Rossini's brilliant satirical opera, Il Turco in Italia, is as notable for it's considerable use of ensemble set pieces as for it's many memorable tunes. The plot revolves around the tangled romance of the Turkish nobleman, Selim, on a visit to Naples to experience Italian life at first hand, and of his former mistress, Zaida, with whom he is finally reunited. Among the many highlights is the masterful duet of Geronio and Selim, in which the Turk tries to persuade the ageing husband to sell him his wife, the capricious Fiorilla.

Torvaldo e Dorliska was Rossini's 16th opera, premiered in Rome in December, 1815, two months after Elisabetta... and two months before Barbiere. It has an odd tone--it's a so-called "rescue opera". The plot concerns the eponymous hero and heroine, who are married. The evil Duke loves Dorliska and attacks the couple on their wedding day and leaves Torvaldo for dead. Dorliska runs away but winds up (unknowingly) taking refuge at the Duke's castle and is imprisoned. When Torvaldo finds his way there he attempts to rescue her, but he also is taken prisoner. The Duke's embittered henchman, Giorgio (a comic role), helps the couple. The villagers rise up and the Duke is punished, while our heroes live happily.

The opera is not in the top 10 of Rossini's great output--it breaks no new ground--but it's quite enjoyable despite being neither serious nor comic. Torvaldo has a couple of fine arias, as does Dorliska, the first-act finale is excellent, and even the basses and baritones have some good, if not altogether memorable, music.

This performance is very good indeed. Taped live in Bad Wildbad in July, 2003, stage noises do not interfere and there are precious few problems with ensembles, missed notes, etc., perhaps because there were patch-up sessions. Paolo Cigna and Huw Rhys-Evans are our heroine and hero and they're both up to the task. The former has plenty of high-flying and florid music and she sings it all accurately and with the right emphasis, while Rhys-Evans' very light, sweet voice copes well enough without the word "virtuoso" (or "Blake" or "Florez") coming to mind.

Michele Bianchini as the Duke exhibits a good-sized voice that may lack heft in the middle but that otherwise is a pleasure to hear. Mauro Utzeri, as the villain-turned-good guy Giorgio, sings with great character and a light tone (he's billed as a baritone); his duet with the Duke is a high spot. The rest of the cast is just fine.

Alessandro de Marchi leads a tight performance, one in which neither recitatives nor slower passages drag, and he keeps up with the singers nicely. Even a superb conductor would be unable to make the music of our villain, the Duke, sound villainous (this is Rossini's shortcoming in this opera), but he gives the work a respectable amount of drama nonetheless and his orchestra and chorus are excellent. No libretto is supplied but the track-by-track synopsis is very helpful.

There is another live recording of this opera, from Radio Switzerland in 1992 and starring tenor Ernesto Palacio (on Arkadia), but I haven't seen it in years--and at any rate, this Naxos set is better. Calling all Rossinians--who will also enjoy spotting bits and pieces of some of the composer's other operas sprinkled throughout.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Rossini’s Eduardo e Cristina was a huge success in its day, but as perhaps the last centone opera (one assembled from previously existing material) by a major composer, it became forgotten under the subsequent tide of Romantic idealism. Today we can put these prejudices aside and enjoy this masterful creation for what it is: a hugely entertaining parade of beautiful and spectacular musical ‘hits’ set to a familiar story of secret love, dramatic crisis and triumphant resolution. This 2017 Bad Wildbad revival was summed up as “an evening of pure bel canto pleasure!” by Operagazet.

This volume completes Naxos’ very enjoyable four-disc set of the complete Rossini overtures. Think about it: that’s a lot of orchestral music from a composer known almost exclusively for his vocal works–three or four Bruckner symphonies’ worth, and what would you rather listen to? This last installment includes two really popular overtures: The Barber of Seville and Il Turco in Italia, but much of the musical interest lies in the less familiar pieces.

