Category: Reviews

Born in Bologna on January 22, 1756, Righiniís musical career started early when he was a choirboy at San Petronio. When he was nineteen, Righini made his professional singing debut as a tenor in Parma, and one year later he joined the Bustelli Opera in Prague.

Rossiniís masterpiece is based on Beaumarchaisí first of three playsóLe Barbier de SÈville, La folle journÈe ou Le Mariage de Figaro, and La MËre Coupableódetailing the adventures of Figaro, a barber from Seville, Spain. Rossini was not the first, nor the last composer to set the story to music: Giovanni Maria Pagliardi, Friedrich Ludwig Benda, Johann AndrÈ, Francesco Morlacchi, Miguel Nieto and GerÛnimo JimÈnez, Nicolo Isouard, and H. R. Bishop are some of the names that come to mind.

Not long ago the record label Delos announced that they would embark on a series of studio recordings of highlights from operas. This intriguing idea seemed to address the recording crisis spawned by the shrinking market for full studio sets, with their high cost for both producer and purchaser.

In 1682 the Archbishopric of Salzburg celebrated its 1100th anniversary with an appropriately festal service in the Cathedral, depicted in an engraving by Melchior K¸sel. K¸selís engraving is a striking image, bringing into harmony the grand scale of the building (not yet one hundred years old), the ornamental richness of the interior, and the strong subdivisions of its space.

French composer Camille Saint-SaÎns was a child prodigy, musicologist, astronomer, archeologist, poet, writer, teacher, and one of the most important and prolific composers of his generation. Yet, Saint-SaÎnsí reputation has, for some time, mainly rested on his instrumental works the ìOrganî Symphony, the overture Carnival of the Animals and his oratorio turned opera, Samson et Dalila.

Manon Lescaut was Pucciniís first big success, and his first contribution to the repertory. Yet itís popularity has always lagged behind that of the composerís following three mega-hits La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, as well as some later successes such as Turandot and even Gianni Schicchi.

If Rossini could set a laundry list to music, then Ewa Podle? is one of the few candidates available to sing it. In this CD, recorded live at the Polish Radio Hall in Wroclaw (Wratislavia), during the thirty third International Festival Wratislavia Cantans Music and Fine Arts, the Polish contralto gives ample proof of her status as one of the great singers of her generation.

Naxos is perhaps the only significant major label regularly releasing complete opera sets. A few have won widespread praise, and certainly the prices, at super-budget level, make them attractive to both first-time buyers and those whose collections scarcely justify an additional set.

Beethoven Shines Thru the Mix

In the best of all possible worlds this recording of arias and show tunes would have been done in the original languages, the language of composition, with the vocal sounds intended by Gluck, Mozart, Weber, Wagner and others who defined great singing.