NEW ON NAXOS | OCTOBER 2024
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848) Chiara e Serafina Greta Doveri, Fan Zhou, Sopranos • Pietro Spagnoli, Baritone Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala • Orchestra Gli Originali • Sesto Quatrini
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In 1822, the young Donizetti was engaged by La Scala to compose an opera. Chiara e Serafina was the outcome and the librettist was Felice Romani, a refined scholar but a notoriously slow and touchy worker. Consequently, Donizetti had barely twelve days to compose the whole work. Because of the incoherent plot, which concerns Don Meschino and his daughter Chiara who are kidnapped by Algerians, and the villainous Don Fernando who schemes to marry the nobleman’s younger daughter Serafina, the result was a fiasco. Donizetti’s music, however, is characterful and profuse with delightful duets, trios and ensembles. Key features: • Bachtrack wrote of the performance that ‘ Sesto Quatrini conducted with enthusiasm and good fast tempi, highlighting the solo interventions… Greta Doveri sang Chiara with a strong soprano rooted in the centre, and very good high notes.’ It added that ‘ Fan Zhou was a funny Serafina, with a bright, high soprano and dazzling, perfect coloratura.’ •
8.660552-53 Release date: 11 Oct 2024 Companion titles –Gaetano Donizetti, Composer 8.660549-51 | 8.660303-04 8.660255-56 | 8.660257-58
OperaWire has praised baritone Pietro Spagnoli for his ‘strong characterisation…natural comic timing, movement, facial expressions, and his lively, strongly-crafted recitatives.’ Click to listen to Act I: No. 3. Coro: Scene 5 Maledetto il temporale LISTEN
Sesto Quatrini
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Xiaogang YE (b. 1955) Song of Farewell Without Words
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Yuanchun Yu, Pipa • Hongxuan Chen, Dizi • Tieshan Liu, Jinghu Beijing Opera Percussion • Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra Yang Yang
Xiaogang Ye has been awarded numerous prestigious honours and is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. His interest in mysterious and beautiful plants has led him to write many pieces inspired by subtropical flora – The Faint Gingko , the oldest tree species in the world, represents an expression of Ye’s care and concern for nature. Heard here in a version without words, Song of Farewell is an opera with exquisite textures, beautiful melodies and refined orchestration, forming a unique work that delves into desire, inspiration in artistic creativity, and death, with extraordinary symphonic originality. Key feature:
We have been enthusiastic about the music of Xiaogang Ye for many years now, and this new pair of world premiere recordings joins a collection that includes his cantata The Road to the Republic (8.579089), considered ‘distinctive and dramatic’ in BBC Music Magazine , and Seven Episodes for Lin’an (8.579088), for which the American Record Guide was ‘impressed with the consistent quality and inspiration Ye achieves with his music’. His music has also been recorded by labels such as EMI/Warner Classics, Wergo, Hugo, BIS and Delos, standing as a testament to its wide popularity and international appeal.
8.579151 Release date: 11 Oct 2024 Companion titles – Xiaogang Ye, Composer
8.573131 | 8.579087 | 8.579088 | 8.579089
Prof. Xiaogang Ye and conductor Yang Yang during the recording sessions
Click to listen to I. Encounter
LISTEN
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
Giovanni PAISIELLO (1740–1816) La finta amante Elena Tsvetkova, Soprano • Daniele De Prosperi, Tenor Antoine Bernheim, Baritone Estrin Orchestra • Stefano Parisse, Harpsichord and Conductor
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Giovanni Paisiello enjoyed a considerable international reputation during much of his career, with 80 or more operas that presented a challenge to those of Mozart in Vienna. La finta amante was composed during Paisiello’s time at the Russian court of Catherine II and it soon became a triumph throughout Europe for its elegant and luminous music. With just three characters, captured forcefully by Paisiello’s innate sense of theatre, the comedy revolves around Camilletta who, alongside her boyfriend Gelino, deceives the older but wealthy Don Girone in games that inevitably lead to dangerous consequences. Key feature: Stefano Parisse ’s concert activities as a pianist and conductor reflect the vastness of his musical interests, seeing him tackle programmes ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th century, appearing regularly on Italian radio and television. In 2017 he conducted the first Russian performance in modern times of La finta amante by Giovanni Paisiello at the St Petersburg Philharmonic Michael Glinka Chamber Hall.
8.660563-64 Release date: 25 Oct 2024
Companion titles – Recommended Italian opera recordings
Click to listen to Act I: No. 5. Duetto di Camilletta e Girone: Duet: Camilletta cara cara
LISTEN
8.660554-55 | 8.660417-18 8.660248-49 | 8.660536-37
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