Ricciardo e Zoraide, for example, has an unconventional form, ending quietly with a lengthy aria for solo flute, preceded by a romantic horn solo. Torvaldo e Dorliska reveals that Rossini was always ready with a new and interesting take on his signature “crescendo.” This one ends, not with the conventional climactic tutti, but with a series of more lyrical phrases for the violins. Armida’s opening march leads to another insanely difficult horn solo (the MET’s player blew it horribly at the performance of the opera that I saw). Rossini must have worked with some astoundingly fine individual players.

The performances, as with the other volumes in this series, are crisp, fleet, and shapely, with excellent solo winds nicely balanced against well-coordinated strings. Conductor Christian Benda also takes care to handle the percussion with good taste and common sense. For example, he reserves the cymbals for the very end of The Barber of Seville, an effective decision.

If you’re looking for the complete Rossini overtures, the only other option you have is Marriner’s set on Philips. These performances, on the whole, have just that much more more character and sparkle. They deserve your consideration.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This recording should allow newcomers to enjoy this most melodic and romantic of Rossini’s opera seria.

La donna del lago is the twenty-ninth in the sequential list of Rossini’s operatic titles and the fourth of the nine opera seria Rossini wrote under his contract as musical director of the Royal Theatres of Naples. It was the first opera by a noted composer to be based on any of Walter Scott’s romantic works. Whilst nowadays the most famous is Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Scott’s popularity as a source of operatic libretti expanded rapidly after Rossini’s example. It was at the San Carlo theatre, Naples, with its professional orchestra and fine soloists, that the composer could let his musical invention find its fullest expression. He did not need to resort to the more static and traditional operatic conventions that still pertained elsewhere. In no other Naples opera seria does Rossini expand his musical invention more effectively than in act one of La donna del lago.

Rossini had returned to Naples in the beginning of June 1819 after the premiere of Adelaide de Borgogna (see review) in Rome and by early September he had completed the composition of La donna del lago. Circumstances blighted the premiere on 24 September when the opera had a lukewarm reception. It was considerably more successful at subsequent performances and remained in the San Carlo repertory for a further twelve years. The Act 2 rondo, Tanti affeti, roused Naples audiences when sung by Isabella Colbran, Rossini’s mistress and in 1822 his first wife. Within five years of its composition La donna del lago was heard all over Italy as well as in Dresden, Munich, Lisbon, Vienna, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Paris and London.

The vocal demands of Rossini’s opera seria for Naples have always been a challenge to later performances. He wrote to suit the superb company contracted by the renowned impresario Domenico Barbaja who had first tempted the composer to Naples. Alongside the vocally formidable Colbran, the roster included the tenors Giovanni David and Andrea Nozzari, both notable for their ability with stratospheric coloratura singing. Rossini’s writing for the two tenors has since proved problematic in a period when voices of the type seemed to have dried up. By 1860 La donna del lago was forgotten until its revival in Florence in 1958. It was heard at the Camden Festival, London, in 1969 and at Houston in 1983 in a production that was also seen at Covent Garden. The emergence from North and South America in the late 1970s of voices who could tackle the tenor roles written for the Naples duo stimulated the Rossini revival by the Pesaro Festival who presented La donna del lago in 1981 and 1983 and followed with other opera seria written with the duo in mind. A live recording from the Pesaro performances featuring Katia Ricciarelli as Elena, Lucia Valentini Terrani as Malcolm and Samuel Ramey as Douglas was issued by CBS on its Masterworks Label (M2K 39311 nla). An audio recording from the 1992 sequence of La Scala performances conducted by Muti appeared from Philips (PH 438 211-2 nla). A DVD version of this Werner Herzog production is available from Opus Arte (see review). The work is scheduled for a shared production by leading European opera houses in 2011.

The story of La donna del lago is set in 15th century Scotland at a time of regular border warfare and insurgency. Elena lives near the shores of Loch Katrine with her father, Douglas, who has been exiled by the King. Although her father has promised her to the rebel chief Rodrigo di Dhu, she loves the young highlander Malcolm, a ‘trousers’ role. After rowing over Loch Katrine, Elena meets and offers shelter to Uberto who had become separated from his hunting party. Uberto is in fact the King against whom Douglas and Rodrigo are in conflict. The incognito Uberto falls in love with Elena and later gives her a ring promising that if ever in difficulty or danger it will secure the help of the King. After the defeat of the rebels and the death of Rodrigo Elena seeks out Uberto and discovers his true identity. The King keeps his promise, pardons Douglas and gives Malcolm Elena’s hand in marriage. The opera concludes with much rejoicing.

