Bonynge Richard - AUBER: Le Domino Noir; Gustave III [CD]

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Through scholarship, performance and recording, Richard Bonynge has done more than any other modern-day musician to advance the cause of Daniel-Fran\xe7ois-Esprit Auber, the foremost composer of op\xe9ra-comique in nineteenth-century Paris. What he wrote was 'Simple, joyous and unsophisticated music,' according to Bonynge: this is his sole recording of a complete opera by Auber. \r
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Le Domino Noir is a tale of amorous intrigue in royal Madrid, set in the theatrically promising context of a masked ball and a convent. Drama and libretto were fashioned by Eug\xe8ne Scribe, who later worked with Rossini, Bellini, Verdi and many others, but he formed an especially long-lasting and fruitful partnership with Auber, and this is one of their joint masterpieces: the embodiment in music and drama of the witty, polished, and worldly Parisian life of the time. The music sparkles; it has lightness and facility; it is essentially graceful and elegant.\r
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When it was first released in 1995, this Decca recording was universally welcomed as a significant marker in the revival of Auber's reputation: he was writing for singers of virtuoso technique with a lightness and grace that is not commonly found in our own time, but Bonynge assembled a cast which was more than equal to the challenge. \r
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In the booklet notes, Jeremy Commons sets Le Domino Noir in the context of Auber's long career and his happy partnership with Scribe. There is also a synopsis and a performance note in which Bonynge explains his decisions to cut and reshape the dialogue and to elaborate some of the vocal lines after the common practice of Auber's day. A complementary issue on Eloquence (482 7730) surveys Bonynge's quarter-century of Auber on record in arias, overtures and ballet music.\r
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PENGUIN ROSETTE AWARD *** 'Bonynge makes the ideal advocate, moulding melodies, springing rhythms and aerating textures to make the music sparkle from first to last. The recording is among Decca's most vivid.' - The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2009\r
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'Sumi Jo is an Ang\xe8le with the agility to handle fancy ornamentation and a range that reaches the stratosphere of high D. Bruce Ford handles the high tessitura of his part with little apparent strain and makes a good sound. The rest of the cast. . . are equal to the vocal and dramatic demands of their roles.' - Fanfare, May/June 2010\r
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'A winner, for the excellent performance and for Auber's delightful score \u2026 The playing of the ECO under Bonynge is a constant pleasure as well as a revelation. . . Sumi Jo is an admirable Angele, her voice warm, supple and untiring throughout the long and taxing role\u2026 On no account miss Le Domino Noir.' - Opera, March 1996.

Auber: Le Domino Noir

Gustave III, Ou Le Bal Masqu\xe9 \u2013 Ballet Music