VERDI : OTELLO

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 13th of November 2016  at 6.05 - 8.25 pm
Sunday 22nd of May 2016 at 6.05 - 9.10 pm
Sunday 29th of November 2015 at 6.04 - 8.40 pm
Sunday 28th of July 2013 at 3.03 - 6 pm
Sunday 12th of December 2010 at 3.04 - 5.30 pm
Sunday 30th of March 2008 at 3 pm
(Sunday 22nd of July 2007 at 3 pm)
(after they have heralded the news
and predicted the weather)

PRELUDE
COMPOSER 
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO
(Italian, by Arrigo Boito, after Shakespeare's Othello)
2016

VERDI: Otello
An opera in four acts with libretto by Arrigo Boito
based on Shakespeare's Othello
Otello … Simon O'Neill
Iago … Scott Hendricks
Desdemona … Maria Luigia Borsi
Cassio … James Egglestone
Emilia … Sarah Castle
Roderigo … Andrew Glover
Montano … James Ioelu
Lodovico … Pelham Andrews
Freemasons NZ Opera Chorus,
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra/Giordano Bellincampi
(recorded in Auckland Town Hall by RNZ)

 
2016
VERDI: Otello, an opera in four acts
Desdemona.................. Hibla Gerzmava
Otello........................... Aleksandrs Antonenko
Cassio.......................... Alexey Dolgov
Iago.............................. Željko Lučić
Ludovico..................... James Morris
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Adam Fischer2015
VERDI: Otello, an opera in four acts
Otello................................ Kristian Benedikt
Desdemona....................... Malin Byström
Iago.................................. Vladimir Stoyanov
Emilia............................... Susann Végh
Cassio............................... Klas Hedlund
Roderigo........................... Daniel Ralphsson
Lodovico.......................... Michael Schmidberger
Montano........................... Kristian Flor
Royal Swedish Opera Chorus & Orch/Alexander Vedernikov
(recorded in the Royal Opera House, Stockholm by Swedish Radio)

2013
VERDI: Otello, an opera in four acts
Otello........................... Gregory Kunde
Desdemona.................. Leah Crocetto
Iago.............................. Lucio Gallo
Emilia........................... Elisabetta Martorana
Cassio.......................... Francesco Marsiglia
Roderigo...................... Antonello Ceron
Lodovico..................... Mattia Denti
Montano...................... Matteo Ferrara
La Fenice Chorus & Orch/Myung-Whun Chung (Italian Radio)
 REVIEW 

2010
VERDI: Otello, an opera in four acts
Otello............................ Simon O'Neill
Iago.............................. Gerald Finley
Desdemona................... Anne Schwanewilms
Cassio........................... Allan Clayton
Roderigo....................... Ben Johnson
Lodovico...................... Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Montàno....................... Matthew Rose
Araldo.......................... Lukas Jakobski
Emila............................. Eufemia Tufano
London Symphony Chorus & Orch/Colin Davis  
(LSO Live LSO 0700)
REVIEW  (magnificent!)

We used to have the resources of the NYMetropera archives.
http://www.operainfo.org/

But in this case Wikipedia (PRELUDE) has a massive article, with detailed synopsis and analysis.

Placido Domingo appears as Otello in Zeffirelli's movie, with Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona.
His friend and rival Luciano Pavarotti recorded the role creditably, with the magnificent Kiri Te Kanawa; and he has done a concert performance (it is alleged that he had to be fortified with food on stage to get through the ordeal).
   And now [2010] our Simon O'Neill (who stepped in at a day's notice to take the part of Otello at this concert performance) has had his debut in this role, recorded for us all to experience. With him, as Iago, is Gerald Finley (I remember him as Dr Atomic). See Peter Reed's enthusiastic REVIEW of this recording. Simon is going from strength to strength. He is a protégé of Placido Domingo, and we are told that he studied the role with this baritonic tenor who is still the greatest Otello. You can go to Simon's website and see an inventory of his triumphs (it is in the side bar of this blog, waiting for you to click on it).
   Verdi had heard a bit of Wagner's music before he composed Otello, and so we have a continuous stream of music, but some of the pieces can be extracted, notably Desdemona's Willow Song and Iago's Credo, and the love duet.
   It was Verdi's 27th opera, first performed in 1887, when he was 74. Falstaff followed in 1893. Dennis Forman (The Good Opera Guide) awards an Alpha to Otello, but a Beta to Falstaff!
   Have you heard Rossini's Otello (1816)? There are three tenors (José Carreras, singing Otello magnificently, is one of them in the Philips recording). Rossini's version has Shakespeare's subtitle, 'The Moor of Venice', and it takes place in Venice, not Cyprus. Verdi starts with a storm at sea (as in Othello Act 2), while Rossini ends with a storm. No Cassio in Rossini, and no handkerchief (PAVAROTTI'S HANDKERCHIEF, always in hand on stage, would have confused the issue) ; instead Otello is shown a lock of hair and a love letter, which he thinks Desdemona had sent to Roderigo, but it had been intended for him, and her father had intercepted it. Rossini's Otello stabs her and himself, not pillow and then dagger. But Rossini offered an alternative ending, wherein the heroine did not die!

2007
Otello............................ Johan Botha
Desdemona................... Krassimira Stoyanova
Emilia............................ Nadia Krasteva
Iago.............................. Falk Struckmann
Cassio........................... Marian Talaba
Roderigo....................... Cosmin Ifrim
Lodovico...................... Ain Anger
Montano....................... Vladimir Moroz
Herald........................... Hacik Bayvertian
Vienna State Opera Chorus & Orch/Daniele Gatti (recorded in the Vienna State Opera House by Austrian Radio)

2008
Desdemona................... Renée Fleming
Otello............................ Johan Botha
Iago.............................. Carlo Guelfi
Emilia............................ Wendy White
Cassio........................... Garrett Sorensen
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Semyon Bychkov
The broadcast includes Margaret Juntwait interviewing Teddy Tahu Rhodes, for reasons best known to herself (he is not in Otello). But no quiz! Only one interval, and this time the delightful Renée Fleming can not interview herself and Johan Botha, so Mary Jo Heath takes the roving microphone backstage.