Classical

Cherubini - Les Deux Journees (Beecham) [1992]

2014-09-07T16:28:39Z

Cherubini - Les Deux Journees (Beecham) [1992]

CD1
1. Acte 1 – Overture
2. Acte 1 - Un Pauvre petit Savoyard
3. Acte 1 - Guide me pas, o Providence
4. Acte 1 - O mon Liberateur
5. Acte 1 - Me separer de mon epoux
6. Acte 1 - Antonio o ciel, en croirai-je mes yeux

CD2
7. Acte 2 - Point de pite! Point de clemence!
8. Acte 2 - Constance, deuxieme commandant
9. Acte 2 - Allons sabs tarder d'advantage
10. Acte 3 – Bergerettes
11. Acte 3 - Il fait une chaleur dans le creux de cet arbre
12. Acte 3 - Prenons bien garde e n'etre
13. Acte 3 - Nous tous a le gaiete

Le Comte Armand - Pierre Gianotti
Constance - Janine Micheau
Mikeli - Charles Paul
Antonio - Eugene Regnier
Daniel - Donald Munro
Marcellina - Marion Davies
Sémos - Donald Munro
Angelina - Winifred Lawson
Le Commandant - Fabian Smith
Le Lieutenant - Ernest Frank
Le Sergeant - Donald Campbell
Le Corporal - David Perrin

BBC Theatre Chorus - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Thomas Beecham - conductor

Opera in three acts - Libretto by Jean Nicholas Bouilly
BBC broadcast, 19 December 1947

Les Deux Journees is a landmark in the history of modern French opera. In the history of Cherubini's own style, it also signifies a change in direction. Cherubini had been composing only serious operas, but after the composition of Medee in 1797, he changed course. The subjects he chose were lighter, and the musical style adapted many elements from the French opéra comique. In Les Deux Journees, which was his greatest popular success, he combined non-operatic vocal forms with spoken dialogue, to treat a story of timely popular appeal. The songs in the opera are strophic chansons and vocal ensembles rather than arias. The orchestral accompaniment is filled with sophisticated and learned harmonies. The orchestration is extremely rich and varied, and provides the dramatic ambiance to the story. The story reflects the ideas and ideals of the early French Revolution, and came at a time when the French people were tired of the injustices of the Reign of Terror. Only a few years previously Cherubini had to flee the capital to escape the horrors of Madame La Guillotine. After a few years in hiding, he returned to a Paris that wanted to end the strife that tore apart the country and become reconciled in some way. The story of the libretto was taken from a true event that occurred during the Reign of Terror, in which a water-carrier aided a well-to-do relative of the librettist, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, helping him to escape death at the hands of the revolutionary government. This courage on the part of poor man in the aide of an aristocrat is dramatized in the opera as reflecting the democratic ideals of the early revolutionaries of France. Mikel rejects injustice and asserts all people's rights to liberty. The water carrier is the cleverest and most intelligent of all of the characters in the cast. Although Constance, as the wife of Comte Armand, displays heroic virtues, Mikel the water-carrier is clearly the hero of the story.

The title Les Deux Journees refers to the two days in which Cardinal Mazarin imprisoned the President of the French Parliament for vetoing his tax laws. Mazarin not only imprisoned many members of the Parliament, but actually barricaded the city with his own Italian soldiers in 1749, in an effort to try to force the parliament to pass his tax codes. The president of the Parliament was Pierre Broussel. The French people revolted and forced the Queen to release the members of parliament. This, rather than the Reign of Terror, is the historical setting in which Bouilly places the story of the water-carrier. He turns his libretto into an imaginative rescue-opera, in which a humble water-carrier rescues the Comte Armand, President of the French parliament, from the Italian forces of Cardinal Mazarin.

This opera was enthusiastically received by the French public at its premiere. A group of water-carriers offered the librettist a free supply of water for a year. Its popular appeal is both through its story and its music, which is appealingly melodic and tuneful. It was also extremely popular in Germany and with German Romantics, and there it was performed well into the twentieth century. Beethoven, Schumann, Spohr, Weber, and Hiller are just a few of the German composers who fell in love with the Cherubini's romantic treatment of his story. They loved his complex harmonies and imaginative orchestrations, and the complete melding of music with drama which he achieves in this work. Cherubini not only changed the course of French opera, but greatly influenced the development of German Romantic opera as well. --- Rita Laurance, Rovi

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Cherubini – Quartet No.1; Fugal Suite

