Richard Hickox, Spoleto Festival Orchestra - Gian Carlo Menotti: The Saint of Bleecker Street (2002)
Richard Hickox, Spoleto Festival Orchestra - Gian Carlo Menotti: The Saint of Bleecker Street (2002)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 526 Mb | Total time: 51:20+73:32 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 9971 | Recorded: 2001
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 526 Mb | Total time: 51:20+73:32 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Chandos | # CHAN 9971 | Recorded: 2001
The profane and the profound, the lurid and the saintly, rub elbows in Menotti's operas. In The Saint of Bleecker Street, religious faith and disbelief are interwoven with drunken outbursts, taunts, and a stabbing. It's as if Puccini's Suor Angelica and Il Tabarro had been crossed with Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. The plot concerns the fragile Annina, a girl revered in New York's Little Italy because of her supposed ability to heal the sick. She hears voices, sees visions, and receives the stigmata as she vicariously relives the Passion of Jesus Christ. Her obsessively devoted brother Michele rejects these phenomena, believing them simply to be mumbo-jumbo imagined or thrust upon her by others. He denies her one surpassing wish, which is to take the veil. When Michele's mistress Desideria, provoked by his unwillingness to make an emotional commitment to her, accuses him of really being in love with his sister, the enraged Michele (the truth hurts, doesn't it?) stabs Desideria in the back. Michele, now a fugitive from the law, sneaks back to his cold-water flat to find his sister, dying, about to take the veil. Annina, seemingly oblivious to her brother's presence, collapses – dead – and the priest Don Marco places the ring on her finger, eternally uniting her in marriage to Christ.
Like several of his earlier operas, Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street premièred on Broadway; the year was 1954. Revivals at the New York City Opera and at the Festival of Two Worlds confirmed its viability as an opera. Shortly after its première, it received an "original cast recording" from RCA Victor; Gabrielle Ruggiero, David Poleri, and Gloria Lane took the lead roles, and Thomas Schippers was the conductor. This monaural recording was slightly cut. I don't believe The Saint of Bleecker Street has been recorded again until now.
This new recording is taken from live performances in Spoleto, Italy. As a live recording, it has more dramatic impact than the sometimes studio-bound RCA recording, and it obviously boasts better sound. Hickox is a surprisingly sympathetic advocate for Menotti (he has three other Menotti CDs to his credit, including The Consul), although Schippers is even more dedicated and understanding. Both conductors benefit not from star-power but from a strong vocal ensemble. (This opera has a large cast, and Menotti allows himself many colorful episodes to offset the drama.) Melinek, not always pure of tone, is a convincing Annina, but it is Timothy Richards as her brother Michele who really impresses. His is a violent, haunted portrayal, and excellently sung. Pamela Helen Stephen (Hickox's wife) also pours it on as Desideria; part Santuzza, part Carmen, Stephen makes the most of her puzzling, equivocal role. John Marcus Bindel's steady Don Marco also deserves to be singled out. Overall, the RCA Victor cast has better voices, but the Chandos cast uses their voices more effectively.– Raymond Tuttle
Performer:
Annina - Julia Melinek (soprano)
Michele - Timothy Richards (tenor)
Desideria - Pamela Helen Stephen (mezzo-soprano)
Don Marco - John Marcus Brindle (bass-baritone)
Carmela - Sandra Zeltzer (soprano)
Assunta - Yvonne Howard (mezzo-soprano)
Salvatore - Vitali Rozynko (baritone)
Spoleto Festival Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor - Richard Hickox
Tracklist:
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)
The Saint of Bleecker Street
CD1:
01. Act I. Scene 1. Introduction - Rosa Mystica
02. Well…I'm tired of waiting!
03. The vision has begun
04. Ah, sweet Jesus, spare me this agony
05. Look! The stigmata!
06. Stop it!
07. Ah, poor Michele, it is not I your rival
08. Interlude
09. Scene 2. Canta ninna, canta nanna al mio bambino
10. Annina, I've something to confess to you
11. Annina, Annina!
12. Michele, Michele!
13. Sister, I shall hide you and take you away
14. Veglia su di noi, Santo del Sangue
CD2:
01. Act II. Introduction - Hai l'occhio nero, nero della quaglia
02. Where is Michele?
03. Eh già giovinotti voglion stare attorno a te
04. Ah, Michele, don't you know that love can turn to hate
05. You will regret it
06. I know that you all hate me
07. You are wrong, Michele
08. Yes, Michele, go home, go, go…
09. Act III. Scene 1. Introduction - Stop worrying, Annina
10. There she is
11. Weeping, these, for him, are days of weeping
12. Scene 2. Interlude
13. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi
14. Annina, Annina, prepare yourself for a great joy
15. Oh, my Love, at last the hour has come
16. Maria, Salvatore!
17. Gloria tibi Domine in saeculum et in saeculum saeculi
18. Annina, Annina!
Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
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Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 21. March 2019, 1:43
Spoleto Festival Choir & Orchestra, Richard Hickox / Menotti - The Saint of Bleecker Street - CD2
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Richard Hickox, Spoleto Festival Orchestra - Gian Carlo Menotti: The Saint of Bleecker Street (2002)
Thanks to the original releaser