Donizetti - Tudor Queens
£13.25
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Label: Erato
Cat No: 9029528093
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 2nd October 2020
Contents
Works
Anna Bolena » Chi mi sveglia?
» Chi puo vederla
» Cielo, a'miei lunghi spasimi
» Coppia iniqua
» Piangete voi? ...Al dolce guidami castel natio
» Qual mesto suon?
Maria Stuarda » Ah! Se un giorno da queste ritorte
» Anna… Qui piu sommessi
» Deh! Tu di un umile
» Di un cor che muore... Giunge il conte
» Oh colpo!
» Vedeste? Vedemmo... Deh! tu d'un umile
Roberto Devereux » Che m'apporti?
» E sara in questi orribili momenti
» Quel sangue versato al cielo s'innalza (Act 3)
» Vivi ingrato a lei d'accanto (Act 3)
Artists
Diana Damrau (soprano)India Dragoti (mezzo-soprano)
Sara Rocchi (mezzo-soprano)
Domenico Pellicola (tenor)
Saverio Fiore (tenor)
Andrii Ganchuk (baritone)
Fabrizio Beggi (bass)
Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Conductor
Antonio PappanoWorks
Anna Bolena » Chi mi sveglia?
» Chi puo vederla
» Cielo, a'miei lunghi spasimi
» Coppia iniqua
» Piangete voi? ...Al dolce guidami castel natio
» Qual mesto suon?
Maria Stuarda » Ah! Se un giorno da queste ritorte
» Anna… Qui piu sommessi
» Deh! Tu di un umile
» Di un cor che muore... Giunge il conte
» Oh colpo!
» Vedeste? Vedemmo... Deh! tu d'un umile
Roberto Devereux » Che m'apporti?
» E sara in questi orribili momenti
» Quel sangue versato al cielo s'innalza (Act 3)
» Vivi ingrato a lei d'accanto (Act 3)
Artists
Diana Damrau (soprano)India Dragoti (mezzo-soprano)
Sara Rocchi (mezzo-soprano)
Domenico Pellicola (tenor)
Saverio Fiore (tenor)
Andrii Ganchuk (baritone)
Fabrizio Beggi (bass)
Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Conductor
Antonio PappanoAbout
Soprano Diana Damrau assumes the crowns of three different Tudor queens, the central characters in operas by Donizetti: Anne Boleyn (Anna Bolena), Mary, Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda), and Elizabeth I (Roberto Devereux). With Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra and Chorus of Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, she performs the substantial and climactic final scene of each work. When Damrau sang Maria Stuarda at the Zurich Opera, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote: “She commands a voice that seems to have no limits. Her coloratura is stunning, her vocal range impressive, and her dynamic shadings are breath-taking. Damrau is in a class of her own.”
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 11: ‘Chi può vederla’ (chorus)
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2Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 12: ‘Piangete voi?’ (Anna)
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3Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 12: ‘Al dolce guidami’ (Anna, chorus)
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4Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 13: ‘Qual mesto suon?’ (Anna, Hervey, Percy, Rochefort, Smeton, chorus)
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5Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 13: ‘Cielo, a’ miei lunghi spasimi’ (Anna, Percy, Rochefort, Smeton)
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6Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 13: ‘Chi mi sveglia?’ (Anna, Percy, Rochefort, Smeton, chorus)
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7Anna Bolena, Act 2 Sc 13: ‘Coppia iniqua, l’estrema vendetta’ (Anna, Percy, Rochefort, Smeton, chorus)
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8Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 6: ‘Vedeste?’ / ‘Vedemmo’ (chorus)
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9Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 7: ‘Anna’ / ‘Qui più sommessi favellata’ (Maria, Anna, chorus)
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10Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 8: ‘Deh! Tu di un’umile’ (Maria, Anna, Talbot, chorus)
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11Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 9: ‘Oh colpo!’ (Maria, Cecil, chorus)
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12Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 9: ‘D’un cor che muore’ (Maria, Anna, Cecil, Talbot, chorus)
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13Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 10: ‘Giunge il Conte’ (Maria, Leicester, Cecil, Talbot, chorus)
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14Maria Stuarda, Act 3 Sc 10: ‘Ah! se un giorno da queste ritorte’ (Maria, Anna, Leicester, Cecil, Talbot, chorus)
