Meyerbeer

A grand opera that dominated the stages of Europe for most of the 19th century, Robert le diable is a masterpiece.
Director Laurent Pelly breathes new life into Giacomo Meyerbeer’s great spectacle and audaciously entertaining moral fable, in this colourful new staging for The Royal Opera. The wonderful score includes brilliant arias, dramatic ensembles, rousing choruses and a ballet of ghostly nuns, and with the wavering hero of the title sung by Bryan Hymel, acclaimed for his role as Énée in Les Troyens for The Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, this is an unmissable experience.

Meyerbeer composed Il Crociato in just over one year, between September 1822 and the following autumn, at the end of the German composer's so-called "Italian period". Although this is an opera of great dramatic and musical complexity its première was highly successful with both audience and critics, one commentator accurately describing it as "a building of highlyapplauded construction". The plot, so rich in events, skilfully weaves historical-religious elements with private happenings and feelings. Against the background of the interreligious conflict between Christians and Muslims, the story of the main characters unfolds in an efficacious alternation of grand choral scenes and solo numbers with arias and cabalettas.

This album is a reissue of material originally released in 1958 (Massenet, Meyerbeer) and 1959 (Dvořák) and recorded in two different venues: Mann Auditorium, Israel (Massenet, Meyerbeer) and Kingsway Hall, London (Dvořák). The sound, recorded early in the stereo era, is full and rich, bright and clear. As was often the custom when stereo was first gaining in popularity, there is a more clearly defined separation of the channels than we find today. Yes, there was a time when audiophiles wowed their friends by showing off their stereo records and eyes turned from speaker to speaker marveling that the flute came from here, the cello from there, etc. Aside from being a reminder of the early days of hi-fidelity stereo, this CD is valuable for preserving Martinon’s happy and joyous recordings of infectious dance music.

The present release is the first recording of Meyerbeer‘s principal work, recorded on the basis of the new critical edition of the opera. This edition not only considers the musical text of the version known during the 19th century and released by the publisher Brandus, but also offers the version of the work that Meyerbeer produced for the definitive instrumentation and allowed to be rehearsed in Paris beginning in December 1848. OehmsClassics is delighted not only over the magnificent production, but also over the continuation of their collaboration with the Aalto Music Theatre in Essen. With an all-star cast including John Osborn, Marianne Cornetti, Lynette Tapia, and many more, this production is one that cannot be missed.

This opera marks a turning point in two ways. It sets the direction for Italian opera after Rossini and it's international success leads to Meyerbeer's Paris operas. Indebted to Rossini, yes - but it in a distinct voice - Meyerbeer's. It's a leaner Meyerbeer than Paris - no "effects without causes" here, although the plot is not the finest. Not much action. More about revelations between characters…

By Richard (Minneapolis, Mongolia).

Margherita d’Anjou is the fourth of Meyerbeer’s six Italian operas. Although he is often accused of imitating Rossini, this engaging opera shows how Meyerbeer uses the musical conventions of the time to forge his own musical style. With this score he challenged the orchestra of La Scala, one of the best in Italy, to its technical limits. New and exciting effects are heard in the orchestration of Margherita d’Anjou – ideas that would surface again in Dinorah, almost 40 years later. For this recording Opera Rara fields another extraordinary cast with the gifted soprano Annick Massis in the title role.