CHERUBINI: Lodoïska

Devia; Lombardo, Moser, Corbelli, Shimell, Luperti; La Scala, Muti.
Sony S2K-42790 (2)

Lodoïska, which had its premiere in Paris the year of Mozart's death, enjoyed its best reception in German-speaking countries, where it influenced another "rescue" opera, Beethoven's Fidelio. In fact, the opening genre scenes of Fidelio, so universally misunderstood for so long, cannot be assessed in stylistic perspective without an awareness of Cherubini, whose opéra-comique style blended serious drama with folksy, humorous elements.

There exists a 1965 Nuova Era album of Lodoïska (2236/7), attractively sung by a cast of La Scala soloists (Ligabue, Prandelli, Bruscantini et al) for an RAI broadcast under Olivero de Fabritiis, but the edition used is quite corrupt, with recitatives composed by Giulio Confalonieri and some reordering and substitution of numbers. To hear the work as Cherubini conceived it, Riccardo Muti leads a reconstructed score for La Scala's stage production, reasonably well recorded live for Sony. Since most of the characters in this crazy libretto are supposed to be Polish, the assorted accents of the non-French cast may be excused, and even the spoken dialogue is less painful than one might expect.

After a rough start, the singers improve as they go along. A slight edge to Mariella Devia's tone promises aptitude for French music, though her patches of nice soft singing are offset in more strenuous moments by general stridency and an uneasy top. Bernard Lombardo's slender timbre as her rescuer, Floreski, carries well in his aria "Rien n'égale sa barbarie" (Act II). Other major roles are handled adequately by Thomas Moser (Titzikan), Alessandro Corbelli, (Varbel, the Leporello of the piece) and William Shimell (Dourlinski, the Pizarro). Muti's affinity with Cherubini, demonstrated earlier in some choral recordings, pulls the performance together.