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15Roberto Devereux, Act 3 Sc 6: ‘E Sara in questi orribili momenti’ (Elisabetta, chorus)
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16Roberto Devereux, Act 3 Sc 6: ‘Vivi, ingrato’ (Elisabetta)
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17Roberto Devereux, Act 3 Sc 7: ‘Che m’apporti’ (Elisabetta, Cecil, Sara, Nottingham)
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18Roberto Devereux, Act 3 Sc 9: ‘Quel sangue varsato’ (Elisabetta, chorus)
Europadisc Review
Few sopranos today are as well-equipped to carry off the central female roles of Donizetti’s three great ‘Tudor' operas as German soprano Diana Damrau. So it was an excellent idea for Erato to combine the final scenes of each opera – Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux – on a single disc as a vehicle for her splendid voice. Much more than a collection of excerpts, these scenes lend themselves to the dramatic unfolding and climax of each work. And that sense of dramatic continuity and involvement is further enhanced by Damrau’s collaborators, the Chorus and Orchestra of Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under their music director, Antonio Pappano. With supporting soloists drawn from the ‘Fabbrica’ Young Artist Program of the Rome Opera, this is more than a mere ‘taster’ for the complete works, enabling the listener to experience Donizetti’s steadily developing dramatic and musical maturity.
Probably more by chance than by design, Donizetti set these operas chronologically, and that is how they are presented here, starting with the sad fate of Anne Boleyn and culminating with a version of her daughter Elizabeth’s entanglement with favourite Robert Devereux that takes plenty of liberties with historical facts but is emotionally completely gripping.
We start, then, with Anna Bolena, Donizetti’s first great success and the apex of his early career. As so often with Donizetti, the demands of a standard dramatic template are combined with a sure instinct for atmosphere, with a scene-setting orchestral introduction (featuring characteristically prominent woodwind parts) and chorus that immediately grab the audience’s attention. Indeed, apart from Damrau’s singing, the orchestral and choral contributions are one of the main reasons for this disc’s success. The unhappy Anna’s first utterances (‘Piangete voi?’) are delicacy itself, but her bold inner character soon emerges in singing of real power. Her childhood reminiscences in ‘Al dolce guidami’, with their lovingly indulgent ornamentation, are exquisitely done, as is her prayer ‘Cielo, a’ miei lunghi spasimi’ (based on the popular tune ‘Home, Sweet Home’) with its gentle support from her fellow prisoners.
The dramatic tension rises as noises are heard from the celebrations preceding Henry and Jane Seymour’s nuptial celebrations, and Anna’s fate becomes all too evident to her. The concluding cabaletta, ‘Coppia iniqua’, is delivered with unmatched spirit and panache, showing the soon-to-be-executed queen’s strength of character right to the end. It’s a rousing end to a marvellously compelling performance.
The timeline then takes us to the gloomy surroundings of Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned at the behest of her cousin Elizabeth I. Again, an orchestral-choral introduction vividly sets the scene. As Roger Parker points out in his booklet notes, this finale is on a far grander scale. Its emotional heart is the great prayer, ‘Deh! Tu di un’umile’, magically scored, and even more expressive than its predecessor in Anna Bolena even though the solo part is in parts more restrained. Here, Damrau’s superb dynamic and tonal control really comes into its own. The following scene, ‘Oh colpo!’ is introduced with biting wind chords, and throughout you can hear the sort of dramatic and musical fingerprints that made such an impression on the young Verdi. Maria’s ‘D’un cor che muore’ is radiantly tender, while her closing ‘Ah! se un giorno’, with its characteristic major-minor interplay, is a marvel, unfolding with steady beauty until the voice finally rises to the explosive and stratospheric conclusion.
Finally, to the Elizabethan court itself, and the altogether more concise conclusion to Roberto Devereux. Donizetti’s writing here is more harmonically adventurous than before, notably in Elisabetta’s ‘Vivi, ingrato’, which reveals her beneath the regal facade as a very human creature. The closing cabaletta, ‘Quel sangue varsato’, is similarly adventurous, and as a heartbroken Elisabetta stares at her own mortality (and a completely ahistorical abdication), Damrau’s imperious yet touching singing holds the listener’s attention right to the heaven-storming end.
