Product description
-------------------
Gaetano Donizetti didn't actually set out to compose a cycle
based on the tragic histories of the Tudor Queens. The three
works gathered here--including his breakthrough opera, Anna
Bolena, Roberto Devereux, and the long-neglected Maria
Stuarda--were created at various points in his maniacally
prolific career, and each has its own rather complicated,
haphazard genesis. But the belated reappreciation given to these
works at New York City Opera during the heyday of the bel canto
revival--a crucial step in the overall revival of Donizetti as
well--conferred a sort of post facto sense of unity thanks to the
signature contributions of Beverly Sills. These roles were, quite
un-punningly, her crowning achievement. Yet despite a brief
efflorescence of celebrity (even extending to a Time magazine
cover) when she was considered perhaps the rival to Joan
Sutherland, Sills slipped through the cracks. For all her
formidable acting skill--a substantial aspect of her
accomplishment in these interpretations--she never quite made it
to the era of opera telecasting, and her problematic recorded
catalog and relatively early retirement from the stage hindered
the Sills legend from extending to a new generation. But now,
there's no excuse to overlook the Sills achievement. Coupled with
the belated reissue of her early triumph in The Ballad of Baby
Doe, this Donizetti box set gives a fuller portrait of the artist
Sills. This is quite simply a can't-miss bonanza for
Donizetti-heads and, for that matter, fans of beautiful singing.
The original project started off with Roberto Devereux--recorded
in London in 1969--and continued until the summer 1972
of Anna Bolena, but this is the first time the old LPs have been
made collectively available on CD in remastered format. The box
includes facsimiles of the original lengthy liner notes (with
astute background, commentary, and translations--full libretti
included--by William Ashbrook)
.com
----
Gaetano Donizetti didn't actually set out to compose a cycle
based on the tragic histories of the Tudor Queens. The three
works gathered here--including his breakthrough opera, Anna
Bolena, Roberto Devereux, and the long-neglected Maria
Stuarda--were created at various points in his maniacally
prolific career, and each has its own rather complicated,
haphazard genesis. But the belated reappreciation given to these
works at New York City Opera during the heyday of the bel canto
revival--a crucial step in the overall revival of Donizetti as
well--conferred a sort of post facto sense of unity thanks to the
signature contributions of Beverly Sills. These roles were, quite
unpunningly, her crowning achievement. Yet despite a brief
efflorescence of celebrity (even extending to a Time magazine
cover) when she was considered perhaps the rival to Joan
Sutherland, Sills slipped through the cracks. For all her
formidable acting skill--a substantial aspect of her
accomplishment in these interpretations--she never quite made it
to the era of opera telecasting, and her problematic recorded
catalog and relatively early retirement from the stage hindered
the Sills legend from extending to a new generation.
But now, there's no excuse to overlook the Sills achievement.
Coupled with the belated reissue of her early triumph in The
Ballad of Baby Doe, this Donizetti box set gives a fuller
portrait of the artist Sills. This is quite simply a can't-miss
bonanza for Donizetti-heads and, for that matter, fans of
beautiful singing. The original project started off with Roberto
Devereux--recorded in London in 1969--and continued until the
summer 1972 of Anna Bolena, but this is the first time
the old LPs have been made collectively available on CD in
remastered format. The box includes facsimiles of the original
lengthy liner notes (with astute background, commentary, and
translations--full libretti included--by William Ashbrook) and a
bonus booklet of photos from the original NYC Opera productions.
Just as the musical content varies in quality from opera to
opera, indeed within each opera, the level of performance is by
no means seamless or at the same peak pitch throughout. Some
listeners will prefer the less liberal but profoundly attentive
and intuitively rich conducting of Charles Mackerras in Devereux,
while others will overlook the rather surprisingly sloppy string
ensemble and figuration committed by the London Symphony in Anna
Bolena for the hectic energy and pacing Julius Rudel could
conjure. The challenges demanded by Donizetti's heavy writing for
Elisabetta in Devereux can manifest as strain, but this part also
registers Sills's vocal acting with a powerful punch: just listen
to the range of emotional content she sails through in the scene
of her conflicted first duet with Roberto, beginning with "un
tenero core" (Act I). One of the joys here is zeroing in on your
own favorite passage, scena, flicker of in: perhaps it's
Anna in prison, the outburst of two queens meeting in the park
outside Fotheringhay (who cares if history has been amended to
suit dramatic license?), or Elisabetta's horrifying realization
upon the execution of her beloved. And despite some unevenness in
the casting, this set offers a number of other vocal treasures to
set beside Sills's artistry: the utterly compelling Giovanna
(Jane Seymour) of Shirley Verrett in Anna Bolena, Eileen
Farrell's return to the studio for Maria Stuarda's imperious
Elizabeth (interesting to compare with Sills's earlier slant on
the queen from Devereux), Paul Plishka's imposing Henry the 8th,
Peter Glossop's scheming Nottingham. If you're not already an
addict, this set will bring you back for fix after fix. --Thomas
May
