[mascagni-interest] Discography updates

[Erik Bruchez]

Dear list,

I forgot to mention a few recent discography updates:

1. Placido Domingo's latest album, "Sacred Songs", prominently
   features on its first track Mascagni's Ave Maria based on the
   Intermezzo of Cavalleria Rusticana. Domingo already recorded this
   piece live at least once in 1992, but this is a completely new
   version recorded in studio in February of last year. The
   originality is the presence of Norwegian singer Sissel, who sings a
   few lines and performs a recitation in English:

     Hail Mary, full of grace.
     The Lord is with you.
     Blessed are you among women,
     and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
     Holy Mary, Mother of God,
     Pray for us.

   I was not familiar with Sissel at all, but I think she has a
   beautiful (albeit non-operatic) voice and the result is quite
   appealing.

   More information about the album is available from Deutsche
   Grammophon:

     http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/special/?ID=domingo-sacredsongs

   The most interesting item is a video, "The making of Sacred Song",
   that you can play from your Web browser:

     http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/special/video.htms?ID=domingo-sacredsongs

   The video features Domingo arriving at the recording studio, the
   entire recording of the Ave Maria, and some comments by Domingo and
   Sissel after the recording. A nice promotional item!

   The discography entry:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/503627

   Details about the other recording of the Ave Maria by Domingo:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/501399

2. Speaking of the Ave Maria, I added two other versions recently:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/503571
     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/503601

   The first one is performed by Kathleen Battle. The second one is
   the English version by Irish tenor John McCormack in 1914 with
   Fritz Kreisler on the violin: quite a nice performance. The
   performances by McCormack and Kreisler at the beginning of the 20th
   century prompted maestro Lorin Maazel to do the orchestrations of
   Andrea Bocelli's latest album, "Sentimento". He tells the story
   here:

     http://www.maestromaazel.com/storyofsentimento.html

3. A new page regroups all the MRF issues:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/mrf

   It is important to mention these releases that so many Mascagni
   fans treasured for years!

4. I recently (re-)listened to the version of Silvano recored in 1973
   with Gianni Jaia, Renata Matioli, conductor Pietro Argento. The
   performance was released on what I think was a "private" (maybe
   one-time use!) label, Foyer. It is actually quite a good
   performance, more exciting than the more recent version conducted
   by Tiboris (even if Joseph Wolverton, the tenor on this recording,
   has a beautiful voice). The sound is monophonic but decent. I
   recommend it if you can get a hold of it:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/3121

   Details about the recording with Wolverton:

     http://www.mascagni.org/recordings/3181

This time I'm really done for today ;-)

-Erik

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