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Verdi: Macbeth
Luciano Pavarotti
Classical - Released January 1, 1993 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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Monteverdi: Il terzo libro de madrigali
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Opera - Released October 30, 2020 | naïve classique
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Diapason d'or
No one knows better than Rinaldo Alessandrini that Monteverdi's madrigals – to which he has dedicated a major part of his work and recordings over the past thirty years – were above all texts where the music was the servant, and not the mistress. This form of a cappella vocal polyphony, responding sensitively to the inflections of a highly expressive poetry, was born in the full flowering of Renaissance humanism and developed in the 17th century by composers such as Monteverdi, Marenzio and Gesualdo, before being supplanted by the opera. As the Italian maestro explains, in the Third Book of Madrigals, "we can already see how carefully the twenty-fiveyear-old Monteverdi chooses poetry, e.g. by Guarini and Tasso, which is capable of 'responding to the needs of the drama, of truth, humanity and emotionality, culminating at the end of his life in the lustrous triumph of his final works". This is the fifth collection of madrigals Rinaldo Alessandrini has recorded with Concerto Italiano, and it is the cornerstone of his quest for an intimate understanding of Monteverdi's repertoire – and all the music that came after it. These madrigals have "the power to allow the performers to read the human passions, perceive them empathetically, and restore them in the very finest dress" (Esteban Hernández Castelló). Their analytical yet sensitive approach leads to a precise intonation, a direct transmission of naked emotions, and the restoration of details we can only glimpse behind the words, revealing in all its beauty what lies hidden in the music: mirror images of the soul. © naive classique
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Verdi: Nabucco (Live)
Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
Opera - Released March 20, 2020 | Dynamic
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Carlo Gesualdo : Madrigals, Book 5 (Livre 5)
La Venexiana
Classical - Released January 1, 2005 | Glossa
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Verdi: Nabucco
Parma Teatro Regio Orchestra
Classical - Released November 19, 2013 | C Major
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Carlo Gesualdo : Madrigaux (Livres V et VI)
Delitae Musicae
Classical - Released May 7, 2013 | Naxos
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5 de Diapason
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Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (Complete original score)
John Wilson
Theatre Music - Released September 15, 2023 | Chandos
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While the recordings of highlights and hits from Rodgers & Hammerstein's still-popular Oklahoma! have been issued over the years, the complete, as originally orchestrated score (by Richard Rodney Bennett) had yet to be recorded. However, following a live-staged performance at the 2017 BBC Proms, conductor John Wilson took it upon himself to deliver this premiere. He sticks with the original orchestra dimensions as well, which is a good thing since the handpicked members of his Sinfonia of London are powerful enough in this smaller group. Wilson also took advantage of the quality theaters around London, bringing in soloists and a cast ensemble of veterans from stages across England. He does well in selecting a cast here; while all are more than capable singers, they are also able to deliver the vocal acting that is necessary to pull this off. Leading the cast are Nathaniel Hackmann, reprising his role as Curly from the Proms performance, and Sierra Boggess as Laurey. The vocalists and orchestra take full advantage of the space and recording setup, which allows the orchestra to play full out while not overstraining the singers. The beauty of Rodgers' music paired with Hammerstein's book is evident, even if you are unfamiliar with anything but the titular state (if even that!); the imagery of ranches and open cattle land easily comes to mind. This recording should be welcomed with open arms by those who are familiar with the musical, be it either from a stage (generally edited and with cuts) or in its film version with its edits. Oh, what a beautiful mornin', indeed.© Keith Finke /TiVo
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Verdi: Rigoletto
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Opera - Released November 10, 2017 | Delos
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Nashville is rough on the living, but she really speaks well of the dead, says a country song, and opera is the same way. Recordings by the late Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky have soared on the charts since his untimely death. Along with the superb song album Russia Cast Adrift, this one makes a suitable memorial. Hvorostovsky was never a typical Italian opera baritone, and that was what made his performances of Rigoletto over the years so well loved; they stood apart from the crowd. This version was made in Kaunas, Lithuania (in the Philharmonic Hall -- it is not a live recording), in 2016, after the baritone's diagnosis with brain cancer. Cognoscenti may grouse that at certain junctures Hvorostovsky's voice has less power than formerly (which, at his age, would have been true even without his illness), but the essential qualities that made him a great Rigoletto are on full display here. Where Western baritones sing, Hvorostovsky growls, rasps, and snarls, and the role of the exquisitely bitter jester has rarely come alive as it does here. The rest of the cast is decidedly not as strong; soprano Nadine Sierra can't decide whether Gilda should be a wounded innocent or something more substantial, and her pitches are often less than stable. Yet this is how it should be. With a star of Hvorostovsky's magnitude, the focus should be on the star, and that is where it resides. Clean accompaniment by the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra that effectively stays out of his way is another plus. An essential for Hvorostovsky lovers.
