Michael Spyres (Vasco da Gama), Claudia Mahnke (Sélika), Brian Mulligan (Nélusko), Andreas Bauer Kanabas (Don Pédro), Thomas Faulkner (Don Diego), Kirsten MacKinnon (Ines), Bianca Andrew (Anna), Michael McCown (Don Alvar)
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Chor der Oper Frankfurt, Antonello Manacorda
At a late stage in its composition Meyerbeer changed the name of his opera L’Africaine to Vasco da Gama and completed it the day before he died in 1864. Changes were then made by the Belgian musicologist and composer François-Joseph Fétis who prepared a performing version from the extensive score material, retaining the title L’Africaine, before the opera’s premiere in April 1865. The plot concerns the famed Portuguese navigator and his series of love entanglements cast as a magnificent grand opéra. This production is based on the critical edition of the full score and reflects Meyerbeer’s original intentions.
What has kept the piece in the repertoire is singing and it’s the cast that make this new recording, with Michael Spyres every inch the heroic explorer Vasco de Gama...He dominates the Act 1 finale with a ringing top that could launch an expeditionary fleet singlehanded...All credit too to conductor Antonello Manacorda for steering so straight a course through all five acts.
The performance is wonderful and the cast is up to Meyerbeer’s punishing vocal demands…[MacKinnon’s] soprano is clear and flexible… Manacorda conducts with a great sense of structure, but also highlighting the delicacy of much of Meyerbeer’s scoring.
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