Puccini: Manon Lescaut: Intermezzo Act III

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.

Sir John Barbirolli’s full-blooded and dramatic performance of Puccini's Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut brings vividly into focus his Italian blood and background, inherited from a Venetian family in which both his father and grandfather were members of the orchestra at Milan’s opera house, La Scala. Others among the operatic overtures on this disc will be well remembered by Barbirolli admirers from his concerts, especially the Rossini pair and Oberon, the latter with its wonderfully delicate feeling in the introduction and strong vein of romantic ardour coursing through the succeeding allegro. Hansel and Gretel and The Merry Wives of Windsor were perhaps more rare, the latter often being reserved for one of his popular programmes of Viennese Music.

Barbirolli really relished these little overtures and preludes and he brought to them his characteristically elegant phrasing and lively rhythms; note his careful grading of the famous Rossini crescendos in Semiramide, the richness of the orchestral texture in Hansel and Gretel and the vigour and élan of the playing in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Of the four pieces included here unrelated to the opera house, two make their debut on CD. The Trumpet Voluntary recalls a much earlier Hallé record, made in Manchester’s old Free Trade Hall in 1927 under Sir Hamilton Harty, the Orchestra’s principal conductor from 1920-33.

The other title new to CD is his spick-and-span account of The Stars and Stripes Forever which gives the percussion players a chance to enjoy themselves. Elsewhere the Hallé strings, led by Laurance Turner (in his last season before retiring), properly reflect their conductor’s eloquent handling of Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile. Another Hallé stalwart who retired at the end of the same season (1957-8) was first clarinet Pat Ryan, whose many finely sensitive contributions can be heard throughout these performances, notably towards the end of Mendelssohn’s atmospheric portrait of the seas around Fingal’s Cave; all are typical of a quality of playing upon which Barbirolli had been able to rely ever since he re-formed the Orchestra in 1943. The previous two volumes in this series and available – Volume 1 (SJB1036) and Volume 2 (SJB1041).