Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi bears little resemblance to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for a good reason; it's based not on the play but on a sixteenth century Italian story that Shakespeare also used source material. Librettist Felice Romani pared the story down to five characters and simplified the plot so that it is like Shakespeare's only in broadest outline. This recording, taken from a live 2008 Vienna performance, delivers fully on the promise of the era of bel canto: beautiful singing. Anna Netrebko is a ...
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Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi bears little resemblance to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for a good reason; it's based not on the play but on a sixteenth century Italian story that Shakespeare also used source material. Librettist Felice Romani pared the story down to five characters and simplified the plot so that it is like Shakespeare's only in broadest outline. This recording, taken from a live 2008 Vienna performance, delivers fully on the promise of the era of bel canto: beautiful singing. Anna Netrebko is a radiant Juliet. She soars over the orchestra and other singers with agility and grace, and her tone is unfailingly focused, fresh, and pure. She also brings a touching and convincing vulnerability to the role. Bellini wrote Romeo as a trouser role for mezzo-soprano (even though the practice had largely been abandoned at that point) because, having worked with the singers at La Fenice, where the work would have its premiere, he knew there was no tenor in the company who could adequately...
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![I Capuleti E I Montecchi [2 Cd]](https://www3.alibris-static.com/cover/m70659hy44t_t.jpg)
