L'elisir d'amore

Donizetti L'elisir d'amore opera to libretto by Felice Romani. Directed 2009 by Annabel Arden at Glyndebourne. Stars Ekaterina Siurina, Peter Auty, Alfredo Daza, Luciano di Pasquale, Eliana Pretorian, and James Bellorini. Maurizio Benini conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Leader Pieter Schoeman) and the Glyndebourne Chorus (Chorus Master Thomas Blunt). Designs by Lez Brotherston; lighting by Giuseppe Di Iorio; movement direction by Leah Hausman; TV direction by Robin Lough. Released 2010, this disc has 5.1 dts Master Audio. Grade: A

Non-stop beautiful song in funny but touching drama. All the stars sound, look, and act as they should. The design moves the setting from 1830 to 1930 in an Italian village where just about everybody was dirt poor but every girl had at least one pretty dress. Clever directing gets by with one detailed, realistic, and appealing set. I think Annabel Arden spent most of her budget on letting Leah Hausman (movement director) drill the Glyndebourne Chorus, which turns in the best sung, staged, and acted performance by a chorus that I can remember. All is lovingly, warmly, closely recorded to ravish eye and ear. This title gets an "A" for sure and is an "A+" for any bel canto fan. The L'OperaDou jury gave this an "A-." They are the toughest graders of all usually, so you know this is a good recording!