Auber - Le Domino noir - Bonynge - Sumi Jo, Vernet,

 

 

Release Date: 10/02/1995 Label: Decca Number of discs: 2 Composer: Daniel-François Auber Performer: Richard Bonynge cd info/ buy

Review:

One stage work of Auber’s that might succeed in a revival is Le Domino noir (“The Black Domino”), one of those mistaken-identity farces that Scribe could probably churn out by the dozens. In brief: Angèle, a novice nun, decides to have a last fling and attends a ball on the night before she is to take her final vows. To conceal her identity, she wears a black mask (the “black domino” of the title). Another guest, Horace de Massares, is in love with her. A friend of his, Count Juliano, sets back the clocks one hour so Horace can spend more time with the mysterious woman. By the time she realizes what time it actually is, it is too late for her to return to the convent, whose gates close at midnight. Seeking a shelter for the night, she ends up at the house of Count Juliano, who is throwing a post-ball party. Afraid of being recognized, she talks Juliano’s housekeeper into letting her assume the disguise of a maid. Everyone is deceived but Horace, who recognizes her but says nothing. After an evening of misadventures, she manages to return, undetected, to the convent the next morning. Horace eventually shows up to see her. Conveniently, a letter from the Queen arrives, freeing Angèle from her vows, and she accepts Horace’s proposal of marriage. Opera audiences have swallowed more ridiculous plots. Auber and Scribe collaborated on an opera based on Scribe’s play Gustav III, which deals with the events leading to and including the assassination of Gustav III, King of Sweden. Antonio Somma used Scribe’s play as the basis for his libretto for Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. As is the case with Auber’s Manon Lescaut, any revival of Auber’s piece will be partially driven by curiosity, given what later composers did with the subject. As a filler, Bonynge presents the opera’s overture and a series of dances performed at the masked ball during which Gustav is slain. With his facility and lively sense of rhythm, Auber was a natural for the ballet field and, in fact, Scribe even supplied the scenarios for several of Auber’s ballet scores. Performer:  Isabelle Vernet,  Bruce Ford,  Patrick Power,  Martine Olmeda,  Jules Bastin, Doris Lamprecht,  Jocelyne Taillon,  Sumi Jo,  Gilles Cachemaille Conductor:  Richard Bonynge Orchestra/Ensemble:  English Chamber Orchestra,  London Voices

 

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The Very Best of Alfredo Kraus

 

Release Date: 04/26/2005 Label: EMI Classics Number of discs: 2 Composer: Various Performer: Alfredo Kraus cd info/ buy

Review:

Alfredo Kraus remained an EMI Classics artist throughout most of his career. It is for that reason that this compilation extends from the early 1960s (two arias from Così, as conducted by Karl Böhm) up to a live recording from December 1987 ("Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'amore and "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" from Faust). Kraus, who was born on September 24, 1927 in the Canary Islands, was 60 at the time, and hardly less of fresh of voice than he was in the Così recording. Kraus was a lyric tenor who never sounded juvenile. In lighter bel canto roles such as Ernesto (Don Pasquale) a more youthful vocal persona would have been more appropriate, perhaps, but in the heavier ones, such as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Arturo (I puritani), Kraus's power, maturity, and masculinity were welcomed – no tenorino here. His bright, trumpeting voice and exciting high notes were tempered by a sunny suavity. On the other hand, he could be a rather bland interpreter. Given his excellence in the French repertoire, in particular, it is tempting to go as far back as Georges Thill when looking for comparisons. Kraus died in 1999. Most of these selections are taken from Kraus's complete recordings; the exceptions are the two indicated above from 1987, which were recorded at this Paris Opéra. (Frankly, it is a shame that Kraus left commercial recordings of neither L'Elisir nor Faust.) This means that Kraus is joined by excellent singers, including Montserrat Caballé in I Puritani, Renata Scotto in La bohème and La traviata, and Beverly Sills in Rigoletto and Don Pasquale. The selections have been chosen well, although, as with the other releases, there are some untidy fade-in and fade-outs. With the exception of Così, the engineering remains bright and shiny. This is an excellent compilation, and for those who are less familiar with Kraus than with the "Three Tenors," this might whet their appetite for more.

 

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