MASCAGNI - Isabeau

PIETRO MASCAGNI - ISABEAU

Isabeau - Lynne Strow-Piccolo
Ermynthrude - Jard van Nes
Ermyngarde - Wendela Brongeest
Giglietta - Anna Marangaki
Folco - Adriaan van Limpt
Re Raimondo - Henk Smit
Messer Cornelius - Tom Haenen
Il Cavaliere Faidit - Sjef Van Wersch
L'Araldo maggiore - Charles van Tassel
Un vegliardo - Sjef Van Wersch

Netherlands RSO 
Kees Bakels

Registrazione dal vivo / live recording, Utrecht 1982

"The performance is fine, and the recorded sound is vivid despite a balance which somewhat favours the voices. The singers do well, though, ironically, the only ‘big’ name comes last in the cast-list, Jard van Nes. Adriaan van Limpt, the Folco, had a career in The Netherlands that brought him (for instance) to sing with Sutherland in Norma; he has a good, firm voice with some ring to it and suitable fervour in the utterance. Lynn Strow-Piccolo was herself a Norma, and impresses here in the title-role as having the purity of voice for the character and a feeling for the Italian style of Mascagni’s period. The Netherlands Radio Choir would not be mistaken for an Italian opera-house chorus, but that is no criticism. They, and the orchestra, under Kees Bakels’s judicious direction, give an excellent account of themselves and of Mascagni’s hauntingly distinctive, second-rate score." (John Steane)