Customer Reviews

Donizetti: Maria De Rohan

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Maria di Rohan" is the second and the last opera that Donizetti (in his self imposed exile in Austria) wrote for the Viennese public, a year after the great success of his `Linda di Chamounix". Free of any censorship and other constrains associated with Italy in that period, Donizetti was fast approaching the summit of his artistic powers. Willing to please his host audience he employs here many features of the German musical style of the period, which makes this opera even more special and rightfully considered by the connoisseurs to be one of Donizetti's best.

This is the world premiere recording, and who could have been a better choice for the leading role than Mariana Nicolesco? A recent study shows that, in the long history of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Mariana Nicolesco is the soprano who appeared in the most absolute premieres (no surprise here considering her fantastic voice and technique). However, the entire cast here (particularly the trio of M. Nicolesco, Giuseppe Morino and Paolo Coni) is in magnificent form, producing a superb and memorable performance. Coupled with a very good sound quality (rare for live recordings) this original release is probably the one to own.

Despite its having been written by Donizetti in the plenitude of his powers for a Viennese audience in the stern, sparer German style and its having enjoyed a triumphant premiere, this is not an opera which has really stood the test of time nor does it show Donizetti at his inventive best, for all that it skilfully links musical motifs and developments with psychological exigency rather than mere ornamentation.

It is very well recorded for a live performance; only occasionally do voices - especially Morino's small but penetrating tenor - fade into the background. There have been plenty of praiseworthy productions from the Festivali della Valle d'Itria and Nuova Era has made many of them available. Reactions to both the soprano and tenor leads here are likely to be personal: Mariana Nicolesco has a very large, unwieldy voice with a somewhat tremulous vibrato and a tendency to hardness of tone which is not very attractive - and she tends to squeeze out the sound like Gruberova. However, she is dramatically committed, has big top notes and is able to handle Donizetti's demands, even if she has a habit of enforcing excessive rallentandi and rubati upon her conductor whenever she wants to be expressive. Morino has a loyal fan base who respond to his very old-fashioned vocal production reminiscent of lyric tenor Donizetti specialists such as Albani and Anselmi who operated a hundred years ago: he interpolates full-voiced top C sharps, D's and D sharps and sings with a very pronounced, fast, fluttering vibrato which is...interesting and rather artistic in its way if you enjoy the essential sound. For me, the most satisfying singing in a conventional manner comes from young baritone Paolo Coni, in firm, virile voice. Francesca Franchi in the mezzo trouser-role is rather good, too.

The music certainly improves in quality as the opera proceeds without ever rising to the heights of more celebrated tragic operas by Donizetti such as, obviously, "Lucia" or the "Three Queens". I am always pleased by the standard of orchestral playing in these festival performances, although the concerted violins can often be a bit scrappy here. So this is a good, faithful, if not flawless, account but I advise you to listen before you buy to see if you like the principal voices.

I really enjoy this donizetti's work, I think the best of the last production of the bergamasco's composer. Very good also is the interpretation of all the singers!

I have owned this recording for years and have kept it only because the men, Giuseppe Morino and Paolo Coni are very good. However, I have severe reservations about Nicolescu. The more dramatic the situation, the slower and softer she sings. She works against the music with such determination that this listener finds her both stylistically and musically wrong for the role. The conductor is either unable or unwilling to deal with her truly perverse approach. The best Maria imaginable is Roma Sitran in the 1957 Bergamo broadcast. Roma lives the role dramatically in a way that will probably never be bettered, and does so with no vocal compromises whatsoever. Hers is a performance for the ages, and alas, one that is most difficult to live up to. Neither Gruberova nor Scotto equal her, and excellent as Zeani is I will still choose Roma. Unfortunately, her performance, once available on HRE LPs, seems never to have been transferred to CD and is unobtainable in any format at this point. Pity!