Surprise "silk purse" for Salzburg!
According to playbill.com, Cecilia Bartoli is replacing Renée Fleming in Salzburg’s all-star concert celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth on January 27. It seems Renaaay demurred from singing the concert aria “Ch’io mi scordi di te” for “vocal reasons.” (Good to hear it wasn’t because she had objections to the text or anything.) Bartoli will also sing the rest of Fleming’s program (Oh, snap!) consisting of “Exsultate, jubilate” and “Là ci darem la mano.” (Unfortunately, this turn of events means that Ms. Bartoli will not be available to substitute for Placido Domingo in the Met’s Cyrano.)
You can hear Bartoli sing Malcolm’s “Mura felici” on Rossini Arias (DECCA, 425 430-2), conducted by Patane. The disc also includes two from Italiana, and one each from Tancredi, Otello (rather lovely, I think), the Stabat Mater, La pietra del paragone, and her perennial Non piu mesta.
Enjoyable listening, and fun as a companion with Rossini Heroines (Decca, 436 075-2), conducted by Ion Marin (see Studer’s Semiramide, on which Jennifer Larmore also deserves some criticism, but Ramey does very well), and including arias from Zelmira, Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo (which she later recorded complete), Maometto II, La donnal del lago, Elisabetta, and Semiramide (Bel raggio, not Arsace).
My personal favorite Bartoli Rossini disc, however, is Rossini Recital, with Charles Spencer at the piano (DECCA 430 518-2), which includes La regata veneziana, Mi lagnero tacendo, the cantata Giovanna d’Arco (which, as performed in Chicago with Barenboim at the piano, was my favorite live Bartoli experience I’ve had), and eleven songs. She treats each song so specially, and very little of it is mannered. Reminiscent of her fine, revelatory work on her Se tu m’ami disc.
In all, she’s got three complete Rossini discs. If we can’t all agree that she’s a Rossini expert or the greatest Rossini singer of our time (surely Vivica Genaux and Ewa Podles would need to be discussed before such a conclusion could be made), we can conclude that she has made worthwhile contributions to the Rossini discography, presaging her gap-filling collections in earlier repertoire.
Dear tenore,
The “Prophete” scena you reference is from the beginning of Act V.
O pretres de Baal… (recit)
O toi qui m’abandonnes…. (cavatina)
Comme un eclair (cabaletta)
Yes, this is an extraordinary bravura number. Horne released it on one of her early recordings. Phenomenal. I tried to wear out the LP replaying it constanstly.
Then, she did the “complete” recording with McCracken. She sang it at the Met, and then they took it on tour, and I was lucky enough to see it in Dallas.
You hear stuff on records and you think, “Oh, well sure, they did it in the studio with splicing and retakes,” but then you hear the same thing live and you have to think, “Lord, have mercy! How did she do that!!!???”
p.s. I want to know why Ewa Podles has not performed Fides. It seems like a perfect role for her.
Marschallin said:
“just because it involves the prostitute Fleming”
Rather unworthy comment coming from a Marschallin, unless she is referring to the lady’s Thais.
The Anderson live LP is fantastic.
There is also a very good live Anderson Semiramide (her CG debut) with Horne.
Is it just me or does Bartoli look in the photo like she needs to get her flying monkeys to retrieve her late sister’s ruby (or silver if you’re a fan of the books) slippers from Dorothy