La donna del lago opens without an overture, one of the few of the composer’s operatic works to do so. Instead, Rossini seeks to conjure up the atmosphere of the Scottish Highlands in sixteen bars of orchestral introduction followed by a chorus of shepherds (CD 1 tr.1). This is followed by a particularly effective reflective aria for Elena Oh mattutini albori with distant horns (tr.2) that also serve as a melodic motif for her. In the Opera Rara recording, Elena is sung by a soprano as it is on the CBS issue. In the present case we hear the experienced Rossinian mezzo Sonia Ganassi. Vitally, her more soprano-like timbre is fine for the contrast with her lover Malcolm, sung by the low mezzo Marianna Pizzolato, in their duet (CD 1 trs. 16-17) and elsewhere. I greatly admired Ganassi as a dramatic Sinaïde in Moïse et Pharaon (see review). In the role of Elena she encompasses the tessitura without difficulty whilst bringing her full range of tone to characterise the heroine’s many moods (CD 1 tr. 2 and CD 2 trs. 22-23) and particularly in her duets with Uberto (CD 1 trs 3-4 and CD 2 trs. 9-11) as well as in the ensembles. Her Tanti affetti is particularly affecting (CD 2 tr. 22). I did feel Ganassi was outgrowing the eponymous Cenerentola (see review) a fact wholly confirmed by hearing the younger, and lower-toned, Marianna Pizzolato live in the role in her British debut with Welsh National Opera (see review). Like Ganassi, Pizzolato sings with smooth, even, well articulated tone and excellent legato across her considerable vocal range. She exhibits no gear-change to the lowest notes. There are no rasping chest tones in her very musical and well-characterised interpretation (CD 1 trs 11-13 and CD 2 trs. 14-15). This duo reflects excellent casting and represents a significant strength in this performance.

As I have indicated, the casting of the tenors taking the roles written for the Naples duo of David and Nozzari is always likely to be a challenge in this and other Rossini opera seria written specifically with them in mind. In the Opera Rara recording the two roles were sung with musicality and appropriate vocal dexterity as well as allure. But nobody knows the Rossini vocal scene better than scholar and conductor Alberto Zedda, the guiding light of this venture that was recorded at Bad Wildbad, but separately from the annual summer Festival there. That he has succeeded in the tenor casting here to the extent he has is a considerable achievement even if it does not quite match the vocal mellifluousness of the Opera Rara duo. Both tenors encompass the vocal demands. I admired Russian tenor Maxim Miranov in the DVD of Dario Fo’s hyperactive staging of L’Italiana in Algeri at Pesaro in 2006. I noted how he kept good vocal form as he was required to involve himself in physical activity and whilst not being distracted from the peripheral goings-on (see review). Here he has no such distractions and is able to show off his light, highly flexible vocal skills to maximum effect (CD 1 trs. 3-10 and CD 2 trs. 8-13). His slightly dry tone lacks the vocal allure of Kenneth Tarver for Opera Rara, let alone the likes of Juan Diego Florez. However the high Cs ping out with similar security and accuracy. This is also true of the German Ferdinand von Bothmer as Rodrigo, who is required to go down to a baritonal low. He achieves this feat as well as bringing strength and appropriate vigour and characterisation to his role. If he doesn’t quite match Gregory Kunde on the Opera Rara issue in the evenness across his considerable range, that is merely to compare the excellent with the very good (CD 1 trs 18-21 and CD 2 trs. 12-13).

As Elena’s father, Wojtek Gierlach sings strongly if without much distinction (CD 1 tr. 15). In the minor tenor role of Serano the Belgian Stefan Cifolelli sings well with a good Italianate squilla that differentiates him nicely from his tenor counterparts. The soprano tones of the Russian Olga Peretyatko as Albina is likewise well sung with purity and vocal strength in the ensembles. The highest compliment I can pay the Prague Chamber Choir is that they sound Italian and sing their many contributions with vigour. It is vigour, allied with a feel for the genre of the music, brought to the proceedings by Zedda, that is perhaps an even greater recommendation for this issue than the undoubted strength of the soloists.

