Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Performer: Carmen Giannattasio, Colin Lee, Troy Cook, Graeme Broadbent, Vuyani Mlinde, Loïc Félix, Sophie Bevan
Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: David Parry
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Opera Rara
Catalogue: ORC48
Release: 2013
Size: 1.02 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Caterina Cornaro
CD 01
Prologue
01. Preludio
02. “Salve o beati, al giubilo” (Coro)
03. “Tu l’amor mio, tu l’iride” (Gerardo, Caterina)
04. “Dell’empia Cipro il popolo” (Mocenigo, Andrea)
05. “Parta pur, ma vendicato sarà” (Coro, Andrea, Gerardo, Caterina)
06. “Or che l’astro in mar si cela” (Coro)
07. “Torna all’ospite tetto” (Caterina, Matilde)
08. “Vieni, o tu, che ognora” (Caterina)
09. “Deh! Vieni, t’affretta” (Caterina)
10. “Ah! Qui ancor padre mio?” (Caterina, Andrea, Mocenigo)
11. “Spera in me, della tua vita” (Gerardo, Caterina)
12. “Ah, va crudel maledetto quel giorno” (Gerardo, Caterina)
Act 1
13. “Sei bella, o Cipro!” (Mocenigo, Strozzi)
14. “Credi che dorma, o incauto” (Mocenigo, Strozzi)
15. “Lasciami, o Cavalier” (Lusignano, Cavaliere)
16. “Da che z sposa Caterina” (Lusignano)
17. “Core, e pugnale” (Coro, Strozzi)
18. “Mano a’ pugnali” (Coro, Strozzi, Gerardo, Lusignano, Sgherri)
19. “Parla, ardisci io son quel desso” (Gerardo, Lusignano)
20. “Vedi io piango” (Gerardo, Lusignano)
21. “Che qui non batte un core ingrato” (Gerardo, Lusignano)
22. “Si, dall’ardir degli empi” (Gerardo, Lusignano)
CD 02
Act 1
01. “Gemmata il serto” (Coro)
02. “Guarda, s’avanza il Re” (Caterina, Lusignano)
03. “Ah, non turbarti a questi accenti” (Lusignano, Caterina)
04. “O re! … Strozzi?” (Strozzi, Lusignano, Gerardo, Caterina)
05. “Da quel di che lacerato” (Gerardo, Caterina)
06. “De me fosti ognor compianto, fratel mio” (Caterina, Gerardo)
07. “Parti” (Caterina, Gerardo, Mocenigo, Lusignano)
08. “Indietro! Io, vil carnefice” (Lusignano, Mocenigo, Caterina, Gerardo)
09. “Olà? Gran re, la collera vendicatrice è tarda” (Lusignano, Mocenigo)
10. “Va fellon di questa terra” (Lusignano, Caterina, Gerardo, Mocenigo, Coro)
Act 2
11. “Misera patria!” (Cavaliere, Gerardo)
12. “Io trar non voglio campi ed onori” (Gerardo)
13. “Guerra! Guerra” (Coro, Gerardo)
14. “Morte, morte! Fur troppi gl’insulti” (Gerardo, Coro)
15. “Oh ciel! Che tumulto!” (Coro)
16. “Dolorosa incertezza!” (Caterina, Coro)
17. “Pietà, o Signor” (Caterina)
18. “Vittoria! Vittoria!” (Coro, Caterina, Gerardo, Lusignano)
19. “Orsù della vitoria” (Lusignano, Gerardo, Caterina, Coro)
20. “Non più affanni” (Caterina, Coro)
21. “Vittoria! Vittoria!” (Coro, Caterina, Lusignano)
22. “Piangi, sì piangi, o misera” (Coro, Caterina, Lusignano)
Gaetano Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro was one of the composer’s last operas, immediately preceding the great Don Pasquale. It’s a lyric tragedy that had promising subject matter: the titular Cypriot queen was an actual individual (1454-1510) who was deposed by the Republic of Venice and exiled with an appropriate amount of soprano lamentation. The opera bombed at its premiere in Naples, partly, Donizetti feared, because censors took a bite out of its dramatic coherence, and it lay untouched for another 130 years. Montserrat Caballé was one of its early champions, and it is generally thought to require a soprano with a hefty dose of tragic sense. Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio has the right sound in this recording by the specialist label Opera Rara, which has devoted itself to lost repertory of the bel canto years. It gets relatively big-name support from the BBC Symphony under David Parry, perhaps because this is a true rarity: a studio-recording premiere of a work by a major composer. As such, the release deserves attention from Donizetti fans and lovers of bel canto opera in general.
Caterina Cornaro was written in the extremely productive last period of Donizetti’s life (between Don Pasquale and Linda di Chamounix) and was the last of his operas to be premiered in the composer’s lifetime. Like every other work of this period, it is intensely original, in this case being unusually dark in both subject matter and general musical tone.
This is the only opera of Donizetti’s later period not to have had a quality modern recording. Conductor David Parry says: “The opera requires a prima donna with a wonderful voice, extraordinary technique and exceptional histrionic ability, which we have in Carmen Giannattasio: the role could actually have been written for her. The story is resonant and believable, a woman forced into a political marriage with a king she does not love, but who turns out to be noble and good, so that she feels that she cannot abandon him, and who is assassinated at the instigation of a bitter enemy, leaving her to rule on her own. This calls up from Donizetti one of his most deeply felt, atmospheric and dramatically truthful scores. It is concise and hard-hitting, and I simply cannot understand why the opera is not in the repertoire; it is badly in need of a proper studio-recording.”