Joshua Stewart – Rossini: Zelmira (Live) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48kHz | Time – 02:54:21 minutes | 1,76 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Booklet & Front cover | © Naxos
Zelmira was the last opera Rossini wrote for Naples, knowing it would also be his calling card to Vienna where he had been assured performances. Keen to reconcile the alleged incompatibility between ‘Italian’ melody and ‘German’ harmony, Rossini employed exciting and daring harmonies and a raft of dazzling orchestral effects in this tragedy in which a daughter saves her father, the king, and her son, from usurpers to the throne. The opera was acclaimed wherever it was heard, and this recording presents the revised and triumphant Paris version.
Created at the Teatro San Carlo in 1822, Zelmira is one of the nine operas that Rossini wrote for the famous Neapolitan opera house, the only one with which he was able to realise his full potential by working with phenomenal singers like the soprano Isabella Colbran, contralto Rosmunda Pisaroni, tenors Andrea Nozzari and Giovanni Davide and the bass Filippo Galli. History has curiously not remembered these productions, despite their key contributions to Rossini’s perceived status as a genius.
Recorded over the course of rehearsals for two concerts in July 2018 (and not 2017 as it wrongly says on the album cover) as part of the 30th Rossini in Wildbad festival in Baden-Württemberg, this opera benefits from the expert direction of Gianluigi Gelmetti, a fervent Rossini fan. The recording itself is not totally perfect, but you have to respect the forthcoming dedication from the whole artistic team, starting with the more or less well known singers who know how to do this vocally challenging score justice with clarity and flexibility, as well as respecting the characters’ seemingly often tormented personas.
The ensembles are particularly well executed, from the duos to the quintets. They bring a particular liveliness to the project thanks to the inflamed conducting by Maestro Gelmetti. This version of the concert uses the critical edition which was established for the Pesaro Rossini Festival and presents a further two variations which the composer had written for the Parisian rerun in 1826, featuring a new gleaming finale, which is suggested here as an alternative ending.
Tracklist:
01. Oh sciagura! Oh infausto evento! (Live)
02. Sorte secondami! (Live)
03. Della tenda real la doppia soglia (Live)
04. Ah! già trascorse il dì (Live)
05. Ma m’illude il desio? (Live)
06. Le braccia mi stendi (Live)
07. Se trova in te scampo (Live)
08. Cessa il clamor (Live)
09. S’intessano agli allori (Live)
10. Terra amica, ove respira (Live)
11. Cara! Deh attendimi! (Live)
12. Godi, o signor (Live)
13. A che quei tronchi accenti? (Live)
14. Ah! Se caro a te son io (Live)
15. Che mai pensar? Che dir? (Live)
16. T’intendo, istabil Diva (Live)
17. Mentre qual fera ingorda (Live)
18. Di luce sfavillante (Live)
19. Ah! Dopo tanti palpiti (Live)
20. Emma fedel, dal tuo bel core io chieggo (Live)
21. Perché mi guardi e piangi (Live)
22. Sì fausto momento (Live)
23. Il figlio mio (Live)
24. La sorpresa. Lo stupore (Live)
25. Alla strage ognor ti guida (Live)
26. Fiume, che gli argini rompe e sorpassa (Live)
27. Gran cose, o re! (Live)
28. Pian piano inoltrisi (Live)
29. Eccolo. A voi l’affido (Live)
30. Ciel pietoso, ciel clemente (Live)
31. Ah se è ver, di quel ch’io sento (Live)
32. A che difendi una sleale (Live)
33. In estasi di gioia (Live)
34. Vieni. Le navi frigie (Live)
35. Chi sciolse i lacci miei? (Live)
36. Ne’ lacci miei cadesti (Live)
37. Ah! M’illuse un sol momento! (Live)
38. Di Azor le ceneri (Live)
39. Periglioso è l’indugio (Live)
40. Oh padre! Il duol, l’affanno [Live]
41. Da te spero, o iel clemente [Live]
42. Stridon le ferree porte [Live]
43. Dell’innocenza, oh Dei [Live]
44. All’armi! All’armi! [Live]
45. Riedi al soglio. Irata stella [Live]
Artists
Silvia Dalla Benetta (soprano)
Marina Comparato (mezzo-soprano)
Joshua Stewart (tenor)
Mert Sungu (tenor)
Federico Sacchi (bass)
Luca Dall’Amico (bass)
Gorecki Chamber Choir, Krakow
Virtuosi Brunensis
Conductor
Gianluigi Gelmetti
Download:
mqs.link_J0shuaStewartR0ssiniZelmiraLive2020FLAC2448.part1.rar
mqs.link_J0shuaStewartR0ssiniZelmiraLive2020FLAC2448.part2.rar