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Ponchielli - La Gioconda / Fischer, Marton, Domingo, Wiener Staatsoper

Subtitle: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian

Genre: Opera

The Vienna State Opera's 1986 production of La Gioconda, Amilcare Ponchielli's only lasting success, was an increasingly rare event. The story--based on a long forgotten Victor Hugo drama--is an emotional roller coaster of high passion and self-sacrifice, but has fallen out of favor with the major international opera companies; instead, Ponchielli's contemporary Verdi and one-time pupil Puccini are today's guaranteed crowd-pullers. This is a shame. Ponchielli's score might be sumptuous to the point of occasional over-ripeness but it contains some marvelous arias, not least Enzo's "Cielo e mar." And whenever La Gioconda herself is on stage, it's hard not become enthralled by the richness of her suffering as painted by Ponchielli's lush, explosive music. Here is a woman who is given every opportunity to ensure the removal of her rival (Laura) for Enzo's affections, but who always does the decent thing, ultimately leaving herself with a stark choice between suicide and the repulsive paws of the evil Barnaba who has pursued her since Act I.

As La Gioconda, Hungarian soprano Eva Marton is utterly compelling. It's a role that places extraordinary emotional demands on the singer (Callas, not surprisingly, had a field day with it). Marton maintains total credibility. In voice, she is well matched by Placido Domingo's Enzo, who is at the virile peak of his vocal powers, rather suggesting a strength that the suggestible Enzo doesn't really possess. But perhaps the strongest aspect of Ponchielli's opera is the way in which the vocal jewels are distributed throughout the cast. Ludmilla Schemtschuk is an elegant Laura and Margarita Lilowa as La Gioconda's blind mother, La Cieca, sings an unforgettable "Voce di donna o d'angelo." And the ballet within the opera, the "Dance of the Hours," assumes its rightful place as a gleaming component of the whole work.

Recorded live at the Vienna State Opera, Placido Domingo and Eva Marton star in a sumptuous recording of Ponchielli's famed four-act melodrama, a story of tyranny and intrigue set in semi-historical and ever-romantic Venice. The action is projected by strong characters whose fundamentally sound instincts become distorted by raw passion. The performance draws upon both human and technical resources including a large ballet and varies in mood from the happy carnival to scenes of the darkest gloom and horror.

Amilcare Ponchielli’s sole operatic work La Gioconda made him a major figure in Italy. It was not just the title that made it such a success – “La Gioconda” is the Italian term for the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting that is better known to the Englishspeaking world as “Mona Lisa” – but rather its music and the poetic quality of Arrigo Boito’s score.

Amilcare Ponchielli‘s opera La Gioconda was recorded for this DVD at the Vienna State Opera in 1986 Direction and set design were by Filippo Sanjust, choreography by Gerlinde Dill and Adam Fischer conducted the choir and orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. The international stars Eva Marton und Plácido Domingo guarantee an opera experience to remember, lending the two main protagonists in the drama a powerful vocal presence on the stage. The Italian set designer and director Filippo Sanjust, (1925-1992) worked on Luchino Visconti‘s Don Carlos in 1958 in London; he also designed the sets for the world premieres of Hans Werner Henze‘s operas The Young Lord (1965) and Bassariden (1966). He made his debut as a director with a production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s Die Zauberflöte and subsequently went on to direct operas at major houses all over the world. For the most part, Sanjust showed a preference for historicist solutions or classically severe representations.

Read More: http://www.amazon.com/Ponchielli-Gioconda-Fischer-Domingo-Staatsoper/dp/B00009Q4WL

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