{"product_id":"bastianini-donizetti-la-favorita-stereo-1955-paco200","title":"BASTIANINI Donizetti - La Favorita (stereo, 1955) - PACO200","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eDONIZETTI \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eLa Favorita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eStereo studio recording, 1955\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration:  2hr 09:10\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eGianni Poggi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e - Fernando\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eGiulietta Simionato \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e- Leonora\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eEttore Bastianini\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e - Alfonso\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eJerome Hines\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e - Baldassare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003ePiero de Palma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e - Don Gasparo\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eBice Magnani \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e- Ines\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eMaggio Musicale Fiorentino Chorus \u0026amp; Orchestra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econducted by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eAlberto Erede\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PACO200.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp style=\"margin-left: 25px;\"\u003e“At the age of 116 years \u003ci\u003eLa Favorita\u003c\/i\u003e is not quite the favourite she was, dear creaky old soul! Verdi did it so much better, this sort of thing: and in 1840 Verdi was just round the corner, even if he did not pull off a basso-cum-trombone scene as exciting as this one where Baldassare denounces the king until the abbot’s “ II santo speco ” in \u003ci\u003eLa Forza\u003c\/i\u003e. Nevertheless the opera, for all its tedious passages and routines, has some very fine pages and it remains a noble vehicle for a certain kind of Italian mezzo soprano: or a highly dramatic and potent soprano of the fruitier sort. It used to be done waggishly on Derby Night at Covent Garden, but is now a rarity. The last time I heard it was out doors in the Verona amphitheatre, with majestic Stignani standing in the cross fire of two searchlights, smacking the Veronese midges dead on her splendid arms as she sang!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis recording is technically expert enough, if a little dry in patches. But the performance is the sort you would expect in present day Italian opera; i.e., good orchestral playing (all those cornets in thirds!), conciliatory conducting (from Erede), a weak and slightly lazy chorus and some energetic star vocalisation…” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"margin-left: 25px;\"\u003e– \u003cb\u003eP. H.-W.\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Gramophone\u003c\/i\u003e, March 1956\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDonizetti’s \u003ci\u003eLa Favorita\u003c\/i\u003e or, in its original French productions, \u003ci\u003eLa favorite\u003c\/i\u003e, is a grand opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play \u003ci\u003eLe comte de Comminges\u003c\/i\u003e by Baculard d'Arnaud with additions by Eugène Scribe based on the story of Leonora de Guzman. The opera concerns the romantic struggles of the King of Castile, Alfonso XI, and his mistress, the \"favourite\" Leonora, in a love triangle with a young ex-novice monk, Fernando - against the backdrop of the political wiles of receding Moorish Spain and the life of the Catholic Church in 1340. It premiered on 2 December 1840 at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris and was first performed in Italian in Padua in 1842, remaining in the operatic repertoire of both countries for many years, its popularity gradually fading as the operas first of Verdi and later Puccini grew in stature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn its full form the opera is lengthy – a recent revival at the Bordeaux Opera, which included the full ballet music, ran to some three and a half hours. It is not surprising, therefore, to find this 1950s Decca recorded version heavily cut, running to a little under two hours and ten minutes, and arguably somewhat the better for it. A later Decca production, made in 1974 with Pavarotti in the role of Fernando, included a very small amount of extra music, as well as twenty minutes of ballet, but with a faster-paced delivery still came out a good hour or so less than the complete opera normally requires.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe are lucky that this Decca production was recorded on location in Italy in both stereo and mono. In a practise begun the previous summer with the recording of Verdi’s \u003ci\u003eOtello \u003c\/i\u003eat Santa Cecilia in Rome, the record company sent two production teams to produce two separate recordings from the same sessions, one for the then-current mono vinyl releases, the other for the anticipated arrival of stereo reproduction – a revolution their rivals at EMI, at the behest of Walter Legge, would stubbornly refuse to contemplate through many immortal recordings made at this time, which are sadly only available in mono. Decca had started recording in both formats in England in 1954 and would continue to employ two teams in this way until the early 1960s, when the mono-only version was quietly shelved, for most of their recording sessions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe original