Mascagni: L'Amico Fritz: Intermezzo

The intermezzi recorded on this CD are, in the main, orchestral mood-painting interludes found in the great Italian operatic repertoire of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, usually connecting acts in the opera. The music is powerfully atmospheric, designed not only to create the right mood for the ensuing action of the opera, but also providing some respite from the drama itself. The exception is Ponchielli’s famous ballet, Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda, which like most ballets found in operas, gives a break from the drama of the opera and provides the audience a chance to enjoy an entertaining ballet whilst, in this case, listening to some of the catchiest music in the repertoire. Indeed, this scintillating ballet was immortalized in Walt Disney’s film Fantasia and has long been one of the most popular classics in the repertoire.

The rest of the items on this CD range from the very well known and haunting Act III Prelude from La Traviata, to the sparkling items from Wolf-Ferrari’s Jewels of the Madonna and I Quattro Rusteghi, and the richly-romantic intermezzos from the great Verismo composers of Leoncavallo, Puccini, Giordano and Cilea, though the rare items by Catalani are no less enjoyable.

Italian maestro Gianandrea Noseda is in his element in this, his native repertoire. Noseda has made many noted recordings with his BBC Philharmonic orchestra for Chandos, praised for their brilliance of sound as well as their musical excellence. Noseda’s superb musicianship in both the operatic and orchestral repertoire combine on this release to produce one of his very finest recordings. The programme here is unique.

Even though throughout his life Pietro Mascagni made a show of superiority over the Austro-German instrumental tradition, today the symphonic and symphonic-choral passages of his operas are as famous as Cavalleria rusticana, showing what a skilled and refined orchestral writer he was, endowed with a warm and pleasant - typically Latin - melodic vein. Our CD proposes a selection of these pieces, beginning with the intense Prelude from Cavalleria rusticana and ending with the impressive Inno al sole from Iris. The orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Verdi in Trieste are vibrant performers, recorded live during a commemorative concert held on 6th October 1995.

The German conductor Rudolf Kempe (1910–1976) began his musical career playing the oboe in various symphony orchestras. He eventually graduated to being a conductor after working for several years as an operatic repetiteur. His modest manner on the podium belied his great authority in controlling an orchestra, and his warm but meticulously detailed interpretations of the main classical repertoire established him as one of the leading conductors of his time.

The programme begins with recordings of four Beethoven Symphonies that Kempe made with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in 1971–72 as part of a complete cycle that has been critically acclaimed, although it has not previously been widely available.

These are followed by Symphonies 3 and 4 by Brahms with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra respectively, two orchestras with which Kemper was closely associated throughout his career.

The next CD shows Kempe’s skill with descriptive ‘programme’ music in Mendelssohn’s delightful incidental music to Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful orchestral suite Scheherazade depicting a number of tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights.

Then comes music by three Bohemian composers: the opening of the famous ‘Largo’ from Dvorák’s ‘New World’ Symphony; the Polka from Schwanda the Bagpiper by Weinberger; and a suite from Smetana’s lively opera The Bartered Bride.

CDs 6 and 7 present several of the main orchestral works by Richard Strauss, including Don Juan., Ein Heldenleben, Till Eulenspiegel, Tod und Verklärung and Don Quixote, all except the last recorded with the Staatskapelle Dresden, an orchestra closely associated with the works of Richard Strauss.

CD 8 moves to the opera house and includes vocal extracts from Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Wagner’s Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The next CD covers orchestral pieces from opera, including a suite arranged by Kempe himself from Hansel und Gretel by Humperdinck

On CD 10 we find Kempe in lighter mood with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme of orchestral bon-bons that was called Vienna Philharmonic ‘On Holiday’ when it was originally released on LP. Tthe final CD covers some of the best loved music by the Strauss family. The very last track in the album is the waltz Gold und Silber by Franz Lehár, which Kempe considered the finest studio recording he ever made.