152booklet 7/10/08 14:46 Page 1

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IMAGES OF SPAIN these things at once depending upon one’s point Spanish Heroines of view. These images of Spain may be as far Spain has been a popular destination for removed from actuality as the current image of tales for many years. This should not surprise; the sangria and chips is from the reality of one of the image most of us have of the country is of a most progressive and quickly developing 1. Una voce poco fa, (Rosina, Il Barbiere di Siviglia) Gioachino Rossini [6.01] rugged, sun-blasted landscape with a scattering democracies in Europe. of highly emotional, hot-blooded inhabitants ready 2. Contro un cor, (Rosina, ll Barbiere di Siviglia) Gioachino Rossini [6.12] to whip out a dagger or gun to avenge an insult at Certainly, nobody can deny the extraordinary 3. In quail eccessi, o Numi…Mi tradì, (Donna Elvira, ) [6.18] the drop of a sombrero. Actually, that would intensity of Spanish Art right across the scale. 4. O mon Fernand (Leonora, La Favorite) Gaetano Donizetti [8.09] probably do as a definition of operaland itself Spanish religious painting includes some of the 5. Chanson du Voile, (Princesse Eboli, Don Carlos) * [5.47] where passions naturally blaze with unnatural most morbid representations in Western Art but fervour. In a recent television programme about also some of the most ecstatic; while modern art 6. O Don Fatal, (Princesse Eboli, Don Carlos) Giuseppe Verdi [4.56] Spanish Art, the intensity of the Spanish soul was can embrace everything from the scream of La 7. Habanera, (Carmen, Carmen) Georges Bizet [5.36] described as being as though the temperature had Guernica to the eroticism of Picasso and Dali. 8. Près des remparts de Séville [Séguedille], (Carmen, Carmen) Georges Bizet [2.06] been turned up a few degrees. 9. Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux (Chimène, Le Cid) Jules Massenet [6.18] This supports the opera world-view of Spain, a 10. Alza! Alza! (Dulcinée, Don Quichotte) Jules Massenet [4.18] Of course each generation chooses it’s own image place slightly out of kilter, a country where of Spain to reflect it’s own ideals and interests. emotions are so intense that what is actually Whether it is the imagined chivalry and heroism of happening may be slightly uncertain. Who can Total Timings [55.18] the so-called “reconquest” that forms the narrate clearly and lucidly the plot of Il Trovatore * Susanna Puig I Ferrés, soprano (Thibault) background to Le Cid; or the idealised image of or La forza del destino? Does it matter? Just feel the tolerance of a multi-cultural society under the their pain as they throw their children on to the Moors; or the image of an incredibly wealthy burning fire, oh, and sing about it. Operatic Spain Silvia Tro Santafé mezzo-soprano is the place where the pain of love comes a distant Susanna Puig i Ferrés soprano Empire stagnating in its own cruelty and stifling Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in the aridity of its court etiquette; or the image of second to the fury of revenge. Julian Reynolds conductor a backwater which the Enlightenment passed by Orfeón Pamplonés totally and failed to illumine or a country of Naturally we ignore the corrective view of native Igor Ijurra director volatile peasants, picturesque bandits and wild . Few Spanish operas have made it to the gypsies all living close to nature, Spain is all of general repertoire but two examples will suffice, www.signumrecords.com

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and both contradict the popular image totally. At of Don Giovanni are mainly (and fittingly) admittance to Bartolo’s house firstly disguised as Giovanni attempts to seduce Elvira’s maid with the end of de Falla’s La vide breve when Salud nocturnal, and even while Almaviva’s estate at a a soldier, and later as a singing teacher. As he her genuinely heroic final attempt to save his soul. confronts her faithless betrayer, opera logic would few hours ride away may be cooled by the “aguas plots Rosina’s escape with her, she sings an aria Its cyclic repetitions reinforce the image of her dictate that as a Spanish heroine she should grab frescas” the last act of Le Nozze, set after dark, is as part of the lesson. She tells her guardian that self-torture. the nearest carving knife and initiate a bloodbath. the one with the most action in it. this is from the opera, The Useless Precaution. Instead she limply and inexplicably expires. This From quite early on, there was a tradition of O mon Fernand ending has been criticised, but it is clearly what Only the farce