This is a wonderful disc in every way, impressively recorded, and with devoted performances of huge dramatic, musical and emotional accomplishment. Damrau and Pappano work hand-in-glove to maximise the expressive involvement of Donizetti’s brilliant music, and it’s hard to imagine a better partnership in these works, certainly in the present day. The booklet notes (including an effusive introduction from Damrau herself which demonstrates the depth of her commitment to the characters) are set in a miniscule font-size, but there are full texts and translations which are more legible. Emphatically a release to ignite the hearts of opera lovers everywhere.
Probably more by chance than by design, Donizetti set these operas chronologically, and that is how they are presented here, starting with the sad fate of Anne Boleyn and culminating with a version of her daughter Elizabeth’s entanglement with favourite Robert Devereux that takes plenty of liberties with historical facts but is emotionally completely gripping.
We start, then, with Anna Bolena, Donizetti’s first great success and the apex of his early career. As so often with Donizetti, the demands of a standard dramatic template are combined with a sure instinct for atmosphere, with a scene-setting orchestral introduction (featuring characteristically prominent woodwind parts) and chorus that immediately grab the audience’s attention. Indeed, apart from Damrau’s singing, the orchestral and choral contributions are one of the main reasons for this disc’s success. The unhappy Anna’s first utterances (‘Piangete voi?’) are delicacy itself, but her bold inner character soon emerges in singing of real power. Her childhood reminiscences in ‘Al dolce guidami’, with their lovingly indulgent ornamentation, are exquisitely done, as is her prayer ‘Cielo, a’ miei lunghi spasimi’ (based on the popular tune ‘Home, Sweet Home’) with its gentle support from her fellow prisoners.
The dramatic tension rises as noises are heard from the celebrations preceding Henry and Jane Seymour’s nuptial celebrations, and Anna’s fate becomes all too evident to her. The concluding cabaletta, ‘Coppia iniqua’, is delivered with unmatched spirit and panache, showing the soon-to-be-executed queen’s strength of character right to the end. It’s a rousing end to a marvellously compelling performance.
The timeline then takes us to the gloomy surroundings of Fotheringhay Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned at the behest of her cousin Elizabeth I. Again, an orchestral-choral introduction vividly sets the scene. As Roger Parker points out in his booklet notes, this finale is on a far grander scale. Its emotional heart is the great prayer, ‘Deh! Tu di un’umile’, magically scored, and even more expressive than its predecessor in Anna Bolena even though the solo part is in parts more restrained. Here, Damrau’s superb dynamic and tonal control really comes into its own. The following scene, ‘Oh colpo!’ is introduced with biting wind chords, and throughout you can hear the sort of dramatic and musical fingerprints that made such an impression on the young Verdi. Maria’s ‘D’un cor che muore’ is radiantly tender, while her closing ‘Ah! se un giorno’, with its characteristic major-minor interplay, is a marvel, unfolding with steady beauty until the voice finally rises to the explosive and stratospheric conclusion.
Finally, to the Elizabethan court itself, and the altogether more concise conclusion to Roberto Devereux. Donizetti’s writing here is more harmonically adventurous than before, notably in Elisabetta’s ‘Vivi, ingrato’, which reveals her beneath the regal facade as a very human creature. The closing cabaletta, ‘Quel sangue varsato’, is similarly adventurous, and as a heartbroken Elisabetta stares at her own mortality (and a completely ahistorical abdication), Damrau’s imperious yet touching singing holds the listener’s attention right to the heaven-storming end.
This is a wonderful disc in every way, impressively recorded, and with devoted performances of huge dramatic, musical and emotional accomplishment. Damrau and Pappano work hand-in-glove to maximise the expressive involvement of Donizetti’s brilliant music, and it’s hard to imagine a better partnership in these works, certainly in the present day. The booklet notes (including an effusive introduction from Damrau herself which demonstrates the depth of her commitment to the characters) are set in a miniscule font-size, but there are full texts and translations which are more legible. Emphatically a release to ignite the hearts of opera lovers everywhere.
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