Gaetano Donizetti had big shoes to fill at his debut in Naples in 1823, arriving at the Teatro di San Carlo just after Rossini's departure, full of talent but still seeking his true voice. Alfredo il Grande is influenced by Rossini, but also shows hints of great things to come. The narrative is a celebration of heroism and magnanimous royalty, taking us to 9th century England where King Alfred the Great is on the run from the Vikings. Revived two centuries after the spectacular failure of it's premiere, this little-known opera seria can now stand as a reflection on humanitarian values and gestures of resistance against the destructiveness of war.

Gaetano Donizetti had big shoes to fill at his debut in Naples in 1823, arriving at the Teatro di San Carlo just after Rossini's departure, full of talent but still seeking his true voice. Alfredo il Grande is influenced by Rossini, but also shows hints of great things to come. The narrative is a celebration of heroism and magnanimous royalty, taking us to 9th century England where King Alfred the Great is on the run from the Vikings. Revived two centuries after the spectacular failure of it's premiere, this little-known opera seria can now stand as a reflection on humanitarian values and gestures of resistance against the destructiveness of war.

Donizetti was prolific in the field of vocal chamber music, to the extent that he almost rivaled Rossini. Nuits d'�t� � Pausillippe is an album of ariettas, romanzas, notturnos and duettinos published in 1836. The texts speak of four seasons and three cities, but it's Naples that takes the lead role: Donizetti lived and worked in the city between 1822 and 1838. Mostly authored by local poets, the texts are essentially simple portraits of things Italian: the boatman, the breath of the beloved, and the tower of Biasone (which ends with one of Donizetti's most disarming tunes). Le cr�puscule (Twilight), however, sets verses by Victor Hugo as a romanza describing the new dawn, and continues with the lover's door that is closed. While Posillipo (Pausilippe) is a hillside overlooking the bay of Naples, Infrascata is a steep road leading from the city centre to another hillside, that of the Vomero. The frontispiece of the first edition of Soir�es d'autumne � l'Infrascata indicates it was intended as a sequel to the earlier collection. Here the tone is more overtly ardent, not least in the Neapolitan barcarola Me voglio fa 'na casa (I'd Like to Have a House) which has been a popular recital item for many great singers. The complete collection is far less often heard, and recorded, lending considerable rarity value to this new recording. It is led by the soprano Letizia Calandra, a specialist in Neapolitan repertoire.

Classical Music

Written for the Opéra in Paris, Gaetano Donizetti’s La Favorite contains some of his most famous arias. This superb production from the Donizetti Opera Festival in his birthplace of Bergamo returns the work to its rarely heard 1840 French grand opera origins, and uses the critical edition by Rebecca Harris-Warrick which includes all of the original ballet music and the cabaletta of the duet between Léonor and Alphonse. Set in 14th-century Spain, the tragic story is of a pious novice (Fernand) who falls in love with a noble lady and abandons the cloister. He becomes a war hero and asks the King for her hand, later finding out to his horror that she is Léonor de Guzman, the King’s beloved mistress.

Gaetano Donizetti not only was very well acquainted with the Viennese models that then were dominant on the international market; at the latest since his study years in Bologna he had also been familiar with the most important exponents of Italian quartet culture. This is why his string quartets offer valuable insights into his education and early artistic development and are important documents attesting to the existence of a chamber music culture specific to Bergamo. In Quartets Nos. 4-6 conventional and innovative elements combine to form an astonishing synthesis. A great many different musical characters are heard in his quartets, which often come across as unconventional in form and tone. It thus may be said that Donizetti composed while feeling “the pulse of the times and that the Pleyel Quartet plays while feeling the pulse of the music. No wish remains unfulfilled. Here Donizetti’s music is performed just as naturally, spiritedly, and entertainingly as it is written.” This is how klassik-heute. com praised our previous album featuring Quartets No. 1-3.

