Amor, vida de mi vida: Zarzuelas with Placido Domingo and Ana María Martínez

Anyone interested in sampling the traditional Spanish form of opera/operetta called the zarzuela could do far worse than this title, which offers a variety of arias and duets performed at a concert during the 2007 Salzburg Festival. All of the pieces date from the 20th century (representing the Romantic zarzuela; the form was also used during the Baroque era, but none of those are included here), from composers—Chueca, Torroba, Carné, Serrano, Otero, Bellido, Penella, Sorozábal, Chapí, and Lecuona—who are hardly household names. But all of the selections are well-constructed (with much of the richness of Italian opera of the same period) and beautifully performed by Placido Domingo (a longtime advocate of the zarzuela), whose clarion tenor has barely dimmed with age, and his lovely, vocally agile partner Ana María Martínez. The accompaniments are played by the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg—a group unlikely to be well acquainted with these scores, but conductor Jesús López Cobos has the music in his bones, effectively transmitting its spirit to the musicians, whose dexterity is highlighted in a couple of instrumental interludes composed by Manuel de Falla. The final encore, from Léhar's The Merry Widow, was obviously chosen with the largely Austrian audience in mind, but it concludes the program on a nice lilting note. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and PCM stereo on DVD and PCM 5.1 and stereo on Blu-ray, this is recommended. Aud: P. (F. Swietek)