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Thank you for for this.

This is a superb performance and, in my view, definitely equal to or better than four other CDs of the opera and two other recorded performances that I am aware of.

Very happy listening experience for me of one of my favourite operas from one of my favourite opera composers.

I think it might be sensible for all of us to reserve judgement until we have heard the recording - properly, I mean, because we all know that snippets on sellers' websites can sometimes be misleading in terms of sound quality

The recording has been available as a lossless download since late January.  I am grateful to have it even if it doesn't have the orchestral forces that would have been available to it when premiered.

Dutton have recorded Sullivan's Haddon Hall, possibly due to be released this year or early next year,  and are scheduled to record The Martyr of Antioch next year with sponsorship from the Arthur Sullivan Society.  Look at conductor John Andrew's Facebook page.

For a site where Stanford's music has been frequently praised over the years, I am surprised that admirers of this composer have not acquired the CD release of the first commercial recording of one of his operas as soon as it became available. I would have thought that most fans/admirers of composers would gobble up, without hesitation, a release of a rare piece as soon as they could.  I certainly would.

Stanford is a composer I have been decidedly cool towards over the years. However, in January, having read about the forthcoming release of The Travelling Companion, an opera I had been aware of since my teens, I downloaded from this site the extracts broadcast from the 1990s. I have listened to them frequently and became enthusiastic about the release of the full opera.  If someone had said to me a few years ago that a Stanford piece would be one of my most eagerly anticipated releases of 2019 I would have been highly sceptical.

However, the CD arrived last Friday on its official release date and I have listened to the opera 5 times and intend to listen to it many more times.  Whilst it may not be one of the greatest operas ever written, it is a thoroughly competent piece and has given me a great deal of pleasure.  In my opinion, whilst  the orchestral Prelude might sound richer in the extracts, when compared with the CD and it's reduced orchestration, there are points of detail in the orchestration in the more modern CD that get lost in the extracts from the BBC broadcast with its, presumably, larger orchestra. This, in my view, is true also of the conclusion of the opera. Overall, the orchestral sound of the opera sounds absolutely fine to me, notwithstanding its reduced orchestration.

To me the music is largely memorable and, on occasions, inspired and moving. The singing and chorus sound fine as well. This CD release has made me want to explore more of Stanford or, at least, listen again to music that previously had little impact on me.

A release well worth having and nicely packaged. A major upside is the libretto in Italian and English (there being no English translation in the other CD versions of the Opera). The downside - comparatively minor but a disappointment for me -  is the libretto is missing a section of the final scene. So Guglielmo's last exclamation - a highly dramatic and effective moment in the score (the moment I mention above  is marred in the New York concert version of the Opera) is missing leaving me not knowing what it is about.

If I have the time I may look at the Italian libretto from an alternative recording and type the missing section into Google translate!

Oh dear :-(
Is the (excellent) RAI recording of 1963, conducted by Armando La Rosa Parodi, in this case more complete?'

Based on the times appearing on my iTunes (a rip of a CD of the RAI Rome version with Pier Miranda Ferraro and the 4 Acts from the Wexford broadcast) the RAI version has a total running time of about 117 minutes whereas the Wexford version runs at 113 minutes (both approximations). Given possible variations in tempo that will not answer your question.  Only a comparison of the score against the respective recordings will.

However, in terms of sound quality (based on the broadcast not the RTÉ remixed CD) and the tenor - Angelo Villari at Wexford - the Wexford version, in my opinion, wins hands down when compared to 4 other versions I am aware of (RAI Rome 1963, Livorno 1984, New York 2003 (not issued on commercial CD or DVD) and Livorno 1995).  Until the Wexford performance the RAI Rome performance was the best.  So far as I can recall both the Livorno versions exclude the chorus in the final scene and the in the New York version the tenor singing Ratcliff, in the same scene at a very dramatic moment, comes in before the orchestra seriously marring the effect.

See:  http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/Critically-Acclaimed-2015-Opera-Guglielmo-Ratcliff-in-Association-with-Wexford-Festival-Opera-Released-on-CD-20161025

and: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/RT%25C3%2589%2BLyric/CD152

iTunes Store has a projected release date of 28th October.  However, as I made my own recordings from last year's (BBC Radio 3) broadcast - as others will have done - a remixed CD is to be welcomed by admirers of Mascagni.  This performance, in my view, is better than the other CD recordings which have been issued.

Pizzetti's Symphony was recorded at the time of its premiere in 1940 by the The Symphony Orchestra in Celebration of the 2600th Anniversary of the Japanese Imperial Dynasty with conductor Gaetanno Commell.  This was released on a 3 CD set 'Celebrating concert for the two thousand six hundredth anniversay of the Japanese Imperial Era'.  It can be found on You Tube in a fairly poor sounding mono recording.  Naxos reissued this a few years ago in a slightly better sound (also to be found on You Tube) but with the beautiful closing moments of the 4th movement missing (30 seconds or so) greatly spoiling the effect.

