Mercadante - Francesca da Rimini

[BerlinExpat]

Saverio Mercadante's two act opera Francesca da Rimini is being transmitted from Martina France on RAI 3 radio at 21:00 CET on Saturday 30th July. I hope someone else can record it as my RAI reception is not always good and I may not get a good copy. My last attempt from Cagliari was only fit for the waste bin.

This opera was scheduled in Wexford a few years ago but was cancelled because the performing material was in a poor state. Perhaps they will reconsider now there is a new critical edition.

Saverio Mercadante
Francesca da Rimini
Dramma per musica in due atti di Felice Romani
Edizione critica a cura di Elisabetta Pasquini
Ut Orpheus Edizioni, Bologna
Prima rappresentazione assoluta

From Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca

Francesca    Leonor Bonilla
Paolo    Aya Wakizono
Lanciotto    Merto Sungu
Guido    Antonio Di Matteo
Isaura    Larisa Martinez
Guelfo    Ivan Ayon Rivas
Coro della Filarmonica di Stato "Transilvania" di Cluj-Napoca
Maestro del coro Cornel Groza
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia
Direttore d'orchestra Fabio Luisi

[adriano]

I can get an excellent RAI3 on my digital cable radio, so will try to record this with pleasure, hoping that no other incidents will happen... :-)

[Mark Thomas]

I can't seem to get the RAI Radio 3 stream to work here in the UK, so a recording would be greatly appreciated Hadrianus, thanks.

[adriano]

Still listening to this broadcast on Rai Radio 3.
Excellent music and excellent singers. Most parts are very hard to sing - and to keep through.
The plot is much more complicated and quite different from the Francescas we already know.
The opera is in 2 acts
Duration of first act: 2 hours
Second act: 1 hour 20 minutes
Will edit the files tomorrow.
Good night

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks in anticipation, Hadrianus.

[adriano]

The complete Francesca (almost 3 hours and a half oif music!) is ready right now and I will send the MP3 files to BerlinExpat 
I decided to split it to match CDR capacities, so this will become a 4 CDR affair! There was no way to consider scene changes for new file starts, since, for example, act 1st first scene already runs for over 80 minutes.
As usual, I used 3 sources; a digital cable one a two internet ones. It was wise to do so, since the digital source had a blank moment of about 2 minutes in the last scene of act 2, so I edited this using an internet source.
Everything should be now in fairly good condition. Suppose this will be issued on CD anyway (Dynamic??), due to the importance of the event.
This does not mean that the recording itself is high class: the Italians still are not on the same technical level as BBC, Radio France and DeutschlandRadio. Sometines one can hear slight distortions (overloads)... I also found some (editeable) places sounding as somebody would touch or bump againt a microphone stand... Let me know if you are satisfied and enjoy this important opera!

[Alan Howe]

According to Wikipedia, the opera was premiered in 1831. Can you tell us anything about the idiom and how it relates to, say, Donizetti and Bellini - Anna Bolena, La Sonnambula and Norma are roughly contemporary.

[adriano]

You certainly hear Donizetti and Bellini, but sometimes I have the impression that it could be considered as a pre-Verdi or pre-Meyerbeer. Compared to the very few Mercadante I remember having heard, Francesca gives the impression that it is more solidly and conscienciously conceived, not like a "drawer number's" sequel. Instead of an overture, there is an elaborate and exciting chours scene. All choral numbers are particularly dramatic and tense (I bet Berlioz loved them) and the libretto is very elaborately written. The well-known plot has been extended, although the protagonist's group is comparatively small (a hell of a work for all singers!). Paolo's part is for a mezzo-soprano. The orchestration also gives the impression that Mercadante took particular care. In any case, it's a great event - and I look forward to a commercial CD. Some already existing essays are higly recommended, so don't rely on my stammering :-) And I don't always like to compare re-discovered works with those of its contemporaries. Unfortunately I could not consult a vocal score, and the commercial full score (new edition) is a bit too expensive just for study purposes...

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks to Hadrianus and BerlinExpat for making this available. Phew, Faccio's Amleto and Mercadante's Francesca da Rimini within a couple of days of each other, what riches!

[Shira]

Thank you so much! I just listened to the first half of the first act. This is wonderful music, and singers and orchestra are fantastic. 

[Aragion]

I've listened to the Rai 3 broadcast yersterday, but in 96 kbit/s quality. Thank tou for uploading the high-bitrate recording! It is always exciting to listen to rare opera. In general, this one has typical form, may be because it was wrote before famous "reformatory" operas of Mercadante, like. Paolo's part is very rossinian. Choruses and ensembles are very beautiful and impressive, like in othe Mercadante's operas. Terzetto-quartet in second act with horn introduction is very innovative. The singing and orchestra playing are great! I hope for DVD release of this masterpiece, especially because of Pier Luigi Pizzi's stage direction. Today Rai3 will broadcast anothe rarity Paisiello's "La grotta di Trofonio".

[adriano]

Re-listening now to this higher quality recording with earphones, I feel quite disappointed, since all these overloads are more clearly hearable and irritating. RAI Radio 3 should really do better - or perhaps this has to do with the local (Swiss Cable) provider...
However, as already mentioned, broadcasts from the UK, France and Germany are mostly perfect in sound. Let's hope one day to get a better sounding Francesca - or a CD soon. Luisi is very keen on making recordings anyway, as, for example, with the Zurich Opera Orchestra, whose name he has changed into Philharmonia Zürich (players were against this - and if you ask them where they work, they still say "at the Zurich Opera Orchestra"). These CDs feature only symphonic repertoire... No further comments... But Luisi's Francesca is great and very tense.