Search - Ondrej Lenard :: Opera Intermezzi & Preludes

Some unexpected gems...

vmzfla | Orlando, Fl. | 05/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is not the typical fare of Leoncavallo, Mascagni, or Puccini that make this disc special. Like other NAXOS releases, the producers always seem to include in their compilations something new, obscure, or enlightening. Take the German composer of Italian ancestry, Eugen d'Albert. The selections from what remains of his 1903 "Tiefland" are worth the price of this CD alone. The prelude followed by the intermezzi engulfs us in an orchestral bloom that just had to influence the great film composers of the Golden Era. Though we're all familiar with Wolf-Ferrari's "Susanna's Secret" the less known selections from "The Jewels of the Madonna" takes us on a mischief, playful romp before the program turns more tragic with "Manon". Two Mascagni rarities are included from the comedy "L'amico Fritz" and "Guglielmo Ratcliff" a story of passion and mass murder. The latter taking on a somber note. The early Puccini "Edgar"(1889) Prelude to act III starts off as funeral procession and concludes in an ecstatic revelation. His "Le Villi" based on the same subject of Adam's 'Giselle" features the playful to tragic consequences from the ghosts of girls to their abandoned lovers. The entire program is nicely balanced and is one of NAXOS's better recorded. Highly recommended!"

Mixed Bag of Popular and Less Well-Known Verismo

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 03/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The harsh criticism levelled at the ?verismo? composers by supporters of more progressive contemporaries from more northerly climes (e. g. Richard Strauss), namely that their music is melodramatic and musically too straightforward, is not, of course, totally unjustified, yet the enormous popularity of Puccini?s operas or of those twins ?Cav? and ?Pag? by Leoncavallo and Mascagni would seem to be enough to make anyone take these composers seriously and listen closely to what they have to say. This CD offers a number of short instrumental extracts from three of Puccini?s operas and an intermezzo each from ?Cav? and ?Pag?, to which, however, it adds some much less well-known pieces by the British-born German composer Eugen d?Albert (about 15 minutes from his ?Tiefland?, including the approximately two minute long oboe solo introduction) and by the half-German, half-Italian Ernanno Wolf-Ferrari (a short passage from ?Il Segreto di Susanna? and three slightly more substantial ones from ?I Gioielli della Madonna?). All of this music was originally performed in the thirty years or so before the outbreak of the First World War. Of the Puccini pieces here, it is certainly ?La Tregenda? from ?Le Villi? which steals the show, ?Ratcliff?s Dream? from ?Guglielmo Ratcliff? by Mascagni being another piece, this time a slow one, which merits attention. But it was definitely the d?Albert and the Wolf-Ferrari which made listening to this disc an eye-opener, even if such short extracts can only whet one?s appetite for more. The audio quality of this 1989 recording is up to the normal Naxos standard, needing high quality equipment to sound as it really should, the playing of the orchestra is good, with conductor Lénard being able, as so often, to inspire his musicians to bring music alive which is nowadays but seldom heard."

An Interesting Collection of Opera Rarities

Timothy Kearney | Hull, MA United States | 09/07/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a disc that I purchased a number of years ago, not for the well known pieces it contains: the Intermezzi from MANON LESCAUT, I PAGLIACCI, and CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA but for the rarer puieces from lesser known works such as D'Albert's TIEFLAND, the various Wolf-Ferrari pieces and those lesser known works of Puccini and Mascagni. Each of the pieces included in this collection, those well known and those nearly forgotten, have something to offer music lovers. They add flavor to any music lover's collection. I will often listen to this collection while working at my computer or driving.



As with so many Naxos recordings, those who purchase this collection will find interesting music performed competently by a lesser known orchestra, in this case the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ondrej Lenard, at a price that cannot be beat.

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