The renowned American music magazine Fanfare called our first cpo production featuring Gaetano Donizetti’s string quartets "a compelling demonstration on behalf of some of the most dazzling works of the quartet literature." Now the Pleyel Quartet of Cologne, which during the course of its existence has gained fame above all for its rediscoveries of forgotten masterpieces of the string quartet literature, presents three more quartets by the Bergamo master – his early Quartets Nos. 1-3. Performed on original instruments, these quartets develop a special tonal appeal and offer astonishing examples of Donizetti’s compositional talent and special music feel. Since they are obliged to an older ideal, they combine seriousness and delightful sound; both technically and musically, demanding and entertaining elements maintain a balance. According to a friend’s memoirs, Donizetti wrote his first six string quartets at his desk, with the greatest concentration and without the assistance of the piano. On the one hand, they reflect impulses and influences from the Viennese quartet literature and from the Parisian quatuor concertant. On the other hand, they also show just how astonishingly quickly Donizetti was increasingly able to develop mastery while working with his models and contributing his own ideas.

Despite the triumphant reception of his first opera, Gaetano Donizetti was young and inexperienced when he was commissioned to write Chiara e Serafina in 1822 for La Scala. Composed in haste, it was met with disapproval at its premiere and subsequently disappeared without a trace. Thanks to this revival at the Bergamo Donizetti Festival, after exactly 200 years Chiara e Serafina has returned to the stage with a fine production that brings to life an entertaining tale of pirates, lovers, disguises, deceit and peril in 17th-century Majorca.

The global careers of not one but two Slovakian singers were launched on March 23, 1978 in Vienna’s State Opera: that of then-27-year-old tenor Peter Dvorský, and that of 31-year-old Edita Gruberova, hers a career which has endured to this day. Despite her success there in the role of Zerbinetta just eighteen months earlier, she was then still an insider tip for such a large bel canto role. Although studio recordings from subsequent years exist of this role which would later become Gruberova’s hallmark, this early live recording has a quality that is missing from later recordings: the maidenly determination and yet stupendous vocal perfection that Gruberova delivers in her portrayal, her inimitable sonorous timbre – which she retains to this day – alongside the wonderfully intimate and yet tense partnership with Dvorský, whose passionate, burning tenor provides a unique highlight in his first duet with Gruberova’s Lucia and supplies a further high point in the tricky final scene on a recording not short of such brilliant climaxes. Matteo Manuguerra’s reading of Lucia’s brother Enrico is a perilously relentless, masculine tour de force. Last but not least, the quickening touch of Giuseppe Patane’s baton makes this a gem among the treasures of Edita Gruberova’s discography, one never short of outstanding testimony to her consummate vocal skill and is a wonderful addition to that of Peter Dvorský, whose discography is sadly not so bountiful. The Neapolitan conductor, who was highly regarded in Munich for his performances of Italian repertoire, transforms a singing festival into an exciting music drama in the way that he leads the Vienna Philharmonic in a highly flexible and dynamic manner through the musical narrative.

Composed for the Paris Opéra, the romantic but ultimately tragic narrative of Donizetti’s grand opera La favorite is set amidst the Moorish invasions of Spain and the power struggles between religion and the state in the 14th century. The novice Fernand abandons his monastery having fallen in love with the noble Léonor, not knowing that she is the King’s mistress and favourite. Drawing on traditions established by Rossini and Meyerbeer, La favorite is noted for Donizetti’s innovative use of the orchestra and for some of his most renowned and enthralling arias. This acclaimed production opened the 2022 Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo, and is performed with its original French libretto.

Royal Opera favourite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this exhilarating production of Donizetti’s comedy of domestic drama across two generations. Don Pasquale is the witty story of a middle-aged man whose supposed young wife runs rings around him – with her own ulterior romantic purpose in mind – and has long delighted and surprised audiences, not least as presented with the sparkle of its music and the virtuoso skill of its performers. Damiano Michieletto’s production shows how contemporary the characters still are and how immediate and touching the story remains.

