Don Gregorio/L'elisir D'amore: Bergamo Music Festival (2007)

A double-bill of Donizetti operas recorded at the Bergamo Music Festival in 2007. Director Roberto Recchia sets 'Don Gregorio' in the 1920s, a time which mirrors in many ways the political and social conditions prevailing when the piece was originally written. Spoken dialogues in the Neapolitan dialect are used in place of the recitatives, but Donizetti's music remains unchanged. The characters in this comic opera are inspired by the Italian Commedia dell'Arte. In 'L'elisir d'amore', conductor Alessandro De Marchi allows the comedic aspects of the work to be exploited fully by the cast, which includes Silvia Dalla Benetta, Raul Hernandez and Alex Esposito.