Verismo recommendations, please!

[Alan Howe]

Pasqua Fiorentina" by Isidoro Capitaneo (also on Bongiovanni)

Thanks. Sounds a pretty provincial recording to me. No?

[adriano]

Oh yes, Alan, but one of the better lot from the Bongiovanni repertoire :-)
It is performed by an orchestra workshop. The work itself could eventually be resurrected with better artists. It has many interesting and original sections; Capitanio was a very cultivated and eclectic personality. In this work he uses music leaning to 13th century madrigals - but also to impressionism (especially in the preludes to the two acts).

[Alan Howe]

I'm interested, but I find that sort of recording utterly frustrating to listen to.

[adriano]

I am with you, Alan. I generally also avoid buying/watching live video Opera performances, although today they use highly professional sonics. Singer's grimaces and sweating faces in close-up can kill the atmosphere... A studio (or concert) opera recording is still the most desirable option. In concert, singers (generally) read from scores; the possibility of making mistakes is therefore considerably reduced - and you don't have to hear all those bumping stage noises... Audience's coughing, this is another story - we already had a post in UC :-)
Opera, still, is a living thing, and one should not avoid to enjoy its "Gesamtkunstwerk" appeal - and perhaps listen to a recording or to read the score before or afterwards. And, why not, artificial "noises" in studio recordings à la John Culshaw: I also like this way of scenic enhacement. One will never forget Regina Resnik's laughter scene and Orest's dying screams in Solti's "Elektra" recording! And I always have to laugh after all this loud off-stage murder took place (now I also speak about the loud orchestra) - after the audiences really were unmistakeably made aware what happened - Chrysothemis rushes on stage with: "Es muss etwas geschehen sein" (Something must have happened) :-)

[Alan Howe]

I love those classic Decca recordings with all their fantastic sound effects. That Elektra is one of the great recordings. To return to verismo, what I want to hear is a recording accorded the same amount of care as those old Deccas in terms of singing, orchestral playing and sound quality. Some will say that we don't have the singers today. Well, has anyone heard Sondra Radvanovsky? I would say she could sing almost anything, such is the power of her voice. And we have Jonas Kaufmann, of course. It just needs a record company with imagination...

[adriano]

The question is not the recording companies, but the singers themselves, who should venture into more interesting and unsung repertoire. This occasionally happens... See, for example Netrenko's recent "Jolantha" (no further comment on this...). A star like Kaufmann is the first person who can allow himself to call opera managers, telling that he wants to sing this or that - they would generally agree. His agent would perhaps be less happy, since Kaufmann would need a longer time to study such a new part, keeping him away for a while from flying around.
Such was the case in Zurich during Alexander Pereira's epoch: it was also thanks to some singers that we had unusual repertoire. But Pereira himself was interested in unsung or less known repertoire, so we had, for example, an exciting verismo revival, focused on Giordano. An impossible piece like "Madame Sans-Gêne" was produced, with Mirella Freni and (alas!) Franz Welser-Möst conducting. We also had the great Nello Santi conducting his beloved "La cena delle beffe" by Montemezzi, which was a real triumph. We also had Wolf-Ferrari's "I quattro Rusteghi" (also with Santi) in an incredibly hilarious and successful production; we had "Le Villi" (with Mara Zampieri, José Cura and Giorgio Zancanaro), we had Massenet operas ("Don Quichotte" with Ruggero Raimondi, "Hérodiade" with Daniela Dessi and "Werther" with Alfredo Kraus); we had Dukas's "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue", Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini" (both conducted by J. E. Gardiner) etc. etc. It was an incredible time!

[Alan Howe]

So it can be done!

My daughter works for Opera Holland Park in London. In the last few years they have put on Francesca da Rimini, La Wally, Zanetto, I gioelli della madonna - and this year they are doing L'Amore dei tre re. Not bad for a cash-strapped summer-season company!

[Alan Howe]

A star like Kaufmann is the first person who can allow himself to call opera managers, telling that he wants to sing this or that

Well, Kaufmann did do Ekkehard before he was well-known. And he has also done Der Vampyr, Königskinder and Die drei Wünsche (Loewe). So perhaps all is not lost. Mind you, it might be if sings too many Tristans and Siegfrieds...

[MartinH]

Sounds like you could write an interesting behind-the-scenes tell-all book!

[adriano]

Yes, Alan, and I remember working with Kaufmann in an outside-Zurich production of Paer's "Leonore"! That was, of course, not his idea, but Pereira's.
Martin H., yes I could, but I would get dozens of court case threats by some artist's lawyers :-)

[alberto]

Now Alexander Pereira is Intendant / Artistic Director at La Scala and has announced a re-evaluation of verismo operas.
Hence (I suppose) the presence of Giordano's "La Cena delle Beffe"in the next season.

[adriano]

Benissimo, Alberto
Let's only hope that Netrebko is not going to sing the lead :-)

[Mark Thomas]

An innocent question, Adriano: Why not Netrebko?

[adriano]

It's just a personal opinion. She certainly has great material, but the whole lacks a further artistic dimension. After listening to her for about 20 minutes I know exactly what I will get the whole evening and get bored.

[Alan Howe]

..and her voice isn't always under control - it can be a rather unwieldy instrument. Her recent Four Last Songs was horrible. At this point in her career it's advisable to audition before buying a recording featuring her...