Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi

Patrizia Ciofi (Giulietta), Clara Polito (Romeo), Danilo Formaggia (Tebaldi), Nicola Amodio (Lorenzo), Federico Sacchi (Capellio)

Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, The Bratislava Chamber Chorus, Luciano Acocella (conductor) & Denis Krief (director)

This Capuleti e i Montecchi is one of the best versions of this opera on disc. The edition used is the one Bellini made for La Scala a few months after the Venice premiere in 1830. The main difference... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 30th Sep 2006
Catalogue No: 33504
Label: Dynamic

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Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi

(La Scala version for two sopranos, 26 Dec 1830)
Patrizia Ciofi (Giulietta), Clara Polito (Romeo), Danilo Formaggia (Tebaldi), Nicola Amodio (Lorenzo), Federico Sacchi (Capellio)
Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, The Bratislava Chamber Chorus
Luciano Acocella (conductor) & Denis Krief (director)

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Recorded at Festival Della Valle D’itria, Martina Franca 2005

This is the version of I Capuleti e i Montecchi made for La Scala, where it was first staged on 26th December 1830, featuring two female voices in the roles of Romeo and Juliet. This opera is usually performed with a tenor as Romeo, but at La Scala Bellini found a different singing troupe which obliged him to cast not the en travesti warrior of Rossinian manner (like Tancredi, Arsace, Malcolm) but a wholly female Romeo, ardent and authoritative yet at the same time languid, sensual and soft. The choice of this Capuleti at the 2005 Martina Franca Festival was also dictated by the availability of Patrizia Ciofi. This great specialist of romantic belcanto had never been offered the role of Giulietta in Capuleti, a role which is absolutely ideal for her vocal talents.

Recorded 2005.

Subtitles: English, German, Italian, French and Spanish.

Reviews

2010

This Capuleti e i Montecchi is one of the best versions of this opera on disc. The edition used is the one Bellini made for La Scala a few months after the Venice premiere in 1830. The main difference is that Friar Lawrence here is a tenor (the excellent Nicola Amodio), and Juliet's solo in Act 2 is a continuous aria, rather than being punctuated by interjections from her father. Patrizia Ciofi gives this a really passionate performance: she is an ideal Juliet, youthful in appearance, in no way over-extended by Bellini's long vocal lines.
Clara Polito makes a tremendous Romeo, adding some effective flourishes in the cabaletta to her Act 1 aria and joining Danilo Formaggia as Tybalt in an exciting account of their fight duet in Act 2. Federico Sacchi is a thunderous Capulet, and the chorus makes an always positive contribution.
Luciano Acocella and the Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia make the opera sound quite the equal of Bellini's later, more famous works, but as Wagner wrote of it, 'there is true passion and emotion there'. Denis Krief's production is straightforward and always concentrated on the drama. It is played in modern dress, the Montagues and Capulets obviously on opposite sides in some unforgiving sectarian civil war, the men brandishing machine guns and revolvers. It works extremely well on its own terms, and the setting of the Ducal Palace in Martina Franca makes a perfect backdrop: recommended.

November 2006

Patrizia Ciofi gives this a really passionate performance: she is an ideal Juliet, youthful in appearance, in no way over-extended by Bellini's long vocal lines. Clara Polito makes a tremendous Romeo, adding some effective flourishes in the cabaletta to her Act 1 aria and joining Danilo Formaggia as Tybalt in an exciting account of their fight duet in Act 2. Federico Sacchi is a thunderous Capulet, and the chorus makes an always positive contribution. Denis Krief's production is straightforward and always concentrated on the drama. It is played in modern dress, the Montagues and Capulets obviously on opposite sides in some unforgiving sectarian civil war... It works extremely well on its own terms, and the setting of the Ducal Palace in Martina Franca makes a perfect backdrop: recommended.

Bellini: I Capuleti e I Montecchi

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