Composer: Arrigo Boito, Pietro Mascagni, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi
Performer: Riccardo Zanellato, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Chicago Children’s Choir
Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Riccardo Muti
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CSO Resound
Catalogue: CSOR9011801
Release: 2018
Size: 1.12 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Verdi: Nabucco
01. Overture
02. Gli arredi festivi
Verdi: Macbeth
03. Patria oppressa!
Verdi: I Vespri Siciliani
04. Overture
Puccini: Manon Lescaut
05. Intermezzo
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
06. Intermezzo
Boito: Mefistofele
07. Prelude – Ave, Signor degli angeli e dei santi (Falangi Celesti)
08. Ave, Signor (Mefistofele, Chorus Mysticus & Falangi Celesti)
09. Siam nimbi volanti dai limbi (Cherubini & Mefistofele)
10. Salve Regina! (La Penitenti, Falangi Celesti & Cherubini)
The term “Italian Masterworks” could be confusing; after all, these include overtures, interludes and symphonic and choral excerpts from some of the major works of the transalpine opera scene given to us by Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Only two arias find their way into the album, taken from Boito’s Mefistofele, performed here by Riccardo Zanellato. All the recordings are from a concert in 2017, so they are not, therefore, recycling older things put together without orchestral sound unity. Muti commits himself to making his recording a kind of great lyrical mass, alternating between the orchestra on its own, the choir and the two arias, beginning with the overture of Nabucco and ending with the almost sacred Salve Regina from Mefistofele – in this case with the Chicago Children’s Choir which joins the Orchestra’s symphonic chorus. Beautiful choice, beautiful sequence, beautiful assembly.
This new album features overtures, choruses and intermezzos drawn from masterworks by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and Boito, played with mastery by Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Having presented these works numerous times during his tenure as music director of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Maestro Muti performed them with the CSO in the 2016/17 season.
Recorded live during concerts in June 2017, this album presents a virtuosic showcase of 19th Century Italian music in all its passion, joy and heartbreak.
Produced by David Frost, winner of sixteen Grammy Awards, most recently in January 2018 for Classical Producer Of The Year, this release spotlights the magnificent connection between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Muti.