Page 310 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Verismo: Preludi e Intermezzi Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Domingo
Hindoyan (Onyx)

Wow. This disc is a blast, the sort of collection you might have found on a budget-label LP back
in the day. Who else remembers Classics for Pleasure, Fontana or Pye Golden Guinea? This
being 2023, we’re not dealing with dodgy engineering and fallible playing from a lesser-known
outfit; Versimo is superbly engineered and boasts superb orchestral playing from Domingo
Hindoyan’s energised Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. This selection of familiar and
unfamiliar Italian operatic preludes and intermezzi is a reminder of how rarely these pieces are
performed outside opera houses now, though you might hear some of them tackled by youth
orchestras or as Proms encores.
You might struggle to recall how the main theme of the “Dance of the Hours” from
Ponchielli’s Gioconda goes, but within seconds of pressing play it’ll come flooding back. It’s
difficult not to hum along, and don’t the opening bars sound like Mahler 4? The Act III Intermezzo
from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut is a knockout, with radiant upper string playing – Domingo’s
Liverpudlians making the case for its six minutes as among the most moving in all music.
Intermezzi from Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz and Cavalleria Rusticana are sweetly done, the latter’s
hushed opening exquisite. Frothier extracts from Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret and The
Jewels of the Madonna are a lot of fun. The Puccini items are the best though, a reminder of
what a superb orchestral composer he was, and how sumptuous his music can sound when
heard outside of a dry theatre acoustic. The closer, the prelude to Act II, Part 2 of Madame
Butterfly, glows. Listen out for the bird whistles.
• Verismo on Amazon
• Classical Music on theartsdesk