Vincenzo Bellini
Bellini’s operas and songs are built on long, graceful bel canto melodies that balance florid embellishment with a deceptively simple lyric line. His writing still supplies Italianate colour for recital and instrumental programmes alike.
The early Romantic Italian opera composer is heard here less on the stage than in the melodic strain that performers lift from his scores: arias and songs whose long-breathed lines and clear text setting made him a model for later writers, and whose tunes travel easily into art-song recitals and popular Italian potpourris. Norma, La sonnambula, I puritani and their companions remain the core of that reputation; the same melodic gift surfaces in the smaller pieces and fantasies that keep his voice in the catalogue.
Compositions by Vincenzo Bellini appear on
Hymne à l’amour
Hymne à l’amour is an exquisite collection of art songs from soprano Siobhán Stagg and pianist Amir Farid. The programme traces the frailty of the human condition through flirtation, deep love and heartbreaking truths.
Amy Castles: Court Singer
Amy Castles, the Australian dramatic soprano once hailed as the “Australian nightingale”, left landmark gramophone sides from London and Australian sessions in the early twentieth century. This disc gathers eighteen restored arias, salon songs and ballads.
Mandolino Italiano
The Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra presents a programme built around Italian melody and the Neapolitan mandolin tradition. Bitelli, a Bellini fantasy, period arias with soprano, a Verdi La Traviata fantasy, Toselli’s Serenade, and well-loved popular songs.