Gaspare SPONTINI (1774-1851)
Le Metamorfosi di Pasquale, Farsa giocosa per musica (1802)
Pasquale – Baurzhan Anderzhanov (Bass-Baritone); Barone - Carlo Feola (Bass-Baritone); Costanza – Michela Antenucci (Soprano); Il Cavaliere / Un sergente – Daniele Adriani (Tenor); Lisetta – Carolina Lippo (Soprano): Il Marchese – Antonio Garés (Tenor); Frontino – Davide Bartolucci (Baritone)
Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini/Giuseppe Montesano
rec. 2018, Teatro G.B. Pergolesi, Jesi, Italy
Italian text, English translation included.
DYNAMIC CDS7836.02 [48:43 + 35:49]
Gaspare Spontini is chiefly remembered as the favoured composer of Emperor Napoleon I, as he was then referred to. His grandiose operas La Vestale (1807), Fernand Cortez (1809), and Olympie (1819) became the foundations of French Grand opera style throughout the 19th century. What we have on offer here is Spontini’s last work for the Italian stage before he departed for France and eventually becoming the most acclaimed composer of the Napoleonic era. The Transformation of Pasquale, to use the English title, is described as a “playful farce with music.” This type of description usually indicates that the musical side of things will take a back seat to the elements of farce. Premiered in Venice in 1802 it was considered lost and forgotten until 2016, when the composer’s manuscript scores for this and two other early comic works were discovered gathering dust in the library of Ursel Castle near Antwerp.
The story concerns a man who has fallen asleep, while his family plot an elaborate joke to be played on him when he wakes up. It is very similar to the plot of Joseph Haydn’s Il Mondo della luna.
Like many farces the music is fairly insubstantial and offers as much recitative as it does concerted music. According to the notes in the accompanying booklet the same Overture was likely reused in all three works that were recovered from the castle library. I could not see any reason for doing this as it struck me as a rather ordinary sounding piece of composition. On hearing the rest of the farce my impression remained pretty much the same. The most impressive number in the score is an ensemble ‘Ahi la testa’ (CD #1, track 11). The score in general has some nice writing for the orchestra’s woodwind section. This was the only sign that I could detect of the style and skills of the more mature Parisian Spontini.
In this performance we are treated to a group of young singers who were recorded in the small opera house in Jesi which seats just over 700. There is no doubt this theater is the ideal size for a work such as this. I do find that the recording of the voices seems a trifle too close for comfort. This makes some of the singers sound more unvaried and shrill than they might have to those who were present in the theater; the two sopranos are a case in point.
The title role of Pasquale is sung by the really warm, mellifluous bass voice of Baurzhan Anderzhanov. Antonio Garés who sings the tenor role of the Marchese has a light sound with a hint of flicker in his tone. He gets the most substantial aria in the score. Davide Bartolucci as Frontino has a baritone voice that is very reminiscent of the late Enzo Dara.
The Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini has a string section that sounds rather undernourished based on what I encountered here. The woodwind section makes a rather lovely contribution to the evening. Conductor Giuseppe Montesanto seems challenged to enliven the slim musical material he has to work with.
The recording is afflicted to a large degree with unwanted stage noises. Dynamic has done a nice job with the booklet: it is well produced accompanied by photos of the production and two essays on the recovery of the three early Spontini works. There is also a full Italian libretto with translation in English only.
This is an issue that will be of interest mainly to Spontini completists and music scholars.
Mike Parr
