Sardanapalo, has been released under the audite label, and is now available worldwide.
https://www.audite.de/en/product/CD/97764-mazeppa_sardanapalo.html
Franz Liszt never finished his mature opera Sardanapalo. Now 170 years old, the first act refracts the world of mid 19th-century opera through the prism of Liszt’s unmistakable voice. Kirill Karabits conducts the Weimar Staatskapelle: Liszt’s orchestra in the city in which he composed the opera. The superb cast of singers of this premiere recording consists of Airam Hernández, Joyce El-Khoury and Oleksandr Pushniak.
The Sardanapalo manuscript comprises the first act. For 170 years the material lay dormant in the Goethe and Schiller archive in Weimar: it was only in 2017 that David Trippett deciphered, edited and orchestrated the manuscript at the University of Cambridge.
Gramophone magazine said “Airam Hernández sounds noble and ardent in the title role, wooing El-Khoury with fierce insistence and responding to Beleso with assertive dignity.”
“…the Spanish tenor Airam Hernández convinces in the title role of Sardanapalo, for which he stepped in at short notice after Charles Castronovo falls ill. In just two days he learned this very demanding part from the situation and dramatic disposition. Similar to the “unsingable” Meyerbeer operas, the hero here must be able to demonstrate dramatic power and smash metallic highs, as well as being subtle and flexible enough for ornaments.” Ingobert Waltenberger, Online Merker
FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886): SARDANAPALO
Act I, Scenes 1-4, S. 687 (unfinished opera), edited and orchestrated by David Trippett
Airam Hernández, Sardanapalo
Joyce El-Khoury, Mirra
Oleksandr Pushniak, Beleso
Opera Chorus Nationaltheater Weimar
Staatskapelle Weimar
Kirill Karabits
Recording: August 17 – 20, 2018 in Weimar, Germany.