The booklet has an introductory essay by the conductor, a full track-listing and separate track-related synopsis, all in English and German. Also to be welcomed are the artist profiles given in English only. There is applause after individual items and scene ends and this becomes more enthusiastic as the opera proceeds. The Opera Rara issue, from live performances at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2006, eliminates the applause, whilst benefiting from the frisson of a live performance. Perhaps Naxos could investigate this procedure for their recordings at Bad Wildbad. That is as may be. The applause did not destroy my considerable enjoyment of this excellent performance that adds another Rossini opera to Naxos’s burgeoning catalogue of the composer’s works.

-- Robert J Farr, MusicWeb International

A story of love, marital fidelity, the defeat of a tyrant and the triumph of the good, Rossini's Ciro in Babylonia is a bold fusion of biblical andsecular subjects set to brilliant, thrilling music.

Marina Rebeka is one of the most successful sopranos of her generation. To mark the occasion of the upcoming Rossini year of 2018, she and the Munchner Rundfunkorchester, conducted by Marco Armiliato, have recorded an album of highly dramatic opera arias that is now being released by BR-KLASSIK. The album "Amor fatale" offers the opportunity to reacquaint oneself with the great soprano arias from Rossini's less well-known but musically convincing tragic operas, in a fine interpretation.The concept album entitled "Amor fatal" focuses on powerful female roles from the operas Otello, Armida, La donna del lago (The Lady of the Lake), Maometto II, Semiramide (Semiramis), Moïse et Pharaon (Moses and Pharaoh) and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). The women are obliged to choose between love and duty, and frequently have to subordinate their personal fate to that of their family, nation or homeland.The Latvian soprano has quite some experience with roles in Rossini, above all from his great tragic operas: the role of Anna Erisso from Maometto II, which she performed in 2008 at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the composer’s birthplace, marked the very start of her career. She went on to attract international attention in 2009 when she debuted at the Salzburg Festival, as Anaï in Moïse et Pharaon. For her album she has worked through Rossini's original handwritten manuscripts and included this in her performance; she also developed her own coloratura, which not only suits her voice both musically and technically, but also best corresponds to the specific stage events and emotions encountered in her respective operatic roles.

The second and final release in this series of Rossini's complete overtures. Works include L'Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola, among others. The Prague Sinfonia Orchestra is led by conductor Christian Benda.

ROSSINI / NIEDERMEYER: Robert Bruce (French pasticcio of La

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

ROSSINI : String Sonatas Nos. 1 - 6

Performed for the first time in its original uncut version, this production of Guillaume Tell was the jewel in the crown of the 25-year history of the ‘Rossini in Wildbad’ opera festival. Rossini’s final, great, operatic masterpiece is a story of liberation, the oppressed Swiss attaining their ideal of emancipation by hounding the tyrannical Habsburgs out of their country. Although it was composed for the complex demands of the Paris Opéra, numerous dances, choruses and arias were dropped for reasons of practicality. These are restored in the present recording which also includes the stunning finale of the shorter 1831 version of the opera.

"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

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

Classical Music

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia

Sonate a Quattro are the brilliant compositions from Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, written during the summer of 1804 at the young age of 12. These works, at the time, were commonly performed by wind quartet and it wasn’t until 1954 when the original manuscripts were discovered in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. showing their original arrangement for string quartet. The world premiere recording of Rossini: 6 Sonate a Quattro features two of Canada’s most respected and beloved performers - Mark Fewer (violin), and Joel Quarrington (bass) - and two of North America’s rising stars - Yolanda Bruno (violin), and Julian Schwarz (cello) and produced by JUNO award-winning producer John D.S. Adams. These performances, from November 2017, were recorded in collaboration with the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance using the newly released (2014) Critical Edition published by the Fondazione Rossini Pesaro.

