Donizetti Il borgomastro di Saardam opera to libretto by Domenico Gilardoni. World première video recording directed by Davide Ferrario in 2017 at the Fondazione Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, Italy. Stars Giorgio Caoduro (The Tsar), Juan Francisco Gatell (Pietro Flimann), Andrea Concetti (Wambett), Irina Dubrovskaya (Marietta), Aya Wakizono (Carlotta), Pietro Di Bianco (Leforte), Pasquale Scircoli (Alì Mahmed), and Alessandro Ravasio (An Officer). Roberto Rizzi Brignoli (with Assistant Conductor Roberto Frattini) conducts the Orchestra Donizetti Opera and the Coro Donizetti Opera (Chorus Master Fabio Tartari). Set designs by Francesca Bocca; costumes by Giada Masi; lighting by Alessandro Andreoli. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti; sound engineering by Rino Trasi. Sung in Italian. Released 2018, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Another long-buried bel canto treasure—according to ArkivMusic, this is the only recording of Borgomastro, a comic melodrama, based (wildly) on a true event. It seems that Peter the Great of Russia went to The Netherlands “incognito” to work as an industrial spy in the port of Saardam. He then got embroiled in a comedy of mistaken identity when the Mayor tried to arrest a certain criminal named Peter. Of course, there’s also a girl involved, and all works out well in a way that shows why Tsar Peter came to be known as “Great.” Richard Lawrence in the July 2018 Gramophone (pages 90-91) calls this “Great fun.” Is this review short enough for you?
Just to keep you informed, we note that Borgomastro (finished in 1827) was the second of two Donizetti operas inspired by the youthful adventures of Peter the Great. In 1819 Donizetti finished Pietro il grande. Neither of these “Peter” operas enjoyed much success down through the years, but we have valiant modern productions of both in Blu-ray from Dynamic.
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