© TiVo
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Gesualdo: Madrigali, Libri quinto & sesto
Les Arts Florissants
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released March 10, 2023 | harmonia mundi
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Gramophone: Recording of the Month
The madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo were new territory for Les Arts Florissants, a group that specializes mostly in French Baroque opera, but the cycle, which concludes with this double album featuring the composer's tortured fifth and sixth books, has been consistently strong and has brought many new insights; the album reached the top levels of classical sales charts in early 2023. Gesualdo and his style have been used in narratives that don't necessarily fit the actual music. For Stravinsky and his contemporaries, the dissonance-loving Gesualdo was a proto-modernist, but Les Arts Florissants leader (and tenor voice) Paul Agnew points out that the trends in his music were also present in that of other composers of the Mannerist late 16th century. It is conventional to connect the experiments in Gesualdo's music to the facts of his life: he caught his wife and her lover in flagrante, murdered them both, beat the rap at trial, and spent the rest of his life in seclusion. Agnew doesn't buy this connection, either, and his interpretations avoid the emotional extremes present in other performances. At the most intense moments, he may steer the singers just a bit toward spoken inflections, but mostly his dissonant harmonies are precise and cutting. The sound is a bit swallowed up in the Philharmonie de Paris, but the laconic statements of Gesualdo's chosen texts are clear. A fine conclusion to a cycle of music by a composer who warranted a fresh look.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Casta Diva - Operatic arias transcribed for trumpet
Matilda Lloyd
Opera - Released April 28, 2023 | Chandos
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Five years after her solo debut recording, Direct Message, which programmed 20th and 21st century works for trumpet and piano, trumpet player Matilda Lloyd departs the traditional repertoire (aside from the two Arban arrangements from the Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet). Instead of following more well-worn routes, Lloyd elects to present a program of Romantic period opera arias, mostly in arrangements for trumpet and chamber orchestra (undertaken here by the Britten Sinfonia under Rumon Gamba) by William Foster, who worked closely with Lloyd on this project. Lloyd's skill as a musician is evident throughout, though the two Arban tracks most clearly allow her abilities to shine. The arrangements throughout are good, though how much they add to the performances rather than transcriptions and transpositions is up for debate. Lloyd notes with excitement the decision to include two pieces by Pauline Viardot, and one of the highlights here is the treatment of Viardot's Havanaise. This is certainly a trumpet release aimed at a wider audience than trumpet and brass circles, and it has already found success on the retail market. Chandos delivers just the right atmosphere from the Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, in London. The future is bright for this trumpeter, and one looks forward to where her path may take her.
© Keith Finke /TiVo
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Cantate da camera
Lucile Richardot
Classical - Released January 20, 2023 | Audax Records
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4F de Télérama
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Giuseppe Scarlatti: I portentosi effetti della Madre Natura
Dorothee Oberlinger
Classical - Released June 9, 2023 | deutsche harmonia mundi
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Monteverdi: Il quarto libro de madrigali
Collegium Vocale Gent
Classical - Released May 6, 2022 | Phi
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After dedicating many years of his life to the highly-revered music of Claudio Monteverdi, Philippe Herreweghe now offers us his version of the Fourth Book of Madrigals—one of the most innovative and representative works by this genius Italian composer. Sprinkled with audacious harmonics and intense expressiveness that closely mimics the mannerisms of painters and sculptors of the time, this volume clearly announces the culmination of the “seconda pratica” (a new modern way of thinking about music that marked the beginning of the Baroque period).Monteverdi devoted many years to the creation of this Fourth Book which brings the 16th century to a close with great originality of form and a wide variety of styles (a real testament to the spectacular musical evolution that took place over such a small time frame). The use of dissonance is evident from the very first madrigal, Ah dolent partita, with the use of minor seconds plunging the listener into the bottomless abyss of amorous distress.A great lover of Italy and its art, Philippe Herreweghe and the excellent singers of the Collegium Vocale Gent give real vitality to these madrigals. They subtly shape the contrasts, achieving a striking chiaroscuro that emphasises the exaggerated asceticism contained within these 20 sublime pieces. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Leontyne Price - Verdi and Puccini Arias
Leontyne Price
Classical - Released January 13, 2015 | RCA Red Seal
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Verdi: I Lombardi alla prima crociata
Nino Machaidze
Opera - Released November 3, 2023 | BR-Klassik
