VERISMO V ANNA NETREBKO VERISMO VERISMO V FRANCESCO CILEA (1866–1950) ALFREDO CATALANI (1854–1893) Manon Lescaut Adriana Lecouvreur La Wally Libretto: Domenico Oliva, Luigi Illica, Libretto: Arturo Colautti Libretto: Luigi Illica Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giulio Ricordi, Giuseppe Adami A Act I: “Ecco: respiro appena … 3:42 F Act I: “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” 3:55 K Act II: “In quelle trine morbide” 2:48 Io son l’umile ancella” (Adriana) (Wally) (Manon) UMBERTO GIORDANO (1867–1948) ARRIGO BOITO (1842–1918) Act IV L Andrea Chénier Mefistofele “Tutta su me ti posa” 2:56 (Des Grieux, Manon) Libretto: Luigi Illica Libretto: Arrigo Boito M “Manon, senti, amor mio” 1:59 B Act III: “La mamma morta” 4:59 G Act III: “L’altra notte in fondo 6:53 (Des Grieux, Manon) (Maddalena) al mare” (Margherita) N “Sei tu che piangi?” 4:38 (Manon, Des Grieux) GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858–1924) AMILCARE PONCHIELLI (1834–1886) O “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” 4:25 Madama Butterfly La Gioconda (Manon) Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica Libretto: Tobia Gorrio [Arrigo Boito] P “Fra le tue braccia, amore” 6:42 C Act II: “Un bel dì vedremo” (Butterfly) 4:35 H Act IV: “Suicidio! In questi fieri 4:35 (Manon, Des Grieux) Turandot momenti” (Gioconda) Libretto: Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni GIACOMO PUCCINI D Act I: “Signore, ascolta!” (Liù) 2:41 Tosca Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica RUGGERO LEONCAVALLO (1857–1919) I Pagliacci Act II: “Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore” 3:27 ANNA NETREBKO soprano Der Bajazzo · Paillasse (Tosca) YUSIF EYVAZOV tenor (J, L–N, P) J Libretto: Ruggero Leoncavallo Turandot CORO DELL’ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI SANTA CECILIA ( ) ORCHESTRA DELL’ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI SANTA CECILIA E Act I: “Qual fiamma avea nel 4:32 J Act II: “In questa reggia” 6:12 ANTONIO PAPPANO guardo! … Stridono lassù” (Nedda) (Turandot, coro, Calaf) Sir Antonio Pappano appears courtesy of Warner Classics. VERISMO THE INTOXICATION OF EMOTION From a strictly vocal point of view, the challenge of Riccardo Muti. On that occasion her Des Grieux La Scala in 1868 before Boito subjected the score verismo opera marks an important step forward in was none other than the Azerbaijani tenor Yusif to a series of substantial revisions and unveiled the career of Anna Netrebko, whose voice has devel- Eyvazov, who partners her also in the opera’s the new version in Bologna in 1875. In terms of its oped and grown richer in altogether fascinating fourth act included in the present album. The two style and technique the work looks forward to the ways in a matter of only a few years. After tackling singers achieve a degree of expressive freedom heyday of the age of verismo almost twenty years increasingly heavy Verdi roles, the Russian soprano and an exceptional sense of self-abandon that are later. At the start of Act Three, Margareta receives is now able to bring to this new corner of her reper- clearly fuelled and inspired by their performances a prison visit from Mephistopheles and from her tory a full expressive arsenal and the most dazzling together onstage. Consumed by a visceral love lover, Faust. Condemned for drowning her child technical resources: a palette of tone colours that for her, Des Grieux accompanies Manon to Lou- and poisoning her mother, she muses over these has not stopped growing, becoming more varied isiana, where she has been deported after being accusations in a touching lament, “L’altra notte in and extensive, an increasingly solid foundation to accused of prostitution. Having lost their way in fondo al mare”. her lower register, an essential degree of homogene- the desert, they sing of their despair and anguish Boito also wrote the libretto for Ponchielli’s ity throughout her whole vocal range and a bigger before Manon dies in her lover’s arms. In Act Two, opera La Gioconda (literally, “The Joyous Woman”), sound that allows her to paint each role with only a Manon already has a foreboding of her tragic des- which was premiered at La Scala in 1876. By dint few strokes. Thanks to all of these qualities, Anna tiny even while she is living in the lap of luxury of the refinement of its orchestral writing and the Netrebko is able to bring to life creatures of flesh and at the expense of the wealthy Geronte de Ravoir. manifest influence of Verdi, evident in every bar of blood through the use of her voice alone, creating In a particularly beautiful and emotional aria, the score, the work is not yet a perfect example of a veritable portrait gallery of ordinary, everyday “In quelle trine morbide”, she recalls the humble the verismo school, but