Wolf-ferrari: Susanna's Secret, Etc.

Album cover art for upc 822252219326
Label: AVIE
Catalog: AV2193
Format: CD

Dora Rodrigues, soprano; Marc Canturri, baritone; Vasily Petrenko, conductor; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with the European Opera Centre

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876 - 1948)
Il Segreto di Susanna (Susanna's Secret) - opera in one act / Serenata - Cinque canti per Baritono

Vasily Petrenko and the RLPO first collaborated with the Liverpool-based European Opera Centre on a Russian double-bill of Shostakovich's The Gamblers and Rothschild's Violin by Fleishman. The resulting 2-CD set on Avie garnered a Gramophone Editor's Choice and contributed to Petrenko's winning the Young Artist of the Year accolade at the 2007 Gramophone Awards. The team reunites for a rare, live recording of Wolf-Ferrari's humorous one-act opera, Susanna's Secret. Wolf-Ferrari's neo-classical score is as seductive as the Edwardian plot in which the new wife of a jealous Count attempts to hide her smoking habit. When he catches her, their improbable reconciliation results in a rather different sort of smouldering. The young singers of the EOC throw themselves into their roles with appropriate passion. The recording is uniquely rounded out with Wolf-Ferrari's Serenata, five songs extracted from his seldom-heard Italian Songbook.

critical acclaim
"this addictive entertainment was as much a showcase for Vasily Petrenko and the Liverpool, Phil as it was for Canturri's incisive, handsome baritone and Rodrigues's smooth, well-focused soprano" - The Independent on Sunday, on the live performance of Susanna's Secret in Liverpool
"a pair of genuine rarities in charismatic performances ... Strongly recommended." - Gramophone, Editor's Choice (on The Gamblers and Rothschild's Violin, AV 2121)

Price: $25.98
In stock
ships in 3 to 5 days