ALFREDO CASELLA (1883-1947): La Donna Serpente.

Description: Casella’s first opera is from 1932 and sets the same libretto as Wagner did with his Die Feen. Opera Grove finds Busoni’s Turandot as the closest match for the work’s uninhibited embrace of extravagantly unrealistic plotting while the music is a glittering combination of neo-baroque bustling and a Rossinian lightness. This is the same production highly praised in The New York Times on April 25 of this year for its brilliant primary colors and overall quality of the piece itself and the performance but the live recording here is from Martina Franca in July of 2014 with different singers and conductor. Zuzana Marková (soprano), Angelo Villari (tenor), Carmine Monaco (baritone), Chorus of the State Philharmonic “Transylvania” of Cluj-Napoca, Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia; Fabio Luisi. 16:9 widescreen. NTSC region 0. PCM stereo. 150 min.