"[This collection] shows Richard Stoltzman, with his succulent tone and infectious bravura (so easily displayed in the finale of the Weber and the very operatic Rossini Variations), at his best...One tends to think of Weber's concertos as being rather more than halfway between the classical and romantic traditions, here the romanticism is very much in the ascendent. But overall the performance of the F minor Concerto combines a lively impetus in the outer movements with warmth in the Adagio whilst the orchestra—notably the horns—add much to the listener's enjoyment."

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [10/1989]

2014 Maria Callas re-mastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz re-master, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. As she demonstrated in both Il barbiere di Siviglia and Il turco in Italia, Callas, the great tragedienne, could also turn her skills to comedy. As it happened, the 1956 La Scala production of Rossini's most popular opera did not prove a great success with audiences, but it's stars - Callas, Tito Gobbi and Luigi Alva - reassembled in London the following year for this recording. Callas sang the role of Rosina at it's original mezzo-soprano pitch and her version of 'Una voce poco fa' - punctuated by an unforgettable 'ma' ('but') in the cabaletta - is a miracle of both elegance and wit.

Rossini: Armida

Rossini: Il turco in Italia [Recorded 1958]

Rossini: Maometto Secondo

Rossini: Turco in Italia (Il)

"These six overtures were recorded in a single day, November 22, 1958, at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Intended originally by RCA Victor to be the stereophonic successor to Toscanini's recordings of five of the six, Reiner in this recording held to tempos in many cases a few seconds faster than Toscanini's; yet, notwithstanding, he managed to inject an element of geniality into the music absent in Toscanini's vivid thrust and forward drive. No one, however, could make The Barber of Seville Overture scintillate the way Toscanini did, be it with the New York Philharmonic or the NBC Symphony , but Reiner does bring a liquidity to the score that is quite refreshing. Reiner's The Thieving Magpie Overture and II Signor Bruschino Overture are even more successful, with sharp detail, bravura, and panache, totally exhilarating in their sparkling frothiness. Conversely, there is a decided lushness in the opening of The Silken Ladder Overture and in Reiner's approach to the Cinderella Overture that may not appeal to those who want the refined polish Karajan brought to the former or the tauter rhythms and dry finesse Abbado brought to the latter; but Reiner could, for all his discipline and precision, be a musical sybarite at times and he obviously relished this music. As if to make up for it, his opening to the William Tell Overture is more reserved, lacking the immediate plunge into darkness and mystery that characterized Toscanini's way with this music or the dramatic intensity of Leonard Bernstein in what is my preferred recording of it (but, actually, Reiner is only toying with the listener, holding back so he can finish in a flourish of brass that generates terrific excitement. The original recordings were magnificent sonically and that warmth, lushness, clarity, and vigor have been quite successfully transferred to the new format."

-- Jon Tuska, Fanfare [9/1990] Reviewing RCA 60387

Classical Music

The two historically outstanding recordings of Rossini's Petite messe solennelle, Sawallisch's on Eurodisc/BMG and Cleobury's on EMI, both take up two CDs. Single-CD versions tend to be either rushed, like Corboz's on Erato/WEA, or cut, which is the case with Mason's set with Combattimento on Meridian, a version that also suffers from rather a lot of redundant and stylistically inadmissible ornamentation. On the new Conifer recording, the text is complete, and though some of Simon Halsey's tempos are decidedly spirited, the virtuosity and refinement of the

CBSO Chorus's singing are never in doubt. This seems to be rather more than a 12-voice version. The choral image is full-bodied and also discreetly distant. But in the Great Hall of the University of Birmingham this doesn't compromise clarity; it merely adds bloom to the sound. In the ebullient "Cum Sancto Spiritu", Halsey is as quick as Scimone on Philips, but where Scimone's Ambrosian Opera Chorus, closely recorded, seems rather hectoring, with choppy rhythms, the CBSO Chorus has a King's-like fluency and grace, and great clarity. I was a little surprised to hear the redoubtable John Tomlinson as the bass soloist. He sings imposingly, and has the makings of a full Rossini trill, but his presence in the ensembles can seem a shade burdensome in so courtly a musical context. On paper, Gandolfi's solo team on Decca is the most internationally expert—Freni, Terrani, Pavarotti and Ruggero Raimondi, no less—but in practice they are entirely the wrong kind of singers for this music. By contrast, Sawallisch's team for his live 1972 Baumburg Monastery performance is exemplary; Kari LOvaas and Brigitte Fassbaender sing with great intensity and Peter Schreier and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recognize the work's chamber-music scale as well as its surprising emotional range. Conifer's Anne-Marie Owens is very fine in the "Agnus Dei", and, as always in this kind of music, Helen Field's contribution is a delight throughout, though LOvaas's singing of the "Crucifixus" remains unsurpassed in its grieving intensity, particularly in Rossini's symbolically excruciating series of rising minor thirds at the heart of the meditation.

