Pentatone Exclusive

Verdi – Otello

Gulbenkian Orchestra and Chorus

20,9928,49
Clear
Original Recording Format: DSD 64
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Throughout the history of opera, only in the rarest of cases have the absolute masterpieces been created in a torrential, yet ingenious frenzy of composition. On the contrary, often years went by before the initial idea, the first inspiration evolved into a completed work of the highest quality. Ideally, a creative discourse would take place between composer and librettist, an exchange of ideas in which each urged the other onward to achieve artistic excellence. The partnership struck up by composer Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Arrigo Boito for the opera Otello is an admirable demonstration of this protracted, yet highly lucrative process of artistic development. An intensive correspondence lasting many years allows us to access the spiritual world of the creative duo. This correspondence reveals the profound seriousness with which Boito and Verdi dedicated themselves to “their” Otello over the years, permitting us to take a peek at the creative “workshop” of one of the most fascinating partnerships in the history of opera; one that can be mentioned in the same breath as, for instance, the duos of Mozart/da Ponte and Strauss/von Hofmannsthal.

Tracklist

Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.
1.
First Act - Una vela!
04:24
2.
First Act - Esultate
05:11
3.
First Act - Fuoco di gioia!
02:25
4.
First Act - Roderigo, beviam!
01:38
5.
First Act - Inaffia l' ugola!
03:52
6.
First Act - Capitano, v'attende la fazione ai baluardi
01:28
7.
First Act - Ola?! che avvien?
03:29
8.
First Act - Gia? nella notte
02:37
9.
First Act - Quando narravi
03:18
10.
First Act - Venga la morte!
04:33
11.
Second Act - Non ti cruciar
03:08
12.
Second Act - Credo in un Dio crudel
04:21
13.
Second Act - Eccola
01:18
14.
Second Act - Cio m' accora
04:41
15.
Second Act - Dove guardi splendono raggi
05:06
16.
Second Act - D'un uom che geme
05:26
17.
Second Act - Desdemona rea!
01:41
18.
Second Act - Ora e per sempre addio
03:48
19.
Second Act - Era la notte
06:19
20.
Second Act - Si, pel ciel
01:27
21.
Third Act - Introduction
01:26
22.
Third Act - La vedetta del porto
01:22
23.
Third Act - Dio ti giocondi, o sposo
10:44
24.
Third Act - Dio! mi potevi scagliar
04:40
25.
Third Act - Vieni, l'aula e deserta
03:48
26.
Third Act - Questa e una ragna
01:54
27.
Third Act - Come la uccidero
01:16
28.
Third Act - Viva il Leon di San Marco!
05:34
29.
Third Act - A terra! ...si...nel livido fango
09:04
30.
Fourth Act - Era piu calmo?
04:10
31.
Fourth Act - Mia madre aveva una povera ancella
08:36
32.
Fourth Act - Ave Maria
05:08
33.
Fourth Act - Chi e la?
05:50
34.
Fourth Act - Calma come la tomba
03:41
35.
Fourth Act - Nium mi tema
05:15

Total time: 02:22:38

Additional information

Label

SKU

PTC5186562

Qualities

Channels

, ,

Artists

Composers

Genres

,

Conductors

Original Recording Format

Producer

Job Maarse

Recording Engineer

Jean marie Geijsen, Lauran Jurrius

Recording location

Grande Auditorio of the Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Purtugal

Recording Software

Merging

Recording Type & Bit Rate

64fs

Release DateNovember 16, 2017

Press reviews

Musicweb International

Now here comes a brand new studio recording – a rarity today – with largely little known forces under the experienced Lawrence Foster. I haven’t associated him with opera in the past, but he has been Music Director of l’Opéra de Marseille since 2013 and he is a regular visitor to the opera houses in Frankfurt, Hamburg, San Francisco and Monte Carlo and was also hailed for his La traviata at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2015. The distance between the mainly chamber-size domestic setting in Traviata and the high-strung crime passionnel of Otello is of course wide but Mr Foster has, to judge from this recording, an unfailing sense for both the high octane drama and the admittedly few moments of true intimacy – primarily the duet that concludes the first act. The opening storm of the act is certainly one of the most thrilling scenes in the opera literature and here Foster goes on knock-out with tremendous force – maybe a notch too much, since Otello’s glorious Esultate! is almost drowned by the orchestra. This also happens in some other places where the adrenaline level is on top. Whether the fault is the conductor’s or the balance engineer’s is hard to know. I listened in traditional 2-channel stereo and it is quite possible that this problem is non-existent at multi-channel listening. What is very obvious throughout the performance is Foster’s care over details, bringing out Verdi’s many expressive point-making commentaries. Time and again he also makes the music come alive through rhythmical springiness. The Fuoco di gioia! chorus literally dances, and the drinking scene is springy and alert. For the lyrical moments he is just as sensitive. The chorus scene in act II is truly atmospheric with Desdemona soaring beautifully over the ensemble. I could point out numerous examples of exquisite flexibility, for instance the orchestral backing up of Iago’s credo. (…)

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