of the Barber demands full-on substituting another aria - often with more (La favorite - Gaetano Donizetti) de Falla wanted. The image of Spanish woman he action throughout the day, but it may explain the fireworks - for Rossini’s original, but nowadays we is portraying is not a Carmen, but a woman born fact that the first act is supposed to start at about have returned to the aria Rossini wrote. The action of this opera takes place in the to suffer passively. In fact this is not limited to 6.00 in the morning. One of the most popular Kingdom of Castille about 1340 women, in Goyescas by Granados, the hero sings a operas of all time, Rossini’s Barbiere was In quail eccessi, o Numi…Mi tradì Traviata final love-duet knowing that he is going to be famously an initial failure. This had nothing to do (Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Donizetti’s La favorite written for Paris and first killed by Paquiro the toreador with whom he has to with the music, but at the premiere the audience performed there in 1840 four years before La fight a duel. were unnerved by the fact that the tenor - who Da Ponte took a one-act opera and expanded it to with which it shares the theme of a fallen accompanied himself in the aubade on the guitar two acts for Mozart, but he cut down the number woman in love. However, it also shows how opera Una voce poco fa - forgot to tune his instrument before venturing on of women in the opera from 4 to 3 - presumably can take an historical character - in this case (Il barbiere di Siviglia - Gaetano Rossini) the stage. When a cat later wandered on to the because of the circumstances of the Prague Leonora de Guzman, the long-time mistress of scene, the audience gave up listening to the piece. Company for which it was written. Of the three, the Alfonso IX of Castille - and then cheerfully weave A tourist slinking around modern Sevilla from one In her opening aria, Rosina proclaims her character of Elvira is certainly the hardest to a web of operatic nonsense around her. This grateful piece of shade to the next may wonder confidence in her own abilities and her understand, and yet she is the most central. She should not worry us, as the opera is musically one why two of the three Mozart/da Ponte operas as determination to win the suitor she wants, recognises the hopelessness of her love for of Donizetti’s best, a slow dramatic burn in which well as Rossini’s Barber of Seville are set in an Almaviva whom she knows under the name of Giovanni and yet she dwells on it deliberately each act is better than the one that precedes it. area called “the frying-pan of Spain”. As our Lindoro. torturing herself. If de Falla is right in his Leonore is torn between her love for the young tourist wonders how he is going to get as far as portrayal of Spanish women with Salud, then Fernand and her position as Royal Mistress. the cathedral in the burning heat, a new respect Contro un cor Elvira is perhaps the most Spanish of the women Fernand forces the issue by demanding her hand grows for a man who can make love in such a in the opera. This aria forms part of the extension of the King after winning a battle. Unfortunately climate to 1003 Spanish women alone, far less the The farce of Barber leads to a number of disguises of the one-act form by da Ponte. It bridges the he does not know of her past, and when the foreigners in Leporello’s catalogue without the in best commedia dell’arte tradition. Almaviva, humiliation of the scene in which she discovers grateful King grants his request, the young benefit of air-conditioning. Of course, the events already disguised as the student Lindoro, gains that Leporello has substituted for his master while bridegroom is shocked when the court refuses to

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of the Alhambra speak to him. In a very dramatic scene, he hears been grave for her sentence was severe. King Habanera do with England. For this, literature and opera the truth and rejects all the honours the King has Philip ordered her to be locked in a single room of (Carmen - Georges Bizet) must share the blame. Washington Irving’s Tales awarded him, including Leonore, and in best her own palace at Pastrana, forced to communicate may now seem humourless and operatic tradition storms off to a monastery. Of through a grille. In her youth, she had been a If Carmen is dated from the facts of Mérimée’s patronising, but it made Andalucia fashionable. course she follows him disguised as a novice so Lady-in-waiting to the Elisabeth de Valois and this novella then she met her end in the late 1820s, if Carmen, the most popular of all