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Track(s) taken from CDA67647

La regata veneziana 'Tre canzonette'

composer
probably composed in 1858; Péchés de vieillesse Vol i (Album italiano) Nos 8-10
author of text

Stella Doufexis (soprano), Roger Vignoles (piano)
Recording details: April 2007
Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Ben Connellan
Release date: June 2008
Total duration: 9 minutes 45 seconds

Cover artwork: The Gondala, Venice, with Santa Maria della Salute in the Distance (1865) by James Holland (1799-1870)
Copyright Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire, England / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Rossini's writing for the piano is highly idiosyncratic. It requires a first-rate technique, a sure sense of style and an ability to bring off insouciance all manner of hair's-breadth effects. Mr Vignoles has the measure of all this and more’ (Gramophone)

‘Salon music at its most sophisticated and highly wrought. Gently elegiac bel canto arias jostle with popular dance rhythms, from a yodelling Tyrolean waltz to the snap and swagger of the bolero and fandango … the three singers give virtually unalloyed pleasure’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘All four musicians make a positive contribution to this charming, entertaining disc—a surprise venture into a still under-explored area of art-song by the ever-enterprising Hyperion’ (International Record Review)

‘It's hard for any disc of Rossini's Paris salon songs not to speed by in a wink of delight. And it's impossible with Miah Persson's bright soprano and the sensitive accompaniments of Roger Vignoles’ (The Times)

‘Rossini's salon works are witty, charming, tuneful and downright silly, complete with florid vocal lines. Lovely performances’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Joyous music-making that is perfect for a summer's evening’ (Daily Mail)

‘There isn't a low point on the entire disc. Roger Vignoles plays with all his characteristic intelligence and subtlety. Miah Persson is enchanting in the opening La promessa, and playfully dazzling in La pastorella dell'Alpi. Stella Doufexis' pure, rich voice gives perfect expression to L’orpheline du Tyrol, and the two women's voices meld together magically when paired in duets such as La pesca. Meanwhile, Bruce Ford is technically brilliant and dramatically engaging in the drinking song, L'orgia, and smoothly leads the mood from light to darkness with L'esule, the first of the Péchés de vieillesse. If Rossini's songs are the cake and the performers the icing, the recording itself is the unexpected cherry on top. The acoustic of Potton Hall in Suffolk immediately transports you to the intimate space of Rossini's salon, candles flickering, guests listening intently, adding a further dimension to this already wonderful disc’ (bbc.co.uk)
Volume 1 of Péchés de vieillesse, ‘Album italiano’, contains three canzonettas grouped together as La regata veneziana which were first performed at one of Rossini’s celebrated soirées. Written in Venetian dialect for mezzo-soprano, each song has a different mood, and describes through the eyes of a young woman the regatta which Momolo, her lover, eventually wins. After his triumph he presents her with the red flag of victory, and she returns the gift with a kiss. The songs were probably written in 1858.

from notes by Richard Stokes © 2008

Le volume 1 des Péchés de vieillesse, «Album italiano», regroupe sous l’appellation La regata veneziana trois canzonettes créées lors d’une des fameuses soirées de Rossini. Écrites en dialecte vénitien, ces mélodies pour mezzo-soprano ont chacune leur propre climat, décrivant à travers les yeux d’une jeune femme la régate que Momolo, son amant, finit par remporter. Après son triomphe, ce dernier offre le drapeau rouge de la victoire à sa belle, laquelle, en retour, lui donne un baiser. Ces mélodies datent probablement de 1858.

extrait des notes rédigées par Richard Stokes © 2008
Français: Hypérion

Band 1 der Péchés de vieillesse, „Album italiano“, enthält drei Kanzonetten, die als La regata veneziana miteinander gruppiert werden, und die zuerst auf einer von Rossinis berühmten Soireen aufgeführt wurden. Sie sind in venezianischem Dialekt für Mezzo geschrieben; jedes Lied besitzt eine andere Stimmung und beschreibt durch die Augen einer jungen Frau die Regatta, die ihr Geliebter Momolo schließlich gewinnt. Nach seinem Triumph überreicht er ihr die rote Siegesflagge, und sie belohnt ihn mit einem Kuss. Die Lieder wurden wahrscheinlich 1858 geschrieben.

aus dem Begleittext von Richard Stokes © 2008
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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