A Rare And Beautiful Opera: Haydn'sPersonal Favorite
01/23/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"About Haydn's "The Deserted Island":
Father of the Symphony, Franz Joseph Haydn is not famous for his operas, though music scholars have discovered he wrote several gorgeous operas for his influential and powerful Esterhazy patrons. These operas (or early operettas) were written to please the court and often contained "magic" elements in the plot. One opera even dealt with travel to the moon. "L'Isola Desabitata" (The Deserted Island) is an opera that nearly resembles Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It's about mistaken identity and two stranded girls in a strange island. The ending is happy as the girls marry their sweethearts. This was Haydn's favorite opera. The music is sublime, from the overture which uses a contrast of dark and light themes, to the long-winded recitatives which lead into sumptuous arias for the two female singers- soprano and mezzo soprano. The tenor and bass arias are equally as impressive and the concluding ensemble is magnificent. This music perhaps influenced his later and more mature vocal writing, such as The Creation and The Four Seasons. For any fan of opera, especially rare opera, this is a must. Haydn's signature style is evident here, and the music is so beautiful and even heavier than some of his chamber works and symphonies. It's absolutely stunning.
ABOUT THIS RECORDING: Maestro David Golub cast two terrific female artists to sing in this lovely gem of an opera- mezzo soprano Suzanne Mentzer and Korean soprano Ying Huang. Both these ladies do a superb job of handling the music which is actually very difficult for its fioritura and cadenzas. Some of it sounds like early Mozart opera and even opera seria. Ying Huang sang Butterfly for the Mitterand film opposite tenor Richard Troxell. Hers is a light-lyric voice with decent coloratura and is tailor made for this kind of music. Susanne Mentzer is a mezzo of the dramatic breed, with a voice that is fully capable of singing coloratura. She has sung bel canto operas and has sung impressive Jane Seymours in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Her voice is rich and dark yet feminine. The tenor Jon Adler and bass Christopher Schaldenbrand are obviously expert Mozartian singers, otherwise they would not be able to sing this Mozart like opera. They each have great vocal assetts- Adler sings with ringing high register and elegant style and Schaldenbrand has a basso profundo voice that is to die for. If you are into rare opera, this one is for you. The sound is great as it is a 90's recording."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1