operas, then that they can have a final splendid duet and she is the period covered by the opera. That she is one it is dated from the time the opera was written we stamped the image of flamenco skirts swished can expire in his arms. Long popular in the of the protagonists in the drama is often missed move that backward by roughly thirty years. Thus, tempestuously firmly into our consciousness. The nineteenth century it is rarely revived now. One because when Verdi was forced to cut his and appropriately for this startlingly modern irony is that for Merimee, the essence of Carmen is reason, apart from the libretto, may be the fact mammoth French Grand Opera, Eboli was the chief character, she is the youngest of our heroines. that she is an outsider, something strange, exotic that Leonore is cast as a mezzo instead of the victim of his scissors. Her role in some key scenes Bizet’s librettists are more concerned with place and intangible. Don Jose by way of contrast comes expected soprano, but the strength of the score only becomes clear if one returns to the original. than time. Outside the Cigarette Factory in Seville, from a good family though his uncontrollable can be judged by her wonderful aria in which she a huge red-brick building that exists to this day temper has already got him in trouble in his native acknowledges her growing love for Fernand. She sings the Veil Song to divert the young Queen and is now part of the University. north of Spain. and her Ladies. Its “oriental” melismas hint at the Chanson du Voile lingering Moorish influence on Spanish music as Writing in A Stranger in Spain, H.V. Morton noted Bizet supports this image of dancing, heel- (Don Carlo - Giuseppe Verdi) well as pandering to the French taste for orientalism. that had the English connection with this corner of clicking Spain; Carmen’s arias are cast as Spain not been so strong, our image of Spain Spanish dances, a Habanera and a Seguidilla. The Dona Ana Mendoza y de la Cerda, the original O don fatal would not be so strongly dominated by Andalucia. first is her opening aria and it shows at once the character upon whom Schiller loosely based his He blamed our nineteenth-century ancestors for subtlety of this extraordinary masterpiece. One of Princess of Eboli was an extremely forceful Later in the opera, she confesses to the Queen her creating the tourist image and wonders if we had the most popular arias of all time, it does not woman. She married young and soon became part in an intrigue against her Mistresss and that continued to make the pilgrimage to Santiago reveal its secrets all at once. For example, to mother of a large family. When her husband died, she has slept with the King. When the Queen whether the image would have been of Gallegos as whom is she singing? The men in the chorus, or she entered one of St Teresa of Avila’s Carmelite banishes her from court, Eboli curses her fatal the prototype for the nation instead of the herself? She has just had a catfight with another convents. Within months she had caused such beauty in an aria whose music fits the French Andalucian with his Cordoban hat, short jacket cigarette girl. Is she singing it to restore her uproar that St. Teresa had to close the convent original far better than the later Italian version. and tight trousers. He was right that the equilibrium or has this mercurial character down and to smuggle all of the other terrified nuns Andalucian is perhaps the least typical of all the already forgotten the disturbance? out at midnight. She went back to the court and Spaniards; but a travel poster for Spain is almost took up a remarkably unsuccessful life of intrigue. unthinkable without the flouncey dresses, What she actually did is unclear, but it must have castanets and upraised arms that have as little to do with the rest of Spain as the Highland Games - 6 - - 7 - 152booklet 7/10/08 14:46 Page 9

Près des remparts de Séville [Séguedille] a full-scale Grand Opera complete with ballet, best part of the opera is the relationship between (Carmen - Georges Bizet) Celestial Apparitions, very large cast and a large the Don and his servant Sancho Panza and number of spectacular sets. As these militate perhaps the most conventional aspect of the piece The image of this aria is an essential one for against revivals it is hard to judge how it would is the treatment of Dulcinee who is opera. Carmen has been tied up and is being work in the theatre, although it was initially one of sentimentalised in a very nineteenth century way. guarded by Don Jose. She wants to escape and the composer’s most successful operas. Perhaps that was inevitable