Verdi: Aida Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia & Antonio Pappano

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Aida, Preludio
• 1Preludio03:37
• Aida, Act 1
• 2Sì: corre voce che l'Etiope ardisca (Ramfis, Radamès)02:13
• 3Se quel guerrier io fossi! (Radamès)00:59
• 4Celeste Aida (Radamès)03:46
• 5Quale insolita gioia nel tuo sguardo! (Amneris, Radamès)03:12
• 6Vieni, o diletta, appressati (Amneris, Aida, Radamès)02:44
• 7Alta cagion v'aduna (King, Messenger, Radamès, Ramfis, Priests, Ministers, Captains, Aida)03:21
• 8Su! del Nilo al sacro lido (King, Ramfis, Ministers, Captains, Aida, Radamès, Amneris, Priests, Messenger)02:59
• 9Ritorna vincitor! (Aida)06:43
• 10Possente, possente Fthà (Verdi: Aïda, Act 1: 'Possente, possente Fthà' (High Priestess, Ramfis, Priests, Priestesses)03:21
• 11Sacred dance of the Priestesses (Priestesses, Ramfis, Priests)02:15
• 12Mortal, diletto ai Numi (Ramfis, Priests)01:06
• 13Nume custode e vindice (Ramfis, Radamès, Priests, Priestesses)04:13
• Aida, Act 2
• 14Chi mai fra gl'inni e I plausi (Slaves, Amneris)03:01
• 15Dance of the Moorish slaves01:28
• 16Vieni: sul, crin ti piovano (Slaves, Amneris)01:37
• 17Fu la sorte dell'armi a' tuoi funesta (Amneris, Aida)05:01
• 18Pietà ti prenda del mio dolor (Aida, Amneris)01:41
• 19Su! del del Nilo a sacro lido (Chorus, Amneris, Aida)02:44
• 20Gloria all'Egitto, ad Iside (Chorus, Priests)03:25
• 21Triumphal march01:35
• 22Ballet04:23
• 23Vieni, o guerriero vindice (Chorus, Priests)02:24
• 24Salvator della patria (King, Radamès, Ramfis, Priests)02:10
• 25Che veggo! Egli? Mio padre! (Aida, Amneris, Radamès, Ramfis, King, Priests, Chorus, Amonasro)01:57
• 26Ma tu, Re, tu signore possente (Amonasro, Aida, Slaves, Prisoners, Ramfis, Priests, Amneris, King, Radamès)03:49
• 27O Re, pei sacri numi (Radamès, King, Amneris,Priests, Chorus, Ramfis)02:16
• 28Gloria all' Egitto, ad Iside (King,Slaves, Prisoners, Chorus, Ramfis, Priests, Aida, Radamès, Amneris, Amonasro)03:04
• Aida, Act 3
• 29O tu che sei d'Osiride (Priests, Priestesses)02:42
• 30Vieni d'Iside al tempio (Ramfis, Amneris, Priests, Priestesses)02:17
• 31Qui Radamès verrà! (Aida)01:34
• 32O patria mia (Aida)05:17
• 33Ciel! mio padre! (Aida, Amonasro)01:11
• 34Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate (Amonasro, Aida)01:39
• 35In armi ora si desta il popol nostro (Amonasro, Aida)02:46
• 36Padre! a costoro schiava non sono (Amonasro, Aida)02:38
• 37Pur ti riveggo, mia dolce Aida (Radamès, Aida)01:19
• 38Nel fiero anelito di nuova guerra (Radamès, Aida)01:46
• 39Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti... Là, tra foreste vergini (Aida, Radames)06:02
• 40Ma, dimmi: per qual via (Aida, Radamès, Amonasro, Amneris, Ramfis)03:25
• Aida, Act 4
• 41L'abborrita rivale a me sfuggia (Amneris)02:37
• 42Già i sacerdoti adunansi (Amneris, Radamès)02:47
• 43Ah! tu dei vivere! (Amneris, Radamès)04:28
• 44Ohimè! morir mi sento! (Amneris)02:13
• 45Spirto del nume, sovra noi discendi! (Ramfis, Priests, Amneris)01:53
• 46Radamès, Radamès, Radamès (Ramfis, Priests, Amneris)03:50
• 47A lui vivo, la tomba! (Amneris, Ramfis, Priests)03:12
• 48La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse (Radamès, Aida)02:32
• 49Presago il core della tua condanna (Aida, Radamès)02:12
• 50Vedi? di morte l'angelo (Aida, Priests, Priestesses, Radamès)01:45
• 51O terra, addio (Aida, Radamès, Priests, Priestesses, Amneris)04:54
• Total Runtime02:26:03

Info for Verdi: Aida

This magnificent recording of Aida, made in Rome, rises to all the musical and dramatic challenges presented by Verdi’s richly-coloured Egyptian epic. Antonio Pappano, once again proving his mastery of Italian opera, moves between sumptuous grandeur and touching intimacy. The responses of the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia are both immediate and vibrant, while the singers – Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier and Erwin Schrott – do justice to every facet of their roles.

Maestro Antonio Pappano became music director of these Rome-based ensembles in 2005 – and has recorded Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with them – but this version of Verdi’s Egyptian-set masterpiece will inevitably represent a landmark. Aida, after all, has a reputation as one of the grandest works in the repertoire, and studio recordings of large-scale operas have become something of a rarity over the past 20 years. The New York Times has predicted that “this will surely rank as one of the most prestigious recording projects of the year.”

