Special offer. Richard Flury: A Florentine Tragedy: Opera in One Act
Julia Sophie Wagner (soprano), Long Long (tenor), Daniel Ochoa (baritone)
Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Paul Mann
Flury’s version [of A Florentine Tragedy] has an almost verismo feel to it: brassy declarations seem to echo the fanfares in Turandot; vocal lines have Italianate fluidity to them. Paul Mann...
Special offer. Richard Flury: A Florentine Tragedy: Opera in One Act
Julia Sophie Wagner (soprano), Long Long (tenor), Daniel Ochoa (baritone)
Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Paul Mann
Purchase product
Flury’s version [of A Florentine Tragedy] has an almost verismo feel to it: brassy declarations seem to echo the fanfares in Turandot; vocal lines have Italianate fluidity to them. Paul Mann...
About
The Swiss composer Richard Flury (1896–1967) felt the fascination for A Florentine Tragedy, Oscar Wilde’s drama of love and violence in Renaissance Italy, that also attracted his near-contemporary Alexander Zemlinsky: they set the same libretto. Flury responded to the text with this dark and swirling one-act verismo opera, sizzling with sexual tension, the vocal lines of the three characters unfolding over an orchestral texture remarkable for its plasticity and kaleidoscopic color. It is preceded here by a dignified but impassioned operatic scene setting Grillparzer’s dramatic treatment of the suicide of the Greek poetess Sappho.
Contents and tracklist
- Julia Sophie Wagner
- Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
- Paul Mann
- Julia Sophie Wagner, Long Long, Daniel Ochoa
- Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
- Paul Mann
Awards and reviews
September 2019
Flury’s version [of A Florentine Tragedy] has an almost verismo feel to it: brassy declarations seem to echo the fanfares in Turandot; vocal lines have Italianate fluidity to them. Paul Mann conducts the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra in a pulsating account…Toccata’s rich recording allows both works to bloom and this disc is well worth exploring.
October 2019
The opera has its moments, notably a rapt interlude as the cuckolded merchant Simone meditates on death…Long Long displays smiling, open charm as Guido, and Daniel Ochoa’s bright, perfectly articulated baritone negotiates Simone’s bland monologues with impressive class. The orchestral goods are ably delivered by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra under Paul Mann.
Opera Now July 2019
Paul Mann’s conducting catches the spirit of the piece, and the three soloists are good. Julia Sophie Wagner’s soprano has sheen, though is a bit stretched at the top against the orchestral onslaught – she also offers Flury’s The Death of Sappho on this disc. Long Long’s tenor is a supple and elegant instrument, and Daniel Ochoa a firm baritone.