only 30 years after sees him as a means to an end. Unable to use her the success of Carmen. She is given 4 vapid hands or feet because she is tied up, she uses her Chimene loves Rodrigue, but she swears revenge admirers to contrast with Quichotte and an aria in voice instead. Potently, this aria of seduction is in upon him because he killed her father. He is sent which she muses about needing more out of life - the form of a fast triple-time dance. off to do battle against the Moors, rather with the a way to let her react to Quichotte perhaps but far idea that he should not return. Chimene in this removed from the character conceived by Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux aria weeps for her dead father and for the hopes Cervantes. Much of the humour of the novel lies in (Le Cid - Jules Massenet) she had of marrying Rodrigue. the discrepancy between the reality and the dream-world that Quichotte makes of it. He turns The earliest of our heroines, the action of Le Cid As so often in French Opera, the part of the heroine a simple country girl into an image of courtly love, takes place principally around the city of Burgos lies in the mezzo-soprano range. but Dulcinee is frankly an incarnation of Bizet’s in the eleventh century, however a certain amount charmer, beloved by everybody and bored with her of telescoping takes place. The King’s enemy is Alza! Alza! own success. called Boabdil (indeed the name of the last King of (Don Quichotte - Jules Massenet) Granada) and the final act takes place after the Her opening aria is also reminiscent of Carmen’s conquest of Granada. So many legends have As Don Quichotte is one of Massenet’s most first appearance. The town is celebrating a fiesta. grown up around El Cid that it is often impossible compelling operas its current neglect is curious. She enters on a balcony and sings of her effect on to distinguish between fact and fiction; however As well as offering a pair of gratefully written roles all men. Massenet adds Moorish herbs to his dish we may be confident in ascribing this to fiction as for the Don and Sancho Panza, it is - like all the with the opening melismas on the word “Alza” it would make the characters all well over 400 best of Massenet’s operas - a well-oiled and highly which recall both Carmen and Eboli. years old. The libretto is also a time-traveller; efficient piece of theatre machinery. By taking partly based upon Corneille, it is an odd mix of unconnected episodes from the novel, it was © Tim Coleman seventeenth and nineteenth century French. following a trend of the time in opera, which we Massenet wrote Le Cid for the Paris Opera and it is can also see in Manon and La Bohème. Perhaps the

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TEXTS D’ogni assalto vincitore Quando sento il mio tormento, Mon arrêt descend du ciel. sempre amor trionfera’. Di vendetta il cor favella: Venez tous, c’est une fête! 1. Una voce poco fa Ma, se guardo il suo cimento, de bouquets parez l’autel. Una voce poco fa Cara immagine ridente, Palpitando il cor mi va. Qu’une tombe aussi s’apprête! qui nel cor mi risuonò; dolce idea d’un lieto amore, Et jetez un voile noir il mio cor ferito è già, tu m’accendi in petto il core, 4. O mon Fernand sur la triste fiancée qui, maudite et repoussée, e Lindor fu che il piagò. tu mi porti a delirar. L’ai-je bien entendu? Qui... lui... Fernand, sera morte avant ce soir. Sì, Lindoro mio sarà; l’époux de Léonore! lo giurai, la vincerò. Caro, a te mi raccomando, Lui... Tout me l’atteste et mon coeur doute encore Pour bandeau de fiancée, tu mi salva, per pieta’, de ce bonheur inattendu. Moi, l’époser! qu’on me jette un voile noir. Il tutor ricuserà, tu mi porti a delirar. ah! ce serait infâme! Venez, venez cruels! io l’ingegno aguzzerò. Moi, lui porter en dot mon déshonneur! Mon arrêt descend du ciel. Alla fin s’accheterà 3. In quail eccessi, o Numi…Mi tradì Non, non; dût-il me fuir avec horreur, Venez tous, c’est une fête! e contenta io resterò. In quali eccessi, o Numi, il connaîtra la malheureuse femme de bouquets parez l’autel. Sì, Lindoro mio sarà; in quai misfatti orribili, tremendi qu’il croit digne de son coeur. Qu’une tombe aussi s’apprête! lo giurai, la vincerò. è avvolto il sciagurato! Et jetez un voile noir Ah no! non puote tardar l’ira del cielo, O mon Fernand! tous les biens de la terre, sur la triste fiancée qui, maudite et repoussée, Io sono docile, son rispettosa, la giustizia tardar! pour être à toi mon coeur eût tout donné; sera morte avant ce soir. sono obbediente, dolce, amorosa; Sentir già parmi la fatale saetta, mais mon amour, plus pur que la prière, mi lascio reggere, mi fo guidar. che gli piomba sul capo! au désespoir, hélas! hélas! est condamné. 