Gioconda’s aria at the start heroines. dwelling where she and Des Grieux fell in love. of Act Four shows the way forward for a number Of the roles featured in the present recital, Arrigo Boito has gone down in history as the of heroines who, cast from the same mould, would Anna Netrebko has performed only Puccini’s librettist of two of Verdi’s greatest masterpieces – later tread the boards of Italian opera houses. The Manon Lescaut onstage, which she sang in a Otello and Falstaff, no less – but he was also a com- humble singer, who is in love with the nobleman series of already legendary performances at the poser in his own right. His opera Mefistofele, based Enzo Grimaldi, promises that she will give herself Rome Opera in early 2014 under the direction of on Goethe’s Faust, received its first performance at to Barnaba, an evil spy for the Inqui sition, if he helps V VERISMO V Enzo to escape from prison and allows him to leave entrance aria, “In questa reggia”, is remarkable not Coigny in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier recalls the Venice. Overcome by despair, she sees suicide as the least for its exceptionally wide vocal range as well as full horror of the French Revolution in a sombre only way out of her predicament. Her aria takes the for its immense dramatic scale. and agonized aria that describes the death of her form of a great dramatic monologue, “Suicidio!” Between the two poles that are represented by mother in the fire that burnt down their château, This element in the plot of La Gioconda recalls Ponchielli and Boito on the one hand and by the together with her flight and subsequent wander- the choice that is offered to Tosca, the great Italian world of Puccini on the other, we find a veritable ings and her precarious survival, before avowing soprano, when she sings her celebrated aria “Vissi repository of all the principal hallmarks of the her love for the eponymous poet in an explosive, d’arte” in the second act of the opera to which she verismo style. Excerpts from works by Giordano, excitable outburst: here, she hopes, she will finally gives her name. Scarpia, Rome’s chief of police, lusts Catalani, Leoncavallo and Cilea cover a span of find redemption. after her and holds in his hands the fate of her lover, ten years – 1892–1902 – that could be described With their simple melodies, delightfully old- Cavaradossi, whom he has imprisoned for political as the golden age of the giovane scuola, or young fashioned refinement and almost Bellinian reasons. In an overwhelming outburst of passion school, as this group of composers was hailed at grace, the gentle cantilenas of La Wally and Adri- and anguish, Tosca subsequently agrees to give her- the time. ana Lecouvreur bring us back to an idea that had self to Scarpia if he allows Cavaradossi to go free. Both Andrea Chénier (1896) and Pagliacci (1892) been lost to the world of the lyric stage, that of bel Three other Puccini heroines are included in the are important milestones on this road, both of canto, the distant fires of which were still capa- present album. The first of them is the fragile pro- them characterized by the intoxicating frenzy of ble of lighting up the firmament of fin-de-siècle tagonist of Madama Butterfly, whose aria “Un bel dì their emotions and by the concentration of the opera. vedremo” is one of the most famous numbers in the drama on the musical material. In Pagliacci, the Renaud Loranger whole of the operatic canon. Then, with the help of oneiric ballad sung by the febrile and evanescent Translation: Stewart Spencer the studio microphones, we are able to hear both the figure of Nedda tells of her hopes of an impos- glacial Princess Turandot and the tender Liù, detailed sible future with her lover Silvio, with whom she portraits of the only two female characters in Puc- dreams of spending a life far removed from the cini’s unfinished final opera. It is hard to imagine a deadly jealousy of her husband Canio, one of greater vocal or expressive contrast, and if Liù’s aria the travelling players who give their name to the is one of the work’s emotional high points, Turandot’s opera. For her part, the aristocratic Maddalena de VERISMO IM RAUSCH DER GEFÜHLE Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Stil des Verismo där gelten. In der Rolle des Des Grieux stand ihr ponierte: Sein von Goethes Faust inspirierter Mefis- markiert in sängerischer Hinsicht eine neue Etappe dort kein Geringerer als der aserbaidschanische tofele wurde 1868 an der Scala uraufgeführt; für die in der Karriere von Anna Netrebko, deren Stimme Tenor Yusif Eyvazov zur Seite – und das tut er auch Wiederaufnahme in Bologna 1875 unterzog Boito sich in nur wenigen Jahren auf faszinierende Weise im Vierten Akt der Oper auf dem vorliegenden die Partitur einer gründlichen Überarbeitung.