Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari  (1876-1948)
Il segreto di Susanna (1909)
Countess Susanna – Lidia Fridman (soprano)
Count Gil – Omar Montanari (baritone)
Sante – Guido Lamprecht (silent role)
Orchestra of the Berlin Opera Group/Felix Krieger
rec. live, June 2022, Grosser Haus Konzerthaus, Berlin
Synopsis in German and English
Oehms Classics OC992 (46)

I see from Wolf-Ferrari’s Wikpedia page that he composed no fewer than fifteen operas, though they have been rarely performed, and only one of them, Il segreto di Susanna, has been recorded with any frequency. Indeed, this live performance is one of five recordings at present listed on the Presto website, whilst a sixth, and perhaps most famous recording, featuring Renata Scotto and Renato Bruson under Sir John Pritchard, is no longer available. 

The plot is slight and concerns the Count Gil, who suspects his wife, the Countess Susanna of having an affair, when in fact she is simply a secret smoker. All ends happily when he finally discovers the truth, and he joins his wife in enjoying a cigarette. I suppose you would say that it is not particularly politically correct these days, but it is harmless enough and the music is enjoyably tuneful, in fact in places gloriously, swirlingly lyrical and romantic. I enjoyed it immensely.

The present performance, which credits even the silent character of the servant, Sante, evidently stems from a live performance in June 2022, and there is occasional stage noise and laughter from the audience, who are otherwise remarkably well-behaved. The sound is excellent, and Felix Krieger sets the scene brilliantly with the beautifully played short Sinfonia. The first voice we hear is that of the baritone, Omar Montanari. He has a nice, lyrical instrument and characterises well as the Count, who vacillates between suspicion and devotion to his young wife. She is played by Lidia Fridman, a Russian soprano active in Italy, with an attractive, soft-grained voice. Between them, under Krieger’s expert baton, they present a nicely paced and vividly characterised performance of the piece. 

However, curiosity led me to stream a 1976 Decca recording under Lamberto Gardelli, featuring Bernd Weikl and Maria Chiara as the Count and Countess, which is available as a download, and which turns out to be more vivid still. I then turned to a Scotto recital I have, which included a couple of excerpts from the Pritchard set on Sony, which were even better, and would suggest that it is definitely due a re-issue.

In its absence, if you want the opera on CD, then the present issue will do very nicely. Unfortunately, as is the general practice these days, no libretto is included, though we do get a brief synopsis of the plot. 

Philip Tsaras

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