5. Chanson du Voile Ma se mi toccano dov’è il mio debole Aperto veggio il baratro mortal! Tu suras tout, et par toi méprisée, [Princess Eboli] sarò una vipera sarò, e cento trappole Misera Elvira, che contrasto d’affetti j’aurai souffert tout, Puisque dans ce couvent la Reine des Espagnes prima di cedere farò giocar. in sen ti nasce!... tout ce qu’on peut souffrir. Ah! Peut seule entrer; voulez-vous, mes compagnes, Perchè questi sospiri, Si ta justice est alors apaisée, mon Dieu! Chercher en attendant que le ciel ait pâli, 2. Contro un cor e queste’ambascie? fais-moi mourir, mon Dieu! mon Dieu! Quelque jeu qui nous divertisse? Contro un cor fais-moi, fais-moi mourir. che accende amore Mi tradì quell’alma ingrata, [Thibault, Les Dames] di verace, invitto ardore, Infelice, oddio!, mi fa. Venez, cruels! qui vous arrête? Nous suivront tous votre caprice, s’arma invan poter tiranno Ma tradita e abbandonata, venez, cruels, venez! Charmante Princesse Eboli! di rigor, di crudelta’. Provo ancor per lui pietà. - 10 - - 11 - 152booklet 7/10/08 14:46 Page 13

[Princess Eboli] [with Princell Eboli and Thibault] Mes souillures et mes misères, L’amour est un oiseau rebelle Apportez une mandoline, Aux lueurs des étoiles, Vous ne les Iaverez jamais! Que nul ne peut apprivoiser, Et chantons tour à tour, Les voiles sont chers à l’amour! Je te maudis, ô ma beauté! et c’est bien en vain qu’on l’appelle, Chantons la chanson Sarrasine, s’il lui convient de refuser. Celle du voile indulgent à l’amour! [Princess Eboli] Adieu, Reine, victime pure Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière, Chantons! J’entrevois à peine dans l’obscur jardin, De mes déloyales et folles amours! L’un parle bien, l’autre se tait: Tes cheveux d’ébène, ton pied enfantin. Dans un couvent et sous la bure, Et c’est l’autre que je préfère, [Thibault and Les Dames] O fille charmante un roi t’aimera: le m’ensevelis pour toujours! Il n’a rien dit mais il me plaît. Chantons! Sois la fleur vivante de mon Alhambra. Mais quitte ce voile, bel astre charmant, Et Carlos?... Oui! demain, peut-être, L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! [Princess Eboli] Fais comme l’étoile du bleu firmament! Il tombera sous le fer sacré! Au palais des fées, des rois Grenadins, J’obéis sans peine: tiens, regarde-moi! Ah! Un jour me reste! Ah! le me sens renaitre! L’amour est enfant de Bohème, Devant les nymphées, de ces beaux jardins, Allah! C’est la Reine!” s’écria le roi! Béni ce jour, je le sauverai! Il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi, Couverte d’un voile une femme, un soir, Ah! Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime: À la belle étoile seule vint s’asseoir. 7. Habanera Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi! Achmet le roi maure, en passant la vit, [Princess Eboli and Thibault] [Chorus] Si tu ne m’aime pas, Et voilée encore elle le ravit. Ah! O jeunes filles, tissez des voiles! etc. La voila! Voila la Carmencita! Si tu ne m’aime pas, je t’aime! “Viens, ma souveraine, régner à ma cour, Carmen! sur tes pas nous nous pres sons tous! Mais si je t’aime, Lui dit-il: la reine n’a plus mon amour.” [Les Dames] Carmen! sois gentile, au moins réponds-nous? si je t’aime, prend garde à toi! Ah! O jeunes filles, tissez des voiles! etc. Et dis-nous quel jour tu nous aimeras! Si tu ne m’aime pas, Carmen, dis-nous quell jour tu nous aimeras! Si tu ne m’aime pas, je t’aime! [Princess Eboli and Thibault] 6. Don Fatal Mais, si je t’aime, Ah! O jeunes filles, tissez des voiles! Ah! Je ne verrai plus Ia Reine! [Carmen] Si je t’aime, Prends garde à toi! Quand le ciel brille des feux du jour, Aux lueurs des étoiles, O don fatal et détesté, Quand je vous aimerai? L’oiseau que tu croyais surprendre Les voiles sont chers à l’amour! Présent du ciel en sacolère! Ma foi, je ne sais pas… Battit de l’aile et s’envola; O toi qui rends la femme si fière! Peut-être jamais! peut-être demain!... L’amour est loin, tu peux l’attendre; [Les Dames] Je te maudis, ô ma beauté! Mais pas aujourd’hui… c’est certain. Tu ne l’attends plus, il est là! Ah! O jeunes filles, tissez des voiles! Tombez, tombez, larmes amères! Tout autour de toi, vite, vite, Quand le ciel brille des feux du jour, Mes trahisons et mes forfaits, - 12 - - 13 - 152booklet 7/10/08 14:46 Page 15

