The Cast

NELLO DELLA PIETRO
- Roberto Servile
PIA DE' TOLOMEI
- Majella Cullagh
RODRIGO DE' TOLOMEI
- Manuela Custer
GHINO DEGLI ARMIERI
- Bruce Ford
PIERO - Mirco Palazzi
BICE - Patrizia Biccire
LAMBERTO
- Marco Vinco
UBALDO - Mark Wilde
THE KEEPER OF THE TOWER OF SIENA
- Christopher Turner

Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
CONDUCTOR
- David Parry
Opera

'Arguably the most interesting character, in fact, is Ghino, a conflicted personality vividly created for Opera Rara by Bruce Ford, who invests every one of his statements with a sense of psychological fracture... Cullagh does something extraordinary in making a good character interesting, retaining at all times an essential inner warmth...

As usual, Opera Rara has investigated and recorded all available extra material produced by Donizetti for later revivals... this means that the Opera Rara release really does offer everything you wanted to know about Pia de' Tolomei, but were afraid to ask.'
Following the recording sessions there was a concert performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

The Guardian

'Majella Cullagh is technically staggering, pushing herself to her expressive limits in order to convey Pia's emotional and moral agony.'
Gramophone

'As always with Opera Rara productions, the booklet is a work of scholarship. Moreover, there is a third disc providing an invaluable bonus of alternative versions - Donizetti had endless trouble with the finale to Part 1 and revised several numbers (including the final scene to substitute the required happy ending) for Naples in 1838.

It is very well made, musically and dramatically; the score is full of ideas and it rises to the demands of each moment. You don't at first, perhaps, come away with much to remember, yet there is a special energy in that first finale. More tellingly, a special feeling emerges in the duet of Ghino's conversion: this is near to Verdi in its development. And the later solos of Nello ('Lei perduta') and Pia strike a depth. This is an opera which grows rather than diminishes with a deepening acquaintance.'