Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie

A sort of sequel of the Symphonie Fantastique. The French actor Gérard Depardieu interprets the opera making the text (written by Berlioz himself) live in a constant dialogue with the orchestra. The booklet contains the original libretto in French.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Gérard Depardieu Narrator
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Orchestra Giovanile Italiana

Running time: 1h 25′

Le quattro stagioni

Riccardo Muti meets the ballet Le quattro stagioni from I vespri siciliani by Giuseppe Verdi. Composed to get closer to the French taste, the dance page in Act IV is one of the major dance compositions Verdi left us.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini

Running time: 2h 25′

“Unfinished” Symphony

Riccardo Muti meets Schubert in an opera he holds dear: Symphony No. 8 in B minor D 759, called “Unfinished”. Written in 1822, only its first two Movements were completed.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato

Running time: 1h 12′

Il ritorno di Don Calandrino

Precious score found by Riccardo Muti in the library of Conservatorio di Napoli and conducted at the Whitsun Festival in Salzburg and at Ravenna Festival, this opera makes a key contribution to the historical path that marked the transition from the Baroque opera to the musical summits reached by Mozart.

Riccardo Muti
Laura Giordano (Livietta)
Monica Tarone (Irene)
Francesco Marsiglia (Valerio)
Juan Francisco Gatell (Don Calandrino)
Marco Vinco (Monsieur Le Blonde)
Laura Pasqualetti Piano

Running time: 1h 02′

“Jupiter” Symphony

The last symphony written by Mozart, KV 551 in C major called “Jupiter”, composed in the summer of 1788 with two other symphonies, KV 543 and KV 550. Three gems of the same branch grew during the last stage of the composer’s short life, a quite unhappy period amongst economic difficulties, the death of his daughter and the failure of Don Giovanni in Vienna.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini

Running time: 1h 11′

Il matrimonio inaspettato

Il matrimonio inaspettato by Giovanni Paisiello is a real treasure of the Neapolitan musical panorama from the XVIII Century, brought back to life thanks to Riccardo Muti’s will and commitment: he  conducted it in Salzburg, where he found a triumphant welcome. Paisiello’s work is part of the project aiming to restore the XVIII Century Neapolitan Musical School involving the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, Ravenna Festival and the Opéra de Paris. Light opera but “full of freshness and humor”, as Riccardo Muti underlines, Il matrimonio inaspettato contains orchestral refinements and melancholic passages, whilst based on a playful plot.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Alessia Nadin (Vespina)
Marie-Claude Chappuis (La Contessa di Sarzana)
Mario Cassi (Giorgino)
Nicola Alaimo (Tulipano)
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Coro del Teatro Municipale di Piacenza
Corrado Casati Chorus Master
Speranza Scappucci Harpsichord

Running time: 1h 38′

Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 5 in F major op. 76 by Antonin Dvořák, composed in the summer of 1875, is considered a pastorale, so as the following Symphony No. 6 of this bohemian composer. Performed only four years later its composition, on March 25, 1879 in Prague, it is dedicated to conductor Hans von Bülow, great interpreter of Dvořák’s music.

Riccardo Muti Conductor
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini