R E V I E W S

NEW YEAR’S CONCERT 2006 FROM THE TEATRO LA FENICE • Kurt Masur, cond; Teatro La Fenice O & Ch; Fiorenza Cedolins (sop); Joseph Calleja (ten); Roberto Scandiuzzi (bs) • TDK DVWW-CONYC6V (55: 00)

VERDI La forza del destino: Overture. I Lombardi: O Signore dal tetto natio; La mia letizia infondere. Nabucco: Va pensiero. La traviata: Libiamo ne’ lieti calici. PUCCINI Tosca: Vissi d’arte. MOZART The Marriage of Figaro: Overture. Don Giovanni: Là ci darem la mano. DONIZETTI Don Pasquale: Sinfonia. L’elisir d’amore: Una furtiva lagrima

Instead of peppering the headnotes with superscript numbers, let’s just describe who is doing what in this New Year’s Day Gala from Venice. The excellent chorus, notes memorized and eyes fixed on the conductor, shines in “O Signore” and “Va pensiero,” and for a grand finale joins soprano Fiorenza Cedolins and tenor Joseph Calleja in the excerpt from act I of La traviata. Cedolins is affectingly tragic in “Vissi d’arte” and charmingly girlish in the duet, “Là ci darem la mano,” interacting with a suitably seductive Roberto Scandiuzzi. Rising star Calleja is in splendid voice for two solo numbers, “La mia letizia” and “Una furtiva lagrima.” Kurt Masur and the house orchestra support all of these numbers splendidly, and distinguish themselves in three orchestral numbers—the overtures to La forza del destino, Le nozze di Figaro, and Don Pasquale.

There are no texts—an endemic fault with DVDs—but at least there is a handsome booklet with, among other things, useful descriptions of the less familiar numbers. Biographies of the artists are also interesting, but it is puzzling to see only two sentences about Fiorenza Cedolins. She has enjoyed a major international career for 10 years, including appearances in Philadelphia, New York, London, Paris, Rome, Milan, and Tokyo. She is certainly impressive on this DVD, tempting me to investigate her complete Tosca, a controversial recording mainly defended by fans of Andrea Bocelli, and mainly denounced by guardians of the grand verismo tradition, such as Bob Rose in Fanfare 27:1.

Eleanor Abbagnato and Roberto Bolle dance stylishly for a few seconds while the front titles roll and for a few seconds more in the finale, but their elegant presence is too brief to make an impact on the overall production. A cameo appearance in a high balcony of the traditional Venetian Arlechinno has at least the virtue of being brief. The main visual treats are the elegant interior of the recently rebuilt Teatro La Fenice itself, and the mostly Italian audience and musicians, turned out with the stylish beauty in which they excel. Italian Television and TDK deliver brilliantly festive colors, and the sound is rich and natural in any of the three available modes. I slightly prefer the Dolby Digital 5.1 for its clarity. Highly recommended.

FANFARE: Robert McColley