Joyce DiDonato: Diva Divo (Opera Arias) | Virgin 6419860

Joyce DiDonato: Diva Divo (Opera Arias)

Label: Virgin

Cat No: 6419860

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Opera

Release Date: 14th February 2011

Contents

Works

Bellini, Vincenzo

I Capuleti e i Montecchi
» Ascolta! Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio ...La tremenda ultrice spada

Berlioz, Hector

La Damnation de Faust, op.24 H111
» D'amour l'ardente flamme
Romeo et Juliette, op.17
» Premiers transports que nul n'oublie

Gluck, Christoph Willibald

La clemenza di Tito
» Se mai senti spirarti sul volto (Act 2)

Gounod, Charles

Faust
» Faites-lui mes aveux

Massenet, Jules

Ariane
» O frele corps.... Chere Cypris
Cendrillon (Cinderella)
» Allez, laissez-moi seul ...Coeur sans amour, printemps sans roses
Cherubin
» Je suis gris! Je suis ivre!

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

La clemenza di Tito, K621
» Ecco il punto ...Non piu di fiori (Act 2)
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K492
» Giunse al fin il momento ...Deh vieni, non tardar
» Voi che sapete (Act 2)

Rossini, Gioachino

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
» Contro un cor
La Cenerentola (Cinderella)
» Nacqui all' affanno ...Non piu mesta

Strauss, Richard

Ariadne auf Naxos, op.60
» Sein wir wieder gut

Artists

Joyce Didonato (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestre de l’Opera National de Lyon

Conductor

Kazuko Ono

Works

Bellini, Vincenzo

I Capuleti e i Montecchi
» Ascolta! Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio ...La tremenda ultrice spada

Berlioz, Hector

La Damnation de Faust, op.24 H111
» D'amour l'ardente flamme
Romeo et Juliette, op.17
» Premiers transports que nul n'oublie

Gluck, Christoph Willibald

La clemenza di Tito
» Se mai senti spirarti sul volto (Act 2)

Gounod, Charles

Faust
» Faites-lui mes aveux

Massenet, Jules

Ariane
» O frele corps.... Chere Cypris
Cendrillon (Cinderella)
» Allez, laissez-moi seul ...Coeur sans amour, printemps sans roses
Cherubin
» Je suis gris! Je suis ivre!

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

La clemenza di Tito, K621
» Ecco il punto ...Non piu di fiori (Act 2)
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K492
» Giunse al fin il momento ...Deh vieni, non tardar
» Voi che sapete (Act 2)

Rossini, Gioachino

Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
» Contro un cor
La Cenerentola (Cinderella)
» Nacqui all' affanno ...Non piu mesta

Strauss, Richard

Ariadne auf Naxos, op.60
» Sein wir wieder gut

Artists

Joyce Didonato (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestre de l’Opera National de Lyon

Conductor

Kazuko Ono

About

Joyce DiDonato celebrates the rich dramatic variety of the mezzo-soprano voice in this collection of arias for different characters – of both sexes – from a single opera, or from different operatic treatments of the same story.

Joyce DiDonato’s capacity for characterisation is as astounding as the range and flexibility of her voice. As her Virgin Classics recitals of Handel and Rossini have proven, she can charm and touch as a good girl, seduce and seethe as a bad girl, and slip believably into the trousers of a hero.

This new collection showcases DiDonato’s multi-faceted art – and the wealth of opportunities open to a mezzo-soprano – by presenting her as different characters, both male and female, from the same opera or from different musical treatments of the same story.

As DiDonato explains: “This recital celebrates the vast and fabulous world of the mezzo-soprano. Aside from the obvious Toscas or Cio-Cio Sans, I've never regretted the length of my vocal cords! I have the privilege and unmitigated joy of playing boys and young men, as well as girls and grown women … It’s an exploration of the human palette of emotions. “I wanted to find a way to show this duality on disc, while highlighting some of the composers I'm most passionate about, such as Mozart, Bellini, Berlioz, Rossini, and Massenet. In exploring this idea, the possibility became clear for telling different sides of some of the most familiar tales which have served as inspiration for operatic legends: Cinderella, Faust, Romeo and Juliet … I've always thought of myself as a storyteller, and with this particular disc, I can showcase that side of me as never before. I'm ready to play!

The programme features several roles that DiDonato has sung on stage – such as Rossini’s Cenerentola (it was the character’s gentle, then exuberant ‘Nacqui all’affanno’ that launched her international career at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition, and subsequently at La Scala), Bellini’s Romeo and Mozart’s Cherubino.

The ‘flip sides’ of those characters are roles that have not featured in her repertoire: the Prince from Massenet’s Cendrillon (a lavish treatment of the Cinderella story more likely to bring DiDonato in the title role – as at Santa Fe in 2006 and, in 2011, at Covent Garden); the Nurse from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, and both Chérubin (from Massenet’s ‘sequel’ to Le nozze di Figaro) and Susanna.

The Figaro connection continues with an excerpt from Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rosina, of course, later becomes Countess Almaviva), while other operas on the programme, from the Renaissance to late Romanticism, include La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto and Vitellia), Faust, La Damnation de Faust, Mefistofele, Orphée et Eurydice, Orfeo and Orphée aux Enfers.

Accompanying Joyce DiDonato in this tour de force is the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Lyon under the company’s Principal Conductor Kazushi Ono, another artist who successfully embraces an extraordinary diversity of musical idioms.

As John von Rhein wrote in Gramophone: “In complete control vocally, Joyce DiDonato is … consumed by the character. She embodies whomever she’s playing and whatever emotional situation she is evoking.

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