Saint of Bleecker Street [Live]

Menotti (Artist), Melinek (Artist), Richards (Artist), Steven (Artist), Hickox (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 23, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000063BI9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #225,093 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At last a new recording, April 24, 2002

By 

richard j. wagner (san francisco, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint of Bleecker Street (Audio CD)

If you are a Menotti basher no need to read further.
Menotti's grandest opera not to be missed. 2 hours of rich arias and scoring. Moving story that holds up with time.
Awarded the Pulitzer Price for music, it was first performed in Dec. 1954.
The cast of this recording is mostly outstanding but some cast members of the original 1955 recording (RCA no longer available)
seem better. (David Poleri as Michele and Leon Lishner as Don Marco for ex.)
The Orchestra for this new recording is as good as the one lead by Thomas Schippers for the earlier recording but the sound of the new recording is much better.

If you like The Counsel and Amahl and the Night Visitors give this work a try. In my belief this is Menotti's best opera
Richard Wagner

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unmissable 20th Century Masterpiece, February 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Saint of Bleecker Street (Audio CD)

Menotti never bowed to the pressure of the atonal conventions that surrounded his composing life because in doing so he would have been untrue to his own melodic voice, and never has that choice been more glorious vindicated than here. Long regarded by the composer as his masterpiece, this opera is an intensely moving and often painful expression of his own struggle to come to terms with the tensions of his Catholic faith. In the unfettered voice of a Latin composer he gives voice to his profoundest feelings, drawing from a rich operatic tradition that includes not only Puccini but even Prokofiev, Gershwin and Bernstein (he spent a great deal of his early life in America), whilst remaining unquestionably himself. The singing and conducting are all one could hope for, with Hickox unerring in the pit, Julia Melinek in the title role soaring movingly and effortlessly over the rich orchestration, Timothy Richards successfully bringing out the pathos and aggresion of her alter ego brother, Pamela Helen Stephen ideal in her vignette role, and the chorus magnificent throughout.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait - almost, June 7, 2002

By 

Susan Lerner - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint of Bleecker Street (Audio CD)

Lovers of Menotti's stunning opera have been waiting for years for a modern recording, since the original Broadway cast LP seems to have vanished with no hope of re-issue. This new version from the Spoleto Festival of 2001 is welcome, but disappointing.

The chorus and orchestra under Richard Hickox are first-rate and the massed choral pieces like the San Gennaro scene are beutifully done. However, the principal singers, particularly Julia Melinek in the admittedly demanding role of Annina are inadequate. Ms Melinek has a fearsome wobble and sings off-pitch, making her first-act aria is painful to hear. Timothy Richards as Michele over-emotes and pushes his medium-sized tenor. No David Poleri he. The rest of the cast, notably Sandra Zeltzer as Carmela and Amelia Farrugia as Maria Corona, do quite well.

Until another one comes along, this is still worth having, just to hear this ever-fascinating opera again.