Search - Tommaso Traetta, Fernando Mainardi, Daniela Dessi :: Traetta - Le Serve Rivali / Barbacini · Dessì · Nazario · Raffanti · Mattiucci · Corbelli · Mainardi

A Delightful opera

John Cragg | Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada | 06/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Traetta was one of those peripatetic composers who spread the gallant style of opera the length and breadth of Europe. It is indeed fortunate for those who would like to explore his works that the one opera currently available on CD is so charmingly performed. Le Serva Rivali is not a profound work, but there is much engaging music in it which is well up to, or even above, the standard of most of Traetta's contempories. Mostly the score consists of arias and recitative, with some sung dialogue, but as one might expect there is little in the way of true duets or passages simultaneously engaging several characters. The recording was made in 1979, presumably of a production marking the 200th aniversary of Traetta's death. The orchestra, conductor and performers are virtually unknown, at least through recordings. Nevertheless, they shine in a most exemplary fashion. The women, especially Daniela Dessy and Franca Mattiucci, sing with real feeling and elegance. Their efforts are ably matched by Paolo Barbacini and Dano Raffanti, while Alessandro Corbelli produces some wonderful over-the-top aural overacting in the arias and especially in some of the recitative. It is worth noting that one can for once understand what words are being sung -- all too rare today. The recording was made from a couple of live performances. The audience noise is at a minimum, really only being allowed to swell as applause at the end of acts. More intrusive is some stage noise. At times there is some distortion, especially of the orchestra, but overall the engineering is much better than one generally finds in live recordings, not to mention obscure ones. The program booklet, in Italian and English, contains a libretto and a short essay by Lorenzo Arruga, mainly on Traetta and briefly on the work. The translation is not perfect, but can inspire a mild chuckle without hiding what is really meant. "In Le Serve Rivali genious[sic.] is on the point of answering, but it succeeds only here and there and as it likes. The singers who interpreter[sic] this opera really cannot complain:...they can abandon themselves to the light and happy pleasure of letting words flow in a fresh, logical and pleasing way, with that happiness that is the mark of comic opera." That quote from the booklet is a fair review of these CD's as well."