Bianca e Falliero was commissioned by La Scala, Milan, for its prestigious Carnival season of 1819-20, enjoying a run of no fewer than 39 performances. Rossini responded with a score the virtuosity and expressivity of which outdid even his Neapolitan works. Prevailing tastes at La Scala meant that ensembles predominated over arias but behind the conventional dictates Rossini lavished the utmost care on his work, fashioning an opera full of dramatic coloratura and powerful theatrical craft and notable for its rich and often surprising harmony.

ROSSINIAURELIANO IN PALMIRAMIHAI; FAGIOLI; ALEIDA MIHAI; FAGIOLI; ALEIDA; ORCH. INTERNAZIONALE D'ITALIA AURELIANO IN PALMIRA

Aureliano in Palmira is unique in Rossini’s oeuvre for its inclusion of the only role, Arsace, that Rossini wrote for the castrato voice. Its tale of tragic defeat and the ultimate nobility and triumph of love in seemingly impossible circumstances is a refined and highly innovative example of his style. Set amidst turbulent times in the Roman Empire, Aureliano in Palmira is packed with sublime arias, duets of haunting beauty (notably the three given to Arsace and Zenobia) and excellent choruses, Rossini himself considering this work as ‘divine music.’ Even after initial success he reused many of its melodies in later operas, most famously in Il barbiere di Siviglia. “Silvia Dalla Benetta… played the role of Zenobia and left no doubt that she was not only the Queen of Palmira, but also the prima donna of this evening! With her crisp, slender timbre and her excellent height she sang tirelessly and with brio. The Roman emperor Aureliano was sung with authority by Juan Francisco Gatell, a tenor with a clear, compact voice and a beautiful legato… Between the extensive list of singers… there is always a disappointment but not this year!”

Also available on Blu-ray

Opera Vlaanderen of Antwerp continues its Rossini Cycle under the musical direction of conductor Alberto Zedda (87), with the rarely performed opera Armida. Armida is clearly a tenor opera par excellence, as we have four tenors here among the main roles. Enea Scala , Robert McPherson, Dario Schmunck and the young Adam Smith. Director Mariame Clément and her usual set designer Julia Hansen will also return to Opera Vlaanderen after the successfull Giasone by Cavalli released by Dynamic. They are now taking a critical look at the world of the Crusaders. Clément sees Armida as the incarnation of the concept of ‘love’, which in itself is magic and for which noble and heroic knightly ideals are cast aside. However, it is a love that turns into a destructive frenzy.

ROSSINI: Arias for Contralto

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Also available on standard DVD
Opera Vlaanderen of Antwerp continues its Rossini Cycle under the musical direction of conductor Alberto Zedda (87), with the rarely performed opera Armida. Armida is clearly a tenor opera par excellence, as we have four tenors here among the main roles. Enea Scala , Robert McPherson, Dario Schmunck and the young Adam Smith. Director Mariame Clément and her usual set designer Julia Hansen will also return to Opera Vlaanderen after the successfull Giasone by Cavalli released by Dynamic. They are now taking a critical look at the world of the Crusaders. Clément sees Armida as the incarnation of the concept of ‘love’, which in itself is magic and for which noble and heroic knightly ideals are cast aside. However, it is a love that turns into a destructive frenzy.

Set in medieval Italy, Rossini’s rarely performed Adelaide di Borgogna is based on dramatic historical events that led to Otto the Great (Ottone) of Germany conquering the Kingdom of Italy. Despite its political and warlike subject, Adelaide di Borgogna is full of beautiful music, Rossini using lyrical moments to emphasize emotions and express the triable of passionate love and rivalry between Adelaide, Ottone and Adelberto. Adelaide is bel canto in its purest form and was held in high regard by its composer, who recycled music of it in his subsequent operas. This performance was recorded live at the Trinkhalle, Bad Wildbad, Germany, in July of 2014 for the XXVI Rossini In Wildbad Festival (Artistic Director: Jochen Schoenleber).

