Verdi: I vespri siciliani Overture

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Decca recorded a number of albums with some of its key conductors of Overtures. Many of these were singled out by the press for their terrific sound quality (the fabled ‘Decca Sound’) and for their often adventurous programming. Some of them also included entr’actes and intermezzi. Prized as collectors’ items, many of the original LPs exchange hands at high prices. And most of these reissues, in Decca Eloquence’s ‘Romantic Overtures’ series appear in CD, in part or whole, for the first time.

Romantic Overtures – Volume 2 showcases the artistry of Piero Gamba, who conducted showpieces for Decca and partnered, among others, Ruggiero Ricci as well as Julius Katchen in his magnificent cycle of the Beethoven Concertos. This 2CD set includes his very first recording for Decca, of Rossini Overtures (1955). Five years later recorded another LP of Rossini Overtures, the only common item being William Tell (the stereo recording is truly thrilling, the record as a whole one of Decca’s best kept secrets!). Both recordings are included here (and both recordings of William Tell). The Egmont Overture was originally coupled with Katchen’s recording of Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto; and also included is all of the LP entitled ‘Adventures in Sound’ which included overtures and intermezzi by Verdi, Mascagni, Mancinelli, Martucci and Ponchielli. A real rarity is Stanley Black’s Overture to a Costume Comedy, recorded at the 1957 ‘Adventures in Sound’ sessions, but only included on a 45rpm EP in mono. This is its first release on CD and in stereo.

A thrilling collection of Overtures and Preludes (with some popular orchestral pieces thrown in for good measure) from Zubin Mehta. As a showman of the best variety, his recordings remains one of the Decca catalogue's richest legacies, and more than half of this collection is being released on CD for the first time.

Gino Marinuzzi’s recordings are very much in demand, not least because of their rarity. The only one known to a wider audience is his complete recording in 1941 of La forza del destino, which is considered a milestone among recordings of that opera. A tribute of one of Italy's most important conductors of the past.

Giuseppe Verdi counts as one of the most influential composers of the 19th century, not least for his consistent exploration of political themes within a cultural context. This was a time and a place when opera mattered, and placing on stage the themes of familial tension and social upheaval was a vital catalyst for his country’s own turbulent progress towards unification.

The preludes and overtures to his operas fulfil different functions according to the nature of the main work, and when he wrote it. This broad selection encompasses the potpourri style of the overtures to I masnadieri and his first great triumph, Nabucco, showcasing the unforgettable melodies in a parade of expressive light and shade. The terse preludes to Aida and Otello are more designed to set the scene for what follows by heightening without anticipating the tension of the drama; and finally there are the fully worked-out, grand schemes of the overtures to La forza del destino and I vespri siciliani, which in their quasi-symphonic incorporation of the opera’s themes within an independent narrative design are worthy of the example of Beethoven whom Verdi so revered.

Marko Letonja is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted the German and Italian opera repertoire in various of the great European houses, including La traviata in Berlin, Nabucco in Dresden and The Makropoulos Case at La Scala, Milan. His Verdian pedigree is assured; as, of course, is that of the native musicians of the Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta.

Recorded in 2002

New booklet notes by Mike Ashman

Recorded in Munich in 1966

Recorded in Munich in 1971