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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rare Gluck again!, 9 Jun 2008
It is only about six months since there appeared a live recording of this early opera of Gluck, probably the first time it had been performed since the 18th century. Now, incredibly, another recording is issued of the same opera. It is, however, a substantially different work.
The first version of 'Ezio' was given at Prague in 1750. Thirteen years later Gluck revised it for a performance at Vienna, though why he should have chosen this one of his earlier operas to revive is uncertain, since it still belongs to the opera seria genre which he had begun to leave behind in his seminal work 'Orfeo ed Euridice' given a year before the Vienna 'Ezio.' He was working with some fine singers, including Gaetano Guadagni, the first Orfeo, and adapted the existing work especially for them. He had a larger and more varied orchestra available than in Prague and did tighten the rather leisurely original by shortening arias, omitting some and including items from other operas. The revised opera in this recording plays for 2 hours and 20 minutes as against the three hours plus of the previous set.
The new cast and orchestra of the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival are just as accomplished as those on the earlier recording and include a truly outstanding counter-tenor, the Argentinian Franco Fagioli, in the title role. Just try his virtuoso account of Ezio's aria at the beginning of Act 3, 'Se il fulmine sospendi,' as an example of his quality. One would hardly credit this to be a falsetto voice (maybe it isn't?): he certainly eclipses the two pallid falsettists on the earlier recording (here the castrato role of the emperor Valentiniano is taken by a female mezzo-soprano). Kirsten Blaise is impressive in the prima donna role, though not as sterlingly dramatic as Mariselle Martinez, still less Cecilia Bartoli in Fulvia's Act 3 aria, one of the high points of the score. The soprano Netta Or, who appeared in the earlier recording in the seconda donna role of Onoria, now takes on the minor role of Varo, formerly a tenor part. The disposition of voices is, therefore, rather different this time: instead of two sopranos, two counter-tenors and two tenors we now have four female voices and two male.
18th century heroic opera is a remote world to modern taste, but if one can suspend disbelief and enter into the situations of stylised romantic imbroglio and empathise with the characters it can be just as humanly moving as other forms of opera. The revised 'Ezio' perhaps makes it easier for us than the original version. If you do not already have the earlier recording and want to try this opera the new version is the one to go for.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting discovery!, 13 Mar 2009
Gluck is best remembered for his 'reform' operas but he also wrote more conventional opera seria in the earlier part of his career and this 2nd version of 'Ezio' is surely as good an example as any to appear on CD. The libretto is based on an original by the great Metastasio and I must admit that perhaps for the first time I could see why he was so revered; this is a wonderfully dramatic tale with some excellent dialogue and tense scenes. The really heroic role is that of Fulvia who starts out a conventional wilting violet heroine but midway through Act 2 finally shows her mettle and becomes a truly admirable character. At the other end of the scale, neither the Emperor nor the cowardly Massimo emerge with much credit - they are scoundrels both!
Gluck apparently cut much of the Prague original for this Vienna version of 'Ezio' and this does result in some odd pacing of the drama (eg Ezio's death is announced literally seconds after he leaves the stage). The arias are generally very enjoyable if not much different from other examples of the genre from the same period but the cast is very good indeed. I particularly enjoyed Kirsten Blaise as Fulvia, warm but also dramatic where required. Franco Fagioli really lets fly in his virtuoso third act aria. Both Sophie Marin Degor and Netta Or also have fiendish coloratura to negotiate and both do so admirably. Ruth Sandhoff makes much of the unpleasant Emperor and whilst I am not overly fond of Stefano Ferrari's tenor, one could argue that it is not inappropriate for the scheming Massimo.
I really enjoyed this and will certainly be looking out for more unusual Gluck!
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~ Max Emanuel Cencic
~ Jordi Domènech
~ Luc Coadou
~ Georg Friederich Handel
