NEW ON NAXOS | APRIL 2024
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848) La Favorite Opera in four acts (1840) Libretto by Alphonse Royer (1803–1875) and Gustave Vaëz (1812–1862) Caterina Di Tonno, Soprano • Annalisa Stroppa, Mezzo-soprano
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Javier Camarena, Edoardo Milletti, Tenors • Florian Sempey, Baritone • Evgeny Stavinsky, Bass Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala • Orchestra e Coro Donizetti Opera • Riccardo Frizza Written for the Opéra in Paris, Gaetano Donizetti’s La Favorite contains some of his most famously enthralling arias. While its much-reduced Italian version has continued in popularity, this superb production from the Donizetti Opera Festival in his birthplace of Bergamo returns the work to its rarely heard 1840 French grand opera origins. Set in 14th-century Spain, the tragic story is of a pious novice (Fernand) who falls in love with a noble lady and abandons the cloister, meeting her in secret. He becomes a war hero and asks the King for her hand, later finding out to his horror that she is Léonor de Guzman, the King’s beloved mistress. Key Features: • This uncut performance uses the critical edition of La Favorite by Rebecca Harris- Warrick, and the recording therefore has all of the original ballet music, and also includes the cabaletta of the duet between Léonor and Alphonse, originally cut only as its content created political friction in its day. The cabaletta finally received its first modern performance at the 2022 Bergamo festival. The audiovisual recording of this performance is available on the Dynamic label (DVD: DYN-37992; Blu-ray: DYN- 57992): ‘The lovers are played by Annalisa Stroppa and Javier Camarena. Both are pretty much ideal. Leonor (…) requires power, precision and beauty of tone… Stroppa doesn’t disappoint. She’s vocally compelling, nails the big numbers and is a terrific actress. …Camarena is a proper mid-19th century tenor with plenty of oomph and super high notes. When these two duet, it’s very impressive’ ( operaramblings ). • ‘The musical performance was in the capable hands of Riccardo Frizza , a specialist and musical director of the Donizetti Opera Festival. La Favorite has enjoyed long years of success in its Italian version as La favorita , without the ballet and with several cuts. Here Frizza presented an integral rendition of the whole score in French, which is not often heard in modern times. We got all the recitatives, all the repeats of the cabalettas – it was wonderful!’ ( bachtrack.com ) • ‘The singing cast was one for great occasions. Javier Camarena sang Fernand with an elegance and a mastery of the bel canto style which I honestly had never heard from him at this level. His tenor was still brilliant and exciting, explosive in moments of rage, with laser-like high notes, but he managed to shape each phrase with delicacy and intent. Even a tiny frog in his throat at “Ange si pur” was turned in a sob, an expression of grief. What a performance!’ ( bachtrack.com )
8.660549-51 Release Date: 12 Apr 2024
Companion Titles – Gaetano Donizetti, Composer
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Click to listen to Act 1: No. 2. Air et Choeur
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WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Franco ALFANO (1875–1954) Suite romantica Una danza Davide Vendramin, Accordion • Vittorio Rabagliati, Piano Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano • Giuseppe Grazioli
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Franco Alfano is remembered today for his completion of Turandot after Puccini’s death. His catalogue of works, including operas, orchestral and chamber music, reveals him to be a sophisticated and original composer. Alfano possessed an innate melodic facility combined with a talent for unexpected timbres, as heard in the luxuriously orchestrated Suite romantica which, in the composer’s own words, aims to convey ‘the feelings of two lovers travelling through Italy’. From the neo-Classical Divertimento to the noirish postwar Nenia , and from the lightness of touch of Amour… Amour… to the impressionistic and iridescent Una danza , each work reveals a different aspect of this multifaceted composer. Key Features: • Accordion and bandoneon player Davide Vendramin is widely in demand as a performer, appearing at important international festivals, as soloist with numerous acclaimed orchestras. • Pianist Vittorio Rabagliati has won First Prize in numerous national piano competitions and was a finalist at the ‘Rendano’ Prize in Rome and at the ‘A. Casagrande’ International Piano Competition in Terni and has dedicated himself particularly to modern and contemporary repertoire, with first performances and recordings of composers such as Berio, Castiglioni, Donatoni, Nono, Manzoni, Maderna and Sciarrino. • Conductor Giuseppe Grazioli has specialised in recording less-often-heard music from his native Italy. He has a long track record as a conductor of both orchestral music and opera. He has conducted many rare Italian operas by Gino Marinuzzi, Licinio Refice, Franco Faccio as well as the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s opera Vita with the Orchestra della Scala. In 2019, he became the principal conductor and casting manager of the Opéra de Saint-Étienne in France and conducts extensively in that country. Click to listen to Suite romantica: Part IV: Natale campàno LISTEN
8.574533 Release Date: 12 Apr 2024
Companion Titles – Franco Alfano, Composer
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