CD REVIEW:
RICCARDO CHAILLY /
FILARMONICA DELLA SCALA
Overtures,
Preludes & Intermezzi
Decca 483 1148
The 64-year-old
Milanese maestro – I once
had the pleasure of seeing him
conduct live – has been a
Decca recording artist for almost
40 years and achieved over three
million album sales, including
much acclaimed box sets of Brahms
and Beethoven symphonies*. Here
he celebrates his appointment in
January as Musical Director of
Teatro alla Scala, Milan, one of
the world’s most famous
opera houses and where he made
his conducting debut in 1978.
The album marks a
splendid homecoming with a
76-minute programme of orchestral
music from three centuries of
operas that, with the exception
of 'Pagliacci' and 'I
Medici', were first
performed at La Scala and
includes music by Donizetti,
Ponchielli, Puccini, Rossini,
Verdi and others.
It is not just
'fill-in' music but pieces that
play a key part in the operas as
a whole. Some of the 14 tracks
such as Dance of the Hours
from 'La Gioconda' are
familiar, others less so (I
especially enjoyed discovering Prelude
to the Prologue of
Boito’s 'Mefistofele'
with its plangent brass) but all
are strong on melody.
A Sunday Times
review opined: "Chailly and
the orchestra of La Scala Milan
are surely a match made in
heaven." That’s good
enough for me; and an added
incentive to buy this rather
special release is the HMV shop
price of £9.99 betters Amazon.
© 2017 Peter Burt
*Decca 4785344 and
4783492
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