ANTONIO SMAREGLIA (1854-1929): La Falena.

Description: The 1897 premiere of this hallucinatory and nightmarish three-act “leggenda” was a turning point in the composer’s already Wagner-influenced style. The decadent and symbolist elements in the libretto look ahead to Pelleas and Salome while the orchestra is given full control over the scene. “Opera Grove” calls it (and its 1903 successor Oceàna) “undramatic, oneiric fantasies consisting of vast symphonic movements which convey a psychological mood (anguish, erotic frenzy) or suggest an ambience... but blur contrasts and dampen action.” 2 CDs. Italian-English libretto. Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni, Giovanni Barbetti (sopranos), Giuseppe Veneziano (tenor), Armando Likaj (baritone), Coro La Camerata di Cremona, Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana; Marco Fracassi.