Within this album the “Insolito 8cento” duo (Angelo de Magistris, violin and Rosaria Dina Rizzo, piano) is rediscovering a little-known feature of the great Belcanto master Gaetano Donizetti: his chamber works dedicated to the violin, an instrumental production little mentioned and often completely ignored. In fact Donizetti never ceased to deal with the composition of instrumental chamber music, giving life to brilliant works that, same as for his vocal works, testify his extraordinary creative vein in which one can recognize great inspiration, almost like a continuous improvisation, yet always refined and elegant as well as completely devoid of those formal negligence typical of the ‘utility music' or composed for mere exercise or pastime.

Knowing where to drop the needle on the string quartets of Donizetti presents more of a challenge than exploring the lasting treasures of his vast catalogue of operas, where posterity has already established a pecking order with Lucia di Lammermoor at its head. But Donizetti was more than a pioneer of bel canto, and the Quartetto Delfico present new recordings of three of the later and most richly developed examples of his mastery as a chamber-music composer, which sound no less assured and distinctive than his works for the stage. The opening movement of No. 15 in F major plays teasingly with the famous opening melody of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 (much as Shostakovich did in the finale of his Second Violin Concerto, a century and a half later), draining it of anxiety and infusing a bright-eyed joie de vivre instead.

This sunny mood spills over into the lyrical Andante. Haydn would no doubt have smiled at Donizetti’s ingenuity in developing the material for the Minuet from little more than the open strings of the ensemble, and the finale’s introduction springs a surprise worthy of the older master of the string quartet, turning unexpectedly to the minor and then racing off with the visceral drama of an act-finale from one of his operatic tragedies. Nos. 17 and 18 are both even more substantial and compelling works in their ways, composed in 1825 and 1836 respectively; the first movement of No.18 in E minor was later reused in the opening sinfonia of Linda de Chamounix in 1842. They continue to refine Donizetti’s Haydnesque inclination towards economy of means and singularity of gesture. The first movement of No.17 creates a terse drama from thematic questions and answers, and its ostensible D major key is continually belied by harmonic stress and strain. Finally, in No.18, Donizetti fully embraces the potential for the quartet as a medium of musical tragedy as potent as any abandoned heroine. This is a half-hour piece as ambitious and surprising as any of the mature quartets by his great predecessors in the medium, notable not just for an extended slow movement but also the nervous energy of its minuet.

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) certainly owes his fame and success to his operatic output (L'Elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale, La figlia del reggimento), but few know that he was also a prolific composer of string quartets, and was certainly the most important Italian composer of the genre in the nineteenth century. In fact, Donizetti wrote as many as 18 complete quartets between 1817 and 1836. From a formal, aesthetic point of view, Donizetti is a classical composer in every way. The great masters represented a point of reference for him, a model he could refer to. Nevertheless, he never imitated them tout-court. The differences between Donizetti's compositional choices and Viennese style are quite distinct in formal structure, distribution of the parts, and musical quality. This may be attributed to his personal theatrical genius, to the extent that one can almost recognize real Donizettian opera scenes among the pages of these quartets.

This CD presents the String Quartets Nos. 15, 17 and 18, fully mature masterworks of their genre. Performed with obvious enthusiasm and taste by the Italian Quartetto Delfico, who previously recorded for Brilliant Classics string quartets by Manfredini (94786).

