Customer Reviews

Mercadante: Maria Stuarda [Highlights]

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

 

 

When thinking of an opera about the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots, one would normally jump immediately to the "Maria Stuarda" of Donizetti, a contemporary of Mercadante. Donizetti's opera is a gut-wrenching, if highly fictionalized, account of Mary Stuart's last days in captivity. Due to the sensationalism of the highly touted Confrontation Scene and the gorgeous music of Donizetti, it's not hard to figure out why his opera has remained much more popular than that of his contemporary. However, this "Maria Stuarda" is pleasing in its own way.

Mercadante was a close colleague of Rossini and can be considered one of the co-founders of the Bel-Canto era, even if his contributions are largely forgotten. His earlier take on the reign of Mary Stuart deals not with her last days as a prisoner, but rather, it involves the troubles of her early reign after having returned from France to find Scotland being torn apart by the religious factions of Catholics and Presbyterians. Censorship was a problem that plagued both Mercadante and Donizetti when writing about the various Queens of the Stuart/Tudor era, and the former found it difficult to write about the political turmoil without mentioning too much about the religious issues of the day. As such, the opera is left in a slightly awkward position. Regardless of this problems of the libretto, the opera seems to be fairly entertaining, though not quite groundbreaking.

Mercadante has left a piece with some beautiful music. The choral pieces, ensembles, duets, and arias are really rather good; it is unfortunate though that Opera Rara chose only to record the highlights of the opera, for the listening is left wondering if there is something truly good that would have made this a better selection in the long-run. One wonders why Opera Rara even bothered to record the piece at all if they didn't feel compelled to do the whole thing (though the complete libretto is enclosed, along with a detailed essay and various other nice supplemental materials).

The singers are fairly decent, at least in my opinion. Of the entire cast, I had only heard anything by Jennifer Larmore in the past. Despite not being the title character Madame Larmore is truly the star of the opera, as the Earl of Lennox (the love interest type character for Mary Stuart). Her powerful mezzo voice is agile and flexible, though with great beauty. I should imagine it to be a fair enough assumption to say that Larmore is the leading American mezzo-soprano of the day, rivaled by few in her field. Her colleagues in this recording are good, if nothing quite to write home about. Judith Howarth, as Maria, is quite good, though one might wish for a bit more smoothness and beauty when she sings.

Despite the flaws of being an abridged version, I must say that this is a most satisfactory recording- especially as it is the only one of the opera. Don't be put off by Opera Rara's decision to only record the highlights, it's well worth the price of the CD to see the beginnings of Bel-Canto come to fruition.

How unfortunate that Opera Rara did not record a complete version of this very interesting opera, "Maria Stuarda, regina di Scozia" by Saverio Mercadante. On the other hand how fortunate that we are at least given the highlights and are able to hear and access more of Mercadante's considerable output. I would like to hear the whole opera sometime. From what is available on this single disc it appears to be a very compelling work set in Scotland during the brief period that Mary Stuart ruled Scotland as queen regnant. The accompaning book is Opera Rara's usual high quality with great, informative commentary by Jeremy Commons and complete libretto. Usually it's the libretto that's missing in opera recordings....in this case it's the music (is the opera more than cut in half?)The casting includes OR regulars Jennifer Larmore in the trousers role of Olfredo,Earl of Lennox and Manuela Custer (also trousered)as Carlo,Primate of Scotland. Larmore gives a stunning performance as the love interest of the Queen in this case Judith Howarth. The principals are rounded out with Colin Lee as Ormondo,and Pauls Putins,Commander of the guards.
Mercadante's 1822 score contains Rossinian elements for sure (& he dips into Rossini's 1816 Otello for some bits) but never for very long; he's inventive, fresh and lyrical. He certainly gives Olfredo and Stuarda some impassioned, challenging passages and both Howarth and Larmore deliver; Howarth most especially in 'Chi mai temer potea" with the Chorus & Larmore in her gorgeous aria "Ah, che finor fu vano" in Act 2 and then their (Stuarda & Olfredo) duet that immeadiately follows. Delicious! I think Howarth does an incredible job with the most florid parts and holds together beautifully in the very highest range. Larmore has developed her instrument noticibly over the last five years and sings in this performance at the top of her considerable skill. I enjoyed the whole cast, no complaints. Antonello Allemandi conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra with distinction and finesse, the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir is a pleasure to hear(as usual!). To my ears the sound quality is fine. As usual with Mercadante, the more I hear the more I want to hear and can applaud this abbreviated version with no hesitation all the while wishing for a complete performance of this Maria Stuarda by the under-performed-Mercadante. Very recommended.

