Eleonora Buratto’s first solo album has been released. Long gone are the days when emerging artists signed an important contract and released a ‘sampler’ album in their 20s. The 43-year-old soprano has had to wait, whereas there are many recordings and videos of her available, but all ‘live’.
Indomita (Indomitable) features a selection of works by Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. It was recorded last summer with the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.
Buratto explains her choice of repertoire:
I am an Italian singer, and have built my career in line with the natural inclination of my vocality, very cautiously, and with great respect for the style, the composers and the operas in which our history is grounded. I worship Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, independently of the opportunities I have had or will have to perform on stage in their operas.
For this reason, in my opinion, my first album “had to” start from those roots which are most meaningful to me, passed on to me by my teachers, and which I have admired in the great singers of the past. It made my choice of programme easier – I wanted to present some of the great scenes from operas which I have already brought to the stage, or am about to soon. It was this challenge that prompted the title of the CD, Indomita, because each of the protagonists to whom I have lent my voice is an indomitable heroine and woman.
Those women are Imogene, Imogene, Anna Bolena, Lucrezia Borgia, Lucrezia Contarini and Mina from three composers: Bellini’s Il pirata (1827); Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (1830) and Lucrezia Borgia (1833); and Verdi’s I due Foscari (1844) and Aroldo (1857).
Nicola Cattò, in his booklet notes for the album, says:
To understand the programme assembled by Eleonora Buratto for this recital album, one must refer to a vocal classification created in 1949 for Maria Callas: the soprano drammatico d’agilità (dramatic, agile soprano), in reference to the Italian bel canto repertoire (in both a narrow and broad sense).
This definition is in itself incorrect: any soprano, at least up until the mid-1800s, possessed a more or less complete command of agile singing in her vocal technique, which was one of the hallmarks of Italian opera composition from the 1600s until at least 1850. This applied to both light sopranos and those tackling more demanding repertoire.
Concerning the title, Indomita, Buratto amusingly adds:
It is a fitting description of me but, faced with the greatness of the music I am singing here, it seems slightly presumptuous. And since I am not presumptuous, this for me is the recording of the ‘Indomitables’… of Imogene, Bolena, Borgia, Contarini, and of Mina.
Indomita was made with support from the Fondazione Paolo e Carolina Zani and released on Pentatone.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.