The comic-heroic romp Matilde di Shabran was Rossini’s last commission for the theatres of Rome, the city where he’d had great successes such as Il barbiere di Siviglia. Rossini took advantage of the agile, sparkling style of librettist Jacopo Ferretti to create a narrative in which the ferocious Corradino, a declared misogynist, is introduced to the resourceful Matilde, who succeeds in melting his iron heart and winning his love. This premiere recording revives the original 1821 Rome version, which was conducted at the last minute by Paganini, and caused brawling in the streets between Rossini’s admirers and detractors.

 

REVIEW:

 

This splendid recording of the original Rome version of Matilde, recorded at the 2019 Rossini Wildbad Festival in Germany, relishes the almost comic tale of the melodramatic medieval tyrant Corradino conquered by love, or rather Matilde, with a score packed with some of Rossini’s most accomplished music.

 

Michele Angelini is magnificent as the villain, everything that you hope for in a Rossini tenor—fleet of voice in his runs and trills and with gravity-defying head notes. Sara Blanch’s Matilde matches him note for note. Their Act I duet ‘Ch’io fugga ha già timore…’ is a thrilling lesson in Rossini singing. There’s good work from the rest of the cast, notably the contralto Victoria Yarovaya as Edoardo, who Corradino has unjustly imprisoned and turns tragedy into comedy. Equally pleasing is the Passionart Orchestra conducted by José Miguel Pérez-Sierra. All scrupulously Rossinian including the celebrated horn solo at the beginning of Act II.

 

– BBC Music Magazine

Rossini's ceaseless wit and invention are best exemplified in his series of operas. His colorful orchestration and command of both comic and tragic elements can be savored in this second of four volumes of the complete symphonic overtures. Guillaume Tell, with it's overture in four movements, includes a scene for five solo cellos. La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder), one of his most popular pieces, opens with an overture of charm and elan. Volume 1 (8.570933) was described by MusicWeb Internationals "an admirable start to what looks like being a very desirable series".

Rossini’s operas have remained amongst the most popular in the repertoire but over the last decade of his life he turned largely to piano music. The Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) occupy thirteen volumes, and the deliciously informal and comic fourth is called Quatre hors d’oeuvres et quatre mendiants. Its theme is food, and Rossini lavishes all his abundant abilities of characterisation in his descriptive passages, not least the introduction of a parakeet.

This disc forms part of Chandos’ ongoing Richard Hickox legacy series. The re-release features Rossini's Stabat Mater, performed by Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia. They are joined by the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus and four excellent soloists: Helen Field, Della Jones, Arthur Davies and Roderick Earle.

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.

ROSSINI Mosè in Egitto • Antonino Fogliani, cond; Lorenzo Regazzo ( Mosè ); Akie Amou ( Elcìa ); Wojtek Gierlach ( Faraone ); Filippo Adami ( Osiride ); Rossella Bevacqua ( Amaltea ); Giogio Trucco ( Aronne ); Karen Bandelow ( Amenofi ); Giuseppe Fedeli ( Mambre ); San Pietro a Majella Ch; Wildbad Wind Band; Württemberg PO • NAXOS 8.660220 (2 CDs: 136:38) Live: Bad Wildbad 7/2006


Naxos provides a bit of operatic history on the back liner of this latest addition in their Rossini in Wildbad festival recordings. Mosè in Egitto (1819 Naples version) was “reworked in 1822 for Paris with new arias, but is given here in the slightly revised Italian version of 1819 which includes the famous act III Preghiera of Moses.” If I may elaborate: first there was Mosè in Egitto , an “Azione tragico-sacra in tre atti” that premiered in 1818 (Naples). It was not a success. Rossini dropped Amaltea’s second-act aria and rewrote the third act, expanding it and inserting the Preghiera “Dal tuo stellato soglio.” The Preghiera became a hit, and the opera became a modest success. The original third act is lost, so a reconstruction of the 1818 original is not possible.


