Opera Rara is this week committing another bel canto rarity to record. The label, devoted to the exploration and advocacy of lesser-known works of the era, is making the first studio recording of Donizetti’s Belisario, conducted by the label’s artistic director, Sir Mark Elder.

‘From the first moment I looked at the score, I was spellbound,’ said Elder. ‘Donizetti had worked his magic on me once again and it is a great privilege for me to create the first ever studio recording of this powerful opera.’

The recording is being made in Maida Vale studios this week, produced by Michael Haas. The cast features Italian baritone Nicola Alaimo in the lead role, as well as Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury, young Welsh soprano Camilla Roberts, bass Alastair Miles and tenor Russell Thomas. The sessions culminate in a performance at London’s Barbican on Sunday October 28, the first live collaboration between Opera Rara and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Reflecting on the work further, Elder said: ‘Of all the many operas of Donizetti that have still to reach a wide public, Belisario is undoubtedly one of the most significant. Its story, the ups and downs of a dysfunctional family at the time of the supremacy of the Roman Empire, gives rise to some wonderful situations for musical treatment. The characterisation of the four principal roles is very remarkable, and there are so many facets of this wonderful score that must have appealed to the young Verdi, in particular the title role is written for a baritone and, in many moments, we are reminded of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.

‘Like Boccanegra, Belisario has no solo scene or aria. But, nevertheless, in his many duets, trios and even a quartet, he is an immensely appealing figure. The opera charts the moment of his greatest triumph as the Emperor Giustiniano’s most famous general, through the condemnation of his wife, his barbaric blinding, his long march into exile, accompanied by his young daughter to his tragic death.

‘Throughout the score Donizetti’s music amply reflects the different moods of this family’s painful journey right until the final scene in which his wife Antonina tries to beg for his forgiveness but is rewarded by his death.’
 
The recording is due for release at the end of 2013, and will be broadcast prior to that on BBC Radio 3. Look out nearer the time for an article in Gramophone about the project.