The other distinguishing feature of the new Conifer version is the playing of the pianists, David Nettle and Richard Markham. They have the advantage of a new edition, due from Oxford University Press in 1991, in which the editor, Nancy Fleming, has gone back to the autograph manuscript and thus bypassed some of the compromises we are used to from performing editions in which the two piano parts are derived from the orchestral version of 1869. (Conifer dub their release: "Original Version, First Recording".) It is easy to exaggerate the difference between what we have here and what we are used to on previous recordings. More important is the pianists' stylish and pertinent realization of Rossini's distinctively fine-grained piano manner. The "Preludio religioso" is touched off at a properly flowing Andantino mosso. The instruments themselves, a pair of Steinways, have been well chosen whilst Peter King is playing a two-manual Mustel harmonium.

Clearly, if you don't want the expense of a twoCD set—Sawallisch's, or Cleobury's with the King's College Choir, the Labeque sisters, and soloists led by Lucia Popp—this new version would be the one to go for. It is by no means flawless in the solo vocal department, but in all other respects it is a most distinguished and agreeable account of this intensely absorbing work.

-- Gramophone [10/1990]

ROSSINI: STRING SONATAS 1, 3,

ROSSINI La Gazza ladra • Lü Jia, cond; Mariola Cantarero ( Ninette ); Dmitry Korchak ( Gianetto ); Michele Pertusi ( Gottardo ); Alex Esposito ( Fernando ); Manuela Custer ( Pippo ); Kleopatra Papatheologou ( Lucia ); Sandhya Nagaraja ( Magpie ); Haydn O of Bolzano and Trento; Prague C Ch • DYNAMIC 5671/1-3 (201:00) Live Pesaro 2007


A live performance of this production was reviewed in Opera Magazine November 2007 by Hugh Canning, and the DVD release of it by Bill White in Fanfare 35:6. Both critics agree that the performance is another example of rotten staging. Obviously this CD release is more promising since it does not subject the viewer to the miserable production. As White wrote: “I’m a great fan of Rossini’s music, but I’m not going to recommend this poor excuse for operatic entertainment.”


In Fanfare 14:4 David Johnson wrote a long four-page review of the Sony Classical CD of this opera conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti and starring Katia Ricciarelli, William Matteuzzi, Samuel Ramey, Luciana D’Intendo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto. It also contains a complete libretto with an English translation. In Fanfare 17:3 David Mason Greene reviewed another CD released on Fonit-Cetra Italia. Greene referred to Johnson’s review and called it “a magnificent article-length review that told the reader just about everything he needed to know about the work itself.” I agree with Greene and also refer all readers to Johnson’s review.


White said that the singing is mixed, and I agree. Vocally Michele Pertusi is a good evil mayor and the Pippo of Manuela Custer is fine. The principal role of Ninette is sung by Mariola Cantarero, who does not have the ability to sing this strenuous role in the necessary bel canto style. Dmitry Korchak is good in his role, and the rest of the cast is decent. The opera is complete and well conducted by Lü Jia.


The booklet contains a listing of the bands, notes in Italian and English by Mariateresa Dellaborra translated by Timothy A. Shaw, and a synopsis of the plot. The sound is excellent. While the miserable DVD release is not at all acceptable, this CD is recommendable to all those who are Rossini lovers.


FANFARE: Bob Rose

GIOACHINO ROSSINI: Lorenzo Regazzo; Fedrico Lepre; Carmen Giannatasio; Maxim Mironov; Anna Rita Gemmabella; Nicola Marchesini; Teatro La Fenice di Venzia/Caludio Scimone; NTSC All Region; dolby Digital; DTS, Linear PCM 2.0; color; 16:9; Aprox. 174 mins. GIOACHINO ROSSINI: Maometto Secondo.

