TRACKLISTING
CD 1

Overture
Act One
Act Two

CD 2

Act Three
Act Four

RECORDING INFORMATION
The final release of the Viva Verdi year is this new Philips recording of Aroldo with a glittering array of star singers.

The cast of Aroldo is led by three very well-known Verdi singers; soprano Carol Vaness, tenor Neil Shicoff and bass Roberto Scandiuzzi. As with the previous two Philips Verdi operas this year (Alzira and Jérusalem), the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino are conducted by Fabio Luisi.

Aroldo is Verdi's re-working of his opera Stiffelio which proved too shocking for the public and the censors when first performed. Though both operas share many features, the entire last act of Aroldo (which is set in Scotland, on the banks of Loch Lomond) was newly composed and contains much great music, including a storm scene to rival the great storm in Rigoletto. In Stiffelio the Protestant priest forgives his wife who has been unfaithful during his long absence. In the revised version it is the Saxon knight Aroldo who returns from the crusades to find his wife has betrayed him with the knight Godvino, though he too eventually forgives her in the deeply felt final scene.

For more information about Viva-Verdi please go to www.viva-verdi.com