Winner of The International Opera Awards (2015), for Semiramide – La Signora regale, and Best Female Voice Finalist IOA (2016), the anti-Diva, as she likes to describe herself, Anna Bonitatibus is renowned for the noble passion with which she interprets titles between the most famous of ‘teatro musicale’, as well as the tireless commitment with which she promotes the divulgation of a rarer repertoire. She includes in her performed titles, seventy operas, from Claudio Monteverdi’s masterpieces to titles back to proscenium by Francesco Cavalli (Didone, Ercole amante, Calisto), crossing Händel’s operatic production (Agrippina, Deidamia, Giulio Cesare, Orlando, Tamerlano, Tolomeo, Ottone, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno) and composers from the Neapolitan school, from Pergolesi to Cimarosa, until her beloved Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Le Comte Ory, Il Viaggio à Reims, Tancredi and furthermore Cantate, Masses and the rare and preciouses Péchés de Vieillesse by the ‘pesarese’. As the embodiment of Cherubino from the Daponteian Le Nozze di Figaro, she has become one of the most acclaimed performers of Mozart. Then follows Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Mitridate Re di Ponto, La Clemenza di Tito, as well as sacred and profane repertoire by the Salzburgian composer. The Mezzo-soprano’s wide repertoire includes also Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Ginevra di Scozia by Simon Mayr and Enrico di Borgogna by Donizetti interpreted with great success at the Donizetti Opera di Bergamo (2018). The French repertoire includes Carmen, a role brilliantly debuted in Madrid (2018) and L’Enfant et les sortilèges by Ravel, Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz and Gounod as well as Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach, Werther and Don Quichotte by Massenet. From first steps at the Teatro alla Scala, to Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, to the Teatro Real in Madrid, La Monnaie in Bruxelles, Staatsoper in Vienna, to Royal Opera House in London, Festivals (Salzburg, Florence, Munich, Bologna, Grange) and to the most renowned international concert halls (from Russia to United States), Anna Bonitatibus has collaborated with the most acclaimed conductors and directors: Sir Charles Mackerras, Riccardo Muti, Sir Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, William Christie, Ivor Bolton, Myung Whun Chung, Alan Curtis, Roberto Abbado, Ottavio Dantone, Marc Minkowski and Luca Ronconi, Jerome Savary, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Dario Fo, David McVicar, David Alden, Sir Jonathan Miller, Kasper Holten, Emilio Sagi, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, David Pountney. The Convegno Internazionale Rossini 2017 opened their recent celebrations dedicated to Rossini150 and Anna Bonitatibus has been invited as interpreter for the special concert ‘Rossini e gli altri. La Gran scena’ produced by Fondazione Rossini di Pesaro. For the same celebrations, she participated at the Rossini Opera Festival 2018 and in September of the same year, she has been Rossini’s ambassador at the Seoul National University (South Korea) and at St. John College, Cambridge, with Recitals and Master Classes dedicated to Gioachino Rossini. Alongside her artistic activity, Anna Bonitatibus is engaged in the research and promotion of Lirica italiana da camera (Italian Art Songs) through the music publishing house Consonarte – Vox in Musica, founded by her and that counts on a collaboration with experts, musicians and scholars from renown European universities. The project seeks to renew appreciation of this immense musical patrimony for which valuable initiatives are undertaken, including the recent performances by the Mezzo-soprano at the Wigmore Hall in London. Among her most successful recordings: L’Infedeltà costante dedicated to Haydn; Un Rendez-vous, a portrait of Gioachino Rossini’s chamber music repertoire; Semiramide - La Signora regale, a musical itinerary from Porpora to García consecrated to the first Queen of Mesopotamia; La Tempesta, chamber Cantatas by the composer Marianna Martines, released for DHM/RCA/SONY. In DVD Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Hardy-RaiTrade, La Didone and Ercole amante by Cavalli (OpusArte) and Così fan tutte by Mozart (Arthaus), L’incoronazione di Poppea for Virgin Classic. In streaming, Anna Bonitatibus recently appeared in La Clemenza di Tito and Lucio Silla (La Monnaie, Bruxelles) and in L’Italiana in Algeri (Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna). Her latest recording (2018, BR Klassis) is the album ‘en travesti’: the recital, warmly acclaimed by audiences and press, crosses the parable of trouser roles composed for female voices and of which Anna Bonitatibus has always been an interpreter of reference.

Among the countless studio recordings of Lucia di Lammermoor, this Westminster recording from the early seventies is particularly noteworthy. First of all for the conductor, Thomas Schippers, one of the most sensitive interpreters of Italian opera, especially in Verdi. The role of the protagonist is played by the American soprano Beverly Sills, who in this edition restores Lucia’s original voice, altered by the dramatic interpretation of Maria Callas twenty years earlier. Carlo Bergonzi, on the other hand, was one of the reference Edgardo of the second half of the twentieth century, and, in addition to this, he recorded another famous Lucia with Anno Moffo, released for RCA in 1966. Finally, the great Italian baritone Piero Cappuccilli, himself to his second incision of the character of Enrico. An edition of constant reference.