TUTTO VERDI – this edition to mark the Verdi bicentenary sets standards by which all similar projects will be judged. It includes all twenty-six operas by the greatest Italian stage composer, together with his immortal Requiem, all of them in definitive performances.
“This is how Verdi should be played” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on TUTTO VERDI
Umberto Giordano’s verismo masterpiece Andrea Chénier is set against the background of the horrors of the French Revolution and tells the tragic tale of a doomed love affair involving the historical figure of the poet André Chénier, who initially champions the Revolution but later turns against its leaders, before ending up on the scaffold. A vast sculpture rising up out of Lake Constance depicts one of the leaders of the Revolution, Marat, lying dead in his bath, creating a spectacular set of a kind possible only on the lakeside stage in Bregenz. “A gigantic set with iconic qualities – a masterly achievement.” (Die Welt) “The Mexican tenor Héctor Sandoval was brilliant in the title role.” (ORF) “The
singing was magnificent, the effects hit home. Bregenz has done it again.” (RP Online)
With his spectacular production of Umberto Giordano’s “Andrea Chenier”, director Keith Warner unites intellectual depth and exciting entertainment for the eyes and ears using every possible resource offered by Bregenz’s floating stage. The colossal set by David Fielding is inspired by Jacques- Louis David’s famous painting “Death of Marat”. The opera is both a moving love story and a historical thriller with a highly emotional score. Ulf Schirmer, the Wiener Symphoniker and the excellent soloists Hector Sandoval, Norma Fantini and Scott Henricks unleash the entire power of this Italian verismo work.
Celebrated conductor Lorin Maazel, a young orchestra of outstanding musicians, four high-caliber soloists and one of the great choral works of musical literature – this alone would make this live recording of Verdi’s Requiem a stand-out document of filmed music. But there is more: the venue of this grandiose performance, the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, with its shimmering golden Byzantine mosaics framed by mighty pillars and arches. Modeled on Constantine the Great’s Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, the 11th-century basilica has been the workplace of many a great musician in the past, such as Claudio Monteverdi, Adrian Willaert and Giovanni Gabrieli. Lorin Maazel, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is also the Music Director of the Symphonica Toscanini, a young orchestra founded in May 2006 that has performed under Zubin Mehta, Georges Prêtre and Kurt Masur. ‘In recent tours of Europe and the U.S., the musicians expressed their unique musical potential by playing so harmoniously and compellingly as a group that they conquered every audience,’ said Maazel.