2013-12-10T20:38:21Z

Cherubini – Quartet No.1; Fugal Suite

Quartet No 1 in E flat major
1  Adagio - allegro agitato
2  Larghetto sans lenteur
3  Scherzo- allegro moderato
4  Allegro assai

Fugal suite, in D major
5  Allegro
6  Andante con moto, quasi alle breve lento

Aeolian Quartet of London
Leonard Dight, Alfred Cave - violins
Watson Forbes - viola
JOhn Moore - cello

Richard Adeney – flute (5,6)

String Quartet No.1. A cantabile Adagio introduction in 3/4 time establishes a warm atmosphere for the first movement, but this placidity soon gives way to the livelier Allegro agitato. The first theme consists of ascending phrases, scattered muttering, and repeated pauses. This builds into steadier, driving material that leads to the second subject, a pressing yet singing line for the first violin that alternates with quick exchanges among the other instruments. (Cherubini was influenced by the quatour brillante style of Viotti, Spohr, and others, in which the string quartet was a miniature concerto for first violin.) The exposition's pressing coda presents a third element for Cherubini to manipulate in the development section, which compresses the themes and to a large extent strips away their differences, creating a long, steady pulse of energy. A loud fugato section seems to drain the music of its tension, at least in the succeeding bars; a gradual revving-up leads to the recapitulation, which presents the themes in their original forms.

The second movement, strangely and bilingually marked Larghetto sans lenteur, is a series of variations on a long, eighteenth-century-style theme that proceeds in a series of hops and skips that seem courtly and ceremonial rather than playful. The cello remains silent in the first variation, and here the melody does become more frolicsome. The second variation is more dramatic, the now-returned cello occasionally making forceful, chromatic outbursts. The third variation is far more intimate, slow, and almost religious. The final variation is the most exuberant of all, the first violin's initial four notes identical to those of the later Happy Birthday song. The coda, in contrast, returns the movement to its opening mood.

Third comes a scherzo marked Allegretto moderato, a fairly quick yet still oddly melancholy dance with the violins playing a tune over an accompaniment that simultaneously rocks and drones. This periodically breaks into more excited material. The Trio section is fleet and scampering in the manner that would soon become associated with Mendelssohn.

The fourth movement is a rondo, Allegro assai. A short, gruff opening leads to an instrumental sprint with the first violin almost always in the lead. After an exchange between the first violin and cello over a twittering accompaniment (the stuff of comic opera), the primary rondo theme returns with a slightly more dramatic elaboration of the theme's second half. Next is essentially a rehash of the first section, now unchanged except for its key, then the runs that initially dashed away from the introduction, and a scintillating coda. ---James Reel, Rovi

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Luigi Cherubini - Elisa (2015)

2019-01-13T14:28:13Z

Luigi Cherubini - Elisa (2015)


1.Elisa, erster Akt: Preludio	7:57 	
2.Elisa, erster Akt: O Ciel !	5:02 	
3.Elisa, erster Akt: Ah ! La belle Journee	6:54 	
4.Elisa, erster Akt: Promenons nous encore	1:53 	
5.Elisa, erster Akt: Lieux Sauvages	6:53 	
6.Elisa, erster Akt: Prenez enfin Courage	4:26 	
7.Elisa, erster Akt: D'zaneto Montant	5:13 	
8.Elisa, erster Akt: Partir !	8:44 	
9.Elisa, erster Akt: Que vois je ?	2:29 	
10.Elisa, erster Akt: Venez, non je ne puis	3:55
11.Elisa, erster Akt: V'la que j'somm'hors	6:10 	
12.Elisa, erster Akt: Venez dans ces Lieux	5:35 	
13.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Buvons depuis la Tarantaise	5:18 	
14.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Allons en Route	1:47 	
15.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Ces bonnes Gens gaiement	3:32 	
16.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Je vais revoir toutceque	8:27 	
17.Elisa, zweiter Akt: L'auriez-vous l'Apercu	1:12 	
18.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Il veut perir !	1:59 	
19.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Helas !	3:05 	
20.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Ciel !	7:50 	
21.Elisa, zweiter Akt: Plus de Douleur et plus	2:43 

Elisa - Gabriella Tucci, soprano
Florindo - Gianni Raimondi, tenor
Germain - Mario Zanasi, baritone
Laure - Flora Rafanelli, soprano
A steward - Paolo Washington, bass
Michel - Luigi Tavolari, tenor
A guide - Giorgio Giorgetti, baritone
A servant - Franco Paliazzi, bariyone
A Savoyard - Augusto Frati, tenor

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Chorus & Orchestra, 
Franco Capuana - conductor

