Imagin Del Rachide

Lawrence Foster conducts Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (1910), together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Cluj-Napoca and a cast of seasoned Puccini singers, including Melody Moore (Minnie), Marius Vlad (Dick Johnson) and Lester Lynch (Jack Rance). Puccini’s “Spaghetti Western” is not only an exploration of the New World, with the delightfully charismatic saloon owner Minnie running the show, but equally of new music; a pioneering work full of harmonic innovation and state-of-the-art orchestration effects. The depth of the orchestration, as well as of the various ensemble scenes that are characteristic of the opera, fully comes to life in this studio recording.

Leonora, the passionate young girl choosing seclusion and life as a hermit to avoid the revenge of her brother and punish herself for her forbidden love with Alvaro and the death of her father, is one of the most tragic roles of the Verdian repertoire. It was also the first roles Maria Callas took up in her career. This recording with her mentor Tullio Serafin features an amazing cast and is one of the high points of the Verdi discography.

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.