02.02.2020. La Notte Che Uscimmo Dalleuro

This is a collection called “Tidbeats”. Its title means “music bars” but it reads also as tidbits. It contains, in fact, original unreleased tracks from the likes of Stelvio Cipriani, Francesco De Masi, Piero Umiliani, Gianni Ferrio, Giorgio Gaslini, Riz Ortolani, Armando Trovajoli, Piero Piccioni and many other great masters of the Italian soundtracks.

This studio recording finds Kaufmann and Pappano reunited after their 2017 staged run at Covent Garden—the tenor’s first Otello. It’s an elegant performance: Pappano follows the letter of the score with great attention to detail, drawing magnificent playing from his Roman orchestra, with lyricism the defining quality. Kaufmann’s Otello matches his conductor’s approach and his baritonal tenor easily embraces the full range of this formidable role. It’s a well-thought-out performance that gives much pleasure. Federica Lombardi’s Desdemona develops convincingly throughout the opera and truly touches the heart. Carlos Álvarez makes Iago an introspective schemer. Well worth your attention.

In 2019 the music world commemorated the 350th anniversary of the death of MarcAntonio Cesti, the greatest composer of opera comedies and the most gifted melodist of the seventeenth century. Since Cesti lived and worked in Innsbruck for many years, La Dori, his brilliant comedy of disguises and hidden identities, was the perfect choice for posthumous honors »on location.« Ottavio Dantone, who is active from the Milan Scala to the Salzburg Festival with his specialists support in the field of Baroque and Classical opera, conducted his exquisite original sound ensemble, the Accademia Bizantina on the Innsbruck opera stage and set in motion the Dori renaissance. This comedy of loves errors set by the banks of the Euphrates and at the court of Babylon is now available for audio enjoyment on cpo.

Between 1960 and 1981, the music label Deutsche Grammophon recorded the eight greatest operas (plus the Requiem) composed by Verdi at La Scala in Milan…