Search - Giovanni Paisiello, Giovanni di Stefano, Claudia Marchi :: Paisiello: Socrate Immaginario

Surprisingly Turbulent

B. Bork | Ontario, Canada | 05/30/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a mid-classical opera by Paisiello, Socrate Immaginario provides a rare glimpse into the more turbulent aesthetics of this Italian composer. Much of the score is standard feed for 18th century opera buffa but some of the music, especially found in the finales, is minor key gold with an angry quality that is usually absent in Paisiello's work. Perhaps it reflects the personality that the composer became known for (bitter and resentful of his peers), thus offering up some first class social satire of the most bitting kind.



The construction of this opera is forward looking for it's time (1775). He provided slightly more material for the ensembles than usual with a sestetto introduzione, terzetto and quartetto topping off the obligatory yet delightfully orchestrated first and second act finales with four duetto's completing the ensemble list. The remainder of the piece is delegated to aria's and recitative with varying degrees of success.



The rating I gave this CD is solely based on the quality of the orchestration and performers as I think the music scored by Paisiello deserves a five star rating. No one stands out, in fact the singers in general are fair to poor in range and ability. Fortunately, Paisiello's opera's aren't that demanding so this CD doesn't suffer overly much from uninspired performances. It is a live recording so various staging noises can be heard throughout the production. Lastly, no libretto is provided in either Italian or English so knowledge of the language is required to understand the plot because not even a synopsis is included (although the provided essay is, ironicaly, intellectually informed).



In conclusion, Socrate Immaginario is a must for Paisiello fans but maybe not so much for those interested in a great performance. If you can see past the fair-to-poor quality of this product than you may very well see a side of this special composer that doesn't often appear in his standard repertoire."