This world-premiere recording of Gluck’s Demofoonte is stylishly performed, under the experienced hand(s) of conductor/harpsichordist Alan Curtis.
Ralph P. Locke
Opera Album Review: A Captivating World-Premiere Recording of One of the Most Oft-Performed Operas in the 17th Century
Cross-gender disguises and comic banter liven up the melodrama in this presentation of Antonio Cesti’s famous opera, thanks to a spirited and virtuosic traversal by a mostly Italian cast.
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.
Opera CD Review: Two Splendid World-Premiere Recordings Rediscover an Exotic Master of Song — Reynaldo Hahn
Attention is being paid today to talented composers who have been sidelined or disdained because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Reynaldo Hahn qualifies on several counts.
Opera Album Review: Rossini’s Splendid Passover Opera for Paris — “Moïse et Pharaon”
Just in time for Passover: another fine world-premiere Rossini recording, the 1827 French version of his Moses-in-Egypt opera.
Opera Album Review: An Opéra-Comique from 1832 Shines Again in a Superb Recording
Performed 1600 times in Paris, then forgotten, Hérold’s brilliantly witty, Le pré aux clercs shines again in a splendid recording.
Opera Album Review: Saint-Saëns’s Opera about a Little Silver Bell Works Its Magic
The world-premiere recording of a first rate production of a brilliant, fantastical opera, unstaged and unheard since 1914.
Opera Album Review: Donizetti’s Teacher Takes Center Stage — Mayr’s “I Cherusci”
This splendid world-premiere recording proves that, as an opera composer, Johann Simon Mayr had “the whole package.”
Opera Feature: Should We Be Updating Operas So They Address Present-Day Issues?
Philip Glass’s librettist Arthur Yorinks offers his thoughts on whether and how to update an opera as the Boston Lyric Opera releases its revamped and filmed version of The Fall of the House of Usher.