The recording was made in February 2015 in the Auditorium of Rome’s Parco della Musica – a superb 2800-seat concert hall, designed by Renzo Piano. The venue was able to accommodate all the spatial effects (such as off-stage chorus and woodwind/brass banda) that Verdi built into his score, and the producer, Stephen Johns, could evoke towering temples and echoing tombs without recourse to electronic trickery.

Antonio Pappano feels that, as conductor, his role is “to become the stage director creating an imaginary production, which is built with the forces and space that you have at your disposal.” He emphasises that, for all its grandeur, particularly in the spectacular Triumphal Scene that closes Act II, Aida is “an intimate piece ... but the intimacy is placed in large spaces.” When it comes to creating Verdi’s richly-coloured sound world, he believes that the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has “the ideal sound – the cantabilità [singing quality], the drama.”

Pappano has chosen singers who can bring both soaring power and lyrical subtlety to their roles: Anja Harteros as the captive Ethopian princess Aida, Jonas Kaufmann as the Egyptian general Radamès, Ekaterina Semenchuk as the Egyptian princess Amneris, Ludovic Tézier as Aida’s father, the Ethopian king, Amonasro, Erwin Schrott as the implacable high priest Ramfis and Marco Spotti as the King of Egypt.

Shortly after the recording was completed, Pappano conducted a concert performance of Aida with the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the same line-up of principal singers. The sold-out event duly attracted critics from all over the world.

“This would always have been an event, a major (in several senses) studio opera recording. But it's also a performance absolutely worthy of the attention, and a superb addition to the catalogue.” (Gramophone Magazine)

Anja Harteros, soprano (Aida)
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor (Radames)
Ekaterina Semenchuk, mezzosoprano (Amneris)
Erwin Schrott, bass baritone (Ramfis)
Ludovic Tezier, baritone (Amonasro)
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Antonio Pappano, conductor

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world. Officially founded in 1585, it has evolved over the centuries from an organization of largely "local" musicians to a modern academy and symphonic concert organization of international repute. Uniting an academic body of 100 of the most illustrious exponents of culture and music with a symphonic orchestra and chorus that are among the most internationally renowned, the Accademia carries out professional musical training and conserves an extremely rich historical patrimony, thus reflecting its own multi-century history.

Antonio Pappano
Currently Music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Antonio Pappano was born in London of Italian parents. At the age of 13 he moved with his family to the United States, where he continued his studies in piano, composition and conducting. Work as a repetiteur and assistant conductor rapidly led to his engagement in theatres throughout the world: New York City Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu (Barcelona), Frankfurt Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Bayreuth Festival, where he was assistant to Daniel Barenboim for Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and the Der Ring des Nibelungen.

In 1987 Pappano made his debut as an opera conductor with La Bohème at Den Norske Opera in Oslo and was appointed Music Director there in 1990. During this period, he also made his conducting debuts at Covent Garden (La Bohème, June 1990), English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet and Berlin Staatsoper.

At the age of 32 Pappano was named Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and remained in this post for ten years. In 1993, Pappano made a notable debut at the Vienna Staatsoper, replacing Christoph von Dohnànyi at the last minute in a new production of Wagner’s Siegfried, for which he received unanimous acclaim. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1997 with a new production of Eugene Onegin and in 1999 at the Bayreuth Festspiele conducting a new production of Lohengrin. From 1997 – 99 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Phiharmonic Orchestra.

Pappano has also conducted the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Münchner Philharmonie, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestra de Paris.

He has recorded Don Carlo for EMI Classics (CD and DVD, which received the “Performance of Year Award” from Gramophone) as well as La Bohème, Guillaume Tell, La Rondine (awarded Best Recording of the Year by Gramophone Magazine), Il Trittico, Massenet’s Werther and Manon, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Il Trovatore, Tristan und Isolde and the Verdi Requiem. His orchestral recordings with the orchestra of Santa Cecilia include Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 and Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, Rossini’s Stabat Mater (“Editor’s Choice Award” from Gramophone) and he has also partnered Hanna Chang, Leif Ove Andsnes and Maxim Vengerov in concerto recordings and Ian Bostridge in recital. Antonio Pappano’s Roman orchestra, the Academia di Santa Cecilia, have won Critics’ Choice at the Classical BRIT Awards for their recording of the Verdi Requiem. A more complete discography can be found on the IMG Artists website.

He was awarded ‘Artist of the Year 2000’ by Gramophone, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award 2004. In May 2012 Antonio Pappano was made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce by of the Republic of Italy. He was recently awarded the Bruno Walter prize by the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris.

In recent seasons, Antonio Pappano made his operatic debut at the Salzburg Festival (Don Carlo) and the Teatro alla Scala (Les Troyens) as well as new productions of Parsifal, Les Vêpres Siciliennes and Manon Lescaut at the Royal Opera House.

This coming season, he conducts both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia on tours in Europe and Japan. At the Royal Opera House, he conducts new productions of Guillaume Tell and King Roger.

In January 2012 Antonio Pappano received a Knighthood for his services to music.

Booklet for Verdi: Aida