In 2020, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Kaunas State Choir, under the direction of Modestas Pitrenas, came together at the National Philharmonic Hall in Vilnius for a remarkable recording of Amilcare Ponchielli's opera I Lituani. This project marks the first professional recording of this work, highlighting Ponchielli's significant contribution to 19th-century Italian opera and connecting deeply with Lithuanian heritage. Drawing inspiration from Adam Mickiewicz's poem Konrad Wallenrod, the opera tells the story of medieval Lithuania's resistance against the Teutonic Knights, exploring themes of freedom, national identity, and sacrifice. Ponchielli's rich orchestration and Ghislanzoni's powerful libretto create a dramatic musical experience that has now been captured with vibrant vocal performances and exquisite orchestration in this new recording. I Lituani, which premiered at La Scala in 1874, has long been recognized for it's beautiful melodies and emotional depth. This recording revives a significant yet often overlooked masterpiece of Italian opera, offering a fresh perspective on Ponchielli's profound musical and dramatic vision. Recorded at Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society Vilnius, September 2020

PONCHIELLI: Gioconda (La)

This recording is taken from Stagione Lirica's 2012 season at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno, Italy. In the title role is acclaimed Chinese soprano Hui He, who has enthralled audiences all over the world since her debut in 2003. Supporting her are Luciana D'Intino and Carlo Striuli, and the whole ensemble is directed by Yishai Steckler.

AMILCARE PONCHIELLI: Andrea Gruber; Marco Berti; Alberto Mastromarino; Carlo Colombara; Ildiko Komlosi; Elisabetta Fiorillo; Roberto Bolle, Letizia Giuliani, primi ballerini; Orchestra, Chorus and Corps de ballet of"Arena di Verona"/Donato Renzetti; Live recording: June 17, 2005 AMILCARE PONCHIELLI: La GiocondaNTSC All Region; Doby Digital 5.1, DTS; PCM Stereo 2.0; Color; 16:9; 162 minsSubtitled in Italian, English, French, German & Japanese.

Classical Music

Ponchielli: Chamber Songs

Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Op. 9

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The string quartets of Donizetti and Verdi, and the oboe concerto of Bellini, represent rare overlaps between the fields of operatic and instrumental music in 19th-century Italy. Moving into the 20th century, the operas of Respighi have gained a toe-hold on the record catalogues but he is still remembered principally (and justly) for his orchestral showpieces such as the Pines of Rome, while composers in the contemporary verismo tradition carried on doing what they did best and producing knock-em-dead tragedies of high drama and low life for the lyric stage, from Tosca to La Gioconda. Or did they? A fact known to very few even in Italy is that Amilcare Ponchielli, composer of La Gioconda and teacher of Puccini, wrote not only for the opera house but also the church. As the son of a shopkeeper who was organist in the village church, he studied music first with his father and then with the organist of a neighboring village. In his early years he produced a substantial repertoire of sacred music and a body of organ pieces for occasional and liturgical use, few of which were played until Marco Ruggeri, the organist on this new recording, gathered them together for an authoritative critical edition in 1999. They include a novel symphony 'half for organ, half for piano'. In 2011 Ruggeri recorded roughly half of Ponchielli's organ output for the Bottega Discantia label, an album now superseded by this new recording made in 2017 and 2019. Never previously recorded are a collection of delightful Pastorales, as well as a funeral march in memory of his father, and a prelude to a cantata by Donizetti. However, there is one piece without which no self-regarding Ponchielli collection would be complete, and Marco Ruggeri includes it here as an encore: the 'Dance of the Hours' from La Gioconda, made eternally famous by Disney's troupe of dancing elephants.

Charming salon miniatures and a grand funeral march by the verismo composer of La Gioconda.

Most of the pieces issued here were published in the 1870s and 1880s, and some of them are far more substantial than mere album-leaves. Yet they are hardly known at all; Riccardo Muti recorded an orchestration of the sombre and touching Elegia funebre from 1881, but Ester Fusar Poli’s new recording is the only available version of the piano original. Even more imposing in scale is the 16-minute Funeral March which Ponchielli wrote late in 1872 to honor the passing of the publisher Francesco Lucca. However, no Ponchielli album would be complete without a version of the ‘Dance of the Hours’ immortalized by Walt Disney’s hippos in Fantasia.

Ester Fusar Poli presents a beguiling sequence of elegies, nocturnes, polkas and tone-poems, demonstrating the composer’s expressive range and deft piano writing. An extensive essay by Gabriele Galleggiante Crisafulli considers Ponchielli’s piano output in the context of his career as a whole, making this album an important contribution to our understanding of a figure who was much more than a ‘one-hit wonder’.