Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Alfredo il Grande (1823)
Alfredo, King of England – Antonino Siragusa (tenor)
Amalia, the Queen – Gilda Fiume (soprano)
Eduardo, General of the English Army – Lodovico Filippo Ravizza (baritone)
Atkins, General of the Danish Army – Adolfo Corrado (bass)
Enrichetta, an English country girl – Valeria Girardello (mezzo)
Hungarian Radio Choir
Orchestra Donizetti Opera/Corrado Rovaris
rec. live 19 & 24 November 2023, Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, Italy
Italian libretto and English translation available online
First recording
Naxos 8.660576-77 [2 CDs: 127]
Donizetti’s thirteenth opera Alfredo il Grande attempts to relate the dark ages struggles of King Alfred the Great (c. 849-899) against Danish invaders, led in the this opera by the curiously un-Danish sounding name of General Atkins. Don’t bother looking for any sort of historical detail in the rather silly libretto that Donizetti was given. Indeed in judging the worth of this opera, one must remember the unenviable position that Donizetti found himself in with this, his first commission from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Rossini had concluded his wildly successful Neapolitan career with Semiramide only a few months before. The public were anticipating more of the same from Donizetti. In the event Alfredo il Grande was politely received but not considered the hoped for success.
Donizetti’s music is tuneful throughout yet hardly memorable by his later standards. There is nothing here that rivets the listener’s attention musically, although the composer shows himself to be developing in his ability to create an atmospheric mood within his orchestration. This is definitely a step forward from his only real prior success, Zoraida di Granata written for Rome in 1822.
This new recording from Naxos suffers from the disappointingly dampened sound which often occurs in live performance releases. Many venues fall below the acoustic standards achievable in the studio although there are some venues that consistently produce superlative sounding results; the Frankfurt opera house and the Alte Oper Concert Hal spring immediately to mind. It would seem the opera house in Bergamo suffers in comparison.
The singing of the principals this recording really only reaches a level I would consider to be generally acceptable rather than revealing any singers possessed of truly stellar qualities. The best among the principals is the decidedly promising soprano of Gilda Fiume who gives a confident portrayal of Queen Amalia. Fiume shows a voice with real dramatic potential and manages to keep up her end in the agility department. Her timbre is quite reminiscent of Mariella Devia and she only needs to become a little more stylish in her delivery to meet the standards set by Devia during her heyday.
The other singer one immediately takes notice of is Adolfo Corrado who demonstrates a powerful bass presence as the villain Atkins. It must something of a disappointment to the bass that Donizetti didn’t give Atkins a solo aria in which to amplify his evil intentions. As it is Mr Corrado achieves much with little and I look forward to encountering his voice again in the future.
The long experience of Antonio Siragusa shows in the energized performance he gives in the title role. One wishes that his voice would register with more warmth and refulgence . Alfredo is a role that was written specifically for the original baritenor Andrea Nozzari, for whom Rossini created the roles of Otello and Rodrigo (La Donna del Lago). The role tends to sit mostly in the tenor’s lower register with occasional forays into the stratosphere. On those occasions Siragusa’s voice flaps wildly out of control and becomes momentarily distressing to hear; happily he spends most of the performance in more comfortable vocal territory. Ultimately he is a success as the lead mainly by sheer willpower.
Valeria Girardello sings Enrichetta’s little rondo brightly but her lower range sounds somewhat swallowed. The smaller roles here are mostly sung adequately at best.
The orchestra gives a decent account of itself for Conductor Corrado Rovaris. Mr Rovaris clearly has studied the score carefully to bring out its better moments. One such section is the nicely turned orchestral phrases in the First Act finale, which Rovaris highlights for the listener. This shows Donizetti moving along the path towards his eventual position as Italy’s star composer during the 1830s. It is unlikely that there will ever be another recording of this opera; however, there is also a DVD and Blu-ray of this performance on the market (review). It strikes me that either of those would give better value for one’s money. The production by Stefano Simone Pintor, while simple, is filled with some imaginative touches that distract one from the lack of really star quality singers.
Mike Parr
Previous review: Göran Forsling (April 2025)
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Other cast
Eduardo – Ludovico Filippo Ravizza (baritone)
Enrichetta – Valeria Girardello (mezzo)
Margherita – Floriana Cicio (soprano)
Guglielmo – Antonio Garès (tenor)
Rivers – Andrés Agudelo (tenor)
