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Bellini: Il Pirata
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Bellini: Il Pirata

Facts

StudioAngel Records
Release DateAugust 5, 2002
UPC Code724356712126
 

Tracks

Disc 1
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Act 1, scene 1: "Ciel! qual procella orribile"
  3. Act 1, scene 1: "Nume, che imperi, che affreni il mare"
  4. Act 1, scene 1: "Coraggio! costanza!"
  5. Act 1, scene 1: "Io vivo ancor!"
  6. Act 1, scene 1: "Ascolta. Nel furor delle tempeste"
  7. Act 1, scene 1: "Del disastro di questi infelici"
  8. Act 1, scene 1: "Per te di vane lagrime"
  9. Act 1, scene 1: "Sorgete; è in me dover"
  10. Act 1, scene 1: "Lo sognai ferito, esangue"
  11. Act 1, scene 1: "Quando a un tratto il mio consorte"
  12. Act 1, scene 1: "Sventurata, anch'io deliro"
  13. Act 1, scene 2: "Evviva! allegri!"
  14. Act 1, scene 2: "Ebbene?... Verrà"
  15. Act 1, scene 2: "Perché cotanta io prendo"
  16. Act 1, scene 2: "Se un giorno fia che ti tragga"
  17. Act 1, scene 2: "Tu sciagurato! Ah! fuggi"
  18. Act 1, scene 2: "Pietosa al padre!"
  19. Act 1, scene 2: "Bagnato dalle lagrime d'un cor"
  20. Act 1, scene 2: "Grazie, pietoso ciel"
  21. Act 1, scene 3: "Più temuto, più splendido nome"
  22. Act 1, scene 3: "Sì, vincemmo"
  23. Act 1, scene 3: "M'abbraccia, o donna"
  24. Act 1, scene 3: "Il suo disegno"
  25. Act 1, scene 3: "Parlati ancor per poco"
  26. Act 1, scene 3: "Ebben; cominci, o barbara"
  27. Act 1, scene 3: "Ah! partiamo, i miei tormenti"
Disc 2
  1. Act 2, scene 1: "Che rechi tu?"
  2. Act 2, scene 1: "Vieni; siam sole alfin"
  3. Act 2, scene 1: "Arresta... Ognor mi fuggi!"
  4. Act 2, scene 1: "Tu m'apristi in cor ferita"
  5. Act 2, scene 1: "Ah! Io sento: fra poco disciolta"
  6. Act 2, scene 1: "Che rechi?"
  7. Act 2, scene 2: "Lasciami, forza umana non può"
  8. Act 2, scene 2: "Eccomi a te, Gualtiero"
  9. Act 2, scene 2: "Per noi tranquillo un porto"
  10. Act 2, scene 2: "Crudele! e vuoi?"
  11. Act 2, scene 2: "Parti alfine: il tempo vola"
  12. Act 2, scene 3: "Lasso! perir così"
  13. Act 2, scene 3: "Giusto ciel!"
  14. Act 2, scene 3: "Tu vedrai la sventurata"
  15. Act 2, scene 3: "Già s'aduna il gran concesso"
  16. Act 2, scene 3: "Ma non fia sempre odiata"
  17. Act 2, scene 3: "Udiste? È forza, amiche"
  18. Act 2, scene 3: Scena
  19. Act 2, scene 3: "Oh! s'io potessi dissipar le nubi"
  20. Act 2, scene 3: "Col sorriso d'innoncenza"
  21. Act 2, scene 3: "Oh, Sole! ti vela di tenebra fonda"

