Salieri
Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari
Mirco Palazzi, Marie Lys et al; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset
Aparté AP379 159 mins (2CD)
Clip: Salieri – Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari: Aria. Timur Quai grazie rendere a voi poss io
A rival to Mozart – and in many ways enjoying a more successful international career – Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) has suffered from damaging myths about spurious connections he is said to have had with the greater creative figure’s utimely death.
Salieri himself knew disaster when his Italian comic opera Cublai, gran Kan de’ Tartari was banned due to changes in the political landscape prior to its planned Viennese premiere in 1788.
A satirical work to a libretto by the estimable Giovanni Battista Casti making mockery of the Tsarist court in Asian disguise was clearly unsuitable at a time when Austria’s alliance with Russia was newly important due to the Austro-Turkish War.
The work was shelved, belatedly to be premiered in a German translation in Würzburg in 1998.
The premiere in the original Italian was given in 2024 by the company of the Theater an der
Wien, several members of the same cast finding their way into Christophe Rousset’s stylish studio recording involving the experienced Les Talens Lyriques.
To modern ears, Salieri may lack the genius of Mozart, but he was an immensely talented figure whose comedy proves sharp-edged in Casti’s text and regularly delightful in terms of the score itself, which is performed to the highest standards.
Leading the show is Mirco Palazzi as the wilful despot Kublai Khan himself: courtiers plotting for or against him (Fabio Capitanucci, Äneas Humm), his childish son (Lauranne Liva), young lovers (Marie Lys, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani) and Italian schemers (Giorgio Caudore, Ana Quintans) make up the rest of the characters in this colourful, crazy entertainment. George Hall