Menotti: The Medium & The Telephone

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[The Medium] The rich, fruity voice of Julija Samsonova- Khayet is absolutely right for the fraudulent Medium, Madame Flora. [The Telephone] ......Flavio Emilio Scogna paces this perfectly, and... — MusicWeb International, February 2019 More…

Release Date: 16th Nov 2018
Catalogue No: 95361
Label: Brilliant Classics
Length: 90 minutes

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Menotti: The Medium

Work length1:05:11

Album only

Marily Santoro (soprano), Julija Samsonova (soprano), Chiara Isotton (soprano), Lorenzo Grante (bass-baritone), Roxana Herrera Diaz (soprano)
Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana
Flavio Emilio Scogna
Recorded: 14 March 2018
Recording Venue: Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti, Modena, Italy

Act I: — (Monica, Madame Flora, Mrs. Cobineau, Mr. Cobineau, Mrs. Nolan)

Track length31:07

Album only

Act II: — (Monica, Madame Flora, Mrs. Cobineau, Mr. Cobineau, Mrs. Nolan)

Track length34:04

Album only

Menotti: The Telephone

Work length24:56

Album only

Elizabeth Hertzberg (soprano), Lorenzo Grante (bass-baritone)
Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana
Flavio Emilio Scogna

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A major new, native recording of a sparkling operatic double-bill. After Amelia goes to the ball was staged in 1937 at the Metropolitan Opera with acclaim, Gian Carlo Menotti became hot property. Two further radio operas were comparative failures but it was with The Medium that Menotti really hit his stride. A tragedy in two acts for five singers, a dance-mime role and a chamber orchestra of 14 players, Menotti’s opera is both dramatically astute in the Puccini tradition and composed with an acute ear for mood and mystery: the score, often quite dissonant, conveys an eerie, morbid atmosphere. According to the composer, ‘The Medium is actually a play of ideas. It describes the tragedy of a woman caught between two worlds, a world of reality which she cannot wholly comprehend, and a supernatural world in which she cannot believe.’

Premiered in 1945, The Medium received its first Broadway staging two years later, with a hugely successful a run of 212 performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. As a curtain-raiser for these performances (and a striking contrast), Menotti wrote a light one-act comedy in the opera buffa tradition, The Telephone, which he sub-titled L’amour à trois. The opera’s central role of Lucy became a huge success for its first interpreter, Marilyn Cotlow, and now the young American soprano Elizabeth Hertzberg steps into her shoes with an assured portrayal.

Made under studio conditions in Modena in 2018, these recordings took place in association with semi-staged performances given by artists on the distinguished Raina Kabaivanska Masterclass programme. According to the Giornale della Musica, Hertzberg was ‘excellent’ as Lucy, and more critical praise was directed towards the fluent and insightful conducting of Scogna. There are comparatively few modern recordings to rival the classic 1947 recording; an essential acquisition for avid listeners of 20th century music theatre.

Reviews

February 2019

[The Medium] The rich, fruity voice of Julija Samsonova- Khayet is absolutely right for the fraudulent Medium, Madame Flora. [The Telephone] ......Flavio Emilio Scogna paces this perfectly, and the 22 players of his Italian Philharmonic Orchestra respond with pleasing levity, in particular
a disarmingly attractive oboe solo played by Fabrizio Oriani. Once again the vocal casting is superb. Elizabeth Hertzberg is the model of insincerity and bland charm against Lorenzo Grante’s fervent Ben....”

Menotti: The Medium & The Telephone

2 CDs

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