Il Burbero di Buon Cuore DVD

NOTE: This title is a DVD Video

DVD has no regional coding - playable in all regions
\r\n NTSC Colour
\r\n Picture format 16:9
\r\n Running time 140 minutes
\r\n Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish

Vicente Martin y Soler (1754-1806)

Il Burbero di Buon Cuore

Dramma giocoso in Two Acts

World Premiere recording!

Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real Madrid
\r\n Christophe Rousset, conductor

Recorded at the Teatro Real, Madrid, November 2007

Angelica - Elena De La Merced
\r\n Madama Lucilla - Veronique Gens
\r\n Marina - Cecilia Díaz
\r\n Giocondo - Saimir Pirgu
\r\n Valerio - Juan Francisco Gatell
\r\n Dorval - Luca Pisaroni
\r\n Ferramondo - Carlos Chausson
\r\n Castagna - Josep Miquel Ramon

Il Burbero di buon cuore is a dramma giocoso in two acts composed \r\n by Vicente Martín y Soler to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on \r\n one of the most popular and amusing French comedies by Carlo Goldoni, Le bourru \r\n bienfaisant. The opera was premièred to a triumphant success in Vienna’s \r\n Burgtheater on 4th January 1786.

The gruff Ferramondo must deal with a nephew who has been ruined \r\n by his spendthrift wife, and who would like to have his sister sent to a convent \r\n so that he can get his hands on her dowry. The girl, of course, has other plans.

A brilliant libretto, music that can be both graceful and captivating, \r\n and a first rate cast make of this opera a welcome rediscovery.
\r\n Vicente Martín Y Soler was known in Europe during his lifetime as Vincenzo \r\n Martini,an Italian name that appears at the time to have been considered an \r\n advantage in the operatic world. When he met Lorenzo Da Ponte in 1785, Vicente \r\n Martín Y Soler, born in Valencia in 1754 already had to his credit a \r\n dozen operas, but decisive leap to his career was due to the collaboration with \r\n Da Ponte who wrote the librettos for Il burbero di buon cuore (1786), Una cosa \r\n rara (1786) and L’arbore di Diana (1787). These were operas which shared \r\n the favour of the public in the imperial capital with Mozart’s masterpieces, \r\n likewise on librettos by Da Ponte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni , and Così \r\n fan tutte. When Il Burbero di buon cuore was first staged in Vienna in 1786 \r\n it was warmly received by the audience.

The music is simple, charming, orchestrated tastefully and \r\n with a wealth of colours. The handling of the situations is impeccable and the \r\n mechanism works perfectly, with suitable theatrical timings, so that the scenes \r\n follow one another with an urgent rhythm, giving the development of the plot \r\n a sensation of fresh naturalness up to the final dénouement. The Da Ponte \r\n - Martín Y Soler partnership collaborated again on the opera, Una cosa \r\n rara, ossia bellezza e onestà.

The recording of Il Burbero di buon cuore confirms the collaboration \r\n between Dynamic and Teatro Real of Madrid (which started with the release of \r\n the double CD in World Premiere Recording La Conquista di Granata by Emilio \r\n Arrieta) This opera had been absent from Madrid’s stages since 1792.

In October 1789 Mozart composed two ”substitute arias” \r\n for this opera: Chi sa, chi sa qual sia KV 582 and Vado, ma dove? Oh Dei! KV \r\n 583, which, given their superior musical quality, have opportunely been inserted \r\n in this edition of the opera, sung by Véronique Gens. Soprano Véronique \r\n Gens appears also on Dynamic’s DVD Agrippina by Haendel, which won the \r\n Record Academy Award 2007 in Japan in the category DVD opera.

Director Irina Brook is the daughter of the famous British \r\n director Peter Brook, at her debut in Teatro Real. She sets the action in today’s \r\n times and mixes several styles and epochs, creating a very well lit and bright \r\n setting with a very effective result. The touch of classical and baroque expert \r\n Christophe Rousset perfectly enhances the music. The French conductor delivers \r\n a lesson of style extracting from the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid a sweet \r\n and smooth sound ideally harmonized with the partitura.