Number one: The world has been sitting far too long without large doses of Mercadante. A passionate, brilliant melodist, Mercadantes' rousing works inspire the soul to dance and hum along if one can, since subtle intricacies surprise the listener and what seems to be a melodies' natural course, twists just enough "out of the box" to make it unique and surprizing. A Donizetti contemporary - he might be said to have been the edgier one. Bless them both, but do give Saverio his due.

Number two: This particular work, Maria Stuarda regina di... is a sublime highlights offerring. It is one of the best I've encountered, particularly in light of the full libretto with markings for the sung and unsung. It works, because the music is so varied and the story so simple. It works because the talented cast and conductor are devoted to rock-solid ensemble performance. The arias, duets, the trios, the choruses are often breathtaking and the performer's characters could not have been molded better by The Actors Studio.

Number three: Everyone calm down and realize, that all performances are not funded nor gifted with everyone or everything they need for the "Grand Affair" of making opera. So choices are made. "How can we best present with what we have", is a typical, noble reaction to the difficulties which surround many great performances. That's likely to have happened here - and - out of the spare, has come a ravishing Maria, thoroughly fulfilling and far superior to most opera recordings, let alone highlight renderings. All one has to do is listen to the dreadful mish-mash of ORs L'Esule di Granata Highlights to notice.

Get into this piece, libretto in hand and read along at first hearing. You will be bowled over - and of all things, at Mary Stuart's happy years. Who'd have thunk it? Bravo OR!

There is a great deal of exciting, imaginative and pleasing music here, showing that Mercadante was not "just" another bel canto composer. Indeed the work is infused with well developped, catchy tunes, imaginatively presented, of varied nature and at time complex accompaniment. It contains some very good choral and ensemble work. The cd repays repeated listening. In addition to a couple of arias, there are two duets (with significant participation of the chorus in one, a stunning quintet and a couple of extended finales for the whole cast. This is, indeed, thrilling stuff - so why do I hesitate to recommend it warmly?

The problems are two-fold. First this is a highlights cd, with much of the action and many pieces cut out. Even in what is included there are significant cuts. The result is an incoherent opera with no proper development. Insult is added to injury when the rather lavish booklet contains the full libretto. Second, the cast is not very good. Judith Howard in the title role is simply not up to the florid singing that the work calls for, and Manuela Custer is not much better. By contrast, Jennifer Larmore is magnificent, but while I delight in her contribution, the ensemble nature of much of the music means that her excellence simply highlights the other women's shortcomings. Their performance is not helped by a rather remote and unbalanced recording acoustic. The two men strike me as adequate, but not outstanding. The orchestra and chorus are both excellent and the conducting is adequate. (And that may be unfair since the butchered nature of opera means that it is hard to judge what the conductor's view is of the whole opera.)

It is hard to imagine why Opera Rara did not record the whole opera. Though I do not know the score, I find it hard to believe that the parts not included are terrible. It is also disappointing that the cast is not as good as in most of this company's excellent recordings of obscure works.

Mercadantes Maria Stuarda it is very interesting opera,unfortunatelly had been recorded not completelly ,hightlights,only.All singers , chorus and orchestra professionally in very satisfing level exept of singer of Maria Stuarda who is vocaly and dramatically lower then avrege ...Saound quality is good...