Giuseppe Verdi: Attila (2CDs, Br-Klassik)

After Giuseppe Verdi’s Luisa Miller, with whom Ivan Repu i made his debut as chief conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra in September 2017, and I due Foscari from October 2018, his successful cycle of early masterpieces by the Italian opera composer now continues with Attila. In the recording of the concert performance from the Prinzregententheater, excellent interpreters ensure authentic aura and vocal sound. A highlight of Munich’s musical life from the end of last year is now being released on BR-KLASSIK as a double CD. Like the previous Nabucco and I Lombardi, Verdi’s early masterpiece Attila is a veritable choral opera that was enthusiastically received by the Italian unification movement. Thematically, too, it ties in with the efforts of the Risorgimento in torn Italy. The line of text Avrai tu l universo, resti l Italia a me. (You may have the universe, but leave Italy to me.) Was enthusiastically received right from the start and helped pave the way for opera on the stages of Italy and Europe. Not only the audience of the Habsburg ruled Venice, at whose Teatro La Fenice the world premiere was presented, understood the meaning of these words. Hardly any other opera by Verdi was received with such euphoria in Italy; abroad, of course, the work could not achieve a long-lasting reception, which may also have been due to the extremely difficult role of Odabella. The concert performance (in Italian original language) brought the audience to unanimous cheers and was equally enthusiastically praised by the specialist press. There was repeated talk of a song festival; the vocal culture as well as the interpretive achievements of Ildebrando D Arcangelo and Liudmyla Monastyrska were described with many pictorial adjectives. The Bavarian Radio Choir, it was said, had expressed its delight in the theatrical effect. The dramatic and dramaturgical context that Ivan Repu i’s conducting at the podium of the Munich Radio Orchestra was able to establish was repeatedly recognized. This Attila is a real theatrical Verdi: vital and powerful, fiery and extremely lively.