Maurizio Benini, Ireland National Symphony Orchestra - Giovanni Pacini: Saffo (1996)
Maurizio Benini, Ireland National Symphony Orchestra - Giovanni Pacini: Saffo (1996)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 524 Mb | Total time: 78:01+59:48 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Label: Marco Polo | 8.223883-4 | Recorded: 1995
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 524 Mb | Total time: 78:01+59:48 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Label: Marco Polo | 8.223883-4 | Recorded: 1995
Wexford has long been the home of lost operatic causes that speedily become winners. Giovanni Pacini’s Saffo is a good example. Widely acclaimed in its time (establishing itself as a favourite in North as well as South America), the opera gradually disappeared from view, as did the composer himself. Yet he wrote over 80 operas, and Saffo is generally considered his masterpiece: the first fully ripened fruit of a period, nearly five years long, of retirement from composition, during which he studied, thought and prepared. It appeared in 1840, the year of Donizetti’s La fille du regiment and La favorite, both of them written for the opera in Paris. With Bellini dead and Rossini retired, Pacini may well have felt that the way was open before him; a young fellow called Verdi, whose first opera had enjoyed a modest success in Milan the previous year, would scarcely have caused him sleepless nights.
What we now think of the opera, for the first time on a commercial recording, must depend partly on our ability or willingness to hear it as within its period. Without this adjustment it will certainly sound naive at first, its eventual achievement appearing largely to be of a magpie nature, drawing most obviously on Bellini’s Norma. Put into context, it offers considerably more. Like the best of its kind, it represents the art-form of Italian opera at its height. Before ‘progress’ had nibbled away in the interests of dramatic realism, it sought and found its own scope for creativity within the evolved form in which the art became most distinctively and uncompromisingly itself. So, cabaletta duly follows aria or cavatina, ensemble follows solo or duet, but all is skilfully managed; the characters become real through their music, and the emotional climaxes gain force from the fine surge of singing-voices in ensemble, unique to opera among all art-forms.
Another of its merits is the workmanship of the orchestral score; but essentially it calls for real singing. At Wexford, the outstanding success was that of the Climene, Mariana Pentcheva, while Francesca Pedaci’s Saffo was rated as rather tame by comparison. On record, a strong preference is less likely to suggest itself: if the Bulgarian mezzo has the more opulent voice, Pedaci’s has refreshing purity and a clean focus. With both, I would say, there is a slight consciousness of role and voice not quite matching, Pentcheva’s tone a trifle too grand and noble (Stignani-like) for the maiden, and Pedaci’s too much of the young lyric soprano for a part which, of its kind, is rather low-lying, written for Francilla Pixis, who is usually described as a contralto. The tenor part is hardly a sympathetic one, and Carlo Ventre does little to make it more so, though he sings out sturdily enough. Of Alcandro, whose vindictive pursuit of Saffo takes on a different aspect when he learns she is his daughter, it is probable that more could be made than is evident in Roberto de Candia’s singing, conscientious as it is.
Recorded from the stage, the performance sometimes has the singers less than ideally placed, and the orchestral sound is somewhat boxed. Still, the catalogue-debut is a worthy one, and worthy of note too. Congratulations are due to the record company as well as the Festival, and to scholar-advocates such as Philip Gossett and Tom Kaufman as well as the more-than-able conductor, Maurizio Benini.'
Performer:
Saffo - Francesca Pedaci
Faone - Carlo Ventre
Alcandro - Roberto de Candia
Climene - Mariana Pentcheva
Dirce - Gemma Bertagnolli
Ippia - Aled Hall
Lisimaco - Davide Baronchelli
Wexford Festival Opera Chorus
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
Conductor - Maurizio Benini
Tracklist:
Giovanni Pacini (1796-1867)
Saffo
CD1:
Act I "La Corona Olimpica"
01. Scena Prima - Preludio e Coro d’Introduzione «Divini Carmi!» (Voci dal Ciro)
02. Scena II - “Che avvenne!» (Ippia, Alcandro)
03. Scena II - Cavatina «Di sua voce il suon giungea» (Alcandro, Voci dal Ciro, Ippia)
04. Scena III - «È d’uopo» (Faone, Alcandro)
05. Scena IV - «A che, Faon, dal circo» (Saffo, Faone)
06. Scena V - «Al circo riedi» (Coro, Lisimaco, Saffo, Faone)
07. Scena Prima - «Al crin le cingete la rosea corona» (Dirce ed Ancelle)
Act II "Le Nozze di Faone"
08. Scena e Cavatina - «Mercè, dilette ancelle» (Climene, Dirce, Ancelle)
09. Scena II - «Uno stranier!» (Dirce, Climene, Lisimaco, Saffo)
10. Scena II - Duetto «Ahi fera sorte! … ahi misera!…» (Climene, Saffo)
11. Scena III - «Corri all’altar, Climene” (Ancelle, Climene, Saffo)
12. Scena IV - «Le cetre, le tibie” (Gli uomini, Le Donne, Alcandro, Faone, Climene); Scena V - «T’appressa…” (Climene, Alcandro, Saffo, Faone, Lisimaco)
13. Scena V - Finale «Ai mortali» (Saffo, Alcandro, Faone, Climene, Lisimaco, Ippia, Dirce, Coro)
CD2:
Act III "Il Salto di Leucade"
01. Scena Prima - «Voci del ciel” (Alcandro, Aruspici, Ippia, Saffo, Lisimaco)
02. Scena II - «Il nume accolse la domanda” (Aruspici, Ippia, Climene, Alcandro, Saffo, Lisimaco)
03. Scena II - «Al seno mi stringi” (Alcandro, Saffo, Climene, Ippia, Aruspici, Lisimaco)
04. Scena III - «Fra queste orrende tenebre m’è grato” (Faone)
05. Scena IV - «Ite ad Alcandro, Aruspici” (Ippia, Faone, Aruspici)
06. Scena V - «S’ella paventa” (Popolo, Sacerdoti ed Aruspici, Saffo); Scena VI - “Oh, figlia…” (Alcandro, Climene, Saffo, Dirce, Lisimaco, Popolo)
07. Scena Ultima - Finale «Mi lasciate…» (Faone, Ippia, Alcandro, Climene, Dirce, Lisimaco, Sacerdoti, Aruspici, Popolo, Saffo)
Exact Audio Copy V1.2 from 12. August 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 28. May 2018, 11:53
Maurizio Benini / Saffo (Disc 1)
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==== Log checksum F8D7978242DA06AEF9B163F47C52A5E8412ECB2AE0C46E430B0D5A862D8BF8EB ====
Exact Audio Copy V1.2 from 12. August 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 28. May 2018, 13:45
Maurizio Benini / Saffo (Disc 2)
Used drive : MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ8G6 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
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Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
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Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
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2 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
3 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
4 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
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==== Log checksum 72ADA73495F44C7764209E05D853322BEA9F6C2D7C9BDCA14F4814F7130A7355 ====
Maurizio Benini, Ireland National Symphony Orchestra - Giovanni Pacini: Saffo (1996)
Thanks to the original releaser