Search - Cilea, Tassinari, Tagliavini :: L'Arlesiana

A beautiful account of a neglected work

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 10/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(This recording is currently available only under the "Documents" label on Amazon.uk and it is to this set which the following review refers)



Cilea was doomed to be in the company of others like Mascagni, known as "one-opera-composers". That verdict is fair on neither man, but it has stuck and their other works are rarely performed. This work had the considerable advantage of having Enrico Caruso especially requested by the composer for its premiere after Caruso had also premiered Mascagni's "Cavalleria" in 1897 - and this led to Caruso taking the leading role in 1902 in Cilea's most celebrated work "Adriana Lecouvreur", for which Cilea is now chiefly remembered. Anyone who wants to explore his other operas cannot go wrong with this recording: the sound is amazing for 1951 (it sounds as if it has been re-mastered to give it an artificial stereo effect, it is so full, bright and immediate) and it beats the recent Bongiovanni live recording hands down in every respect.



The cast is a starry one: the famous "honey-voiced" Ferruccio Tagliavini, his then wife Pia Tassinari, and the under-recorded baritone Paolo Silveri, who recorded a number of excellent sets for Cetra in the 50's. Silveri shows off his plangent top notes, even though he is supposed to be an elderly shepherd, and quite upstages the elderly-sounding baritone who is the rival in love to the hero. Otherwise, the supporting cast is excellent and includes a lovely silvery-voiced soprano named Gianna Galli (of whom I have never heard) and Loretta di Lelio (no less than Mrs Franco Corelli) as the supposedly handicapped child who recovers his wits.



Two arias are still in circulation as favourite concert pieces: Il Lamento di Federico and Rosa's "Esser madre e un inferno". Both Tagliavini and Tassinari, respectively, do them justice although I would like just a little more heft in the tenor's voice and a little less determined subtlety and delicacy, and, fine though she is, the mezzo Tassinari cannot hope to rival Claudia Muzio's searing version in her 1935 Columbia recording. Nonetheless, both are wonderfully committed and passionate. Basile directs an orchestra which understands the verismo genre of this music; he secures plenty of ebb and flow and some lovely woodwind playing in particular.



This a great set for anyone who wants to widen his horizons; it might not be inspired throughout but it is very compact and tight in its construction and there is much enjoyable music. No libretto, but a synopsis and attractively packaged.



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