ヴェルディ: 歌劇「アイーダ」

スペクタクルなドラマを描いたアントニオ・パッパーノ、ヨナス・カウフマンらによる圧倒的な名演奏が、Home of Opera シリーズで再発売

イタリアをルーツにもつ人気指揮者アントニオ・パッパーノと、イタリア最高峰オケが2015年録音したヴェルディの最高傑作のオペラ「アイーダ」全曲のスタジオ録音。この20年で大規模なオペラのスタジオ録音がすっかり姿を消す中、久々の大がかりな録音となり、世界中で「現代における最高のアイーダ演奏」となった演奏です。なんといっても、美しい舞台姿と力強い歌声で活躍中のソプラノのアニヤ・ハルテロス、世界的な人気を不動のものとするテノールのヨナス・カウフマンが起用され、古代エジプトとエチオピアの両国に引き裂かれた男女の悲恋をえがいたスペクタクルなドラマの、圧倒的な名唱・演奏・解釈です。
2015年発売時の歌詞・対訳付豪華パッケージ版は生産中止となっており、対訳は付きませんが、元々CD3枚組からCD2枚組に収め、ホーム・オブ・オペラ・シリーズとして再発売となります。
ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン

This recording of Verdi's Aida makes a good impression even before the first bit of information meets the laser. It's a non-live recording of an opera, in a time when those were thought to belong to the past. It features the hottest Italian opera conductor, Antonio Pappano, whose fame has apparently reached such levels that he needs only his surname in the cover graphics, along with veteran Italian instrumental forces who know the music almost by heart. The vocal stars, however, are from outside Italy, and part of the appeal of Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann is that when you do get into the music is that they seem to approach the score fresh; although both are certainly competent in Italian music, neither has had much contact with Aida in the past. The recorded sound is captured in the new Renzo Piano-designed Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and it turns out to be splendid, right from the orchestral prologue that is tantalizingly shaped by Pappano in a way that wouldn't be as vivid in a live recording. The bottom line is that the recording justifies the high expectations. You can believe Harteros in her varied moods of nostalgia for home, grief, and undying love, and Kaufmann's set pieces are, as usual, marvelous exemplars of pure technique. The supporting cast, notably Ekaterina Semenchuk as Amneris and bass Erwin Schrott as the slightly over-the-edge High Priest Ramfis, is uniformly strong. This is state-of-the-art Verdi, musically, sonically, and vocally, and for a lot of listeners it's going to be the new Aida they've been waiting for.