A profile of the 20th century Russian composer Georgy Sviridov whose lineage falls more in the post Romantic style than the modern, and who while revered within Russia was virtually unknown outside of it's borders. This collection presents orchestral works along with the Pathetic Oratorio featuring the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio conducted by Vladimir Fedosseyev in performances that reveal Sviridov's nationalistic influences that made him so admired in his homeland.

Fedoseyev/Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.

In January 1973, the Theater Bern put Rossini's early opera buffa "L'equivoco stravagante" on the program in a German text version created for Bern, thus creating a veritable theatrical sensation. The work was performed fifteen times and even had to be included in the 1973/74 schedule - unusual for a municipal theater that did not maintain a so-called repertory business like large opera houses. Responsible for the great success, which caused surprise throughout the German-speaking world, was a perfectly coordinated ensemble under the direction of the phenomenal general music director EWALD KÖRNER. The performance was recorded in stereo by Swiss Radio DRS in the Bern studio after the season. It is thanks to this circumstance that the "Berner version" of the rather lesser-known buffa can now be presented on 2 albums, thanks to the research of RELIEF, in excellent sound quality, with an exemplary booklet and the libretto of the Berner performance.

Thanks to its overture, La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is one of Rossini’s best-known operas. In the19th century it was one of the composer’s most performed works. And yet for decades after 1883, it was not performed. It was only in the 1930s that interest in this opera was awoken once again. Rossini’s 150th birthday in 1942 led Riccardo Zandonai, then Director of the Music Conservatory in Pesaro, Rossini's birthplace, to take on this opera and edit it. His tasks were essentially to shorten a very long opera and to split the content over three, rather than two, acts.

La gazza ladra or, in this recording, Die diebische Elster is principally a crime story. The subject matter of the opera is a robbery that may have actually taken place in France. We might have doubts about this because the theme of the innocent, accused, condemned, and possibly executed serving girl is so widely known that it can almost be taken for an urban myth. It is not, however, simply about crime. The opera portrays specific details of pre-trial and court proceedings correctly and in exact detail. This makes the original title "Avviso ai giudici” (Judges Take Note) even clearer. Thanks to its timely references and precise libretto, this opera is by far more realistic than other operas from the pen of this composer.

RELIEF presents here for the first time on album the Bavarian Radio recording of Donizetti's cheerful one-act opera Rita (in German) from 1960. The outstanding cast with Ingeborg Hallstein, Erwin Wohlfahrt and Karl Christian Kohn leaves nothing to be desired, and the sound quality can fully satisfy even the highest demands. Rita was completed in 1841. It is a domestic comedy which consists of eight musical numbers connected by spoken dialogue. It premiered in May 1860, unfortunately after Donizetti’s death. It tells the story of Rita, the abusive wife of the timid Peppe, and the inn that they own. When Rita’s believed-dead first husband returns, their lives are turned upside down.