Certainly more than just the composer of the Four Seasons, Vivaldi also wrote hundreds of largely famous instrumental works, and his glorious church music is well known; but it wasn’t until recent decades that his operas – of which he is said to have written more than fifty – were resurrected. Orlando furioso occupies a central and very significant place among Vivaldi’s works. Not only does the whole score of this opera demonstrate its composer’s full, creative maturity, but its outstanding features are also an extraordinary musical beauty, an attractive recitative line, and a balance thus created between the various parts of the dramatic and musical whole. This exceptional musical achievement was no doubt partly due to the famous theme of the original story, as well as the literary and dramatic qualities of a first-rate libretto. Pier Luigi Pizzi’s 1979 production of Orlando furioso in Verona marked the beginning of contemporary international interest in Antonio Vivaldi’s operas. Ten years later the same director once more produced this work at the San Francisco Opera. A Californian public greeted the baroque magnificence of this production with great enthusiasm, and both the daily and specialist press outdid each other in eulogies of praise for the director, his new staging, the vocal casting of all the roles and the musical quality of the whole opera.
Xerxes
From the English National Opera 1988 Nicholas Hytner’s innovative production has been
much acclaimed and this live recording from the English National Opera features outstanding
performances from a fine English cast, including Dame Ann Murray, Christopher Robson, Jean Rigby,
Lesley Garrett, Rodney Macann and Valerie Masterson. Designer David Fielding adds curious,
surreal touches to his eighteenth-century settings in the London pleasure gardens at Vauxhall,
which heighten the absurdity of the love intrigues in Handel’s comic opera. (Sung in
English)
Billy Budd
A cast of luminaries supported by the English National Opera gives a profound and masterful reading of Britten’s gripping opera of sadism and injustice aboard a British man-o’-war this month. Following the widely acclaimed Peter Grimes, released on Arthaus in May 2003, this production reunites Tim Albery’s direction with the phenomenal talent of Philip Langridge, often acclaimed as a natural successor to Peter Pears. The libretto, by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, is based on the literary masterpiece by Herman Melville and tells the tale of a young seaman, Billy Budd, who is persecuted malevolently by his master-at-arms, Claggart. Accused of mutiny, the stammering Budd accidentally strikes Claggart dead and the tormented Captain Vere has no alternative but to hang him. The opera explores many universal themes – the individual at odds with society, the corruption of innocence, the continual conflict of good and evil – which no doubt lay close to the heart of Britten’s own pacifism and are themes common to much of his dramatic music.
This production has Britain’s leading operatic baritone, Thomas Allen, in one of his most distinguished roles, as Billy. He is noted not only for his superb abilities as a singer, but also for his acting skills, particularly necessary for the demanding role of the naive and virtuous character of Billy Budd. Philip Langridge as Captain Vere repeats his recently highly-praised portrayal.
L’africaine
Plácido Domingo, as Vasco da Gama, and Shirley Verrett, as the African queen whom he has enslaved, star in Meyerbeer’s spectacular grand opera, in a colourfully exotic production by Lotfi Mansouri, under the sensitive musical direction of Maurizio Arena. The visual splendour of Wolfram Skalicki’s designs matches the vocal distinction of the cast: “Domingo was the honeyed, ringing Gama of everyone’s expectations, Verrett as lustrous and inward a Sélika as ever, Ruth Ann Swenson a gem-like Inès” (Opera Magazine).
La finta giardiniera
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1988: “The new production of La finta giardiniera at Drottningholm fully justified producer Goran Järvefelt’s and conductor Östman’s faith in the opera. It proved not only an evening of rare enchantment, but an instructive argument for period performance of Mozart” (The Independent). Britt-Marie Aruhn sings the role of the Countess, who disguises herself as a gardener in order to find and forgive her lover, who has fled, thinking he has killed her in a quarrel. (Sung in Italian)
The Rape of Lucretia
This specially-staged studio recording of the English National Opera’s highly-acclaimed production of Benjamin Britten’s work features outstanding performances by Jean Rigby as Lucretia and Richard Van Allan as Collatinus. Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Kathryn Harries sing the Male and Female Chorus who poignantly comment on the brutal rape of Lucretia by Tarquinius, Prince of Rome. With ist bare scrubbed boards, ist sliding screens – against which the characters sometimes appear in silhouette – and ist high-railed gantry from which the Chorus observe, both Graham Vick’s staging and Russell Craig’s severe designs have a cool, elegant simplicity. With no extraneous movement or gesture to distract the eye, everything is focused with a luminous intensity on the ritualistically compact unfolding of the drama and the inescapable fate of her characters. This ascetic production tellingly matches the austere restraint of Britten’s first chamber opera, scored with sparse texture for a mere twelve instruments, a limitation over which Britten triumphed to produce music of deeply moving intensity.
This innovative production is a fine example of the exciting and imaginative work that is characteristic of the English National Opera.
Dido and Aeneas
When asked to adapt Purcell’s melodious and moving work for this special studio presentation, composer Howard Goodall aimed to reach an audience normally resistant to opera. He chose Debby Bishop and Peter Straker – stars of musicals rather than opera – as the tragic lovers, used modern instruments, including saxophone, guitar and synthesiser, in his orchestration, and replaced recitative with spoken dialogue. A Dido as Purcell might have written it today? In a short introduction, Goodall and Purcell virtuoso Simon Preston discuss this question.
King Priam
This specially-staged studio recording of King Priam features a strong cast.
Rodney Macann heads a strong cast in the title role, giving a compelling performance as Priam, alongside Sarah Walker’s moving portrayal of Hector’s wife, Andromache. Howard Haskin plays Priam’s rebellious son Paris, who elopes with Helen, wife of the Greek King of Sparta, thus instigating the great Trojan war.
Nicholas Hytner’s innovative production is matched by the starkly stylised setting designed by David Fielding, which creates a timeless arena of war. Minimal costume and colour, frozen action and white light further enhance Tippett’s marvellously sparse music played with fearless conviction and driving impetus by the youthful Kent Opera Orchestra under the direction of Roger Norrington.
Julius Caesar
Dame Janet Baker, in one of her greatest roles, leads a cast of some of Britain’s finest interpeters of baroque opera and their performance under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras is one of the highest musical excellence. John Copley’s acclaimed English National Opera production was restaged in studio, skilfully using all the technical advantages offered, to create this top quality recording.
The opera was first performed in 1724 at the Haymarket Theatre in London using castrati singers in the heroes’ roles. This production follows modern practice in using women in these parts. Dame Janet’s virtuoso role as Julius Caesar has been heralded as a masterful recreation of the music which Handel wrote for the finest singers of his time. Sung in English.
Gloriana
From the English National Opera 1984 Sarah Walker stars as Queen Elizabeth I of
England in a production by Colin Graham which succeeds memorably in capturing Britten’s dramatic
blend of passionate music, pageantry and psychological intensity. The relationship between the
ageing queen and the young Earl of Essex (Anthony Rolfe Johnson) throws into focus her lifelong
dilemma – the conflict of duty and personal love. “An operatic feast not to be missed” (The
Times). (Sung in English)