Il vient, s’en va, puis il revient; Qui veut mon âme? Elle est à prendre! Ah! mon père! Hélas! Alza! Tu crois le tenir, il t’évite; Vous arrivez au bon moment! Pleurez! pleurez mes yeux! Quand la femme a vingt ans, Tu crois l’éviter, il te tient! Je n’ai guère le temps d’attendre, Tombez triste rosée D’hommages l’on vous environne Car avec mon nouvel amant, Qu’un rayon de soleil ne doit jamais tarir! Durant le jour; oui, mais la nuit... L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! L’amour! Près des remparts de Séville, Pleurez mes yeux! Parce qu’on porte une couronne... Chez mon ami, Lillas Pastia! Ah! pleurez toutes vos larmes! pleurez mes yeux! Le temps d’amour s’enfuit. L’amour est enfant de Bohème, J’irai danser la Séguedille Hélas! Hélas! il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi; Et boire du Manzanilla. 10. Alza! Alza! Et pour calmer le coeur morose Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime: J’irai chez mon ami Lillas Pastia. [Chorus] Et les ennuis exaspérés, si je t’aime, prends garde à toi! Anda! Alza! Anda! Dulcinée Il doit bien manquer quelque chose... 9. Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux ou quelqu’un... 8. Près des remparts de Séville [Séguedille] De cet affreux combat je sors l’âme brisée! [Dulcinée] Ah! Près des remparts de Séville, Mais enfin je suis libre et je pourrai du moins Alza! Alza! Comme vous voudrez. Chez mon ami, Lillas Pastia Soupirer sans contrainte et souffrir sans témoins. Quand la femme a vingt ans, la majesté surpême J’irai danser la Séguedille Ne doit pas avoir grands attraits! [Chorus] Et boire du Manzanilla. Pleurez! pleurez mes yeux! tombez triste rosée L’on possède un beau diadème, Dulcinée! Reine! J’irai chez mon ami Lillas Pastia. Qu’un rayon de soleil ne doit jamais tarir! Mais après, mes amis, après? Après? Sois notre Reine! Oui, mais toute seule on s’ennuie, S’il me reste un espoir, c’est de bientôt mourir! On vit dans une apothéose, Alza! Et les vrais plaisirs sont à deux; Pleurez mes yeux, pleurez toutes vos larmes! Vos jours, sont de gloire entourés, Donc, pour me tenir compagnie, Pleurez mes yeux! Mais il doit manquer quelque chose... [Dulcinée] J’emmènerai mon amoureux! ou quelqu’un... Alza! Alza! Mon amoureux, il est au diable… Mais qui donc a voulu l’éternité des pleurs? Ah! Comme vous voudrez. Amis, à tous, ici, Je l’ai mis à la porte hier! Ô chers ensevelis, trouvez-vous tant de charmes à Merci! amis, merci, merci! Mon pauvre coeur très consolable, léguer aux vivants d’implacables douleurs? [Chorus] Mon coeur est libre comme l’air! Hélas! je me souviens, il me disait: Belle dont le charme est l’empire; J’ai les galants à la douzaine, Avec ton doux sourire, Dulcinée! Reine! Mais ils ne sont pas à mon gré. Tu ne saurais jamais conduire Sois notre Reine! Voici la fin de la semaine: Qu’aux chemins glorieux ou qu’aux sentiers bénis! Qui veut m’aimer? Je l’aimerai! [Dulcinée]

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(Alcina) in Paris (Châtelet) and Silvia has an extensive concert and recital BIOGRAPHIES Oviedo; and the title role in ‘Ariodante’ at the repertoire. Her recording for Globe of Spanish Liceu, Barcelona. Among many other Baroque songslaGiovanni Paloma was given a top rating by Diapason roles she has sung the title role in Eliogabalo in Magazine. Other recordings include La Verbena de Brussels (La Monnaie). with Placida Domingo, Zerlina in Don Silvia Tro Santafé on Kikko Classics, Xerxes (Amastre) with Above all, she has established an international William Christie for Virgin and Scarlatti’s Griselda reputation as a great Rossini singer: her Rosina for Harmonia Mundi with René Jacobs. Silvia Tro Santafé was born in Valencia and has been heard in Bologna, Toulouse, Amsterdam, studied at the Conservatorio “Joaquin Rodrigo” Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich, Luxembourg and at the Among other exciting future plans include a return with Ana Luisa Chova, later studying with Carlo Vienna State Opera; she has sung Isabella to Vienna for L’Italianaand Barbiere, a new Massenet Bergonzi, Walter Berry, Gerard Souzay, Félix (L’Italiana in Algeri) in Berlin, Zurich, Dresden and Don Quichotte in Brussels, singing Dulcinée, and Lavilla, Magda Olivero, Monserrat Caballé and Vienna; and her Angelina in La Cenerentola has L’Italiana at the Teatro Real Madrid. Renata Scotto. After her professional debut in La been acclaimed in, Barcelona, Zurich, Brussels, Scala di Seta at the Rossini Opera Festival in Dresden and Munich. Other Rossini roles include She will return again to the States to open the Pesaro in 1992 she won a place at the Julliard Ernestinaviaggio a (ReimsL’equivoco sravagante) at the Rossini Washington Opera Season in 2009 singing Rosina. School in New York and was awarded first prize in Contes d’Hoffmann Opera Festival, Malcom (La Donna del Lago) at the Adalgisa in Norma at the