Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Zoraida di Granata (1822, revised 1824)
Almuzir – Konu Kim (tenor)
Zoraida – Zuzana Marková (soprano)
Abenamet – Cecilia Molinari (mezzo)
Almanzor – Tuty Hernàndez (bass)
Ines – Lilla Takács (soprano)
Ali – Valerio Morelli (bass-baritone)
Coro dell’ Accademia Teatro alla Scala
Orchestra Gli Originali/Salvo Sgrò
rec. live 16 November 2024, Teatro Sociale, Bergamo, Italy
Includes booklet with notes in English
Dynamic 58068 Blu-ray [194]
Not long after I reviewed the CD premiere of Donizetti’s thirteenth opera, Alfredo il Grande (review), I now have the opportunity to review the opera which most unusually is both Donizetti’s twelfth and fourteenth opera. That is because after a successful successful premiere of Zoraida (my abbreviation of the full title) for Rome in 1822 the composer would go on in 1824 to create an almost entirely new opera . Shortly before the first opening night the tenor who was singing the role of the hero Abenamet (one Amerigo Sbigli) burst a blood vessel in his neck while singing and died shortly thereafter (the account of his death was described in the diaries of the composer Giovanni Pacini). Donizetti hurriedly had to rescore the role for a mezzo in time for the first premiere, which involved eliminating some concerted numbers from the score. The opera was a huge success in spite of these circumstances and in 1824 Donizetti reworked much of the score and wrote several entirely new scenes which made the 1824 version an almost completely new opera. That premiere, also in Rome, was another success and in fact Zoraida was the first major success of Donizetti’s long career.
This Blu-ray derives from a shared production between the Wexford Festival and the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo. The Wexford performances in 2023 were of the original tenor version while the Bergamo performances used the same production to stage the 1824 mezzo version.
Bruno Ravella’s clear and logical staging manages to survive the updating of the period from 12th Century Granada to more recent events. Gary McCann’s beautiful and functional setting is based on the Islamic revival architecture of the National University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moving the action to that war torn region makes the bitter conflict of the long distant Abencerrages bloodbath in medieval Spain more engrossing and less picturesque than a historically correct design could manage to do.
Konu Kim repeats his performance of the villain Almuzir from the Wexford run and echoes the same achievement of the role’s creator, the illustrious Domenico Donzelli, who, until Kim came along, was the only tenor in history to sing in both versions of the opera. Kim is a highly developed artist who sings with real attention to dynamics. Given Kim’s acting abilities this is no mere cardboard villain. This is a most impressive performance.
Czech coloratura soprano Zuzana Marková is a very beautiful woman who has an assured stage presence. In her hands Zoraida is no wilting violet type of heroine. She sings her music with style and dramatic conviction. Her voice, while possessing a certain warmth and clarity in the lower and middle ranges, sounds insufficiently supported in the upper region. While one could wish for more limpid singing, Marková is a more than adequate heroine.
Cecilia Molinari makes a striking contribution as Abenamet. Her solid vocal technique and engaging stage presence are an asset here. She tosses off her first aria with aplomb and self-possession, and she is quite splendid in her confrontation scene with Almuzir.
In the smaller role of Ali there is a very promising contribution from bass Valerio Morelli, who sounds as if he might have greater things in store for the stage in the years to come.
Salvo Sgrò leads the period orchestra in an elegant reading of Donizetti’s score which in the more dramatic pages, achieves a certain level of thrust and excitement. The sound and picture of this Blu-ray is of a consistently high quality. While Zoraida di Granata isn’t exactly the finest of Donizetti’s scores there is enough of musical interest here to deserve the occasional revival. In general the Old Opera Rara recording (review) still comes out with top honours for the quality of the singers; this is a worthy addition to the video library of Donizetti’s less familiar operas.
Mike Parr
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Production details
Bruno Ravella – Staging
Gary Mccann – Sets and Costumes
Daniele Naldi – Lighting
Salvo Sgrò – Chorus master
Video details
Region code – 0 (worldwide)
Picture format: HD 16:9
Sound format DTS Master Audio 5.1/ PCM stereo 2.0
Sung in Italian; subtitles in Italian, French, English, German, Korean, Japanese
