Composer: Licinio Refice
Performer: Elena Schirru, Marta Mari, Mickael Spadaccini, Leon Kim, Giuseppina Piunti, Alessandro Spina, Christian Collia, Patrizio La Placa, Giovanni Andreoli
Orchestra: Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari
Conductor: Giuseppe Grazioli
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Dynamic
Catalogue: CDS7967
Release: 2023
Size: 1.9 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Cecilia
01. L’annuncio – Per amor di Gesù
Act I
02. La conoscete?
03. Troncate gl’indugi!
04. Non me, non me esaltate
05. O Imen! – Udite il canto?
06. Chi sei? – Ove tu, Caio
07. Cecilia, non ebbi dianzi
08. Ascolta, Valeriano, ascolta
09. Se tu senti d’amarmi veramente
Act II
10. Prelude
11. Come vedesti, donna, che sei cieca?
12. Oh, il tetro mormorio di quella folla!
13. Cercate e troverete!
14. Giunto a Damasco
15. Credetti a un sortilegio
16. Io ti battezzo nel nome del Padre
17. Un’alba gloriosa
Act III
18. Ha bestemmiato contro i nostri Iddii!
19. Una sola parola
20. Ordino che l’ipocausto
21. O fuoco, o casto fuoco
22. O fresca rugiada odorosa!
23. Grazie, sorelle!
24. Oh, dolce ascoltare!
25. Udite! Udite! Udite un canto?
Italian composer Licinio Refice was ordained as a priest in 1905, and his achievements as a composer sometimes led to conflict with the Catholic authorities. Cecilia was his first opera inspired by sacred themes, but even as a gloriously melodious azione sacra it took many years before a theatre production was possible. This ‘song of Cecilia’ narrates her martyrdom after refusing to renounce her Christian faith – it was an immediate and sensational success with audiences at its premiere in 1934. With its flowing and indisputably beautiful blend of Gregorian antiquity with verismo drama, Cecilia has retained an enduring and widespread popularity.
Licinio Refice’s Cecilia was premiered in 1934 in Rome. It has not been heard much outside Italy, although sopranos as prominent as Renata Scotto and Renata Tebaldi performed it; Refice died at a rehearsal with the latter in 1954. The opera deals with the life of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, although curiously, that aspect of her career isn’t involved in the story here. Instead, we get a pretty standard hagiography, perhaps unsurprising in that Refice was a priest as well as a composer. The musical language is not far from that of Puccini’s last operas — through-composed with continuous action — but there is a medieval overlay suggesting the sound of Gregorian chant, deployed effectively. Several of the big numbers are very strong, and even apart from productions of the opera singers would do well to get to know them. Consider Cecilia’s “Grazie, sorelle,” near the end, introduced by a long cello solo and soaring with an energy Puccini would have admired. Marta Mari, in the lead role, is up to the demands of the role. One wouldn’t confuse her with Scotto, but she is solid across the wide vocal range of this number. Anyone wondering about the highlights of the Italian operatic scene in the years after Puccini should hear this release; many, judging from the appearance of this release on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023, already have.