It was commissioned at the same time as Britten's 'Sinfonia da Requiem' which was ultimately rejected as being unsuitable due to its Christian connotations and not performed.

Guido M Gatti in his 1951 'Contemporary Composer' series contribution 'Ildebrando Pizzetti' (London: Dennis Dobson Limited), published during Pizzetti's lifetime, in Chapter VI 'The Orchestral Works' says:

'The Symphony in A...is a work of unquestionable significance, epitomizing all that is best in Pizzetti's orchestral music' p.99.

The Symphony lasts about 46 minutes and is in 4 movements: I. Andante ma non troppo sostenuto ma teso - (Allegro); II. Andante tranquillo; III. Rapido; IV. Andante faticoso e pesante - Movimento di marcia molto sostenuto.

Chandos seemed to be a good prospect for recording the Pizzetti Symphony with Gianandrea Noseda - perhaps they may still do so.

The 21 minute Harp Concerto is available in an old RAI broadcast/recording with Clelia Gatti Aldrovandi and - in my opinion - is the least lyrically memorable of Pizzetti's 4 Concertos.

The Naxos release - if it happens - would be a very welcome release for Pizzetti's admirers and would enable one to hear the Symphony in modern sound.  I say 'if it happens' due to Naxos stating it would record Pizzetti's Violin Concerto with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra [see: http://www.naxos.com/news/?op=399&displayMenu=Naxos_News&type=2 ].  It is possible that Naxos never got round to recording the Violin Concerto which may explain its non-appearance (although I recall reading that it had actually been recorded). Happily it looks as if the Pizzetti Symphony has been recorded and will be released on CD.

The Violin Concerto was recorded and issued on a private CD by a Slovakian violinist and Italian orchestra and then commercially by Bongiovanni.  It too can be heard on You Tube apparently uploaded by the soloist to his You Tube page.

The Symphony (and Violin Concerto) are late-romantic at best.

The Wexford Broadcast seems to me to be the best performance (recording) to date.    I have 3 others - at least two of which (Livorno (minus the off stage chorus at the endof Act 4) and RAI\) - both released on CD - have cuts and a third of which (New York) probably has cuts but which, in any event, is marred by the tenor singing out of synch with the orchestra at the end of Act 4.  I am aware of two others - one from the early 50s (the last stage performance in Italy for 30 years until the early 80s) which I have not heard.

The radio broadcast indicated that cuts had been made by the conductor - a great fan of Guglielmo Ratcliff.  The implication was that they mostly related to high notes sung by the tenor - although this may be a misinterpretation by me.

A quick Google search on the Wexford Ratcliff indicates it is is receiving almost universal praise from those who have heard it.  The major criticisms of previous performances and recordings is the inadequacy of the tenors to cope with the hugely demanding role of Ratcliff  (true also of other Mascagni tenor roles e.g. Il piccolo Marat and Isabeau). This is not the case for the Wexford performance where Angelo Villari is being highly praised.

This is probably the best Ratcliff we are likely to hear for some time.  It has never been one of my favourite Mascagni's scores but the Wexford performance is causing me to reassess this.  The 4th Act is marvellous.

Notwithstanding what is said in the broadcasts and reviews, Guglielmo Ratcliff is not Mascagni's first opera - Pinotta was his first, albeit not performed until 1932.  Whilst  he may have started Ratcliff first but the first incomplete draft of Ratcliff postdates Pinotta's completion.

Guglielmo Ratcliff is the correct spelling.  It was Mascagni's favourite of his 15 operas.

I hope an off air recording will prove better than the available alternatives (all live except the RAI one of 1963) and that the conclusion of the 4th Act will contain the chorus (off stage?) missing - probably for economic reasons - in some of the alternatives.  We will find out on Saturday evening.

Although I didn't intend to purchase the capriccio CD, as a big fan of Mascagni I eventually succumbed to the temptation.  I have only listened to it once to date.  It is a good recording and enjoyable.  However, it is Mascagni the opera composer whose music my enthusiasm is for and, enjoyable though it is, 'Rapsodia Satanica' is no match in my view for the operatic music (including orchestral episodes).

It looks as if one of the forthcoming Wexford Festival performances of 'Guglielmo Ratcliff' will be broadcast by the BBC on 31 October (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnpy ).  The best recording I have of this is a New York concert performance in 2003 which, unfortunately, is marred by the tenor singing Ratcliff being out of sync with the orchestra in one of the most dramatic moments in the closing moments of Act 4.  Hopefully, this broadcast (and an off air recording on it) will be good and will supplant the New York performance. 

[Isabeau]

Mascagni's venture into film music!  Pleasant enough music and quite dramatic.

