NEW ON NAXOS | JULY 2025
Enea Scala as Cadmo and Maria Elena Pepi as Ada © Gianfranco Rota
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848) Il diluvio universale Azione tragico-sacra in three acts (1830) Libretto by Domenico Gilardoni (1798–1831) Critical edition of the first version (Naples, 1830) by Edoardo Cavalli © Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, 2022 Giuliana Gianfaldoni, Soprano • Maria Elena Pepi, Mezzo-soprano Enea Scala, Tenor • Nahuel Di Pierro, Bass Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala Il diluvio universale (‘The Great Flood’) was premiered in Naples in 1830 but is better known in the much-revised version performed four years later in Genoa and Paris. The story, loosely drawn from the Bible, concerns Noah and his family, their conflicts, and the impending catastrophe of the flood. The opera offers a stream of attractive music, powerful choruses and refined harmonies, and represents a crucial stage in Donizetti’s musical thought. This acclaimed 2023 Donizetti Festival performance, conducted by Riccardo Frizza, employs the original 1830 edition. Orchestra Donizetti Opera Riccardo Frizza, Conductor
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8.660580-81
Release date: 11 Jul 2025
‘With Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza , a first- rate opera specialist making a welcome Lyric podium debut,’ wrote the Chicago Tribune , ‘the performance boasted more than enough vocal thrills, elegant orchestral playing and committed choral singing’. The same review also praised ‘the Italian conductor’s marshaling of musical details as they related to dramatic expression – the color and duration of orchestral chording, for instance – was typical of his thorough understanding’. Bachtrack.com wrote that ‘the outstanding Argentinian bass Nahuel Di Pierro , whose fine, upstanding Noè was a perfect foil to the wily, treacherous Cadmo, sung convincingly with ringing power by seasoned tenor Enea Scala . And the beauty of Maria Elena Pepi ’s beguiling mezzo-soprano as Ada ensured that she fought her corner’.
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Click to listen to Act I: Recitative: Di Cadmo la consorte (Jafet, Tesbite, Noè) – Scene 2 Sela? Tu piangi… (Noè, Sela) LISTEN
Riccardo Frizza
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Companion titles – Gaetano Donizetti, Composer
Nahuel Di Pierro
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• The performance was available as an audiovisual release from Dynamic: DYN-38029 (DVD) and DYN-58029 (Blu-Ray).
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