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User Reviews

Average user review: 5.0 (6 reviews)

rating: 5 QuoteIl pirata: young Bellini's masterpieceQuote
Il pirata was Bellini's first great success and don't think it is a work of a beginner. For me it is on the same level with his most famous operas. It even has something that his later operas don't. It is so dramatic and exciting from the beginning to the end! I don't know if you can find so many beautiful melodies in any other opera. Every scene is a hit. Just listen to "Nel furor delle tempeste", "Lo sognai ferito, esangue", or "Parlarti ancor per poco". His recitatives, ariosos and ensembles are sometimes even more interesting than his arias. I don't know why this opera doesn't belong to the standard repertory. Perhaps because it is almost unsingable.
But fortunately we have this wonderful recording conducted by Gavazzeni. Caballé (Imogene) and Cappuccilli (Ernesto) are simply excellent. Marti (Gualtiero) is not the greatest tenor in the world, but he is not bad at all and I am grateful to him that he sang this role to us. I don't know why other great tenors avoid it because it offers so much!
I think this recording is the best available. Callas in her live performance is dramatically more intense and sometimes even better but the other singers are not on her level and the opera is cut. The newer Aliberti recording has an interesting Gualtiero of Stuart Neill, but the others are not as great as here. July 8, 2005

rating: 4 QuoteIf You Don't Enjoy This Music, I'll Double Your Popcorn BackQuote
In his short life, Bellini was a major innovator. He was the ONLY composer that Richard Wagner praised whole-heartedly (and deliberately imitated in his "long melodies"). The plot of IL PIRATA is about as stupid as any in all of opera, but its music is out of this world. Here and there, one hears passages that remind us that this is the person who composed the far better-plotted and, rightly, more famous opera NORMA. Forget about IL PIRATA's plot and immerse yourself in this amazing man's music. November 16, 2003

rating: 5 QuoteTHIS IS AN OPERA TO ENJOY LIFEQuote
Actually, I love opera, although I am not an opera-goer. This opera is sung by Montserrat Caballé as Imogene, and her husband, Bernabé Martí, as Gualtiero. I saw her onstage at the Teatro Colón, in Buenos Aires, and if you want to know my opinion, her singing is so beautiful personally as it is in her recordings. In this, for example. You have to listen to it if you want to know who is Calla's best pupil. Just amazing. November 6, 2002

rating: 5 QuoteBy far Caballe's best studio recording!Quote
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed Caballe so much! This is one of her favourite roles and we hear why. It is also an answer to those who say that she can't sing the high notes. Just listen to the way she ends the ensembles and eventually the entire opera. Sure, her highest notes are not as secure as Sutherland's or Callas' but I couldn't care less. I can't listen to the boring Sutherland for more than an aria / cabaletta and Callas' piano sounds like speaking although I admire them both. Montserrat here is simply unsurpassed, justifying her title as the last true diva. A voice so radiant, clear and beautiful we definitely miss today.

Il Pirata has so many beautiful moments that I cannot understand why it is neglected. Maria Callas revived the score in the late 50s but from extracts that I have heard she doesn't sound as involved and enchanting as Caballe. Next to Caballe here is, her husband if I'm not mistaken, Bernabe Marti. He is the only thing I don't like in this recording. He sounds monotonous and sings loud most of the time but one gets used to him after a while and then he's ok. What a pitty that Kraus (as in the Lucrezia Borgia set) or Bergonzi (as in the Traviata) could not be in this recording. Capuccilli is good, though not an expert in bel canto. Raimondi is better. Maestro Gavazzeni is a very fine conduct. Never trying to compete with the singers or overpower them.

On the whole, a lovely opera and an amazing performance by Montserrat Caballe. March 25, 2002

rating: 5 QuoteWhat a glorious productionQuote
Despite some tessitura problems with Caballe and some ugly noises from hubby Berbie that should have been redone, this is the kind of exceptional production that reminds us that RAI can bowl us over with the real whiff of the opera house...from the studio.

The entire cast is amazingly on cue, rehearsed within an inch of its life by Gavazzeni, and the extraordinary contribution of the RAI Rome Orchestra is surrounded with some of the loveliest sound EMI ever came up with in an opera recording. The plot, full of intrigue and a wide emotional spectrum gave Verdi all kinds of room to move around and paint a great diorama for us to take in. Every artist has room for characterization and all parts show Verdi's loving attention. It amazes me that this great work isn't better known outside Italy. But, then again, Italy is swamped with so many beauties maybe she simply can't get around to sharing all of them.

Any Verdi afficionado worth his vergogne will already have this. I didn't. I'd been getting along with a really fun "live" pirate from the Massimo. But I followed the previous reviewers' advice, got this, and am grateful to them for their direction. July 28, 2000

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