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DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (NTSC)
Gaetano Donizetti
ROBERTO DEVEREUX
Elisabetta / Regina d’Inghilterra - Mariella Devia
Lord Duca di Nottingham - Marco Caria
Sara / Duchessa di Nottingham - Silvia Tro Santafé
Roberto Devereux / Conte di Essex - Gregory Kunde
Lord Guglielmo Cecil - Juan Antonio Sanabria
Sir Gualtiero Raleigh - Andrea Mastroni
Madrid Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Andrés Máspero)
Bruno Campanella, conductor
Alessandro Talevi, stage director
Madeleine Boyd, set and costume designer
Matthew Haskins, lighting designer
Maxine Braham, choreographer
Recorded from the Teatro Real, Madrid, October 2015
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Korean
Running time: 137 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (NTSC) BAC130
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Carlo Felice, 2016) (NTSC) DYN-37755
According to Wikipedia, Mariella Devia was born in 1948. Thus in 2018 she will be 70 years old. Yet, here she is, in recordings made in 2015 and 2016, acting and singing the difficult bel canto role of Queen Elizabeth in her late 60s. And she does it magnificently. The voice shows none of the problems usually associated with growing older. She has no wobbly vibrato; her top notes sound clear and secure; and the coloratura passages (of which there are many) sound clean and accurate. To hear this performance, one would guesss that she is in the prime of her career. The lady must have amazing technique. She fits the role perfectly, since the opera takes place late in Elizabeth’s reign. She is just about the perfect interpreter of this role. We are lucky that her performance is preserved on these two recordings.
In both performances, the other main characters are strong. Sonia Ganassi and Sylvia Tro Santafe both sing Sara beautifully. Ms Santafe looks young and beautiful, but both act the role very convincingly. As the title character, Gregory Kunde shows some strain in his first scene, but he then sounds like his normal self, which is very good. …Both baritones sing quite well, but Marco Caria has the edge here with a more powerful voice and stage presence. © 2018 American Record Guide Read complete review on American Record Guide
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (NTSC) BAC130
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) BAC430
Devia, never prone to histrionics, shows impressive regal restraint; and if her voice, never plush, sounds harder these days, and moves a little more slowly, her stylistic mastery remains intact…
She has a worthy rival in Silvia Tro Santafé’s Sara, a lovely shimmer to her tone and an equally lovely mien; and while a top note or two may betray his vintage, at sixty-one the redoubtable Gregory Kunde, in the title role, still can fill the vocal measuring cup impressively close to the brim. Marco Caria, a late replacement for Mariusz Kwiecień, is a dry-voiced but clearly experienced Nottingham. Bruno Campanella, in the pit, is another admirable veteran who knows his bel canto business. But the show belongs to Devia, and it’s to her happy credit that neither age nor arachnophilia gets in her way. © 2017 Opera News Read complete review
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (NTSC) BAC130
DONIZETTI, G.: Roberto Devereux (Teatro Real, 2015) (Blu-ray, Full-HD) BAC430
Ce Roberto Devereux en 2015 à Madrid réunit deux modèles de longévité vocale. Elisabeth sensationnelle, Mariella Devia épate par sa puissance et sa virtuosité. Cette soprano aux aigus percutants et au timbre accrocheur brille dans ce rôle redoutable. La justesse de l’expression compense les traces d’usure qui rendent cette incarnation plus authentique. Habitant pleinement le rôle de Roberto, Gregory Kunde fait montre de capacités que beaucoup de chanteurs en début de carrière lui envieraient. Il faut admettre une intonation inégale et un style pas toujours orthodoxe, mais quel engagement! Le reste de la distribution honore la réputation du Teatro Real. Touchante en Sara, Silvia Tro Santafé met une voix agile et colorée au service d’un chant finement élaboré tandis que Marco Caria campe un solide duc de Nottingham sans atteindre le degré d’achèvement de ses partenaires. La fosse intéresse moins que le plateau mais Bruno Campanella dirige avec compétence un orchestre affûté et sonnant d’admirable façon. La mise en scène d’Alessandro Talevi développe peu d’idées mais les personnages sont crédibles et la tension se maintient, malgré une direction d’acteur banale. La scénographie, très sombre, confère un aspect moderne à cet opéra de grande classe. © 2017 ConcertoNet.com
A native of Bergamo, Donizetti was, for nearly a decade after the early death of Bellini in 1835, the leading composer of Italian opera. He had his first success with Zoraida di Granata in 1822. There followed a series of nearly 60 more operas and a move to Paris, where Rossini had been induced to settle to his profit. His final illness confined him to a hospital in France for some 17 months before his return to Bergamo, where he died in 1848. Donizetti was not exclusively a composer of opera; he wrote music of all kinds – songs, chamber music, piano music and a quantity of music for the church.
Operas
The opera Anna Bolena, which won considerable success when it was first staged in Milan in 1830, provides a popular soprano aria in its final ‘Piangete voi?’, while ‘Deserto in terra’, from the last opera, Dom Sébastien, staged in Paris in 1843, has been a favourite with operatic tenors from Caruso to Pavarotti. The comedy Don Pasquale, staged in Paris in 1843, is a well-loved part of standard operatic repertoire, as is L’elisir d’amore (‘The Elixir of Love’), from which the tenor aria ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ (‘A hidden tear’) is particularly well known. Mention should be made of La Favorite and La Fille du régiment (‘The Daughter of the Regiment’), both first staged in Paris in 1840 and sources of further operatic recital arias. The second of these was revised for Milan under the title La figlia del reggimento. Lucia di Lammermoor, based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott, provides intense musical drama for tenors in the last act with ‘Tomba degl’avei miei’ (‘Tomb of my forebears’), and for the heroine in her famous mad scene.
Orchestral Music
Donizetti’s orchestral music dates largely from his earlier years. It includes symphonies and concertos written in adolescence but showing the extent of his early gifts.
Songs
Donizetti’s many songs demonstrate his particular gift for melody, exemplified also, of course, in his operas.