Giordano: Marina album review – a fascinating resurrection of an unsung early opera

Buratto/De Tommaso/Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali/Milletarì (Decca) The long-lost score, finally premiered 138 years after it was written, brims with melodic promise despite its dramatic shortcomings It was a bold move by the 21-year-old Umberto Giordano to enter the 1888 one-act opera competition won by Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. Marina, set in Montenegro during an unspecified conflict with Serbia, came sixth, the score languishing until 2026, when it received its belated premiere at M...

By Clive Paget