Decca sound recordings used for this XR restoration were of course, given their reputation for technical excellence, very well made for the era. This new Pristine release builds on that superb Decca sound by bringing a more rounded acoustic with extra body and presence to the production. If voices sometimes sounded a little thin and dry in the original they now spring to life, to often beautiful effect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAndrew Rose\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 24px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eDONIZETTI \u003c\/b\u003eLa Favorita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003edisc one \u003c\/b\u003e(58:39)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Sinfonia  (5:32)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACT ONE\u003cbr\u003e2. Bell'alba foriera  (2:21)\u003cbr\u003e3. Quella preghiera non odi tu?  (1:34)\u003cbr\u003e4. Parla figlio ... Una vergine un'angel di Dio  (2:19)\u003cbr\u003e5. E fia ver? Son desto o vaneggio?  (4:27)\u003cbr\u003e6. Bei raggi lucenti, bell'aure beate!  (3:26)\u003cbr\u003e7. Silenzio! Silenzio!  (2:27)\u003cbr\u003e8. Messaggera gentile, ninfa discreta  (1:56)\u003cbr\u003e9. Ah, mio bene!  (3:41)\u003cbr\u003e10. Fia vero? Lasciarti!  (4:15)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACT TWO\u003cbr\u003e11. Preludio ... Giardini d Alcazar  (4:21)\u003cbr\u003e12. Vieni, amor! A piedi tuoi  (2:58)\u003cbr\u003e13. De'nemici tuoi lo sdegno  (1:13)\u003cbr\u003e14. Tutta la mia corte per la festa previen!  (2:43)\u003cbr\u003e15. In questo suol a lusingar tua cura  (4:26)\u003cbr\u003e16. Ah Sire! ... Che mai fu?  (3:42)\u003cbr\u003e17. Ah, paventa il furor  (2:58)\u003cbr\u003e18. Voi tutti che m'udite  (4:20)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003edisc two\u003c\/b\u003e (70:31)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACT THREE\u003cbr\u003e1. A lei son presso alfine!  (4:52)\u003cbr\u003e2. Leonora, ei del suo cor la brama  (1:23)\u003cbr\u003e3. A tanto amor, Leonora, il tuo risponda  (2:35)\u003cbr\u003e4. Fia dunque vero?  (1:16)\u003cbr\u003e5. O mio Fernando, della terra il trono  (3:49)\u003cbr\u003e6. Scritto in cielo è il mio dolor  (1:50)\u003cbr\u003e7. Di già  vella cappella  (4:54)\u003cbr\u003e8. O viltade, obbrobrio insano!  (2:42)\u003cbr\u003e9. Per me del ciel si dispiega il favor  (3:36)\u003cbr\u003e10. Sire, io ti deggio ... O ciel! Di quell'alma  (4:14)\u003cbr\u003e11. Orsù, Fernando, ascolta!  (2:55)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eACT FOUR\u003cbr\u003e12. Preludio ... Fratelli! Fratelli andiam  (7:39)\u003cbr\u003e13. Figlio diletto, ascolta!  (2:38)\u003cbr\u003e14. Favorita del re!  (1:09)\u003cbr\u003e15. Spirto gentil, de'sogni miei  (3:29)\u003cbr\u003e16. Figlio, deh, vien!  (1:47)\u003cbr\u003e17. Fernando, Fernando! Dove mai lo troverò?  (4:38)\u003cbr\u003e18. Fuggiam da queste soglie!  (5:14)\u003cbr\u003e19. Pietoso al par del Nume  (3:01)\u003cbr\u003e20. Addio! Fuggir mi lascia!  (2:01)\u003cbr\u003e21. Vieni, ah vien! Io m'abbandono alla gioia  (4:48)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCAST\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGianni Poggi \u003c\/b\u003e(tenor) - Fernando\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGiulietta Simionato \u003c\/b\u003e(mezzo-soprano) - Leonora\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEttore Bastianini\u003c\/b\u003e (baritone) - King Alfonso\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJerome Hines\u003c\/b\u003e (bass) - Baldassare\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePiero de Palma\u003c\/b\u003e (tenor) - Don Gasparo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBice Magnani \u003c\/b\u003e(soprano) - Ines\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMaggio Musicale Fiorentino Chorus \u0026amp; Orchestra\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003econducted by \u003cb\u003eAlberto Erede\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginal libretto by Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz \u0026amp; Eugène Scribe\u003cbr\u003ePerformed in Italian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRecorded at Teatro Pergola, Florence, 20-31 August 1955\u003cbr\u003eStereo producer: Peter Andry\u003cbr\u003eStereo engineer: James Brown\u003cbr\u003eFirst issued as Decca mono LPs LXT.5146-48, February 1956\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmbient Stereo XR remastering by Andrew Rose\u003cbr\u003eFront cover artwork: Ettore Bastianini\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTotal duration:  2hr 09:10\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover Art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcover_art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/thumbs\/PACO200.jpg578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/PACO200.pdf578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f","brand":"Pristine Classical","offers":[{"title":"Stereo 24-bit FLAC","offer_id":44064699973722,"sku":"hro1789303632005","price":24.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Stereo 16-bit FLAC","offer_id":44064700006490,"sku":"wnu1789303632006","price":15.32,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"320kbps Stereo MP3","offer_id":44064700039258,"sku":"hih1789303632007","price":12.74,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0726\/3807\/0874\/files\/bastianini-donizetti---la-favorita-stereo-1955---paco200_1.jpg?v=1789303639","url":"https:\/\/vestorawear.shop\/products\/bastianini-donizetti-la-favorita-stereo-1955-paco200","provider":"My Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}