The Italian composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) isnt much remembered today, though a not inconsiderable number of recordings are making known his instrumental, vocal and, most significantly, his operatic works that, historically, carry the most weight and are his most significant contribution to music. Long before re-discovery however, came this 1960 Elisa, a two-act opéra comique that had its premiere in Paris in 1794, a time of much turmoil in that city. An all-Italian cast, conductor, orchestra and locale feature here, with Gabriela Tucci and Gianni Raimondi assuming the lead roles. ---Editorial Review

ELIZA, ou Le voyage aux glaciers du Mont St Bernard (Eliza, or The Journey to the Glaciers of Mont St Bernard) is an opéra-comique in two acts by Luigi Cherubini with a French libretto by Jacques-Antoine de Reveroni de Saint-Cyr. It was first performed at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris on 13 December 1794.

Cherubini made great use of local colour in his music for ELIZA. Its setting in the Swiss Alps was probably inspired by the contemporary popularity of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The score includes a ranz des vaches, a traditional melody played by Swiss herdsmen. ELIZA marked an important stage in the development of French Romanticism and was also popular in Germany. Cherubini's musical evocation of nature (nightfall, the storm) influenced Carl Maria von Weber, who was particularly fond of the opera.

Born in Rome, Italy, Tucci trained at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Leonardo Filoni, whom she later married, Tucci made her début at Spoleto, as Leonora in LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, opposite Beniamino Gigli, in 1951. She then took part in the famous Florence 1953 revival of Cherubini's MEDEA, as Glauce, opposite Maria Callas. She made her La Scala début in 1959, as Mimi in LA BOHČME. The following year saw her débuts at both the Royal Opera House in London, as Aďda, and at the Metropolitan Opera, as Cio-Cio-San in MADAMA BUTTERFLY. She sang at the Metropolitan Opera until 1972, other roles included Euridice, Marguerite, Leonora in both IL TROVATORE and LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Maria Boccanegra/Amelia, Violetta, Aďda, Desdemona, Alice Ford, Mimi, etc. Tucci also appeared in Vienna, Berlin, and Buenos Aires. She traveled with the La Scala Opera to Moscow and Tokyo, performances that have been documented in live recordings. A versatile singer and an accomplished actress, Tucci was able to tackle a wide range of roles from bel canto to verismo, singing Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI, Elvira in I PURITANI, Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Violetta in LA TRAVIATA, and Marguerite in FAUST, as well as Maddalena in ANDREA CHÉNIER and the title role in TOSCA.

The Italian tenor Gianni Raimondi had a prestigious career lasting three decades. From 1956 to 1976 he sang frequently at La Scala, where his partner a number of times during the early years was Maria Callas. His voice, smooth and warm in tone with a good coloratura facility and very strong top notes, was ideal for 19th-century Italian opera from Rossini and Donizetti to Verdi and Puccini and he rarely sang anything outside that repertory, apart from a few French rôles and a couple of modern operas. --- Lizbeth Forbes, THE INDEPENDENT

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Luigi Cherubini - Marche Funebre-Requiem-In Paradisum (1994)

2010-01-30T23:41:32Z

Luigi Cherubini - Marche Funebre-Requiem-In Paradisum (1994)


1. Marche funebre
2. Requiem In C-Minor: Introitus
3. Requiem In C-Minor: Graduale
4. Requiem In C-Minor: Dies irae
5. Requiem In C-Minor: Offertorium
6. Requiem In C-Minor: Sanctus
7. Requiem In C-Minor: Pie Jesu
8. Requiem In C-Minor: Agnus Dei
9. In Paradisum

Chorus Musicus Köln
Das Neue Orchester
Christoph Spering - conductor

Cherubini held sway in Paris for several decades, spinning an income from revolution and restoration alike. Quite apart from his broader influence on Beethoven, his style of large-scale mass composition dominated most of the 19th century, and influenced not only Gounod and (for all his protests) Berlioz, but the brassy Requiem of his fellow countryman Verdi as well. This is not so much a memorable as a worthy performance of a work dedicated to Louis XVI’s memory and first heard at the Cathedral of Saint-Denis in 1716. The period instrument sound is very well caught, but the chorus, for all its reliance on ‘period’ pronunciation, is inclined to sound woolly. Sections often start well but lose sustaining power as they unfold. Yet the main rival, Muti’s grandiose EMI set with the Philharmonia Chorus, given the huge forces involved, also tends to be unfocused; in that set, the late D minor Requiem for male voices, the earliest recorded, comes over best. Still, Muti’s recording of the present work is impressive despite this, and if you like your Requiems to be à la Verdi, you should stick with him on EMI. The best moments on this more intimate Cologne recording – mellower in places thanks to the adjusted pitch (generally a semitone lower) – are agreeable, and it includes two ‘extras’ (Marche funèbre and In paradisum) which are arguably the best bits on the disc. ---Roderic Dunnett, classical-music.com

