Arrigo Boito is remembered today for his only completed opera Mefistofele. The score for Nerone was left unfinished at the composer's death - a performing version was completed by the composers Vincenzo Tommasini and Antonio Smareglia, along with Arturo Toscanini who conducted the world premiere at Teatro alla Scala in 1924. The narrative focuses on Emperor Nero during a time of conflict between beliefs in Imperial Roman gods and Christianity, and ends with tragic dramas amidst the Great Fire of Rome. With influences that include Wagner and Sibelius, Boito's rarely performed Nerone uses a truly exciting harmonic palette delivered through a masterly handling of huge orchestral forces.

Best-known today as the librettist of Verdi’s final Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff, the multitalented Arrigo Boito was also a fine composer in his own right. Hugely ambitious in scope, and some 20 years in the making, his first (and only completed) opera, Mefistofele, sets out to encompass nothing less than the whole of Goethe’s vast poetic drama Faust (parts I and II), and is considered the very central work of his phase between Verdi and Puccini. Making his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper, director Roland Schwab (a protégé of the legendary Ruth Berghaus) plays devil’s advocate by setting the opera in a nightmarish atmosphere. The exceptional cast features Rene Pape, Joseph Calleja, Kristine Opolais, and Karine Babajanyan. “[Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais’s Margherita] shines with understated Grace Kelly elegance” (Opera Today). “[Conductor Omer Meir Wellber “holds all the musical textures together with admirable control” (BR Klassik).

MEFISTOFELE

This carefully done restoration brings out the original beauty of the 1954 performance. Mefistofele, the only opera to be completed by Italian composer Arrigo Boito, has been rarely recorded, making this album an exceptional find. The extraordinary voice of Ferruccio Tagliavini dominates this cast, alongside Marcella Pobbe and Ebe Ticozzi.

Ramey is even more in command of the title role than ever, Crider is an affecting Margherita, and La Scola a mellifluous Faust.

The librettist of Verdi’s Otello and Falstaff, Arrigo Boito was also the composer of two operas, one of which, Mefistofele, based on Goethe’s Faust, he composed while still in his twenties. Its first performance at La Scala, in 1868, lasted five and a half hours, and was roundly booed. Shortened and revised seven years later, it was this time a success in Bologna, and is still to be met with in Italian opera houses and occasionally elsewhere.

Much closer in spirit to Goethe than Gounod’s Faust managed to be, Mefistofele, though an uneven work, contains a number of fine scenes, most notably the Prologue set in heaven, and the garden scene of Act II. Faust, is given a beautiful aria, ‘Dai campi, dai prati’, and Margherita has a moving lament, ‘L’altra notte’. It is, however, Mefistofele who dominates the opera, and it is Samuel Ramey who dominates this new recording. Ramey was already a splendid Mefistofele on a 1991 Sony recording, but here he is even more in command of the role, and has the advantage of Muti’s masterly conducting. Crider is an affecting Margherita and La Scola a mellifluous Faust. Peformance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- Charles Osborne, BBC Music Magazine

A century after it's world premiere at Teatro all Scala under Arturo Toscanini, conductor Francesco Cilluffo opened the 2024 season of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with this acclaimed production of Arrigo Boito's rarely performed Nerone. Set in Rome and focusing on Nero during a time of conflict between belief in Roman Gods and Christianity, Boito's opera displays a forward-looking harmonic palette with an eloquent and masterly handling of large orchestral forces.

A century after it's world premiere at Teatro all Scala under Arturo Toscanini, conductor Francesco Cilluffo opened the 2024 season of the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari with this acclaimed production of Arrigo Boito's rarely performed Nerone. Set in Rome and focusing on Nero during a time of conflict between belief in Roman Gods and Christianity, Boito's opera displays a forward-looking harmonic palette with an eloquent and masterly handling of large orchestral forces.

Gifted as both a writer and a musician, Arrigo Boito wrote the libretto to his own opera Mefistofele. Based on Goethe' Faust and the eternal struggle between Good and Evil, Mefistofele is the pinnacle of Boito' compositional achievement.

Best-known today as the librettist of Verdi’s final Shakespearean masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff, the multitalented Arrigo Boito was also a fine composer in his own right. Hugely ambitious in scope, and some 20 years in the making, his first (and only completed) opera, Mefistofele, sets out to encompass nothing less than the whole of Goethe’s vast poetic drama Faust (parts I and II), and is considered the very central work of his phase between Verdi and Puccini. Making his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper, director Roland Schwab (a protégé of the legendary Ruth Berghaus) plays devil’s advocate by setting the opera in a nightmarish atmosphere. The exceptional cast features Rene Pape, Joseph Calleja, Kristine Opolais, and Karine Babajanyan. “[Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais’s Margherita] shines with understated Grace Kelly elegance” (Opera Today). “[Conductor Omer Meir Wellber “holds all the musical textures together with admirable control” (BR Klassik).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Italian tenor sings the world’s greatest Italian tenor arias, including the hit “Nessun dorma” – without question the most famous opera arias.
Verissimo meaning “very true” in Italian and is a play on the word “Verismo” – the late 19th century opera style from which these featured operas are taken. The style is known for its big passions, dramatic lyricism, lush orchestral sound and storylines about normal people in the throes of love, death, betrayal and revenge. Key composers of this style include Puccini, Mascagni, Cilea and Leoncavallo.

One of the leading sopranos of her generation, Ekaterina Siurina enjoys an international career that takes her to the top opera houses in Europe and America. Siurina’s thrilling renditions of famous arias on this recording bring new life to operatic favorites such as “Un bel di, vedremo” from Madama Butterfly, “In quelle trine morbide” from Manon Lescaut, and “Tatiana’s Letter Scene” from Eugene Onegin.

REVIEW:

She can surmount the vocal challenges of Madama Butterfly’s hopeful Un bel di, vedremo and the anguished Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio! and she can also spin out a legato line to die for and she can cap the end of Senza Mamma with an ethereal pianissimo.

Ms. Siurina can do it all when it comes to the lyric soprano repertoire, be it the other-worldly Rusalka or the girlish Tatiana or the intact Amelia of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra or the distraught Marguerita of Boito’s Mefistofele

It has been three years since I first heard Ekaterina Siurina in Amour Eternelle, her first album for DELOS. In this, her second album for DELOS, Siurina reinforces her great reputation, accompanied by the superb American conductor Constantine Orbelian, who leads the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra offering minute by minute support to the soloist.

-- All About the Arts

Melody Moore pays tribute to the legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi, presenting a selection of arias and scenes by Rossini, Verdi, Boito, Catalani, Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Cilea and Alessandro Scarlatti, documenting the most important stages in the career of “la voce d’angelo”. Moore performs these pieces together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster. Melody Moore and Lawrence Foster both have a vast Pentatone discography, including collective complete recordings of Verdi’s Otello (2017) and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and La Fanciulla del West (both 2021). The latter album was also the Pentatone debut of the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra.

REVIEW:

Does Moore sound like Tebaldi? Not exactly: a track-by-track comparison reveals subtle differences in timbre and interpretation. But this is an act of homage, not impersonation, and Tebaldi’s repertoire certainly suits Moore’s voice and showcases her versatility, as she differentiates each heroine from the next.

-- BBC Music Magazine