Joseph Mechavich, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra & Florentine Opera Company Floyd Wuthering Heights An Opera In Three Acts (2 Hybrid Multi-Channel & Stereo SACD)

World Premiere Recording!
Although Carlisle Floyd's operas are among the most frequently performed operas by American composers, some of his works have not been commercially available until now. His opera Wuthering Heights, based on the world-famous novel by Emily Brontë, premiered in Santa Fe in 1958, but was never recorded for commercial use until the first recording of the long-neglected masterpiece was made in 2015.
With the composer at their side as artistic advisor, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Joseph Mechavich and the singers of the Florentine Opera Company recorded Wuthering Heights in January 2015. Recording and mastering was done by the renowned Soundmirror team, whose outstanding orchestral, solo, opera and chamber music recordings have received over 70 Grammy nominations and awards. Just in time for Carlisle Floyd's 90th birthday in June 2016, Reference Recordings released this extremely successful recording and Wuthering Heights is finally available on record for the first time.
The double hybrid multicannel SACD set also contains the entire libretto of the opera as a booklet.
Wuthering Heights the album is based on the classic English novel by Emily Brontë. This release is a World Premiere Recording! The Grammy®-winning Florentine Opera Company (based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), brings American opera composer Carlisle Floyd's 1958 operatic masterpiece to life. Floyd's score takes you to the heart of Catherine and Heathcliff's devastating love story.
Carlisle Floyd wrote a wonderful libretto that is very faithful to the beloved novel. Floyd's melodic and exciting score is extremely accessible and lovely. The engineering team at Soundmirror have made an outstanding quad (256) DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording, which Reference Recordings' Prof. Keith Johnson endorses highly!
"Maestro Joseph Mechavich leads his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the choral forces of the Florentine Opera Company, one of America’s oldest such vocal organizations, in a precedent setting performance that will make listeners unfamiliar with this work sit up and take notice. Composer (Carlisle) Floyd writes beautiful vocal lines and the cast led by stunning soprano Jarman takes full advantage of them. Vocal colleagues Markgraf, Rideout, Buck, and Shelton provide excellent support and credible recreations of their characters. Veteran mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer turns in a great rendition of the old serving woman Nelly Dean... Like Carlisle Floyd’s big hit Susannah, the star soprano gets a virtuosic monologue in Act II that sums up, with an economy of words and music, her deep feelings for Heathcliff: “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." This recorded première may finally set the operatic record straight regarding Wuthering Heights, particularly with a cast as good as this one. Audio values are tops and I doubt that we will get a better recording of this neglected masterpiece any time soon. Highly recommended!" - Lawrence Devoe, TheaterByte

Features:

• 2-Disc
• Super Audio CD
• SACD 5.1 Multi-Channel SACD Layer
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
• Mastered at Soundmirror
• Includes printed libretto

Musicians:

• Florentine Opera Company
• Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Joseph Mechavich, conductor

Selections:

Carlisle Floyd (1926-)
Wuthering Heights
Disc 1
1. Prologue
2. Scene One
3. Scene Two
4. Act Two: Scene One
5. Act Two: Interlude
6. Act Two: Scene Two
Disc 2:
1. Act Two: Scene Two - Part II
2. Act Three: Scene One
3. Act Three: Scene Two
4. Act Three: Scene Three