Joyce and Tony live at Wigmore Hall (Joyce DiDonato and Antonio Pappano)

Johns, S. (2015) Joyce and Tony live at Wigmore Hall (Joyce DiDonato and Antonio Pappano). [Audio]

Abstract

Produced by Stephen Johns. Joyce DiDonato and Antonio Pappano – at the piano rather than the podium – opened the 2014-15 season at London’s Wigmore Hall with a dazzling programme of song devoted to the duo's American and Italian connections. The first item was Haydn’s dramatic cantata Arianna a Naxos (which, back in 2003, also launched DiDonato’s debut recital at Wigmore Hall). Then come two songs by a composer who has played a defining role in Joyce DiDonato’s operatic career – Rossini, and four luscious late-Romantic numbers written in 1908 by the little-known Neapolitan composer Francesco Santoliquido. In the second half of the programme, the pair shift gears effortlessly for a sparkling set from the Great American Songbook and beyond. Recorded live on this 2-CD set, the two artists were hailed by The Times as “mezzo diva supreme” and “golden maestro and piano accompanist to the stars”.

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