Sound
La Cenerentola is Gioachino Rossini's version of the popular Cinderella story, an exciting mixture of comedy, pathos, coloratura fireworks and masquerade. This Glyndebourne production by John Cox captures perfectly the fairy-tale spirit of the piece, matched by Allen Charles Klein's imaginative scenery, distorted like three-dimensional cut-outs in an old-fashioned story book.
Jacopo, son of Doge Francesco Foscari, was accused of murder and banished from Venice. Longing for his homeland, he writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to intercede with the city council. The letter is intercepted, and Jacopo is brought back to Venice to face further questioning. An opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on a historical play by George Byron. Premiered on 3 November 1844. From the box set of 27 Verdi operas, ‘Tutto Verdi’. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 3, 6, 8, 11 and 19 May 2005.
From the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, a comic-fantasy opera in four acts and seven scenes, with a libretto by Jakov Polonsky based on Nikolai Gogol’s "A Christmas Eve", and music by Tchaikovsky.
In a Tyrolean village in the first half of the 17th century. Luisa, Miller’s daughter, and Carlo, a young man she met in the village, are deeply in love. When Wurm, a courtier who is also in love with Luisa, asks Miller for his daughter’s hand in marriage, Miller replies that he cannot give his daughter away against her will. Offended, Wurm then reveals Carlo’s true identity: he is Rodolfo, the son of Count Walter. ‘Luisa Miller’ is an opera in three acts, the fourteenth by Giuseppe Verdi, then aged 36. It premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 8 December 1849. Taken from the ‘Tutto Verdi’ box set of 27 Verdi operas. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio in Parma on 20 and 22 October 2007.
A Musical fairy tale in three acts (1922)/Revised 1934. Performed by Orchestra E Coro Del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. Originally commissioned by the renowned puppeteer Vittorio Podrecca, The Sleeping Beauty has been revised for live performance
A count with simple, unpretentious tastes courts the commoner Chiariella at his villa in Marechiaro. After a couple of broken marriage promises, he manages to extricate himself from the situation with the help of a sprite that pops out of a bottle.
Live from Bologna, a concert featuring the finalists of the 29th International Composition Competition, held in memory of the victims of all massacres. Maestro J. Santonja conducts the Teatro Comunale Orchestra in a performance of the three finalist pieces. This will be followed by G. Verdi’s Requiem Mass, conducted by Maestro D. Renzetti.
I due Foscari was Verdi's sixth opera and based on Lord Byron's play The Two Foscari. Rich in intrigue, the plot tells of the final days of the famous Venetian doge, Francesco Foscari, and his illegal overthrow in 1457.
Live from the Arena di Verona 2005
Part of Tutto Verdi series - Un giorno di regno (2010) Parma. 'Un giorno di regno, ossia il finto Stanislao' ('A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus', but often translated into English as 'King for a Day') is an operatic melodramma giocoso in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto written in 1818 by Felice Romani. Originally written for the Bohemian composer Adalbert Gyrowetz, the libretto was based on the play 'Le faux Stanislas' written by the Frenchman Alexandre Vincent Pineu-Duval in 1808.
Lucia Mazzaria and Metropolitan Opera star Marcello Giordani lead the cast in this live 2006 performance. Also featured are Alberto Mastromarino & Julia Gertseva. The orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Massimo "V. Bellini" di Catania are conducted by Donato Renzetti.