Since Naxos mentions the Paris version, so will I. When Rossini moved his compositional base to Paris, he reworked some of his earlier operas. He turned the three-act Mosè in Egitto into the four-act Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le Passage de la Mer Rouge , complete with a new first act, some new characters (and good-bye to a few old ones), some new arias, and (reluctantly) a ballet. Presto, the “Azione tragico-sacra in tre atti” was now a four-act Grand Opera. When the text of this new version was translated into Italian, it was titled Mosè e Faraone (Sacred melodrama in four acts). So it wouldn’t be confused with the original three-act version, it was sometimes called Mosè Nuovo , and then shortened to Mosè. As you may surmise from its various titles, it is loosely, very loosely, based on the Biblical account of Moses parting the Red Sea. Characters and story lines appear in Mosè that have no Biblical basis.


Aside from the famous Preghiera, the most striking musical feature of Mosè in Egitto is the atmospheric lament that opens the first act (no overture precedes it). It is unlike the opening of any of Rossini’s other works, and makes an immediate impact. In the Paris version, this becomes the opening of the second act, and loses much of its novelty. Recordings of either Italian version or the French grand opera have unfortunately been rare events. Philips recorded Mosè in Egitto in 1981 with a luminous cast: Ruggero Raimondi, Siegmund Nimsgern, June Anderson, and Ernesto Palacio. Hungaroton gave us the four-act Mosè (with a few cuts and minus the ballet) under Lamberto Gardelli, also in 1981. Both are studio recordings. Philips briefly released on CD a 1956 monophonic Mosè under Serafin with Rossi-Lemeni, which is subject to a number of cuts and a cast not totally at home in the bel canto idiom. The only French Moïse I am familiar with is a two-CD set on Myto with Samuel Ramey, Cecilia Gasdia, and Shirley Verrett. Recorded live in 1975, it is also somewhat abbreviated and minus the ballet. The French version in all its glory is available on DVD. Another recording of this interesting Rossini score is always welcome, and although the Rossini in Wildbad cast does not boast a collection of well-known notables, such as the 1981 Philips recording, it is a worthy entry into the Rossini discography all the same.


Naxos has recorded a number of performances from the Rossini in Wildbad festivals, many of them Rossini’s lesser-known and recorded operas. Casts vary from acceptable to quite good. One of the goals of the festival is to engage singers early in their careers (they’re probably more affordable, too!) helping them to gain both experience and exposure in a notable venue. This Mosè in Egitto is one of the better recordings in the series; it offers serious competition to the 1981 on Philips and is better than the mono Philips under Serafin. Many of the Wildbad soloists are prize-winning, bel canto specialists, gaining experience and earning enthusiastic reviews, mostly in European venues. Many of the singers appear in other Rossini in Wildbad recordings. Conductor Antonino Fogliani is in his early thirties. He studied under Rossini specialists Gianluigi Gelmetti and Alberto Zedda and has garnered much praise for his work in the bel canto repertoire.


I found this to be an exciting and energetic performance. Stage noises are kept to a minimum, enthusiastic applause rewards the cast throughout the performance but is not intrusive to the listener, and balances are generally good. The Wildbad performance has more spontaneity than the studio-based Philips, but not as much sonic immediacy. A new Rossini recording is always a welcome event, especially when it is a good one of his lesser-known operas. Naxos does not provide a libretto, although the text in Italian can be accessed at www.naxos.com/libretti/660220.htm. The booklet includes a fairly detailed synopsis—tied to track numbers—that offers the plot but spares the reader some rather hokey lyrics. It can be argued that Rossini’s comedies have fared better than the dramas because the librettos are better. Don’t let a fatuous love story grafted onto the Biblical tale of Moses deter you from enjoying this opera. The music saves the day.