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Luigi Cherubini - Missa solemnis in E major (2007)

2017-03-19T16:27:44Z

Luigi Cherubini - Missa solemnis in E major (2007)

Mass No. 8 for chorus & orchestra in E major ("Missa Solemnis")
    1. Kyrie
    2. Gloria
    3. Credo
    4. Sanctus
    5. Communio O salutaris hostia
    6. Agnus Dei

Ruth Ziesak (soprano)
Marianna Pizzolato (mezzo-soprano)
Herbert Lippert (tenor)
Ildar Abdrazakov (bass)

Antiphons (9), for 4 voices & orchestra ("à la Palestrina") (3 lost):
    7. Antifona sul canto fermo 8. tono
    8. Nemo gaudeat

Barbara Fleckenstein (soprano)
Barbara Muller (alto)
Bernhard Schneider (tenor)
Andrew Meyer (tenor)
Christoph Hartkopf (bass)
Harald Feller (organ)
Max Hanft (organ)

Chor des Bayerschen Rundfunks
Peter Dijkstra - choir master
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Riccardo Muti - conductor

Luigi Cherubini's Missa Solemnis in E major may not be as important as his later coronation masses, and it is certainly not on a par with Ludwig van Beethoven's great Missa Solemnis in D major, completed a few years later. But this work has enough drama and power to mark it as one of the more significant sacred works of the early Romantic period in France. Composed in 1818, when Cherubini was exclusively active in church music and supported by the restored Bourbon monarchy, the eighth of his masses is quite conservative in approach, though ambiguous in mood and style, partly because the music vacillates between the penitential mood of E minor and the triumphant feeling of E major, and because much of the mass is cast in studied counterpoint that at times evokes the Baroque era, rather than its own time. Riccardo Muti leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on this 2007 release, and their dutiful performance does justice to Cherubini, especially in the rich orchestral sonorities and suave choral parts; there are times when their sound approaches Beethovenian grandeur, even if the music itself seems less imposing. At just over 40 minutes, this Missa Solemnis is a bit short for a CD, so it is followed by two motets of gentle character that are beautifully performed, and the album seems full enough with these works. EMI's resonant sound has a wide dynamic range, so listeners may need to adjust the volume periodically. ---Blair Sanderson, AllMusic Review

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Luigi Cherubini – Ali Baba (1963)

2011-11-15T19:40:44Z

Luigi Cherubini – Ali Baba (1963)

CD1
1. Sinfonia 
2. Act One: Speme Non V'è, Tutto È Perduto 
3. Act One: Sesamo! Sesamo!... Apriti! 
4. Act One: Sposa Sarà 	
5. Act One: Amico Fedele D'infanzia Mia 	
6. Act One: Dio, È Nadir! 
7. Act One: Ah, Fortuna Insperata				play 	
8. Act One: Il Kadì Qui M'invia 	
9. Act Two: Con Cura, Zela Ed in Silenzio 	
10. Act Two: L'irato Aboul-Hassan 	
11. Act Two: Danze

CD2
1. Act Two: Io Non Credo Ai Miei Occhi! 	
2. Act Two: Presto, Andiamo 
3. Act Three: Mille Ducati! 	
4. Act Three: Andiamo, Che Ognuno Si Svegli 
5. Act Three: O Cielo! Sola Io Sono 	
6. Act Three: Al Solo dire 
7. Act Three: La Speranza Per Noi Svanì 	
8. Act Four: Almen Ho Soddisfatto 	
9. Act Four: Qual Mistero È Mai Questo? 	
10. Act Four: È Questa L'ora?					play 
11. Act Four: Danze 	Listen
12. Act Four: La Gente Mia!

Alì Babà - Wladimiro Ganzarolli
Delia - Teresa Stich-Randall
Morgiane - Orianna Santunione
Nadir - Alfredo Kraus
Aboul-Hassan - Paolo Montarsolo
Calaf - Piero de Palma
Ours-Kan - Lorenzo Testi
Thamar - Agostino Ferrin
Phaor - Virgilio Carbonari

Orchestra e Coro dell Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Nino Sanzogno - conductor, 1963

Opera in four acts, preceded by a prologue. Libretto by Eugène Scribe and Mélesville.

