the art of bellicose canto
La Cieca presents with pride her latest installment of Unnatural Acts of Opera, the Donizetti rarity Belisario, featuring legendary Leyla Gencer as vengeful Roman matron Antonina.
Belisario: Giuseppe Taddei; Antonina: Leyla Gencer; Irene: Mirna Pecile; Alamiro: Umberto Grilli; Eutropio: Bruno Sebastian; Giustiniano: Nicola Zaccaria; Eudora: Rina Pallini; Eusebio: Giovanni Antonini; Ottario: Augusto Veronese; Centurion: Alberto Carusi. Teatro La Fenice di Venezia; Gianandrea Gavazzeni. May 14, 1969.
This was one of the first Opera d’Oro CDs I ever bought, mainly because it’s the only recording of this opera and I’m trying to amass one of every Donizetti creation. Gencer is wild and wonderful, and the sound is amazingly good for a “pirate” edition. Along with all the soprano pyrotechnics, there’s a damned good tenor cabaletta (sadly too short) in Act II: “Trema Bisanzio!”
BTW, there’s a relief pitcher on the Los Angeles Dodgers this season by the name of Ronald Belisario.
there’s fantastic chorus music in Belisario, and haunting music for Antonina. Verdi copied the dynamics of the tenor cabaletta Trema, Bizancio, in his Di quella pira. I have a live Zampieri recording from Colon with Bruson with superior sound. But this is tailor-fit for Gencer.
I couldn’t figure out how to embed the YouTube video, but here is a link to up-and-coming Turkish tenor Bulent Bezduz performing the aforementioned cabaletta:
I’m getting totally blissed out listening to this.
La Cieca: I used to be able to download your podcasts to listen to on my ipod. Is that still possible?