Gounod La Colombe

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from Opera Rara:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Opera%2BRara/ORC53

[Alan Howe]

This is certainly a toothsome offering, although rather poor value: Opera Rara are charging for two CDs when the timings are 40:48 (CD1) and 39:11 (CD2). In other words, the opera could and surely should have been released on a single CD. In mitigation, one gets a very nicely produced and robust booklet including libretto.

In case you are wondering, this is an opéra comique, so there's an awful lot of dialogue. Frankly, there's far too much: by track 3 I was wondering where the music had gone. So this is very much a release for fans of the genre. It's extremely well sung, though, especially by the superb Mexican tenor Javier Camarena and the brilliant American coloratura soprano, Erin Morley - and, as one might expect from Gounod there are tunes galore. The whole thing is sensitively conducted by Mark Elder and to have an orchestra as fine as the Hallé in this repertoire makes a change from some scratchy ensemble in a provincial opera house. In other words, the orchestral playing is a pleasure in itself.

So a bit of a mixed bag, I'd say, but if you like this sort of thing it's a quality product. 

[BerlinExpat]

In mitigation, one gets a very nicely produced and robust booklet including libretto

I have those with several one-acters and highlight CDs with total timings of 76:42, 77:13 and 79:13, so there's really no excuse for not issuing La Colombe on one CD. I'm less likely to buy it now, especially as the opera is lightweight (IMHO) Gounod.

[Alan Howe]

All I can say is that the performance is superb.