CD REVIEWS

Giordano Cavagnino, GB Opera Magazine (09/06/2018)

“Repušić looks to Puccini’s work with a Mittel-European sensitivity almost to recover the original Viennese destination. A vision that knows how to exploit the dancing rhythms that dominate the first two acts – and first of all his majesty the waltz – not as a simple element of sound environment but as a precise narrative instrument according to a purely Viennese perspective but not improper in this writing. Furthermore, Repušić is not afraid of letting himself go when the moment requires it and is not afraid of letting a popular energy break in to give more substance to an elegance that could in the long run fade away.”

Jürgen Gahre, Das Opernglas (May / 2018)

“Ivan Repušić shows great delicacy when dealing with this fragile music that can easily slide into shallowness or irrelevance when it is not played with the necessary seriousness and genuine enthusiasm for Puccini’s score. However, his conducting lets the lyrical passages, such as Chi il bel sogno di Doretta or L’anima mia che solo tu conosci, unfold poetically, lends the hustle and bustle at Bullier’s a fascinating lightness and rhythmic swing, and renders the lovers’ separation with a fine sense of great emotions and tonal nuances. The Munich Radio Orchestra proves to be a reliable and sensitive partner.”

*Note: The article is available on demand

Benjamin Künzel, Klassik.com (18/11/2017)

“The conductor strikes a fine balance between the smooth Puccini pathos and the necessary lightness with which this quiet tragedy takes its course. Repušić does not drive this musically exciting hotchpotch opus in a certain direction, but takes advantage of the fragility of the score.”