One of Italy’s more enterprising opera houses, Cagliari’s Teatro Lirico has in recent years staged Italian premieres of Wagner’s Die Feen and Tchaikovsky’s Cherevichki, and this performance was only the second Italian Dalibor. A good performance it is, too, led by Eva Urbanova, the Milada of the 1995 Supraphon conducted by Zdennk Kosler, and Valeri Popov in the title-role. Both can be drawn into rather noisy heroics by a score that encourages them from time to time with rash exhortations of con summa forza and so on, and towards the end Urbanova grows a little shrill while Popov, earlier somewhat free with the notes, harbours himself more carefully. But they sing sensitively together as love supplants enmity between them; among four short and unimportant cuts in the score, one is to positive advantage as Act 2 ends softly and raptly instead of (may Smetana’s ghost forgive me) with the original noisy climax.
There is a good performance from Dagmar Schellenberger as Jitka, though (may Smetana’s ghost forgive her) she is so pleased with her upper register that she once holds a high G for four whole bars rather than the composer’s preferred minim. There is an excellent Vladislav from Valeri Alexeiev, though Damir Basyrov’s Budivoj is somewhat rough and ready. As Benes, Jiri Kalendocsky gives a moving portrait of the kindly old gaoler, hating the burdens his profession places upon him, but bound in loyalty to it. He sings with simple warmth the line that so much appeals to his countrymen: ‘I know no Czech who doesn’t love music.’
Yoram David conducts a splendidly assured account of the score, though the recording loses too much of Smetana’s orchestral detail in favour of the singers. It is difficult to be sure about how the recording was managed, but the audibility of minor vocal gasps, while woodwind detail and even some of the crucial violin solo evoking the murdered Zdennk is at times forfeited, suggests that priorities about amplification have been got wrong. There is an artificial balance about it all. This set is not to be recommended above the Kosler Supraphon, but clearly (sometimes all too clearly) the Cagliari audience was enjoying the occasion, and one can understand why. The Supraphon translation has been much improved on, and there is a good essay by Jan Smaczny.'