News André Casanova

[…] too is Finley a noted Giovanni—in musicotheatrical and metatheatrical terms. The particular mix of, and on occasion tension between, Mozart and Da Ponte that make the work what it is, galvanised by conscientious and charismatic performance was seen and heard not only in Finley and Schrott, but throughout the cast: Adela Zaharia and Frédéric Antoun a noble seria pair, their fundamental dignity both corroded and, especially in Donna Anna’s case, transformed by Giovanni’s combination of Casanova and Faust. Their arias, beautifully prepared and contextualised by recitative that told us just as much, proved moments of beauty yet, insofar as possible—that Prague-Vienna conflation really does not help—crucial dramatic reflections too. Zaharia’s coloratura was properly expressive, no mere decoration, as was that of Nicole Chevalier’s yearning Donna Elvira. Zuzana Marková and Michael Mofidian offered sweetly expressive and disarmingly bluff personifications of Zerlina and Masetto, studies in ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ that always offered […]

[…] rather less perfect, were the overtures of the operas, which separated the scenes and allowed the soprano to recover and change the complex costumes. The success was tremendous, memorable. If there’s something that always triumphs at Liceu that is well served belcanto. Xavier PujolGran Teatre del Liceu. Barcelona, 6th May 2021 © Paco Amate / Pig Studio Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano. Gemma Coma-Alabert, mezzosoprano. Marc Sala, tenor. Carles Pachón, baritone. José Luis Casanova, tenor. Dimitar Darlev, bass. Scenes from Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti. Orchestra and Choir of Gran teatre del Liceu. Riccardo Frizza, conductor. Staging, Rafael Villalobos.

The Trials of Tenducci - van Maldere, Arne, Giordani, Fischer, JC Bach, Mozart; Tara Erraught, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Peter Whelan; Linn Records Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 23 March 2021 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★) A delightful journey through the eventful musical life of soprano castrato Tenducci whose performing career encompassed London, Dublin and EdinburghThe Italian soprano castrato Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci (c. 1735–90) seems to have had a remarkably eventful life, including a period in a debtors' prison in Southwark, a short period on the run, becoming secretly married to a 16-year-old which involved, flight, trial and imprisonment (and evenutually the marriage was annulled). He was also reputed, by Casanova, to have father two children but these are thought to be his wife's offspring by her second husband. But Tenducci also found time to sing and much of his career was in Britain and Ireland. On this new disc, The […]

[…] and in 1761 his opera Armida was premiered in Vienna. The libretto is based on Quinault's libretto Armide which was set by Lully, but Traetta's opera for all its experiments with French style drama, also included a significant number of Da Capo arias, that staple of Italian opera seria.  Towards Reform in Vienna Ranieri de' Calzabigi was an Italian poet who had spent the 1750s in Paris, exploring opera and becoming a friend of Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798). Calzabigi was impressed with tragédie en musique and was also interested in combining it with Italian opera. Here he was remarkably well-positioned as he had produced an edition of Metastasio's works. In 1761 Calzabigi settled in Vienna and came into the orbit of Count Giacomo Durazzo (1717-1794) who had been appointed director of the Imperial Theatres in 1754. Durazzo was similarly interested in reforming Italian opera seria. At around the same time, the […]