Search - Giovanni Paisiello, Ivor Bolton, Adelina Scarabelli :: Paisiello - La molinara / Scarabelli, Matteuzzi, Praticò, Remigio, Banditelli, Lazzaretti, Bolton

Delightful--and great value

John Cragg | Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada | 02/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"La Molinara is a fairly straightforward rococo opera buffa. Lots of rather silly action, interspersed with much engaging music. It is the latter which makes this opera stand out. There are many fine toe tapping tunes, as well as some lovely, simple arias. In this recording, at least, these are sung with virtually no decoration. The effect is hauntingly beautiful - at times much more reminiscent of some of the outstanding hymn tunes of the eighteenth century rather than of contemporary operatic arias. This approach leaves the principals horribly exposed to any beat or impurity in the voice, but here they come through with shining colors. This is particularly true of the women, not just Adelina Scarabelli in the lead role, but also of Carmella Remigio and Gloria Banditelli. Scarabelli especially stands out and some of her singing alone is worth the price of the set. The men are less successful, but do hold up their end of the production adequately. Ivor Bolton and his Bolognese forces keep the whole thing moving successfully, and the sound is fine, especially for a live recording.As produced here, this opera is fun, as well as being of interest musically. There is not a great deal of Paisiello available, and little with first rate casts. This at least fills part of the gap, and is excellent value. It is worth having for itself, as well as for its interest in the development of opera."

Delightful Opera but poor recording.

B. Bork | Ontario, Canada | 07/20/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"La molinara by Giovanni Paisiello is a fantastic opera when judged on musical merit alone. It has some extremely addictive melodies (especially in the ensemble pieces) that flower upon consecutive hearings making it a delightful Italian opera. The plot is rather silly and far out even for an opera of this type but the music is well worth the excessive libretto. However this recording is of exceptionally poor quality in a few different ways that make it hard to endure. First, it is a live recording. Sometimes live recordings are fine but as with this recording of La molinara, all kinds of on stage distractions are picked up by the equipment that critically effect the quality of the final product. During the second act I've wondered if they actually wove microphones into the floorboards of the stage because every footstep seems to have been picked up as well as clothing (jangling) and the sound of the orchestra turning pages. Worst of all... you can hear the on stage prompter during a majority of the numbers reading the first word of each performers line right before they sing it. At times he comes out rather muffled and at other times you can clearly hear the articulations of the syllables and words as he speaks them. It is EXTREMLEY annoying but I've managed to get used to it during the ensembles at least.The cast is rather average performance wise. They are more or less adequate with Matteuzzi as the only real highlight of the production although his voice does show strain and comes out rather nasally but fluidly nonetheless. The value of the performers does kind of show in the applause from the audience, which is awkward and rather embarrassing at times in the sense that only 10 people are actually clapping for certain arias and so forth.Nothing to complain about as far as the orchestration is concerned. To my ears, it seems like the only above par element of this recording.If you can find another recording of this opera then I would suggest going for that version instead of this production because it truly is bellow standard and certainly not worth $51.00 (priced as such at time of this review). If, however, there are no other options available and you are a Paisiello fan than by all means, go for it because the music itself is infectious even if this production is not."