly to the human soul. OK, I'm getting carried away--only a bit actually. Because these songs (e.g., CATARI, ADDIO SOGNI DI GLORIA, PUSILLECO, A CANZONE'E NAPULE, etc., etc.)+ Di Stefano + the lush orchestrations make these performances rivals of the Di Stefano + Callas operas. In other words, it just doesn't get better than this.

This collection of recordings "Pippo" made are an expression of love and heartfelt emotion! With the lush orchestrations and impeccable Italianate sound and impeccable Italianate diction one really gets to discover the beauty of this more popular classic music. The Sicialian songs, his native language, are seldom heard and are quite a treat! In the great tradition of Carus, Gigli, Schipa, Tagliavinni and many others but captured at a time when recording had reached very good quality! I cannot recommend these recording enough!

I bought this album for 'catali catali'.. 2 songs are awesome. others are not my 100% taste. around 75%....?

I originally bought the CD because of a song titled "catari catari". The song performed by Giuseppe Di Stefano is the best. I have listened the same song performed by many other singers including Pavarotti, but nobody but Stefano moved me. I strongly recommend this CD to other people. However, be aware that the song titles will be displayed in Japanese on windows media player although the titles on the CD jacket are listed in English.

The singing and choice of songs on this cd are a perfect match. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

Excellent all

The tenor began recording crossover albums of Italian popular songs for EMI in 1953 and recapitulated this familiar repertoire several times over for that imprint and, in far better stereo sonics, for Decca. This twofer contains his two best Decca albums, ITALY [not excluding Sicily] (recorded 1958) and NEAPOLITAN SONGS (recorded 1964), conducted respectively by Dino Olivieri and Iller Pattacini with fine studio orchestras of appropriate size and temperament. I stress the fitness of the backing, because producers, soloist and conductors very successfully avoid major problems infecting virtually every other Neapolitan crossover album of this era: The songs, regularly abused, are actually delicate creatures, as difficult to bring off idiomatically as a Mozart aria. They require a youngish, virile, operatically trained Italianate voice, and the accompaniment must be neither too small (seedy third-rate Italian café and salon bands which underpower the songs) nor too large (the ghastly symphonic charts for 3 Tenors soccer gigs which overpower the songs' simplicity and sincerity). It's a tough balancing act, Di Stefano's production team manage the artistic balance issues perfectly, and Decca’s vintage ffrr stereo is perfectly balanced too. Decca's elder tenor Del Monaco blustered his way through execrable crossover stabs that are unlistenable, and of the original great "Three Tenors"--Bergonzi, Di Stefano and Corelli--Di Stefano alone treated the Vesuvian repertoire with genuine affection, not waiting too long to do so. The great Bergonzi dithered with more important projects but finally, in the 1970s, made two very fine crossovers for Ensayo and Sony. Corelli's Neapolitan albums were widely promoted in the vinyl era but haven't transferred well to digital media and now sound distinctly dated in their overblown orchestral trappings. Di Stefano's supremacy in these songs is manifest from the outset, particularly in "Sona chitarra!" and "Core 'ngrato," the latter more sensitively rendered, without divo histrionics, than any version I've heard. Di Stefano still sounds completely engaged and very fresh, offering ongoing pleasure in the slightly offbeat Neapolitan canzoni (the surefire classic encores "Sorrento" and "Core 'ngrato" are still stunning in this slightly revisionist context), and I especially welcome back the earlier "Sicilian" recital which is actually pan-Italian (and even pre-"Volare"). Apart from the two wonderful Bergonzi crossovers, I can think of only two modern (and coincidentally North American) artists who do Neapolitan songs remotely as well as Di Stefano: Ben Heppner in his dignified Tosti treasury (DG) and especially Jerry Hadley’s exuberant SONG OF NAPLES (RCA). These older Di Stefano recitals still retain their competitive edge, glowingly recorded in Decca’s sparkling analog stereo.