Description:
Here is another contribution to this year's ongoing Verdi celebration, and like every selection from his operas, it is a treasure trove. The program combines some relatively unfamiliar but lovely arias from such early operas as Il corsaro and Luisa Miller with some of the most famous from later ones like Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo. It offers a fine opportunity to trace the development of Verdi's style and the ever greater depth and intensity of his musical characterization. The disc opens with Violetta's first, life- and love-affirming aria (from La traviata) and ends with her final, despairing farewell. Also included are th
Here is another contribution to this year's ongoing Verdi celebration, and like every selection from his operas, it is a treasure trove. The program combines some relatively unfamiliar but lovely arias from such early operas as Il corsaro and Luisa Miller with some of the most famous from later ones like Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo. It offers a fine opportunity to trace the development of Verdi's style and the ever greater depth and intensity of his musical characterization. The disc opens with Violetta's first, life- and love-affirming aria (from La traviata) and ends with her final, despairing farewell. Also included are the two equally contrasting first act and last act arias from Il trovatore. In all these widely diverse roles, Barbara Frittoli, who in only a few years has emerged as a world-class soprano, is superb. Her voice is meltingly beautiful, warm, pure, capable of much subtle nuance and inflection; her coloratura is easy and crystal-clear, her breath control impeccable. But what is even more striking is her unfailing, concentrated, inward expressiveness and emotional versatility, though she seems most comfortable in the lyrical arias. She creates believable characters without exaggeration or external effects, showing great restraint in taking liberties with tempo changes and fermatas. In the moving, dramatic scene from Luisa Miller, Frittoli is joined by an excellent bass, but in the second mournful, ominous aria from Il trovatore, the tenor is sadly missing. The orchestra, splendid throughout, is highlighted in two substantial instrumental selections. --Edith Eisler
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Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
Release date: 13 November 2001
EAN: 0685738582327 UPC: 685738582327
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