Cecilia Bartoli, Orchestra La Scintilla - Maria (2008)

Bartoli's evident, and infectious, enthusiasm and delight in studying the career of Maria Malibran is sketched in Michael Sturminger's documentary, in whichwe follow her to many of the theatres and streets associated with the diva beloved of the Romantic imagination. In libraries and museums we are able to view some of the scores used by Malibran in her brief and stormy progress through the capitals of Europe. From the opening shots of a gondola in Venice passing through the Rio Malibran, to the final glimpse of her tomb in Brussels, one gets some idea of the impact she made on audiences in the 1820s and '30s.
Bartoli's concert, in the spectacular surroundings of Barcelona's Palau de la Música Catalana, includes many of the same arias that were on her CD 'Maria' (see above). With the encouragement of a wildly enthusiastic audience, she surpasses those performances, and in two Rossini items, the Willow Song from Otello and the final Rondo from La Cenerentola (neither on the CD), one feels that she is indeed invoking the shade of Manuel García's daughter. 'Nacqui' all'affano' benefits from Bartoli's study of Malibran's own variations for Cenerentola. As for the final encore, 'Yo que soy contrabandista' from García's opera El poeta calculista, in which Bartoli is accompanied by guitar, castanets, and 'clappers', it has to be heard and seen to be appreciated: serious fun. (Gramophone)

Cast:
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano
Orchestra La Scintilla
Leader: Ada Perch

Track:
DVD1
Manuel García: E non lo vedo… Son regina (La figlia dell’aria)
Giuseppe Persiani: Cari giorni (Ines de Castro)
Felix Mendelssohn: Infelice
Gioachino Rossini: Naqui all’affanno (La Cenerentola)
Gioachino Rossini: Assisa al piè d’un salice … Deh, calma (Otello)
Michael William Balfe: Yon moon o’er the mountains (The Maid of Artois)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Air à la tirolienne avec variations
Vincenzo Bellini: Ah! non credea mirarti … Ah! non giunge(La sonnambula)
Maria Malibran: Oh dolce incanto (for Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore)
Maria Malibran: Rataplan
Manuel García: Yo que soy contrabandista (El poeta calculista)
DVD2
"Malibran Rediscovered - The Romantic Revolution" a film by Michael Sturminger