World Premiere, 22/07/1833 Opéra, Salle de la rue Le Peletier, Paris Conductor: François Antoine Habeneck

Time and Place In Isphahan and surroundings, also near Erzurum, in legendary time

Synopsis

Nadir, who is completely penniless, has given up his hopes of marrying Délia whom he loves. Her father, the merchant Ali-Baba, has promised her to the rich customs supervisor Aboul-Hassan. One day, however, Nadir discovers the hideout of a robber band. Suddenly a rich man, he has become a potential son-in-law again. Before giving his final consent, however, Ali-Baba demands to be shown the secret entry to the treasure cave. Ignoring all warnings, he enters the cave, only to be caught by the robbers immediately. In the meantime, the robbers have seized one of Ali-Baba’s caravans, including Délia, as well as forty bales of valuable coffee – all smuggled goods intended by the merchant to be saved from the vengeful Aboul-Hassan. Instead of killing Ali-Baba, the robber chief Ours-Kan agrees to release him for a large sum of money. Masked as peaceful tradespeople, he and his deputy, Thamar, introduce themselves to Ali-Baba’s house and deliver the ransom letter to Nadir. Secretly, however, they are planning a nightly assault; forty further robbers are hidden within the coffee bales. Though they are overheard by a maidservant, who then warns Nadir, the situation appears hopeless since the guards have been sent away and replaced by Ours-Kan’s people. Hope is in sight, though, when Aboul-Hassan turns up with a troop of soldiers, seizes the ‘bales’ and orders them to be burnt.

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Luigi Cherubini – Medea (Gardelli) [1997]

2009-10-21T20:50:21Z

Luigi Cherubini – Medea (Gardelli) [1997]

Disc: 1
1. Medea: Sinfonia - Atto 1
2. Medea: Che? Quando gia corona amor
3. Medea: O amore, vieni a me 
4. Medea: No, non temer! T'affidi il mio parlar 
5. Medea: O bella Glauce
6. Medea: Or che piu non vedro quella sposa crudele 
7. Medea: Pronube dive, dei custodi 
8. Medea: Signor! Ferma una donna a vostre soglie sta
9. Medea: Qui tremar devi tu, donna rea 
10. Medea: Taci Giason, e affisi immoto il suolo? 
11. Medea: Dei tuoi figli la madre 
12. Medea: Son vane qui minacce, prieghi, duol!... Nemici senza cor 

Disc: 2
1. Medea: Introduzione...Soffrir non posso, troppo e l'offesa! 
2. Medea: Date almen per pieta un asilo a Medea 
3. Medea: Medea! O Medea!...Solo un pianto 
4. Medea: Creonte a me solo un giorno da? 
5. Medea: Figli miei, miei tesor 
6. Medea: Hai dato pronto ascolto al mio pregar 
7. Medea: Ah! Triste canto! In suon festoso il corteo in tempio va! 
8. Medea: Deh posa al crin del sacro mirto il fior
9. Medea: Atto III - Introduzione
10. Medea: Numi, venite a me, inferni dei! 
11. Medea: Del fiero duol che il cor mi frange 
12. Medea: D'amore il raggio ancora in lei s'e spento 
13. Medea: E che? Io son Medea! 
14. Medea: Tu Glauce piange sol, spietato! 

Gwyneth Jones - soprano
Bruno Prevedi - tenor
Pilar Lorengar - soprano
Justino Diaz - bass-baritone
Fiorenza Cossotto - mezzo soprano
Giuliana Tavolaccini - soprano

Orchestra e Coro Dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma
Lamberto Gardelli – conductor

When this recording was made in the late 60s, the wobble which afflicted Dame Gwyneth's voice in some of her later performances was almost non-existent. Indeed, the voice of Medea in this recording sounds fresh and fully under control with a gleaming top register which is quite thrilling (the lowest register was then, by contrast, not as strong as it later would become). While Dame Gwyneth's protrayal of Medea may not be as deeply etched as Callas's (Medea was, after all, one of Callas's most famous roles), there're lots of fire in her singing and she does pay considerable attention to the text. The supporting cast is mostly fine and I'm very pleased to hear Pilar Lorengar in the role of Glauce, her tone secure and very beautiful. Fiorenza Cossotto is a strong-voiced Neris and Justino Diaz a solid Creon. Bruno Prevedi's Jason is, however, just adequate. The playing of the orchestra under Gardelli also deserves praise. Given the paucity of recordings of the opera, this re-issue is most welcome. --- Vincent Lau, amazon.com

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