Robert Levine

This wonderful performance, taken from the stage of the Met in 1992 (and probably with a fix-up session or two), is a grand remembrance of two great singers who have since collapsed in different ways. Pavarotti already was uncomfortably fat when this was taped, but neither his breath nor his physical movements had been badly affected–that happened a mere two or three years later. At 57, the voice was still beautiful and pliable, his phrasing exquisite. And he loved the role of Nemorino and always seemed happy with both its comedy and pathos–he steals every scene he's in, and no one minds. (The Met recorded another L'elisir with him in 1981, and he is marginally better in every way–and at least 75 pounds lighter and therefore more agile on stage; but that performance is currently unavailable.)… –Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

This studio recording was made in 1989 coinciding with a memorable production from the Metropolitan Opera, later captured on DVD. It's a delightful performance, and a wonderful highlight of Pavarotti's later career. Kathleen Battle's sparkling soprano is a brilliant accompaniment to Pavarotti's still-ringing tone.
"Pavarotti's voice was still beautiful and pliable, his phrasing exquisite. And he loved the role of Nemorino and always seemed happy with both its comedy and pathos–he steals every scene he's in, and no one minds…Kathleen Battle sings Adina with perfect, pearl-like tone, absolute fluency and commitment, and a trill to die for…Enzo Dara is an ideal Dulcamara, just the right combination of huckster and sentimentalist, with ease in every register and with fast music."
– Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Before Otto Nicolai wrote the major work for which he is known–The Merry Wives of Windsor–he wrote Italian operas, of which Il Templario, first shown in 1840 in Turin and given more than 70 productions over the next 40 years, was the third. This recording is a reconstruction of Il Templario from various versions–there were revisions in Italy, a German language edition, a French piano-vocal score–by the musicologist Michael Wittmann. The result is a full-blown, exciting Italian opera in the bel canto tradition (more like Bellini, Mercadante, and Meyerbeer than Rossini) that looks forward to the energetic, melody-filled works of the young Verdi.

The German stage director Jürgen Flimm – and his design team of Robert Israel and Florence von Gerkan – have set the opera in the second half of the 20th century and have costumed the action decidedly on the American side of the Atlantic Ocean. Such an approach follows the line of Flimm’s other contemporary opera successes – for example his current Bayreuth Ring (premiered in 2000) or his 2001 Otello at the Berlin Staatsoper. Modernising the period does not become updating for its own sake. Rather, the actions and behaviour of the characters cunningly align contemporary manners with the existing prescriptions of a “period” libretto.