There is a Bongiovanni CD of this with Peter Himpe conducting a youth orchestra which can be heard on YouTube (I have not actually listened to it).    I have an mp3 of a tape from 1984 of Mascagni specialist Kees Bakels conducting this in Utrecht [Kees Bakels made excellent live Dutch recordings of Isabeau (only matched, in my view, by the 2011 Braunschweig version both better than the 1962 San Remo and 1972 Napoli versions and an early 2000s Czech version none of which (excepting the San Remo version) are available on commercial CD), Il piccolo Marat (not as good, in my opinion, as the Warner Fonit Gismondo CD version but better in sound quality) and Nerone all issued on CD by Bongiovanni plus excellent versions of Amica (better than the two CD versions available) and Zanetto, neither available on commercial CD].

The link states 'The French-German TV channel Arte restored this treasure of early cinema in 2006 and recorded the complete film music score which is now available also on CD.'  I suspect 'restored' means revived as both the Himpe and Bakels versions of are of similar length to the new recording.  However, I would guess this new version will be better than the alternative Himpe CD given the German Orchestra involved.

Mascagni wrote two symphonies prior to his first opera Pinotta (1883/premiered San Remo 1932) and the first incomplete draft of Guglielmo Ratcliff (1884-1887/complete version premiered La Scala, Milano 1895). 

His Symphony in C minor 'for small orchestra with piano' was premiered in December 1879 by a student orchestra at the Instituto Cherubini in his hometown of Livorno just before his 16th birthday.  The Symphony in F major, appearing on the Concerto CD, was composed in 1880 and also performed at the Instituto Cherubini in June, 1881.

According to Allan Mallach in his excellent 'Pietro Mascagni and his Operas' (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002) [only one of two books in English on the composer] the F major Symphony:

'While close to the classical models of Haydn and Mozart and, at its most advanced those of Schubert and Mendelssohn, it is nonetheless an impressive achievement.  It has both individual character and a high level of technical control, comparable to much of the work done by the early romantic masters at the same age.  Furthermore, in contrast to what one might expect knowing Mascagni's subsequent operatic career, it is conceived and executed in symphonic terms, rather than being a collection of tunes cobbled together and more or less arbitrarily called a symphony.' [ibid, p.11]

The Symphony is therefore a student work composed when Mascagni was a teenager learning his craft and endeavouring to develop as a composer.  It appears, although I will have to buy the CD to confirm it, that Mascagni incorporated music from 4th movement 'Allegro molto' of the Symphony in F into the concluding love duet of Pinotta.

Mascagni was a major Italian conductor of his time, not just of opera but also of symphonic music, premiering, for example, the first Italian performance of Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' Symphony.

Given his statement in later life that he would only compose a symphony once his musical imagination was exhausted – a remark to be understood in the context of a polemical defence of Italian opera – a Symphony by Mascagni the opera composer was never likely.

This morning my copy of 'Mascagni in Concert' - a Chandos CD of incidental music to a play (6 tracks, one vocal), 5 short orchestral pieces and 2 pieces for soloist and orchestra (one a setting of the intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana) - arrived.  I had ordered the CD, more out of a sense of loyalty rather than enthusiasm, as Mascagni ranks as one of my very favourite composers based on his 15 operas.  Whilst there are many fine and memorable orchestral preludes, interludes and expositions in Mascagni's operas –Mascagni developed into a very fine craftsman in his use of the orchestra especially from Iris (1998) – by far the preponderance of the moments of Mascagni I most love are vocal.

My expectations of the CD were not high.  However, the CD provides a most enjoyable, not demanding, listening experience throughout its 60 minutes of melodic and well-crafted music.

As one very familiar with Mascagni's operas echoes of moments in Iris, Amica, Isabeau, Il piccolo Marat and Nerone (parts of which were composed long before its 1935 premiere) could be heard in L'apoteosi della cicogna (1930) and Visione lirica (1922).  The charming La gavotta delle bambole (1900) contemporaneous with Le Maschere is stylistically similar to parts of that opera.

The rediscovered lost score of the incidental music to Hall Caine's 'The Eternal City' (1902) is well worth having.  The score reminded me of melodic phrases from Guglielmo Ratcliff and especially Iris.

A delightful CD of lyrical and inventive music by, in my opinion, the Italian opera composer who, after Puccini, was the finest melodist of his – and slightly later - generation of Italian composers a group noted for their melodic inspiration.

The British and Irish Music-Catalogue was a wonderful catalogue and contained music I had longed to hear for many years (e.g MacCunn's 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel',  Coleridge-Taylor's 'A Tale of Old Japan', Bate's 'Third Piano Concerto' and rare Mackenzie pieces to name but a few pieces).  A great deal of effort went into putting it together and, in my view, it is a tremendous loss it is no longer accessible.  Where will we ever hear such music again?  I think it is unlikely that much of the music contained in the catalogue will ever be commercially recorded.  I'm grateful to Albion and those whose sterling efforts made such a marvelous resource available and thankful that I was able to download a good deal of thoroughly enjoyable music.