This month, Dynamic release the world premiere recording on CD of Umberto Giordano’s Marcella. This very rarely performed opera was staged again only recently as the original score was partly destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II. Thankfully the score was restored and was performed last year by The Martina Franca – Valle D’Itria Festival to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first performance (1907, Teatro alla Scala ). The opera is divided into three parts and features the classical theme of the prince and the pauper. Marcella is a delicate and feminine character who shows great courage in giving up to a dream like love relationship rather than making a compromise. The music is refined and full of shadings and echoes that are reminiscent of La Bohème and La Traviata. Umberto Giordano is one of the most important members of the Italian school of Verismo which flourished at the beginning of the nineteenth century and involved all art forms. The libretto clearly evokes the hard female condition within a society that used to favour men.

Artists

Serena Daolio (Marcella), Danilo Formaggia (Giorgio), Pierluigi Dilengite (Drasco), Natalizia Carone (Clara), Angelica Girardi (Raimonda), Mara D’Antini (Eliana), Maria Rosa Rondinelli (Lea), Marcello Rosiello (Vernier), Giovanni Coletta (Barthelmy), Graziano De Pace (Flament), Director: Alessio Pizzech

Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia & Bratislava Chamber Choir, Manlio Benzi