Dallapiccola - Il Prigioniero, etc review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week

The Guardian 80

Chiuri/Rügamer/Nagy/Danish National Choir & SO/Noseda
(Chandos)
The Italian composer’s lyrical yet economical drama confirms its status as one of the finest short stage works of the 20th century

Luigi Dallapiccola composed four stage works. One of them, the “sacred representation” Job, has hardly been heard since its premiere 70 years ago, while his only full-length opera Ulisse, first performed in 1968, remains one of the 20th-century’s great neglected masterpieces. Then there are Dallapiccola’s two one-acters – Volo di Notte (Night Flight), based upon Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella, and Il Prigioniero (The Prisoner) – and it’s the second of those, first staged in 1950, that has established itself as one of the finest short operas in the 20th-century repertory.