Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Performer: Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli, Roberto Tagliavini, Johannes Dunz, Philharmonia Chor Wien
Orchestra: Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Conductor: Paolo Carignani
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 4792712
Release: 2014
Size: 455 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Giovanna d’Arco
CD 01
01. Sinfonia
Prologo
02. “Qual v’ha speme?”
03. “Il Re! Nel suo bel volto”
04. “Sotto una quercia parvemi”
05. “V’ha dunque un loco simile”
06. “Pondo è letal, martiro”
07. “Gelo, terrore m’invade!”
08. “Oh, ben s’addice questo torbido cielo”
09. “Sempre all’alba ed alla sera”
10. “Paventi, Carlo, tu forse?”
11. “Tu sei bella”
12. “Pronta sono!…Son guerriera”
Act 1
13. “Ai lari!..Alla patria!”
14. “Questa rea che vi percuote”
15. “Franco son io, ma in core”
16. “So che per via di triboli”
17. “Qui! Qui…dove più s’apre libero il cielo”
18. “O fatidica foresta”
19. “Ho risolto – E in tal momenti”
20. “T’arretri e palpiti!”
21. “Taci!…Le vie traboccano”
22. “Vieni al tempio”
CD 02
Act 2
01. “Dal cielo a noi chi viene”
02. “Ecco il luogo”
03. “…Speme al vecchio era una figlia”
04. “Te, Dio, Iodiam”
05. “Compiuto è il rito!…Non fuggir, donzella!”
06. “No! forme d’angelo…L’amaro calice sommessa io bevo”
07. “Ti discolpa!…Imbianca e tace!”
Act 3
08. “I Franci!…Oh qual mi scuote rumor di guerra?”
09. “A lui pensa!…Amai, ma un solo istante”
10. “Tu che all’eletto Sàulo”
11. “Or dal padre benedetta”
12. “Ecco! Ella vola – Presa è la rocca”
13. “Di novel prodigio il ciel ne arrise”
14. “Quale più fido amico”
15. “Un suon funereo”
16. “Che mai fu? …S’apre il cielo”
A dream team: Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo and Giuseppe Verdi! Giovanna d’Arco was recorded live during the critically acclaimed performances of 2013 Salzburg Festival.
Full of melodies, passion and pathos, Giovanna d’Arco, Verdi’s take on the Joan of Arc story and its legendary heroine, is regarded as one of the great composer’s early masterpieces. The first complete audio opera recording of Domingo as a baritone and the first complete recording of this significant Verdi work in Deutsche Grammophon’s history.
Anna Netrebko is a phenomenon: quite simply, the undisputed superstar – “la prima donna assoluta” (New York Post) – of opera today. The “Verdi” album announced Netrebko’s long-awaited move into the dramatic repertoire of Italian grand opera. With this Giovanna d’Arco recording she plunges completely into this deep, rich world.
Domingo is a marvel – “The King of Opera” (Die Presse). Widely hailed as the greatest Verdi tenor of his day, even as a baritone, with his distinctive “bronze” vocal timbre, musical intelligence and sense of poetry, he remains one of our most compelling Verdi interpreters.
Young Italian tenor Francesco Meli is one of the rising stars of bel canto. Renowned Verdi and bel canto maestro Paolo Carignani coaxes idiomatic style and flair from the Salzburg forces.
An early work from 1845, Giuseppe Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) is one of his least known operas. Despite great popularity in its time, its reputation has suffered over the years, due to negative critical assessments, changes in public taste, and fewer and fewer performances. However, because this 2014 Deutsche Grammophon recording features two of opera’s greatest stars — Anna Netrebko as the warrior heroine, and Plácido Domingo, singing the baritone role of her father, Giacomo — it is sure to gain much more attention. In 2013, Netrebko and Domingo performed this opera at the Salzburg Festival, and this live recording with the Munich Radio Orchestra under Paolo Carignani documents the concert presentation. Netrebko is in top form as the maid of Orléans, singing with full power and exquisite expressive control, and Domingo matches her throughout, with an agonized performance that is well suited to the melodramatic side of Verdi. But musically, this opera is not convincing because of its uneven mix of material: Verdi offers some highly affecting solos, and the scenes between Giovanna and Giacomo are of primary interest. Even so, too much of the opera consists of facile set pieces and choruses that seem hackneyed and rather silly. This is something Verdi’s fans won’t mind in the least, and admirers of Netrebko and Domingo will want this recording for their passionate interpretations, no matter how contrived the score may be.