FANFARE: David L. Kirk

All Rossini’s qualities as a musical giant are to be found in concentrated form in the famous overtures. The sheer vitality of the music is astounding, and the wealth of thematic material ensures that each is remarkable in its own different way. The Rossini anniversary of 2018 presented an opportunity to shed new light on these familiar works, but in a form that the composer himself would have recognised. This long-established mandolin quintet took a mix of old and newly commissioned arrangements and toured them across Italy to great success before making the present recording. The quintet takes its name from the mandolin virtuoso Giuseppe Anedda (1912-97) who popularised the instrument throughout his native Italy with his own ensemble and established for it a place in classical concert halls and modern works beyond the ‘early music revival’ of the 50s and 60s. He took part in pioneering recordings of Vivaldi and early performances of Stravinsky’s Agon. This all-Italian quintet (comprising a pair of mandolins, a mandola, guitar and double bass) was founded in Anedda’s memory in 2003 to carry on his work. Its members are all soloists and teachers in their own right. They commissioned Michele Di Filippo to arrange the first four overtures on this album: L’Italiana in Algeri (1813), Il Viaggio a Reims (1825), La Cenerentola (1817) and La Scala di Seta (1812). The other four overtures are from Il Signor Bruschino (1813), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816), Tancredi (1813) and La Gazza Ladra (1817), for which the quintet performs from transcriptions made and published in the first half of the 20th century by Mario Macchioci and Enrico Marucelli. All the arrangements preserve the heady excitement of the famous ‘Rossini crescendo’ as well as the chamber-like dialogue between wind and strings in the original scores.

REVIEW:

Let me preface this review by saying I am a sucker for oddball arrangements of familiar classics. A group of eight Rossini overtures transcribed for mandolin quintet would certainly qualify as such. But this release transcends my own idiosyncrasies, for these arrangements work very well indeed, preserving the charm and liveliness of these frothy works and adding an extra dimension to them.

The sound quality of the recording is quite vivid and the brightness of the mandolins comes across quite well without being piercing. The placement of the musicians is quite precise in the wide soundstage. The ends of each piece do have a bit too much echo for my tastes. There’s no dynamic compression here, permitting the carefully mounted tension to grip the listener and not let go until the conclusion of each piece. There’s sufficient variety in the pieces that I didn’t feel any need to take a break between the different overtures.

In all, I found this disc tremendous fun and a creditable variation on these well-known works.

– MusicWeb International

Rossini wrote Semiramide in the winter of 1822/23 for La Fenice of Venice. The libretto is based on Voltaire's drama Semiramis, written by the French philosopher and scholar in 1748. In some respects a conclusive opera, Semiramide contains traditional elements alongside innovative ones. Semiramide summarizes and completes Rossini's serious arc and is paradigmatic of all that would follow.

This is the third recording to represent Giulio Prandi's interpretative research on the great Italian choral repertory, after the special and successful releases of works by Jommelli and Pergolesi, cornerstones of the golden age of the Neapolitan school. Faced with the challenge posed by Rossini's essential masterpiece, Prandi has chosen an original and courageous path, following deep reflection. The new critical edition of the Rossini Foundation of Pesaro is used here for the first time in a recording studio; three rare instruments roughly contemporary with the work - pianos by rard and Pleyel, a D bain harmonium - have been selected to ensure an authentic, vital, luminous sound, guaranteed by the artistry of the keyboardist and professor at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Francesco Corti; four illustrious soloists have been engaged: Sandrine Piau, Jos Maria Lo Monaco, Edgardo Rocha and Christian Senn. Finally, the fundamental contribution of the Coro Ghislieri, an acknowledged world-class ensemble in early repertory, sets the seal on a recording of rare merit.

The second half of the 18th c. and beyond witnessed the widespread popularity in Germanic and Hapsburg regions of a particular type of wind ensemble of varying forces known as Harmonie. The repertoire consisted of divertissements, cassations, serenades and nocturnes, performed for the most part outdoors, as well as “dining music” played at important banquets, and Harmoniemusik heard at parties and ceremonies. Original pieces were performed together with transcriptions of celebrated works, such as this adaptation by Wenzel Sedlak of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

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!”

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

The Biblical story of Belshazzar's hubristic arrogance set against the valour of the young warrrior-leader Cyrus provided the 20-year-old Rossini with a dramatic story with West-Eastern resonances which still speak to us today. For the title role of Cyrus, Rossini wrote what would be his longest-ever contralto role, to which the great Rossini singer Ewa Podles is both naturally attracted and ideally suited. She is partnered by two young stars of Rossini singing, