Composer: Francesco Cilea, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni, Amilcare Ponchielli, Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Onyx
Catalogue: ONYX4242
Release: 2023
Size: 1.12 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours (from La Gioconda)
02. Puccini: Manon Lescaut: Intermezzo Act III
03. Mascagni: L’Amico Fritz: Intermezzo
04. Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo
05. Puccini: Le Villi: La Tregenda
06. Leoncavallo: Pagliacci: Intermezzo
07. Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna Overture
08. Puccini: Suor Angelica – Intermezzo
09. Puccini: Edgar: Prelude to Act III
10. Mascagni: Le Maschere: Sinfonia
11. Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna: Intermezzo No. 1
12. Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna: Serenata
13. Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur: Intermezzo, Act II
14. Puccini: Madama Butterfly: Prelude to Act Two
There are plenty of instrumental recordings of music associated with operas, but instrumental excerpts from verismo operas are less common. This is a shame, for one of the strengths of the verismo movement is its way of integrating the orchestra into the action, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, under its charismatic conductor, Domingo Hindoyan, offers some sterling examples here. The album made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023, and one track, the Intermezzo from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, has even achieved a measure of virality, with its revelation of the suppressed passions that drive the opera toward its conclusion, that is a perfect illustration of the virtues of Hindoyan’s concept. However, the album’s joys don’t stop there. He leavens the verismo gloom with some upbeat pieces like the overture to Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s comedy Il segreto di Susanna, an opera about a woman concealing her cigarette smoking that could be revived in any number of ways. The perennially popular Dance of the Hours from Ponchielli’s La Gioconda is also here, but much of the material is much less common, and even listeners drenched in the verismo repertory will find much to enjoy here. Hindoyan seems to be propelling the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic into new territory; the strings are silky, and the whole performance has a lively feeling. The Onyx sound from the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is superior on this highly satisfying orchestral-opera release.
An album of dramatic and passionate Preludes and Intermezzos from some of the most popular Italian operas, from Domingo Hindoyan and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Translations of works by early French and Russian realists, Stendahl, Pushkin and Balzac among them, crossed international borders to inspire new homegrown styles of literary realism.
The trend took hold in Italy in the 1870s where it was promoted by the authors Luigi Capuana and Giovanni Verga under the banner of verismo, the Italian word for realism, and drew inspiration from the naturalism of Émile Zola and his disciples.
Verga’s short story Cavalleria rusticana (‘Rustic chivalry’) and the play that arose from it set the foundations for a new wave of Italian operas, with Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana serving as the genre’s enduring model.