Wolf-Ferrari - Die neugierigen Frauen (Le Donne Curiose)

Ermanno WOLF-FERRARI (1876-1948)

Die neugierigen Frauen (Le Donne Curiose)

Jürgen Linn (bass), Peter Schöne (baritone), Jörg Schörner (tenor), Theodor Weimer (tenor), Moon Yung Oh (tenor), Andreas Weller (tenor), Christof Hartkopf (bass), Matthias Ettmayr (bass), Bernhard Schneider (tenor), Kay Stiefermann (baritone), Hans Christoph Begemann (bass), Kathrin Göring (mezzo-soprano), Agnete Munk Rasmussen (soprano), Violetta Radomirska (soprano), Viktorija Kaminskaite (soprano), Leonhard Auenhammer (bass), Manuel Adt (bass), Werner Rosenmüller (bass)

Münchner Rundfunkorchester

Madrigalchor der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München 

Ulf Schirmer

Recorded: 9 October 2011

Recording Venue: Live recording, Prinzregententheater, 

Munchen, Germany

Schirmer's conducting is impeccably stylish. The vocal honours belong to Violetta Radormirska's imperious Eleonora and Peter Schone's maddeningly obtuse Lelio...Agnete Rasmussen and Andreas Weller, as the Nannetta-and-Fenton-ish young lovers, Rosaura and Florindo, have great charm, while Hans Christian Begemann's Arlecchino sounds as raffish and sexy as one could wish.

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Le Donne Curiose premiered in Munich in 1903, numbered among the greatest and earliest successes of the German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. Based on a comedy by Carlo Goldoni, this merry opera tells the story of the inquisitive wives who investigate the mysterious behaviour of their husbands and discover little more than their love of food! Typical figures of the Italian comedy appear in the score, here beautifully performed and recorded under the baton of Ulf Schirmer.

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" The simple plot offers plenty of comedy, discussion, and light suspense The performance by this very large cast of unkowns [to me) is wonderful. Most of the singers sound young and enthusiastic. All seem to understand the conversational style, and the sopranos are up to the occasional brilliancies that come thri way. The orchestra is just as good, and conductor Schirmer keeps thing moving, lively, and exciting when necessary

Roger Haskins