Il Re & Mese Mariano (Giordano)

Dynamic #231
Il Re: Patrizia Ciofi (Rosalina), Nicolas Rivenq (Il re), Francesco Paolo Panni (Colombello), Maria Miccoli (La moglie del mugnaio);
Mese Mariano: Patrizia Ciofi (Carmela), Rossella Ressa (La Contessa), Giacomo Rocchetti (Don Fabiano), Maria Miccoli (La Superiora); Renato Palumbo (conductor), Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia.
Recorded "live" at Martina Franca, August 1998 (XXIV Festival della Valle d'Itria); released April 1999.
REVIEWS:

"Il Re is an hour long comedy about a young woman, Rosalina, betrothed to Colombello. One day she spots the King in all his finery and falls in love with him, calling off the wedding to Colombello. Through some machinations, she gets to meet the king in his chamber, but when he removes his crown and splendid garments, she realizes he is just an old man and returns to Colombello. The score is colorful and witty and Rosalina is written well, for a coloratura soprano with great expression, and Ciofi fits the bill. [...]Mese Mariano is a 35 minute work with a plot redolent of Puccini's Suor Angelica - Carmela, a poor woman, was forced to give up her illegitimate child, who was later adopted by the church orphanage. [...] This amazingly saccharine tale is not as cloying to hear as to describe, and is quite moving in its simplicity. Patrizia Ciofi, with the only juicy role (Carmela) is very fine; the others back her up well." Classics Today

"...Patrizia Ciofi, who sings the coloratura-happy Rosalina in Il re and the purely lyrical mother, Carmela, in Mese Mariano: highly creditable in both." Gramophone

"[Rosalina]...un astrale ruolo di soprano di coloratura che sta tra l'uccellino wagneriano (Sigfrido), la Zerbinetta di Strauss e ricordi d'un belcantismo preromantico. Il ruolo corrisponde al personaggio d'una bambinaccia finto-ingenua, alla Claudine. Patrizia Ciofi ha sgranato, ma con liquida leggerezza, gli algidi virtuosismi nel mentre la recitazione attingeva una perfezione quasi perversa." Corriere della Serra 17-Aug-98

Reviews also appeared in the following publications:
Gramophone - December 1999 p.121, p.124
Opéra International - novembre 1999 No.240 p.63
Répertoire - No.130 décembre 1999 p.52
L'opera (Milano) - Anno XIV N.137 febbraio 2000 p.87
Opera Actual (Barcelona) - No.38 marzo-abril 2000 p.94