Patrizia Ciofi first came to my attention singing in period
performances in the UK. But the extent of her versatility
became evident with the coverage of her singing of the title
role in La Traviata at the re-opening of La Fenice
in Venice in 2004. She has also, in recent years, been associated
with Opera Rara and recorded roles for them. Reading her
biography and listening to this pair of CDs, it become apparent
that Ciofi has nurtured a wide range of roles from early
on.
This selection of extracts from live recordings substantially
documents her long association with the Festival of Valle
dItria di Martina Franca. The festival is well known for
unearthing operatic rarities and on these discs we are treated
to quite a variety. To these Martina Franca recordings are
added other roles which Ciofi has undertaken in Italy, finishing
with an extract from the 2004 La Traviata. The result
gives us an attractive sampling from operas, most of which
are more or less rarities.
Ciofi has an attractive lyric voice with a high extension
which enables her to sing the more elaborate coloratura roles.
That she has an enviable facility with fancy passagework
is demonstrated repeatedly on these discs, and her acuti are
often beautifully floated. But how you react to her voice
will depend on how you view vibrato, because Ciofi's significant
vibrato becomes rather a factor in a number of the recordings.
If you listen to her singing the two arias from Piccini's L'Americano (recorded
in 1996) you hear her voice under admirable control with
the vibrato perfectly placed. It seems to have developed
over the years, but there is also the issue of different
recordings capturing it differently. Undoubtedly the Martina
Franca excerpts are rather variable in the way they highlight
the vibrato, in some it is perfectly acceptable and others
it is intrusive.
My emphasis on vibrato might be seen as unfair, but in some
of the roles on this disc Ciofi's voice has a slow vibrato
whose compass is a semi-tone or more, so that it is closer
to a trill. This is surely unsatisfactory in fast passage-work.
That her voice is essentially lyric is emphasised by the
Massenet excerpts where her voice seems to be entirely suitably
built for Massenets lovely lines. In the excerpts from Rossini's Otello her
singing of the Willow Song brings out the touching beauty
of the piece.
That said, her general control in the more elaborate pieces
is impressive and she comes over as a highly communicative
singer. Perhaps she is not as vivid as Caballé or
Callas, but she is well able to go far beyond simply singing
the notes. In the Meyerbeer excerpts, the aria Par le
rang et par lopulence shows how she can shape a line
and helps to explain exactly why she is so popular.
And some of the demands in these arias are fearsome. The
aria from Traetta's Ippolito e Aricia has a fearsome
tessitura which seems to give Ciofi very little pause. She
is similarly at ease in the more elaborate arias.
The presentation of the discs does not do the singer complete
justice. There is an informative article in the CD booklet
which describes Ciofi's career and her association with Martina
Franca. There are also some handsome pictures of Ciofi in
a number of the roles. But there are no texts and no synopses,
so that in the rarer items we have no idea what is going
on. Pieces such as Rossini's Otello, Donizetti's Pia
di Tolomei or La Fille du Régiment are
becoming more familiar. But Traetta's Ippolito e Aricia and
Piccini's L'Americana are real rarities and some help
is required in working out what is being sung. The booklet
also fails to identify the other singers who join with Ciofi
on some of the tracks.
The standard of orchestral contribution is variable; some
of the earlier Martina Franca recordings have moments of
questionable orchestral ensemble. None of these recordings
would be a candidate for the library, but at best they have
a vividness which comes from being live. They also have the
drawbacks, notably some rather over-enthusiastic audiences
with some pretty precipitate applause.
Robert Hugill
Performance details
Traetta
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia/David Golub
rec. Festival della Valle dItria, Martina
Franca (1999)
Meyerbeer
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia/Renato Palumbo
rec.
Festival della Valle dItria, Martina Franca (2000)
Rossini
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia/Paolo Arrivabeni
rec.
Festival della Valle dItria, Martina Franca (2000)
Piccini
Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia/Eric Hull
rec. Festival della Valle dItria, Martina Franca (1996)
Donizetti (DeTomomei)
Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice/Paolo Arrivabeni
rec. Teatro La Fenice, Venice (2005)
Donizetti (Egitto)
Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice/Emmanuel Villaume
rec. Teatro La Fenice, Venice (2007)
Donizetti (La Fille)
Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice/Riccardo Frizza
rec. Teatro Carlo Felice (2005)
Massenet
Orchestra of Teatro Lirico, Cagliari/Emmanuel Villaume
rec. Teatro Lirico, Cagliari (2006)
Verdi
Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice/Lorin Maazel
rec. Teatro La Fenice, Venice (2004)
Patrizia Ciofi (soprano)
