Meyerbeer - Il Crociato in Egitto / Y. Kenny · D. Jones · Montague · B. Ford · Benelli · Kitchen · Royal PO · D. Parry [Box set, Import]

Giacomo Meyerbeer (Composer), David Parry (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Geoffrey Mitchell Choir (Orchestra), Yvonne Kenny (Performer), Della Jones (Performer), Diana Montague (Performer), Ian Platt (Performer), Ugo Benelli (Performer), Linda Kitchen (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Yvonne Kenny, Della Jones, Diana Montague, Ian Platt, Ugo Benelli, et al.
• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
• Conductor: David Parry
• Composer: Giacomo Meyerbeer
• Audio CD (April 7, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Opera Rara (UK)
• ASIN: B000003LNQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,606 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Patria amata - Geoffrey Mitchell Chor/Geoffrey Mitchell

2. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: I doni d'Elmireno - Yvonne Kenny

3. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Il contento ch'io provo - Ian Platt/Yvonne Kenny

4. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Vincitor a questo petto - RPO/David Parry

5. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Ah si, tutti i miei voti - RPO/David Parry

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Và; già varcasti

2. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Non sai quale incanto

3. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Il brando invitto

4. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Oh! come tutto intorno

5. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act I: Armando d'Orville

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Quanti al gran piano - RPO/David Parry

2. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: O solinghi recessi - RPO/David Parry

3. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Tutto qui parla ognor - RPO/David Parry

4. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Ma, ciel se mai peri

5. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: D'una madre disperata

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Or perduto è Aladin - Geoffrey Mitchell Chor/Geoffrey Mitchell

2. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: O tu divina fè - RPO/David Parry

3. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Il dì rinascerà - Diana Montague

4. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Sollecita pietosa

5. Il Crociato in Egitto, opera (heroic melodrama) in 2 acts: Act II: Udite or alto arcano

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Singing, December 20, 1999

By 

"bd57" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meyerbeer - Il Crociato in Egitto / Y. Kenny · D. Jones · Montague · B. Ford · Benelli · Kitchen · Royal PO · D. Parry (Audio CD)

This recording contains absolutely the most beautiful bel canto singing I've ever heard. There are no weak links in the cast. The conducting is excellent. And the music is outrageous--this is the opera where Meyerbeer out-Rossinied Rossini. If you love bel canto, you will love this recording. It is huge, it is gorgeous. Opera Rara, always perfect in presentation, has outdone itself with this recording, including appendices of many alternate arias, scenes, etc. Congratulations to all concened.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opera Rara secures Meyerbeer's crown with this recording, May 29, 2000

By 

Joseph A. Newsome (Burlington, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meyerbeer - Il Crociato in Egitto / Y. Kenny · D. Jones · Montague · B. Ford · Benelli · Kitchen · Royal PO · D. Parry (Audio CD)

Opera Rara has done opera lovers many invaluable services throughout the past two decades by reviving forgotten yet beautiful works on records. This recording of Meyerbeer's "Il Crociato in Egitto" is another jewel in their crown. As always, David Parry conducts with just the right combination of musicianship and authority to ensure that the recording never lapses into dullness even when the music fails to impress with its inspiration. On the whole, however, "Il Crociato" is quite an accomplishment. Meyerbeer is sadly neglected, and apart from Dame Joan Sutherland's lovely recording of his "Les Huguenots" and Marilyn Horne's "Le Prophete" (not to mention Opera Rara's nicely-balanced "Dinorah"), Meyerbeer is poorly represented in the catalogue of recorded opera. The orchestra and chorus are excellent (although the stage bands are a bit blaring at moments). It is the soloists that make this set so rewarding, though. With Yvonne Kenny, Diana Montague, and Della Jones contributing, the recording cannot fail to impress. Each of these singers displays her customary technical prowess, and the excellent Ugo Benelli continues to impress with his bel canto instincts--just as he did decades ago on his recordings of Rossini's masterpieces. Truly, Meyerbeer's composition here resembles Rossini. Tenor Bruce Ford makes this recording indispensible. Although his arias and ensembles are vocally fiendish, he never seems strained or even challenged. The most amazing moment of the recording comes in Appendix, when Ford assays an alernative entrance aria Meyerbeer composed for Adriano. Bruce Ford proves that Donizetti's famous aria containing nine high C's in "La Fille du Regiment" is not the epitome of stratospheric writing for the tenor. Top C's explode with every repeat of Adriano's melodic line, and Ford reaches remarkable heights (even above the top C) in the coloratura. Released to celebrate the bicentenary of Meyerbeer's birth, this recording is not to be missed. An awe-inspiring achievement!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Meyerbeer, February 27, 2001

By 

John Cragg (Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Meyerbeer - Il Crociato in Egitto / Y. Kenny · D. Jones · Montague · B. Ford · Benelli · Kitchen · Royal PO · D. Parry (Audio CD)

Meyerbeer was an amazing composer, reinventing himself a couple of times in the course of a long career. This work is the last of his Italian operas. It is clearly a masterpiece in its own right, not just as an indication of what might be yet to come (there is actually very little such indications in it) or as an example of second-class bel canto operas in the period right after Rossini. While the opera is much in the Rossini mould, this work can stand on its own and it is splendid.

This recording from Opera Rara produces a great deal of excitement. Parry, conducting a major orchestra, does a marvelous job, and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir comes through splendidly in a work where the chorus is far from being an addendum. Yvonne Kenny is outstanding as the lead soprano, with brilliant singing sending shivers of excitement down one's back. Diane Montague also does brilliantly, in a role that is difficult for a mezzo -- it was written for the last great castrato. Whatever castratos sounded like, using a mezzo - and one with a very womanly voice at that - does raise problems of making the plot come through, but that is probably inevitable when only an aural presentation is being made. I prefer the solution of using a mezzo to that of using a counter tenor. In any case, taken on her performance's own merits, Montague does a first-class job. Similarly, Bruce Ford is amazing - singing a role with a very wide range with aplomb. His is not the sweetest of tenor voices, but he brings vigor and musicianship as well as an amazing range to the role. Della Jones completes the list of outstanding performances; I found the others in the cast a bit weaker.

Opera Rara chose to go with the first version of the Opera, even though Meyerbeer later revised it for a mezzo hero rather than a castrato. The producers make up for this by including a series of other material from later versions on the final disc.

The booklet doesn't really doesn't justify the choices made in the main presentation. It is long on historical stamp-collecting and very short on analysis. If we are to hear about the original performers, then we need a discussion of what their voices were like and how they compare with those now assuming the roles. Otherwise - as here - telling at length who created the roles is just silly. But the booklet has the full libretto and that is all that really matters.