MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


DVD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
 Crotchet

 

Giovanni PAISIELLO (1740–1816)
La Serva Padrona - Intermezzo in two acts (1781)
Uberto … Tiziano Bracci (bass-baritone)
Serpina … Gabriella Colecchia (mezzo)
Vespone … Gianni Salvo (silent role)
Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania/Zuccarini
rec. Teatro Sangiorgi Catania, 17 April 2004
Stage Director: Gianni Salvo
Set Designer: Salvatore Tropea
Costume Designer: Alessandra Gramaglia
Lighting: Salvatore Da Campo
Video format: 4:3 colour
Region code: all regions
DVD format: NTSC
Subtitles and booklet notes: English, French, German, Italian
FABULA CLASSICA FAB602 [69.00]

Experience Classicsonline


Paisiello wrote this intermezzo in 1781 for the name day celebrations of the young grandson of Empress Catherine II of Russia. Paisiello was then music director at the court at St. Petersburg.
 
Often recognisable characters from commedia dell’arte performed such intermezzi as comedy between acts or scenes of more serious drama. Indeed some stereotyping occurred so that by the time Paisiello put pen to paper the characters in the intermezzo could well be the clever feisty vivacious young woman servant interacting with her blustering not-so-bright older guardian. Thus it is in this intermezzo with cunning young Serpina outmanoeuvring for his own good her ‘guardian’ Uberto whose manservant Vespone utters not a word but mimes his role.
 
The plot is simple. Uberto has brought up maidservant Serpina in his household and she now irks him by her failures; the last being her failure to bring his chocolate before he goes out. He tells his servant Vespone to find him a wife so that he is rid of Serpina. Overhearing this, she herself arranges to marry the volatile Captain Tempest (Vespone in so-called disguise). Tempest (through Serpina) demands a dowry that Uberto cannot afford. Failing its provision Tempest decrees that to avoid broken bones Uberto must marry Serpina. Accepting that lesser evil Uberto agrees and then realizes that he has loved her all along.
 
For that plot, Piero Rattalino has written a prologue and finale that for me add little. ‘The web’ tells us that Rattalino has been involved in many musical events and publications and is a professor of piano. The prologue adopts the fiction that the players are a travelling troupe that has come to a down-market theatre for a rehearsal prior to the following night’s appearance before the tsarina. For the most part the prologue is predictable, fairly banal, and somewhat tedious. It comprises spoken dialogue between Gabriella Colecchia (Serpina) and Tiziano Bracci (Uberto) with mimed contributions from Gianni Salvo. The finale is spoken by Salvo alone (not silent this time) continuing the fiction that the audience has watched a rehearsal. I do not consider that the intermezzo needs either a prologue or finale.
 
Bracci has a smooth legato with a pleasing easy tone. It shines through constantly. However, either he holds himself back or he lacks the power, but rarely do we hear strong dynamics. His recitative in Ah! Poveretta lei is well delivered but in the aria he seems to lose volume, particularly with the orchestra playing too loud: that is until he comes down centre stage front and puts some ‘oomph’ into the sound.
 
The other problem is one of casting/make-up. Bracci has boy-ish good looks, which is fine for him: but without heavier make up it makes a nonsense of the idea that he helped bring up his maidservant from when she was a baby. This is not an old man: nor does he bluster or protest much even when describing things that drive him mad. In this production his is the ‘stand and deliver’ acting method which at least allows us to hear his gentle colouring. Bracci is a young man (accepting that four years have elapsed since this recording). With vocal nurturing and dramatic loosening he should go far.
 
Gabriella Colecchia has a dramatic lightness and sense of mischievous fun. She has better dynamics and a stronger sound than Bracci. She produces gentle vocal runs and leaps with security and produces colouring to match his. However, at forte and quicker speeds her voice from time to time develops a somewhat harsh sound and I am not convinced entirely that every note in her higher register was middled. That said this is a lively performance by another young singer. Vocally they interact deftly but his lack of dramatic responses gives her an uphill struggle to sustain the fun.
 
The orchestra is well paced if occasionally over-enthusiastic about the sound of their instruments. As Salvo reminds us in the finale, this setting of the libretto came some fifty years after Pergolesi set the same text in what is generally considered the better intermezzo. Pergolesi did not use wind instruments – perhaps with good reason.
 
Salvo’s miming in the intermezzo and parts of the prologue is superb. His experience shines through at all times – even if occasionally he seems to take over – but then he is stage director too.
 
The booklet usefully gives track numbers, names and lengths. There is also an interesting article by Rattalino. The DVD has an ‘Extras’ section including biographies of the personnel – with one or two revealing facts. An example is Colecchia’s statement of her special interest in Neapolitan music and her then studies refining her bel canto technique: so refreshing to read that in a biography – the recognition of which should also mean that she succeeds, securing a positive future.
 
As far as I am aware this is the only DVD of this intermezzo. Whilst it has its drawbacks, at a cost just into double figures, it is a modest price indeed to pay to watch an appealing performance.
 
Robert McKechnie
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.