Wolf-Ferrari I gioielli della Madonna

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. Please see this thread:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5823.15.html

[Alan Howe]

A quick audition this morning suggests this is rather more than a decent stop-gap. In fact, I'd say it was pretty  magnificent. More anon...

[Mark Thomas]

That's very encouraging, Alan. I'll just wait for the download to become available in a few days.

[Alan Howe]

It is superb. There is a real sense of this being part of a live run. Excellent orchestral playing and recording too. No libretto, of course 

[adriano]

And I thought, Alan, that you were particularly sensitive to wobbling singers and mild tenors :-)
The production comes form the Slovak Opera; funny enough, they did not use its orchestra, but the Radio ensmble instead.

[Alan Howe]

I've hear far, far worse, to be honest. In fact Kyungho Kim (tenor) as Gennaro has a fine, steady voice, well used, and Natalia Ushakova as Maliella is also very good, although not in the same class as the superb Natalya Romaniw whom I saw at Opera Holland Park back in 2013. I'll report back on the baritone...

[Alan Howe]

...who is indeed a wobbler. Not good at all. But he's the only blot on the landscape so far.

[BerlinExpat]

The production comes form the Slovak Opera; funny enough, they did not use its orchestra, but the Radio ensmble instead.

Very odd because the Slovak National Opera Orchestra played in the performance I saw last May!

[adriano]

I was astonished myself to see that this CD was done with the Radio Orchestra. The Radio may have imposed this to them; in exchange they may have got the studio for free. Since 1987 I have worked with the Radio Symphony Orchestra; at a time it was a super ensemble. Then followed a big corruption scandal (managers and organsiators had taken parts of musician's fees into their own pockets - or the CD companies were charged for sessions which never took place), so the orchestra went bankrupt and had to be reduced to a small ensemble - of inferior quality. At the same time, the Radio itself had problems... Apparently now, the Radio seems to try to re-build its ensemble into a larger one, but I have my doubts about this. How can such a city cope with three such large orchestras? In earlier times, they were all supported by the Communist government... Even today, ticket fees of opera and concert performances are very low, compared to ours, so I wonder how could they survive, now that everywhere cultural support is being drastically cut down? In fact, some people involved told me that the Slovak Opera's budget had just bee drastically cut down by the government...

That's why I am working now with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, which is an indipendent, mainly studio ensemble of the best musicians from the Radio, Slovak Symphony and the Opera. It's a private company which has mainly become the address for recording soundtracks by TV and film production companies from all over the world. The 5 recordings I have done so far with this new ensemble, its conductor/manager as a producer and its faboulous sound engineer (they just rent the studio and bring along their own, more sophisticated equipment) have realised the very best sound I ever had in all of my 49 recordings!
http://www.bso.sk/

[adriano]

@Alan
In other words, there will be also a (live) cpo production featurung the very same tenor??

[Alan Howe]

That's what I thought too! Still, he's good. Although Nuttaporn Thammathi would be better...

[adriano]

Of course Kim is good, but he also wobbles a bit too much... For me he is too liric and not passionate enough (not "Italian" enough). His timbre is somehow like the one of young Carreras, but that guy had blood in his veins already in his début period. We Italians (sorry, we are implacable in belcanto matters) call such a voice "una voce senza coglioni" :-)
As far as conducting Wolf-Ferrari is concerned, we must not forget Nello Santi, whose magnificent DECCA LP of 1960 features the Suite of "I gioielli" and other symphonic pieces. Years ago, he conducted "I quattro rusteghi" and "Il segreto di Susanna" - two wonderful productions at the Zurich Opera. On "Rusteghi" I remember him saying to me: "This is the first time after 50 years that I cannot conduct a score by memory, at my age I am not able anymore to learn, so I will use a score, since I have never done this opera. Please give all possible cues from your prompter's box!" In fact, "Rusteghi" has some vocal ensembles, which are real hell.
In Zurich we also had a production of Wolf-Ferrari's "Sly", conducted by Rafael Frübeck de Burgos. A very unsual thing: we had to transpose down Carrera's part - and that way the production was done, and leter on recorded by Koch-Scwann in Barcelona. There I had a hell of a work in my box too, and I won't forget José how nivce and thankful he was with me. I also conducted piano rehearsals. And I won't forget the magificent voice and stage presence of Isabell Kabatu!
This glamourous time of the Zurich Opera has gone by, alas...
The other DECCA LP with "Il segreto di Susanna", conducted by Laberto Gardelli, is excellent too - unfortunately, Bernd Weikl is totally miscast.
Last but not least I must admit, that Haider's "Intermezzo" from "Gioielli" is more beautifully played than Santi's Paris Orchestra on that old DECCA LP...

[Alan Howe]

I hear Kim rather differently. His vibrato isn't a wobble - it's slower than ideal, maybe, but always secure. I'd rather have him than any of the 'can belto' brigade, e.g. Del Monaco, Landolini, etc. In London in 2013 Joel Montero was superb - more robust than Kim, but capable of the verismo extremes without shouting or losing focus.

I know what you mean about the younger Carreras. I still think his Cavaradossi (for Davis, not Karajan) is the best in recorded history. But he made the same mistake as di Stefano, singing roles at least one size too big for him before he was ready. Then, of course, he had leukaemia and his voice never recovered...

[adriano]

Well, everybody experiences/receives singer's voices personally/differently - and that's a good thing too :-) I can imagine very well Montero singing this part!
A real pity about Carreras. All parts he sang in Zürich during the Pereira era (including Sly, Tosca, Fedora, Carmen) were already a bit too much for him.
But take now the duet of "Goielli" in the Naxos recording: this is nicely done, but not convincing as far as both singers are concerned. At the end, one if happy tht's finished. When Mariella sings the popular song, there is a descneding passage reminding me of Florence Foster Jenkins. Not to speak that one does not understand one single word there. Why does she not work more with text and esprit? And when Gennaro shouts at her "Cedi Mariella ed amami", just on the long note, a vibrato (for me it's a bad wobble) is absolutely out of place, it just so cheap and parody-like. Again, an Italian specialist coach would have helped improving the stylistics of this production. Take also, for example, the clumsy/mechanical rendering of the Camorristi's Waltz after the mentioned duet: it's not correct and destroys the piece - and the big Feast in act 3, being clumsy, raher slow and lacking of élan - this just to say somethinbg about Haider's work. 
This is my last word on this production: sorry for having been so severe and passionate, but I know this opera quite well :-)

[Alan Howe]

I accept all of what you say, of course. You see things with a perfectionist's eye, which is quite right. Thanks for giving us your view.