Radio Alert: Mezzo Vibes
[Darina Takova (Semiramide) and Daniela Barcellona (Arsace) in Rossini's "Semiramide", Pesaro 2003. - Photo Credit: Amati Bacciardi, via fenice.org]
Tonight at 6.05 p.m. (GMT+1) BR Klassik is broadcasting the August 10th recording of “Adelaide de Borgogna” from Bologna (Dmitri Jurowski conducting, worth checking out) with Daniela Barcellona as Ottone. Live stream access here.
I’ve had a soft spot for Barcellona ever since she swaggered her way through “Tancredi” at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino back 1999 – in leggings, a red shirt and boots. A night thankfully caught on DVD! Also recommendable: her Falliero in “Bianca e Falliero”, another Rossini swagger piece that stages her next to a wonderfully femme Maria Bayo as Bianca (Bayo, as a general rule, makes any mezzo in trousers next to her look great. I’ve been harboring a little crush on her ever since I first saw her as Amenaide in “Tancredi”, back then next to Bernadette Manca di Nissa).
Also, for coloratura and Baroque fans in general, Barcellona’s recent release of Scarlatti opera arias is warmly recommended. A decade of Rossini on stage shows through in her coloratura prowess. The castrato hero cover doesn’t hurt, either. Leave to harmonia mundi (hello, Vivica Genaux singing Farinelli) to produce the barocking trouser mezzo coloratora album of the decade yet AGAIN.
Also on air for the White Shirt lover: tomorrow night (August 25th), it’s Handel’s “Rinaldo” live from Royal Albert Hall with Sonia Prina in the title role, on BBC3 (Eyes beat me to the announcement, check her post for details) at 8 p. m. (GMT+1). Live stream access here.
In other British delights: while the whole Aix-en-Provence “Clemenza di Tito” continues to be offline, dear Arashi has uploaded Connolly’s “Parto, parto”, so that at least one of the core moments of this production is still available. We hope it’ll stay online!
Barcellona can also be seen in Salieri’s Europa Reconosciuta, generously uploaded by coloraturafan2. She is heroic as a noble prince/general. For people who don’t know this opera, which is most people, and me, until I saw it on coloraturafan’s account, this is a vocally fabulous mostly all-girl opera, except for the bad guy, who is a tenor. Some of the most unbelievable coloratura singing ever (Damrau and Rancatore), and while Barcellona was convincing as the prince, I personally was a bit disappointed by her less than perfect intonation at times.
I’m now a Salieri fan, and btw, I downloaded a copy of his proto-feminist opera, Il Mondo alla Rovescia, which is about an island where women rule and men are concerned about their reputation. It’s not as great as Europa, but I’m thinking about uploading it to YouTube, just because it’s so politically interesting.
thanks for pointing the Europa out to me, feral, I shall head over to coloraturafan2 asap and check out those intonation flaws. I’m happy to report I couldn’t find any last night, but I could see where her way of coloring might sometimes walk that way. Still, gotta love that unapologetic swagger.
The (pre-Christian) mondo alla rovescia topos is also played out (at least partly) in Haydn’s Mondo nella luna, although generally, it rarely spilled into “serious” opera works. This Salieri sounds like a more interesting take on it, though! I, for one, be happy if you found the time to share, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
wow, thanks Anik for the alert. I’ll try to catch this in middle of furious paper editing. I also love this exact pair in “tancredi”. Too bad there wasn’t a recording of the one in the photo above, would love to hear her as Arsace to Takova’s Semiramide too. and will head over to check out the all-girl opera, thanks feral. love the description: women rule!
ah crap, i got the date wrong, that was yesterday, Barcellona
I’ve uploaded Salieri’s Il Mondo at my youtube channel, here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/feraloperacompany?feature=mhee
If that doesn’t work, a search on my nic should. It’s in 11 parts, audio only, I don’t think there’s a DVD yet, although several people have uploaded short clips of the same production, so you can see what it looked like. The Italian libretto with English translation is here:
http://www.dynamiclassic.it/area_pubblica/booklets/CDS655-%20Libretto%20online.pdf
My playlist may not be up for very long, because the recording is only from last year.
many thanks, feral!
I’m out traveling at the moment, but hope to have conenction long enough to make a safety copy…