Monnaie, La Cenerentola the Opera Index Competition. Shortly afterwards Chamounix San Carlos in Lisbon and Marchesa Melibea (Il at the Dresden Semperoper, Nicklausse in Les she made her American debut singing Cherubino ) in Frankfurt Opera. , Pierotto in Linda di in Santa Fe. and Cecilio in Lucio Silla at the Liceu Other appearances include the title role in Barcelona, Giovanna Seymour in Anna Bolena in Since then she has become one of the most sought L’enfant et les sortileges, Barcelona (Liceu); Dortmund and Rosina at the Geneva Opera. after coloratura mezzos of her generation. As a Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffman) with the Rome great Handelian, she has sung Medoro (Orlando) Opera; Dorabella in Oviedo; and Charlotte in Valencia; Tolomeo (Giulio Cesare) with the (‘Werther’) in Como and Pisa. Her recent debut, Opera and in Bologna; Polinesso singing Adalgisa to Edita Gruberova’s Norma in (Ariodante) in Paris (Palais Garnier), Dresden and Hamburg and Berlin, was a great public and at the Salzburg Festival; the title role in Rinaldo at critical success. the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; Amastre in Xerxes © Michela Alessia Marcato / Massimo di Pietro in Paris (Théâtre des Champs Elysées); Ruggiero

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ORQUESTA SINFÓNICA to the region of Navarre, the Orchestra is also Orfeón Pamplonés Berliner Symphoniker. In the last few years, the DE NAVARRA undertaking a tour of China that will showcase THE ORFEÓN PAMPLONÉS Orfeón has appeared at some of the most (NAVARRA SYMPHONY works by the orchestra’s founder, Sarasate. prestigious festivals in Spain (Quincena Musical ORCHESTRA) The Orfeón Pamplonés is one of the oldest choral Donostiarra, Santander, Peralada, Granada), It is the resident orchestra of the Gayarre singing ensembles in Spain, founded in 1865. It currently France (Avignon, Orange, Montpellier) and Germany The Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra is the oldest competition and the Sarasate violin competition in has 120 members, allowing performances of a (Ruhr), among others. In September 2007, the Spanish orchestra in existence: it was founded in Madrid and is regularly to be heard in the wide variety of repertoire spanning all periods, Orfeón Pamplonés undertook its first tour Mexican 1879 by the noted Spanish composer and violinist, orchestra pit for opera and zarzuela performances from Classical through Romantic, to the 20th tour, singing Verdi’s Requiem. Pablo Sarasate who was born in Pamplona. in Pamplona, Spain and abroad. century. The group also performs regularly in opera and zarzuela, as well as in a capella music. Igor Ijurra Fernández has been chief conductor Since 1997, the Artistic Director and Chief The Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra has also since 2005. Conductor has been Maestro Ernesto Martínez developed an important educational role. This not The Orfeón Pamplonés was the first vocal Izquierdo. The orchestra is now acclaimed as one only includes concerts in schools but also series of ensemble in Spain to allow the admission of of the finest in Spain, and noted for the breadth of popular concerts that include such events as women, with the creation of a female choir in its repertory and for the fact that it regularly providing live accompaniment to silent films as 1903. Since then the chorus has been able to give collaborates with internationally known well as the collaborations with internationally the first performances in Spain of a large number conductors and soloists. It has been heard on known jazz artists. of works, including Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis numerous important concert stages as well at and Bach’s Mass in B minor. In 1928, Maurice international Festivals. Its most recent recordings include the first Ravel conducted the Orfeón Pamplonés in volumes of what its to be the complete works of performing his Trois Chansons. In 2007/8, the the Orchestra visited Bilbao, Sarasate on the Naxos label. Warsaw, Dortmund, and Paris. The following year The artistic achievements of the Orfeón Pamplonés sees a return to Paris for performances that The Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra receives have been repeatedly recognized with several include a concert with Juan Diego Flórez and a financial support from the Government of Navarra awards. The repertoire of the Orfeón Pamplonés production at the Théâtre du Châtelet of the rarely and the City of Pamplona. It is also receives includes the most important symphonic and performed Cyrano de Bergerac by Alfano, the generous assistance from private companies such choral works, and the ensemble has collaborated composer most widely known for his completion of as NH Hoteles, Diario de Navarra, Caja Navarra with many leading Spanish and European Turandot. The production will feature Placido and Gas Natural Navarra. orchestras, including the Orchestre du Capitole de Domingo in the title-role. As Cultural Ambassador Toulouse, Münchner Philharmoniker and the