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Verdi's I Lombardi, here given its full title, I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata ("The Lombards in the First Crusade"), was a follow-up to Nabucco, with promoters wanting more of the ethnoreligious patriotism of the earlier opera. Verdi complied externally, with a colorful tale spanning locales from Lombardy to Antioch to Jerusalem. The romantic libretto, with the soprano lead, Giselda, taking off on a pilgrimage of her own, did not hang together so well, and more popular Verdi operas at the end of the 1840s swept the work out of the repertory. In many ways, though, I Lombardi is a more sophisticated work than Nabucco, with big choruses, recitatives, and arias flowing naturally into each other, and it is no accident that this work was chosen to be adapted for Verdi's first French grand opera, Jérusalem. The work stands or falls on its Giselda, on whom the spotlight falls squarely after the opening conflict between brothers is set up; this live Bavarian Radio concert production has a good one in Nino Machaidze, who has a high-flying international career but doesn't get quite the publicity she deserves. She is ideal in the role, inhabiting its tempestuous and helpless turns, and as her career has developed, her voice has developed some steel. At times, she lays the vibrato on pretty thick, but this is a matter of taste, and she is dramatically convincing. There are other strong singers in the highly international cast, notably the smoky-voice Réka Kristóf as Giselda's mother, Viclinda, and conductor Ivan Repušić, leading his Münchner Rundfunkorchester, understands the strides Verdi was making toward more variegated textures. There is very little noise from the well-drilled Munich audience, and the sung texts are clear. Verdi lovers are in for a treat here.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Verdi
Ludovic Tezier
Classical - Released February 5, 2021 | Sony Classical
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Diapason d'or / Arte
It was time for Ludovic Tézier to finally provide his admirers with a recital. His performances as a Verdian baritone are impressive: Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Giorgio Germont (La Traviata), Posa (Don Carlo), Le Conte De Luna (Il Trovatore), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Iago (Otello). And almost all of these are reprised in this solo album. To this impressive list of stage roles, Tézier brings the welcome addition of arias from Ernani, Macbeth and Nabucco all accompanied by Frédéric Chaslin at the head of the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. It was in 1998 in Tel Aviv that the French baritone played his first Verdian role. He was thirty years old when he was Ford in a production of Falstaff. "There is an absolutely fascinating energy in Verdi, both for the audience and for the singers", he admits. "His roles are usually very challenging, but his music acts at the same time as a fountain of youth. Verdi is brimming with vitality, which is what allowed me to return to the stage just two days after my father's death". Now with a fully-matured voice, Ludovic Tézier is in demand all over the world for his Verdi roles. He is one of the best performers of Verdi's work, standing alongside the late Piero Cappuccilli who remains his great role model. This record offers timely confirmation of his stature. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Handel: As Steals The Morn...Arias & Scenes for Tenor
Mark Padmore
Classical - Released December 21, 2012 | harmonia mundi
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : La finta giardiniera
René Jacobs
Full Operas - Released October 9, 2012 | harmonia mundi
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Disque de la semaine France Musique -
Choc de Classica
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Verdi: Don Carlo
Luciano Pavarotti/Samuel Ramey/Riccardo Muti/Daniella Dessì/Luciana d'Intino/Paolo Coni
Classical - Released January 1, 1994 | Warner Classics
EMI's release of this 1992 live performance of the standard four-act version of Don Carlo at La Scala makes a strong addition to the catalog. Riccardo Muti's dramatically charged conducting and the energy that comes from live performances play a large part in making this such a compelling version. Muti gives full reign to the grand passions and dramatic contrasts of Verdi's panoramic score, making this one of the most theatrically urgent recordings available. The orchestra of La Scala plays with fiery intensity, and with better intonation and more finesse than in some of its live recordings. The production was clearly organized around Luciano Pavarotti's Don Carlo, and he delivers a performance that's notable for its restraint. This is very much an ensemble opera, and Pavarotti's contribution is that of a team player rather than a superstar scrambling for the spotlight. That being said, his performance is fully and appropriately committed and passionate, and he's in strong voice. The male leads are consistently stellar. Samuel Ramey captures the complexity and conflict of Filippo, and sings with resonance and richness. Paolo Coni had a limited recording career, but he practically steals the show here with the nobility and thrilling vocal power of his Rodrigo. Alexander Anissimov manages to sound both ancient and dangerously powerful, an ideal combination of characteristics for the Inquisitor. Daniela Dessì as Elisabetta and Luciana d'Intino as Eboli are very nearly in the same vocal league as the men. Both have full, penetrating voices, but with an occasional slight edge that keeps their performances from being as fully realized as those of the men. They aren't helped by a recording ambience that's a little too bright. Otherwise, the sound is good for a live recording, with nice balance between the voices and orchestra. Overall, Muti's version is a strong contender in the field of recordings of the opera.© TiVo
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