Rossini’s one-act opera from 1812 rings fresh changes on a host of comic-opera clichés.
Naxos
Opera Album Review: Meyerbeer’s Comic Opera about Peter the Great, A Welcome Return
This re-release of a superb recording of a major Meyerbeer opera reminds us what treasures are available to opera companies (and college opera programs) willing to step beyond the well-trodden path.
Classical Album Review: Composer Derek Bermel’s “Intonations” — Turning Acerbity and Complexity on Their Heads
For Derek Bermel fans, Intonations is a must. For new music enthusiasts and the otherwise curious – ditto.
July Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Opera Album Review: Donizetti’s Teacher Reveals His Own Operatic Mastery in a World-Premiere Recording of “Elena”
This first-rate performance highlights the special attractions of the “half-serious” operatic genre.
Opera Album Review: The Great Polish National Opera “Halka” Gets a Spirited and Shapely New Recording
Halka struts its stuff, impressively, in this new recording with an all-Polish cast conducted by internationally renowned Gabriel Chmura.
Classical Album Review: Composer Joan Tower’s “Strike Zones”
For Joan Tower fans, this disc is a must; for the Tower-curious, it offers an excellent introduction to the composer’s wider work, all of it compellingly played.
Opera Album Review: A Rossini “Semi-Serious” Opera That Works Like a Charm
This new recording would be a great, and inexpensive, way to enter the sound world of Rossini’s mature operas.
Opera CD Review: Congolese Tenor Patrick Cabongo Steps into Stardom in a World-Premiere Recording of Meyerbeer’s “Romilda e Costanza”
The composer of Les huguenots and L’Africaine was already an accomplished master at age 26, as this first-rate recording reveals.
Classical CD Review: A Simon Mayr Comic Opera That’s Really Funny — and Performed with Flair
At this point in his career, Mayr is contributing to the development of the musicodramatic conventions that would set the stage for the masterpieces of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.