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Julian Reynolds Julian Reynolds made his German debut with Otello at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, followed by a Conductor Julian Reynolds enjoys an international new production of Luisa Miller with the careerbarbiere in dithe Siviglia operatic and concert repertoire. Staatstheater Mainz. He has been a regular guest Most recent seasons’ successes have included conductor with the Kirov Opera in the Maryinsky engagements at the Netherlands Opera for Il Theatre St. Petersburg, making his debut with the and Norma, which is available company conducting La traviata, and went on to in DVD format on Opus Arte, in Sankt Gallen for lead a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos, di Seviglia Tosca, Norma, and Hänsel und Gretel, at the Grand followed by Samson et Dalila, and the Kirov’s first Théâtre de la Ville in Luxembourg with Il barbiere ever production of Le nozze di Figaro. , and acclaimed performances of Puccini’s Il trittico in Modena, Ferrara, and He made his North American debut at the Piacenza. He made his debut at Théâtre Royal de Canadian Opera Company in Toronto with d’InghliterraLammermoor la Monnaie in Bruxelles with Elisabetta, Regina L’italiana in Algeri in Toronto. In the same season, Giovanni . This will be followed by Lucia de he made his Wexford Opera Festival debut with and Ermione. Madama Butterfly at Weinberger’s Svanda dudák, the recording of the Puccini Festival Torre del Lago and Don which is available on Naxos. He has led Carmen at in Riga. both the Teatro Regio di Parma and at the Arena di Verona, and Adelina at the Rossini Opera Festival In 1986, Julian Reynolds was appointed Assistant in Pesaro, and made his debut on the Sankt Gallen MusicMitridate, Director Le nozze at dithe Figaro, Netherlands L’italiana Opera in Algeri, in podium with La Cenerentola followed quickly by Amsterdam,Luisa Miller, conducting Bluebeard’s Castle, Otello, and conducted Lucrezia Borgia at the Festival de Música de Castellón. and L’elisir d’amore, among others. During his tenure at the Netherlands Opera, he Enjoying an extensive symphonic repertoire, worked with other opera companies in the country, Maestro Reynolds has been a guest conductor of most notably in productions of Madama Butterfly the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, City of and The Cunning Little Vixen for Opera Zuid. Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Australian Chamber

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Orchestra, Aukland Philharmonia, Dutch Radio Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne International Festival, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he led his own orchestration of Lieder by Alma Mahler, which he has recorded with soprano Charlotte Margiono on the Globe label. Recorded at the Auditorio de Baranain, Pamplona, Spain between 30 April & 2 May 2008 Engineer - Mike Hatch An active recital accompanist, Maestro Reynolds Producer - Anna Barry Recording Assistant - Andrew Riches has worked extensively with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Assistant to the conductor - Peter Lockwood Susan Graham, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, both in Cover Image - © Michela Alessia Marcato / Massimo di Pietro Design and Artwork - Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk recital and as conductor.

Hisdes recordings animaux includes CDs of Rossini Overtures, P 2009 The copyright in this recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd. C 2009 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd. Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye, Saint-Saëns’ Le Carnaval Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer and several Rossini rarities, for liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior Globe Records. As a pianist he has recorded permission from Signum Records Ltd. the complete works for piano and violin of SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann with violinist +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected]

Johannes Leertouwer. www.signumrecords.com

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