Gioachino Rossini’s one act opera L’inganno Felice is categorized as a farsa, as it is a melodrama with buffo elements. The work, which features libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, was an instant success after its premiere in 1812. This production, directed by Jochen Schonleber, was recorded at the Rossini in Wildbad Opera Festival in the summer of 2015. This particular performance received international acclaims, due to stellar directing by Schoenleber and the stars Lorenzo Regazzo and Silvia Della Benetta.

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Format: PCM 2.0
Subtitles: Italian, English, French, German
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Running Time: 94 mins

Displays all the merits, virtues and charms of von Stade’s mezzo range.

Frederica von Stade has husbanded her voice wisely and consequently had a long career, yet there is little doubt that the recordings she made in the mid to late 1970s display her beautiful voice at its freshest and most appealing. Affectionately known to her fans as “Flicka”, she has long vied with Marilyn Horne for the title of “America’s favourite mezzo-soprano”, but given the difference in their repertoires, she was never really in direct competition with Horne as their voice-types, although both nominally within the same category, are very different. The main overlap has come in their shared coloratura facility, especially in Rossini - although even there, they differ in areas of strength, Horne offers greater pyrotechnic facility and brilliance while von Stade excels in music requiring plangency and pathos.

I have long loved the melting luxuriance of her voice, with its plush low notes and light, sensuous, flickering vibrato and am delighted that three of her early recitals have been re-issued by ArkivMusic under licence from Sony. The standard LP length of around fifty minutes of music now seems short measure, but I readily admit that the current norm of 80 minutes on CD sometimes constitutes more than I want to hear at one sitting, especially of only one voice, so I have no complaints when the singing is of the quality on offer here.

This recital offers arias spanning three hundred years of Italian opera. The programme is eclectic and the last item might even seem a little incongruous, in that we leap from Baroque of Broschi (who?) to the verismo of Leoncavallo but the music has been chosen carefully to display all the merits, virtues and charms of von Stade’s mezzo range. She is always ideal playing suffering women in various states of distress, scorn and abuse and as such was always an adorable Cenerentola/Cendrillon in Rossini and Massenet respectively, but it is something of a relief to hear her sing two more upbeat Rossini arias in the trouser role of Tancredi and the exultant Semiramide. The latter features the one slightly less than agreeable characteristic of her voice which was apparent even in her prime and was to become more noticeable over time: the slight discoloration of notes from top B and above - in other words, the required “upper extension” of the Rossini mezzo with which Colbran (Rossini’s wife) herself soon began to experience difficulties. Conversely, it is also the aria which displays her perfect trill and equal gift for elation as opposed to unvaried melancholy.

She lives each character most convincingly; the least overtly characterised item is the aria from Broschi’s “Idaspe” which will constitute a pleasant surprise to new generations of operaphiles. It is a static, old-fashioned display aria, very grand and dignified with its soaring tune and staccato-obbligato trumpet accompaniment, originally written for the castrato divo Farinelli, Von Stade nicely encompasses the switches on this disc between male and female roles by colouring her voice differently, with a more mellow timbre. For Paisiello’s Nina, she adopts an aptly lighter, more feminine tone suggestive of innocence and simplicity as befits the music, which is reminiscent of Gluck in plaintive mode, especially given the prominence of the flute accompaniment.

The leap to Leoncavallo’s mezzo Musetta is a wrench but one is soon swept along by the gorgeous tune, lush orchestration and von Stade’s trademark ability to tug the heartstrings. In a sense, we have come full emotional circle from the opening item, in which von Stade recalls a famous Glyndebourne role and movingly delineates Penelope’s fidelity and devotion. She is ably supported here by fellow-mezzo Janice Taylor’s Eridea.

The support from Mario Bernardi and the Canadian orchestra is sensitive and flexible, the recorded sound ideal. This disc makes a perfect companion to “von Stade’s delectable French opera aria recital made in 1976 under Pritchard.

-- Ralph Moore, MusicWeb International

ROSSINI, SUPPE: OVERTURES BER