The outstanding production of Verdi’s Masked Ball at the Salzburg Festivals 1989 and 1990 was Herbert von Karajan’s legacy to the Festival. Supported by a cast of superlative actor-singers in opulent scenery, Sir George Solti agreed to conduct the opera at short notice after Karajan’s unexpected death in 1989. The production had been expected to be a highlight in Karajan’s series of Verdi operas at Salzburg. Karajan’s celebrated ability to unite a cultivated sound with dramatic effects was known to create extraordinary and highly acclaimed opera events. For Un ballo in maschera Karajan planned something unusual: He would not set the opera in colonial Massachusetts, as the censors had forced Verdi to do when he was composing the work, but in Stockholm in the 1790s at the court of King Gustav III of Sweden, as Verdi had originally conceived his work. Together with the film director John Schlesinger and his stage team, Karajan developed a concept that promised theatrical splendour equal to the musical excellence that the conductor and the handpicked cast of singers would surely provide in collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
This gripping and visually stunning film has been universally hailed as one of the most satisfying of all versions of opera on celluloid. Director Gianfranco de Bosio has given an extraordinary dimension of realism to this story of love, deception and murder by shooting it all in the original Roman location. Using diverse cinematic tricks and imaginative camerawork, this opera film is much more a visual interpretation of Puccini’s music than a theatre piece filmed in original settings.
This 1977 production was highly enthusiastically received. Speight Jenkins, the noted critic and opera impresario, wrote of Cornell MacNeil's Rigoletto in the New York Post that "few have ever sung a more moving denunciation of the courtiers or a better Vengeance Duet with Gilda. His was a great Verdian interpretation… Dramatically (Domingo) and Miss Cotrubas did not make a false move, and the same camn be said for Justino Diaz' ominous, well-sung Sparafucile, Isola Jones, the Maddalena…while John Cheek made a stirring Monterone. conducted with the command of Verdi that has so often been his trademark. His adherence to the composer's markings, his rhythm and his opneing of the traditional small cuts in the opera all made for a superb musical performance.
The Met's first production in more than 60 years is "treated with a keen appreciation for the special requirements of verismo and a practically vanished performing tradition. Scotto has found her ideal role…a great performance… Domingo sang glamorously… Levine's affectionate concern for the music told in every measure… The massive sets by Ezio Frigerio serve the work exquisitely … Piero Faggioni’s graceful direction strikes a perfect balance” (New York Magazine)
The works included on this album span 25 years of creative activity. While current projects are always my focus, looking back is not something I often do; however, this recording confronted me with compositions representing a good part of my creative life. Most interesting was to notice that, although my music has changed through the years, there are traits common to all these pieces. These are elements that encompass aspects ranging from the expressive to the technical. A penchant for certain types of melodic constructions, harmonies, and orchestration choices is always present in these works. Another common element is the use of idioms that stem out of Afro-Caribbean and, more specifically, from the folk and popular music of Puerto Rico’ Composer, Roberto Sierra.
All the throbbing eroticism—and ultimate heartbreak—of Puccini’s youthful score is unleashed by James Levine and his top-flight cast. Plácido Domingo is Des Grieux, the handsome, headstrong young aristocrat who falls head over heels for the enticing, impetuous Manon Lescaut (Renata Scotto). Manon returns his love, but her obsession with luxury ruins them both. Gian Carlo Menotti’s opulent production, with sets and costumes by Desmond Heeley, superbly captures the colorful world of 18th century France.
This production of Verdi’s ever-popular, melodic opera was filmed in Busseto, near Parma, Italy, close to the composer’s home and birthplace. The story of the opera concerns the plight of Violetta a mid-19th century Parisian courtesan who is dying of consumption. She responds to the ardent love of the young Alfredo but sacrifices him when his father, Giorgio pleads that their love will ruin his daughter’s happiness and his son’s career. Leaving the musicality of the opera to conductor Plácido Domingo, Franco Zeffirelli is here concerned with a natural expression of Verdi’s opera – and Alexander Dumas’ story.
Domingo Hindoyan’s exciting programme of French repertoire includes early and late orchestral masterpieces by Debussy, Roussel’s sumptuous and brilliantly scored 2nd ballet suite from Bacchus et Ariadne, and the rarely heard and spectacular La Péri, subtitled Poèm Dansé by the highly self-critical but brilliant Dukas. ‘Of all the recent conductor signings at UK orchestras, this is the one that intrigues me the most’ The Spectator on Domingo Hindoyan’s appointment as Chief conductor of the RLPO.