Donizetti

This opera semiseria is late Donizetti, composed a good ten years after the popular L’elisir d’amore, a work whose charm it emulates, though its score is less consistently inspired. A huge success at its 1842 premiere in Vienna, Linda never completely disappeared from the international repertoire, and ought to be seriously considered by British opera houses. Serafin conducts a great performance, with a first-rate all-Italian cast of Fifties favourites.

Pigmalione was Gaetano Donizetti’s first opera, written to a libretto by Simeone Antonio Sografi in just two weeks when he was 19. Donizetti himself defined Pigmalione as a 'lyrical scene'. It was his only work to be based on a mythological subject and tells the story of a sculptor whose statue comes alive. The main role is sung by Antonino Siragusa, who gives a masterful interpretation with his polished and colourful voice, especially in the substantial recitatives. Japanese soprano Aya Wakizono gives an excellent performance in the role of Galatea, her enticing voice well suited to the demands of the short part.

The 19th century was a significant time for both opera and the guitar. Opera was everywhere, and its characteristics gradually began to appear in other styles of music as composers tried to encapsulate the expressiveness and flexibility of the voice into their works. At the same time, the guitar underwent major changes in construction; this disc showcases pieces that combine these two major elements of 19th? century music, all of which are played by Roch Modrzejewski – praised in Les Cahiers de la Guitare as an ‘extraordinary, demanding, gifted and clever guitarist’.

Slowly the camera roams through the narrow streets of Macerata, past the cathedral, the monuments, the library and the university, until it reaches the Arena Sferisterio. In the 1820s this was a competition venue for a handball game popular at that time. At the beginning of the twentieth century the ‘neo-classical monster’, as the stadium is disrespectfully called in the vernacular, was also discovered as an opera venue and a dazzling backdrop for the ‘Macerata Opera Festival’. The stage, which is 14.5 meters deep and 40 meters wide, is sufficiently large for all kinds of events and spectacles to be staged. At the end of July 2002 the time had come again. An audience of 5000 had gathered to listen to the new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore under the direction Saverio Marconi, conducted by Niels Muus.

This DVD shows an impressive staging of Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti filmed at the opera house in Genoa, directed by preeminent opera director Graham Vick, conducted by renowned opera conductor Patrick Fournillier and sung by an all star cast - Marcelo Álvarez hailed as one of the hottest tenors on the international scene and Stefania Bonfadelli frequent guest on the stages of the world‘s greatest opera houses and celebrated by audience and critics alike. In this staging, Graham Vick concentrated all his attention on the performers and employed the simplest of means to create spaces representing the atmosphere of the scenes rather than concrete physical locations for them. In spirit, therefore, his production remains loyal to the libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, the music by Gaetano Donizetti and their concentration on the story’s essentials, focussing as closely as possible on the passionate engagement of Lucia, Edgardo and Enrico.

Nelly Miricioiu and Renée Fleming, as Eleanor of Aquitaine and the fair Rosamund, battle for the love of Bruce Ford (Henry II of England) in one of Donizetti’s more intimate serious works. A cholera epidemic in 1837 prevented the performance of the revised ending – given here complete for the first time – in which the jealous Eleanor stabs her rival. 'The performance could hardly be improved. … Renée Fleming … one of the most lovely voices to be hearde in our time' (John Steane, The Gramophone)

Bergamo, Italy, Teatro Donizetti, second edition of the Bergamo Music Festival, October 12th-14th, 2007
This new Dynamic opera, Elisir d’amore was performed in Donizetti’s native city of Bergamo, during the most important world festival dedicated to the Italian composer. The opera is set in a rural environment and the action takes place in a country farm. It is a brilliant comedy with many points of contact with semi-serious operas. The choice of this subject must have been strongly influenced by the successes of Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula…

Das amerikanische renommierte Fachmagazin „Fanfare“ sprach von „einem überzeugendern Einsatz für einige der glänzendsten Werke der Quartett-Literatur“, als unsere erste cpo-Produktion mit Streichquartetten von Gaetano Donizetti erschien.

Diana Damrau gave her first performance as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera in October 2008, to much critical acclaim. This recording with the Munich Opera followed almost five years later, in July 2013, showing that she has staying power in the ultimate coloratura role. The Munich performance was conducted by Jesús López-Cobos, and Damrau was joined by an exceptional cast, which included Joseph Calleja as Edgardo, Ludovic Tézier as Enrico, and Nicolas Testé as Raimondo.