Riccardo Chailly has brought local repertoire to the fore in his two years at the helm of La Scala, and his first release as principal director of the Filarmonica della Scala, the opera house’s orchestra in symphonic attire, does just that. The current assortment of overtures, preludes, and intermezzos, taken from 13 Italian operas premiered in Milan (11 of them at La Scala and two at the Teatro Dal Verme), is arranged not chronologically but according to style, charting the shifting vogue from the Rossinian “slow-introduction-and-sonata-form” model to the freer atmospherics of the giovane scuola. It also shows the Filarmonica formidably at home in pretty varied repertoire.
Playing in the earlier style is nimble and lithe–the tone is set with the skittering opening Overture from Il finto Stanislao–and it brims with personality too, not least in a sultry Overture from Donizetti’s Ugo, conte di Parigi, featuring febrile violins, cantabile trumpets, and swarthy cello interjections. Chailly shapes the music like a master craftsman: take the beautifully-graded Overture to Norma where he pulls the rug from under our feet with a sweeping assai marcato. Full marks for later fare go to the diaphanous depiction of a Nagasaki dawn in Madama Butterfly (introducing Act 2, Part 2 or Act 3 depending on the version), which simultaneously realises Puccini’s myriad markings and sways more hypnotically than, say, Karajan’s more driven account from his 1987 recording of the opera.
There is just a sprinkling of filler in this largely killer selection–the exclusion of the Prelude from I Lombardi alla prima crociata would have been no great loss. Yet rare curiosities of value include a creepily acerbic Prelude from Giordano’s Siberia, and a stingingly fragile miniature from La Wally, Catalani’s tale of an Austrian Tyrol heroine. Old classics, such as an inebriating Dance of the Hours (in case we doubted the conductor has a sense of humour), prove equally worthy inclusions. Sonics are rich and full. Contrasting numbers are smartly ordered to provide flow. A stylish offering, and an assertive start to Chailly’s latest recording project.