COMPOSERS: Donizetti
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Lucia di Lammermoor
PERFORMER: Andrea Rost & Bruce Ford London Voices & The Hanover Band/Sir Charles Mackerras
CATALOGUE NO: 88697575932
I had high hopes for Sir Charles Mackerras’s performing edition of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor; would we get the glass harmonica which was the star of the recent English National Opera production? Sadly not, since it was jettisoned before the premiere; so instead the flute plays cat and mouse with a not over-charismatic madwoman, Andrea Rost. There’s stylish work, though, from Bruce Ford, Anthony Michaels-Moore and Alastair Miles, and the authentic cut and thrust are undeniable. David Nice