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Presto News - 2nd March 2009Angela Gheorghiu in Puccini's Madama Butterfly |
 Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is undoubtedly one of the great sopranos of all time. However, she is also notoriously difficult and demanding and has had numerous run-ins with opera house managers and directors. You could argue that she is simply living up to the ‘prima donna’ tag that people expect of her, but I fear it is starting to harm her reputation as people generally tend to be less forgiving of this sort of behaviour than they once were. What really matters of course is how good she actually is, and particularly this week, whether you should be considering investing in her new Madama Butterfly out on EMI today. So, here are a few facts, along with some of my thoughts to get you started...  Angela Gheorghiu Angela Gheorghiu shot to fame back in 1994 when her sensational La traviata at the Royal Opera House under Sir Georg Solti resulted in the BBC clearing its schedules for immediate telecast, and the great conductor becoming so overcome with emotion that he apparently broke down in tears during one of the rehearsals. Since then she has gone on to make some truly fantastic recordings, as well as a few quite average ones (mainly when her voice is not particularly well suited to the role). Her voice is quite small and this creates a problem when performing some of the really big demanding roles in the bigger opera houses like the MET and Covent Garden. She has never sung the role of Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) on stage for example, and quite possibly never will. This is EMI’s first studio recording of a complete mainstream opera since Antonio Pappano conducted Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with Placido Domingo back in 2004. At the time EMI’s vice-president for artists and repertoire, Peter Alward declared it would be ‘the last of its kind’. That recording cost nearly half a million pounds to make and with the growing enthusiasm for opera on DVD (and now Blu-ray) you can understand why he said that. I suspect the only reason EMI agreed to this recording was because it had the potential to be one of Gheorghiu’s best roles and was unlikely to ever happen on stage. So, what is it like, and is EMI’s investment this time likely to pay off? Well, I think it is very fine indeed. Gheorghiu sings beautifully with a lovely softness about her voice, which means that she can create the vulnerability and fragility of the role very effectively. She also seems to have balanced the deep love that her character has for Pinkerton, with the inner knowledge that such devotion is ultimately hopeless. The rest of the cast are equally excellent with Jonas Kaufmann’s Pinkerton particularly outstanding, and all are superbly supported by conductor Antonio Pappano and the Accadmia di Santa Cecilia. As for whether it will repay EMI investment, well I hope so. Their stock control so far this year has been appalling with what seems to be about half their classical catalogue being out of stock during the last couple of months, so they need a big seller to make up for some of the lost sales. Initial signs are good though – I’ve already seen a couple of excellent reviews and we’ve had a very healthy number of pre-orders.
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 Puccini: Madama ButterflyAngela Gheorghiu (Butterfly), Jonas Kaufmann (B.F.Pinkerton), Enkelejda Shkosa (Suzuki), Fabio Capitanucci (Sharpless), Gregory Bonfatti (Goro) & Raymond Aceto (Bonzo), Orchestra e Coro dell’Accadmia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Watch a short preview videoNew Releases2nd March 2009 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Josquin - Missa Malheur me bat and Missa Fortuna desperataThe Tallis Scholars, Peter PhillipsThe Tallis Scholars have been performing the music of Josquin regularly in concert for over 20 years. Their 1986 CD of his music remains the only recording of Early Music to have won the Gramophone Record of the Year Award. This new release is the fourth CD in The Tallis Scholars’ projected Complete Josquin Mass Cycle. |
 Bach, J S: Brandenburg Concertos (complete)Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr (harpsichord & direction)Long neglected on a library shelf in Brandenburg Castle, these six 'Concertos for several instruments' have since become some of the best-known works in the classical repertoire for their musical inventiveness and their games of mathematical symmetry. Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music have endeavoured to return to the original 'chamber' conception of the works, with one player per part. |
.jpg) Berg - Orchestral WorksGothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Mario VenzagoThe works on these SA-CDs span Berg’s creative career from his first published piece, the Piano Sonata, Op. 1, here performed in the orchestration by Theo Verbey, to the Violin Concerto and the Symphonic Pieces from the Opera ‘Lulu’, the last works that were fully completed when Berg died at the age of fifty in 1935. |
 The Romantic Piano Concerto 47 - Jadassohn & DraesekeMarkus Becker (piano), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Michael SanderlingThough barely remembered now, both Salomon Jadassohn and Felix Draeseke were major figures in German musical life in the second half of the 19th century. Both began their studies at the conservative Leipzig Conservatory but after independently encountering Liszt and his work at Weimar in the 1850s both became disciples of that composer and the New German School he established. Jadassohn subsequently returned to Leipzig where he composed and had a long and distinguished teaching career, his pupils including Delius, Grieg and Busoni, while Draeseke finally ended up in Dresden teaching at the Conservatory there. |
 Mazzocchi - VespersCantus Cölln & Concerto Palatino, Konrad JunghänelRome in the 18th century: this reconstruction of Marian Vespers - five psalms, a Magnificat and their brief antiphons - is drawn from the works of the maestro di cappella of St Peter's, Virgilio Mazzocchi, and his close colleagues Carissimi and Frescobaldi. Anything but austere, this music is a worthy successor to that of the great Palestrina. |
 Bach Cantatas Volume 20The Monteverdi Choir & The English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot GardinerAs we reach the solemn Lenten period prior to Easter, Soli Deo Gloria releases the next instalment in its award-winning Bach Cantata series with a double album featuring cantatas for the second (Sexagesima) and third (Septuagesima) Sunday before Lent, recorded live in February 2000. |
 Ries - Piano Concertos Volume 3Christopher Hinterhuber (piano), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Uwe GroddThe fourteen works for piano and orchestra of Ferdinand Ries stand alongside those of Hummel as among the most important of their kind from the early decades of the 19th century. Intensely lyrical and yet displaying at times a rugged Beethovenian grandeur, Ries’s concertos are works of impressive musical stature. |
 Lukaszewski: Via CrucisPolyphony & Britten Sinfonia, Stephen LaytonStephen Layton’s first disc of Lukaszewski’s choral works (CDA67639, The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge) was widely praised by listeners entranced by the composer’s unique yet accessible musical language. For this new release Layton and Polyphony, together with the Britten Sinfonia and a team of world-class soloists, have taken on a major work which is destined to become a modern classic in the vein of Taverner’s The Veil of the Temple or Pärt’s St John Passion. Via Crucis is a dramatization of the Stations of the Cross, a musical reading of this most solemn journey that evolves through its 55-minutes in an arc of culminatory ritual power. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 28th February 2009 |
Building a Library - Bach, J S: Two and Three Part Inventions |
 Piano ChoiceAngela Hewitt (piano) |
 Period Instrument ChoiceBlandine Verlet (harpsichord) |
Disc of the Week |
 Haydn Piano Trios Volume 1The Florestan Trio |
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