Urbanová E. Italian Operatic Arias (BELLINI, CILEA, MASSENET, PUCCINI, CATALANI, MASCAGNI)

Eva Urbanová - Italian Operatic Arias

Vincenzo Bellini - La Norma. Opera in 2 Acts

1. Act 1 "Casta diva" 06:40

Francesco Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur. Opera in 4 Acts

2. Act 1" Ecco, respiro appena" 03:42

3. Act 4 "Poveri fiori" 03:03

Jules Massenet - Thais. The Opera

4. Act 2 Meditation 05:31

Giacomo Puccini - Edgar. Opera in 3 Acts

5. Act 3 "Adio mio dolce Amor" 03:40

Giacomo Puccini - Turandot. Opera in 3 Acts

6. Act 2 "In questa reggia" 06:09

Giacomo Puccini - Manon Lescaut. Opera in 4 Acts

7. Act 3 Intermezzo 05:16

8. Act 4 "Sola, perduta, abbandonata" - monologue 05:01

Alfredo Catalani - La Wally

9. Act 1 "Ebben? Ne andro lonta" 04:20

Pietro Mascagni - Cavalleria rusticana. Opera in 1 Act

10. Intermezzo 03:37

11. Inneggiamo, il Signor non e morto 04:16

12. Voi lo sapete, o mamma 04:05

Giuseppe Verdi - La Forza del destino. Opera in 4 Acts

13. La vergine degli angeli /2 Act/ 03:16

Giuseppe Verdi - Don Carlos. Opera in 5 Acts

14. Act 4 "O don fatale, o don crudel" 05:13

Eva Urbanová soprano

Prague Philharmonic Choir, Prague National Theatre Orchestra

Ondrej Lenárd

Stereo digital live recording, Smetana Hall, Prague, 2003.

Where else than in Italy should one seek for a repertoire offering countless brilliant opportunities for the most spectacular display of a grand voice and of immaculate soloist vocal technique? And where else than in the work of Veristic composers are these qualities wed to masterly dramatic feeling? Who else besides the Verists, moreover, is nearly as capable to keep their audiences in a state of suspense, by the use of, among other devices, even such harmonic means as for instance sequences of chords of the seventh, augmented triads, and a wide variety of parallellisms? Now this treasure-laden soil so immensely rewarding for artists and audiences alike, was claimed for tilling by the Czech Republic's current Number One soprano, Eva Urbanova. She did so as part of her appearance at the 2003 edition of the Prague Spring international music festival, in a concert where her partners were some of the most competent forces then in town, including notably Slovak opera leading man Ondrej Lenard. On that night Miss Urbanova's pliant yet at the same time sonorous voice met the highest expectations, and made Supraphon proud of enjoying the privilege of presenting her live festival performance to the broadest circle of audience. Eva Urbanova's bet on Verismo arias yields triumph!

(Supraphon 2003)