Classical Music

Rossini: Guglielmo Tell (1954)

Gioachino Rossini was summoned to Paris in 1824 to breathe new life into it's opera culture, and one of his most exciting innovations in this period was the creation of an entirely new genre of opera comedy. The risqu� tale of Le Comte Ory had it's origins in vaudeville theatre and is based on the story of a villainous Count who attempts the seduction of Countess Adele as she awaits the return of her husband from the Crusades. 'Le Comte Ory' is the last of Rossini's comic operas, making full use of the libretto's farcical disguises and humor in one of his most colorfully orchestrated scores. This production, staged by Linda Mallik, features the Malmo Opera Orchestra and Chorus with world renowned soloists Leonardo Ferrando as Count Ory and Erika Miklosa as Countess Adele. Linda Mallik made her directorial debut in 2012 and received unanimous praise in the Swedish and international press, making her one of the most sought-after opera directors in Sweden. She has also staged 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at NorrlandsOperan, 'M/S Aurora' at the Berwaldhallen, 'Faust' and 'Mayday Payday' at Folkoperan in Stockholm, among others.

The Petite messe solennelle is unique in sacred music and is impossible to imitate or improve upon. Using only keyboards for the instrumental parts proves surprisingly effective and the solo pianoforte is particularly outstanding in the remarkable Prélude which combines Bach-like chromaticism with early hints of Impressionism or in the long introductions and postludes where it assumes a leading role, becoming the fifth soloist in the score. The writing for the solo voices however reverts to Rossinis operatic vein and makes considerable demands on the singers.

Gioachino Rossini was only 20 when he was commissioned to compose La scala di seta. It is one of four farsa comica operas which fed popular demand for this genre in Venice in the early 19th century and was wildly successful with its original audiences. Assisted by the silken ladder of the title, the diverting romantic intrigues of the narrative revolve around secretive assignations and obtuse misunderstandings, by no means helped by the presence of the slow-witted manservant Germano, in one of Rossini’s most successful comedies.

In January 1973, the Theater Bern put Rossini's early opera buffa "L'equivoco stravagante" on the program in a German text version created for Bern, thus creating a veritable theatrical sensation. The work was performed fifteen times and even had to be included in the 1973/74 schedule - unusual for a municipal theater that did not maintain a so-called repertory business like large opera houses. Responsible for the great success, which caused surprise throughout the German-speaking world, was a perfectly coordinated ensemble under the direction of the phenomenal general music director EWALD KÖRNER. The performance was recorded in stereo by Swiss Radio DRS in the Bern studio after the season. It is thanks to this circumstance that the "Berner version" of the rather lesser-known buffa can now be presented on 2 albums, thanks to the research of RELIEF, in excellent sound quality, with an exemplary booklet and the libretto of the Berner performance.

Thanks to its overture, La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is one of Rossini’s best-known operas. In the19th century it was one of the composer’s most performed works. And yet for decades after 1883, it was not performed. It was only in the 1930s that interest in this opera was awoken once again. Rossini’s 150th birthday in 1942 led Riccardo Zandonai, then Director of the Music Conservatory in Pesaro, Rossini's birthplace, to take on this opera and edit it. His tasks were essentially to shorten a very long opera and to split the content over three, rather than two, acts.

La gazza ladra or, in this recording, Die diebische Elster is principally a crime story. The subject matter of the opera is a robbery that may have actually taken place in France. We might have doubts about this because the theme of the innocent, accused, condemned, and possibly executed serving girl is so widely known that it can almost be taken for an urban myth. It is not, however, simply about crime. The opera portrays specific details of pre-trial and court proceedings correctly and in exact detail. This makes the original title "Avviso ai giudici” (Judges Take Note) even clearer. Thanks to its timely references and precise libretto, this opera is by far more realistic than other operas from the pen of this composer.

The French baritone Florian Sempey has established himself as a key player on today’s operatic scene. For his first solo recital, Rossini was the obvious choice, first of all because he has already performed the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia in the leading opera houses, from Paris to London, and of course by way of Orange and Pesaro. But there is another reason: ‘Rossini was the first composer’s name I heard in my life. At my grandparents’ house, there was a bust above the piano, on a little rococo display stand’ – the bust that appears on the cover of this album. ‘Rossini’s music is a challenge for singers and also a great and very strict technical training for them. It calls for the highest standards and degree of precision.

This program presents arias in French and Italian, mingling the most famous (including Figaro’s ‘Sono il factotum’) with rarities such as Germano’s aria from La scala di seta and Don Parmenione’s from L’occasione fa il ladro. It also includes magnificent duets with two dream partners, Karine Deshayes and Nahuel Di Pierro. And who better to conduct the Orchestre de l’Opéra National Bordeaux Aquitaine than the accomplished Rossinian Marc Minkowski, who gives this music an inimitable sparkle?