Ruggero Leoncavallo Pagliacci opera to libretto by the composer. Directed 2019 by Luigi Di Gangi and Ugo Giacomazzi at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Stars Vlaeria Sape (Nedda/Colombina); Angelo Villari (Canio/Pagliacci); Devid Cecconi (Tonio/Taddeo); Matteo Mezzaro (Peppe/Arlecchino); Leon Kim (Silvio); Vito Luciano Roberti (A villager); Leonardo Melani (A villager); and Elena Barsotti, Gaia Mazzeranghi, Erika Melli, Jane Tayar, Paolo Arcangeli, Cristiano Colangelo, Pierangelo Preziosa, and Davide Reiminucci (Extras). Valerio Galli conducts the Orchestra, Coro, e Coro delle voci blanche del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Chorus Master Lorenzo Fratini). Set design by Federica Parolini; costume design by Agnese Rabatti; lighting design by Luigi Biondi. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti; video editing by Adriano Figari; sound recording by Rino Trasi and Vera Zanotti; sound editing Rina Trasi. Sung in Italian. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: D
Hugo Shirley points out in the June 2020 Gramophone (page 76) that this appears to have been done at the same time and with the same forces at the Maggio Musicale as the Dynamic Cavalleria Rusticana published in 2019. Since “Pag and Cav” normally are packaged together as a double-header, it appears that Dynamic is trying for a 100% price increase. Shirley concludes that there are several other choices both better and cheaper. We will give this 84-minute recording a D, which means don’t buy this unless you have a special reason. We will reconsider the grade if anyone can show us why this title would be a good purchase by itself.
Here’s a trailer from Dynamic:
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