Leoncavallo/Mascagni: I Pagliacci / Cavalleria Rusticana (Complete Operas)

Leoncavallo/Mascagni: I Pagliacci / Cavalleria Rusticana (Complete Operas) cover $30.00 Out of Stock
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LEONCAVALLO / MASCAGNI
Leoncavallo/Mascagni: I Pagliacci / Cavalleria Rusticana (Complete Operas)
Barbara Frittoli, Jose Cura, Carlos Alvarez, Jessye Norman, Dmitri Hvorostovsky / Riccardo Chailly, Semyon Bychkov (conds)

[ Decca Opera! / 2 CD ]

Release Date: Thursday 10 March 2011

This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.

'The recording is rich, spacious and brilliant with glorious orchestral playing, making one marvel at the beauty and subtlety of Leoncavallo's orchestration.' A Key Recording, from The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs. (I Pagliacci)

"A rare modern recording of Leoncavallo's opera finds the soloists on good form, but the great Dutch orchestra and their Italian conductor are the real heroes here. Imaginatively cast."
Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Awards Issue 2000) [I Pagliacci]

Pagliacci comes near the top of the list of popular operas. It's a tragi-comedy filled with drama and irony but also, most importantly, with great tunes. The "highlight" aria within it, and one of the most famous numbers in all Italian opera, is undoubtedly "Vesti la giubba" (On with the motley).

"Jessye Norman's Santuzza lives and breathes, a credible character with some variety of tones in her utterance. Moreover she has a voice which in some respects suits the part very well. It is pre-eminently one of those roles that wants strength and colour in the middle register: mezzo-sopranos will often sing it successfully, though with them there is always the risk of a matronly timbre entering in, so that Norman's brand of soprano is to that extent ideal.
Hvorostovsky does well. He sings with fine tone and conviction, and in his song covers the high Fs which have formerly sounded vulnerable."
(Gramophone on Cavalleria Rusticana)