Customer Reviews

Saint of Bleecker Street

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

 

 

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

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.

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.

I've been a fan of this great Menotti opus since I first saw it on Broadway in 1955 or thereabouts. It was an extraordinary production, and the wonderful old recording of it is no longer available, so I was thrilled to learn there was a new one.

On the plus side, I found that Menotti had extended the interlude between the scenes in act 111 and added an aria for the newspaperwoman Maris Corona. The sound and the orchestral playing leaves nothing to be desired. I was, however, disappointed in the choice of Malinek as Annina. Her wobble and shrillness on the high notes ruined, for me, many of the climaxes. The rest of the cast is fine, especially the Desideria. I did wish that the tenor singing Michele was a bit more spinto than lyric, as it seems that's the kind of voice Mr. Menotti had written it for...on a dare by David Poleri. But in the last analysis, I'm glad we have a new recording of what I think is Menotti's masterpiece.

As a soprano learning the role of Annina I'm very disappointed with the Annina in this recording. Her wobble is so large that often times you cannot figure out which pitch she is trying to hit. I have to play the notes on the piano to hear what they are really supposed to be and have found many that are way off. Thank God I can play through the piano score to learn the part correctly. The other sopranos are fabulous! Why, why, why then, did they hire Julia Melinek to sing the Annina??!! I cringe every time I have to listen to her and am embarrassed to share it with anyone feeling it will further propagate the myth that opera singing sounds like that. Instead of using the pianos written into the first part of "Oh Sweet Jesus" it sounds like Julia either cannot do pianos or decided it is better to show how large her voice is rather than express the text and feelings.

I have always loved this opera ever since I heard the original recording on vinyl. This recording is exceptional as well. The only problem is that during the San Genaro parade, when Anina's brother sings after he is tied to the fence you can hardly hear him. But that is the only flaw, that I can find. I am no pro at reviewing, I just love the music.

There's no one with a greater passion than I for uncovering contemporary examples of great romantic opera, and I was really looking forward to listening to this one, since I'd often heard (most heartwarmingly from his critics) that Menotti was a Puccini wannabe, and I love Puccini! The music was largely everything I'd been led to expect. But, frankly, Puccini wouldn't have looked twice at this libretto. If he had, he'd have dropped the final curtain after the death of Desideria, the most movingly real moment in the story. In fact, she's the only character I could relate to. Both pious Annina, and her agnostic brother Michele are too wholly satisfied with their own worldviews, and neither character changes a whit during the whole story. Menotti handles many scenes very well, and even the close grabs the listener in its own way, but I felt that the characters were ciphers placed in the story to represent the two sides of Menotti's internal religious struggle, and they're never any more than that. Still, the music made me want to investigate more of Menotti's operas.

The opera would also have been better served by a different soprano, as Julia Melinek doesn't have the youthful sounding voice that would best suit Annina.