Opera: "Orlando Furioso" (1978)

Grandiose Baroque opera by composer who is today remembered for his other works but in his time he wrote tons of it, judging by constantly unearthed new discoveries of "new Vivaldi opera". What adds to confusion is that Red Priest himself heavily recycled music composed earlier and mixed it whenever he thought fitted in.

"Orlando Furioso" story is ridiculous indeed, even for the music genre where we are supposed not to take it literally - magic and madness, passion, fireworks and what not - don't even bother to understand what's going on and focus on a music instead. Unfortunately there are tons of "recitatives" that tend to heavily over-balance the whole work and than,if listener still have patience, there are some brilliant arias worth suffering trough it all. The very first time I heard this, I simply selected favorite arias and made my own tape with it, that I loved and enjoyed until found CD with highlights which was basically the same idea. 

"General Horne" is excellent - she explodes in a very first aria "Nel Profondo" with fierce attack that I found unforgettable, this is how I got to know Marilyn Horne. But the rest of the cast is nothing to complain about -  Victoria de los Angeles, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Carmen Gonzales and special mention wonderful tenor Lajos Kozma who in my opinion got some of the most beautiful pieces of music here. And of course there is baritone Sesto Bruscantini who sings "Sol da te mio dolce amore" with that magical flute introduction, really worth listening the whole opera because of this moment.

In short, clumsy opera where way too many recitatives hide some truly inspired and magnificent baroque music - the recording was for many years unsurpassed and without competition until, surprisingly, new version came along in 2005 (by conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi) and believe it or not, it's equally great though it doesn't have Marilyn Horne. But it shows that music still lives on with younger generations. I really love this, though in heavily shortened version. When I listen "Orlando Furioso" it's always without recitatives.