Customer Reviews

Bellini: La Straniera / Scotto, Signor, Trimarchi

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recorded live in Venice January 7 1970 with Renata Scotto (Alaide), Beniamino Prior (Arturo), Domenico Trimarchi (Valdeburgo) and the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro la Fenice.

No libretto with this 2 CD set -- only 6 pages of brief historical notes and synopsis.

A lovely, very tuneful, old-fashioned 'melodramatic' opera. If bel canto opera delights you this treasure certainly will. I wasn't disappointed! 5 stars for performances.

Source: Live performance from the Teatro la Fenice, Venice, January 7, 1970.

Sound: The soundscape of this set is such that I presume it was originally a pirate recording taken at a point approximately mid-theater in La Fenice. The singing voices are distant but in fairly decent balance with the equally distant orchestra. On the other hand, a horny-handed enthusiast is located immediately adjacent to the microphone. For an Italian audience, the crowd at La Fenice was remarkably quiet and self-disciplined.

Overall sound quality is very like an old AM radio broadcast, compressed and a bit thin by current standards, but still capable of providing pleasure.

Cast: Alaide, the foreign woman - Renata Scotto; Valdeburgo, her protector - Domenico Trimarchi; Arturo, a lovestruck chump - Beniamino Prior; Isoletta, his very badly used fiancee - Elena Zilio; The Prior - Maurizio Mazzieri; Montolino - Francesco Signor; Osburgo - Florindo Andreolli. Conductor: Ettore Gracis with the Orchestra and Chorus of La Fenice.

Documentation: No libretto. Otherwise, there is a typically grim Od'O package in which the always hard working Bill Parker attempts to impart the history of the opera and summarize its lunatic plot in the inadequate couple of pages allotted to him. The track list identifies the main soloist singing but omits timings.

Bellini's reputation rests on three hit operas, "I Puritani," "La Sonnambula" and, of course, evergreen "Norma." "La Straniera" is an earlier work, Bellini's fourth opera, dating from 1829. Like its predecessor, "Il Pirata," "La Straniera" achieved popular success at its premiere, but faded away to a mere operatic footnote by the end of the Nineteenth Century. With the great mid-Twentieth Century bel canto revival, it has been granted occasional performances, but "La Straniera" is far from being a standard repertory work.

"La Straniera" is written in typical Bellini-esque idiom but it lacks that indefinable zing that makes the big three operas stand out. Bellini used a simple musical vocabulary which in "La Sonnambula" and "Norma," at least, is best displayed in a series of exquisite and extraordinary duets. The plot of "La Straniera," an improbable pot-boiler based on a once popular and now justly forgotten novel, a series of wildly unlikely occurrences that makes one long for the Aristotelian unities of "Il trovatore," simply does not allow space for great duets.

This performance strikes me as being respectable, but not much more. The only star is Renata Scotto. While I am not one of her fans, I certainly appreciate that a great many people are. It seems to me that she sang well and in characteristic form on that January evening thirty-six years ago. Her fans would be well-advised to acquire this recording on that basis, alone.

The rest of the cast inhabits that cool grey zone between not bad and not particularly good. They are perfectly adequate and wholly forgettable.

Four stars.

Let me begin my saying the recording was made in 1970,
therefore, not the greatest of quality sound. It is also a live recording which makes it a bit noisy. However, it adds to the excitement of the performance. The singing is first rate. Renata Scotto is at her best. She sings with great flexibility and emotion. All the other singers are also wonderful. This is one of Bellini's forgotten operas but beautifully melodic. If you are a lover of "Bel Canto" this recording should be in your library.

La Straniera of 1829 has seen better days in the 19th century. In the last 40 years or so, it has seen sporadic revivals by, amongst others, Scotto, Caballe, Aliberti and Fleming. Aliberti issued the only commercial recording of this opera, which is now out-of-print and sells for nearly $200 on the black market!

Sad to say the work is marred by a ridiculous story line, a problem which afflicts at least half of Bellini's works. Given the expectations of audiences nowadays, it means that the work will never be staple fare in opera houses. Which is a pity. As with most of Bellini's scores, it contains volumes of glorious, unforgettable, music which are the envy of even Verdi and Wagner, and the soul-mate of Chopin. Whatever its faults, La Straniera represents another milestone in Bellini's rebellion against Rossini's stylistic domination of the opera scene in his aim to create his version of music drama. You will find that the music is more coherent than in Il Pirata, and the scenes more taughtly constructed. The conscious reduction of coloratura passages is also obvious (both Donizetti and Verdi are his heirs in this respect). Unlike Rossini, Bellini had always been concerned with the unity of the text and the music.

There are at least 2 pirated performances of Scotto in the market. I have only heard this. She was then still in her prime, and it shows here. The other singers are ok, and her highly charged performance obviously the reason to get this performance.

However, as a reviewer has mentioned, the recording sound leaves something to be desired, there's a strong hiss. In this respect, the Caballe (and lots of her famed pianissimi!) recording may be a better choice.

As for me I cannot do without either. I'm still trying to get hold of the Aliberti version (it is uncut, unlike this or the Caballe) at a decent price. A Youtube shot of her finale is surprisingly impressive...

Three stars for the sound-terrible-makes Scotto's voice sound thin.... Caballe is on Gala ,cond. by Amadeo Zambon(2 cd set)-much better sound and superb singing by Caballe in her prime.