Our summer issue brings two Recordings of the Month. The first is a breathtaking new Palazzetto Bru Zane three-disc set of Meyerbeer’sRobert le Diable (Bru Zane BZ1049). This was Meyerbeer’s first French opera, adapting the tale of Robert, the Devil, a legend surrounding the dastardly goings on of the father of William the Conqueror. Along the way there’s magic aplenty, including a grisly graveyard scene where the spirits of fallen nuns rise up and dance an infernal ballet celebrating the joys of gambling and sensual pleasure (as they do . . .). In Marc Minkowski’s experienced hands, this gothic saga flies off the page. Every bar fizzes with energy while set pieces burst over our heads like fireworks. American tenor John Osborn sails through the part of Robert and as the heroine, Isabelle, Erin Morley makes mincemeat of the role’s stratospheric demands. This set has award-winner written all over it.
The second features Elgar’s Viola Concerto played by Timothy Ridout, a rapidly rising star about to tour with Musica Viva Australia (Harmonia Mundi HMM902618). What, Elgar wrote a Viola Concerto? Well, not quite, but he did approve, and even conduct a viola arrangement of his Cello Concerto...
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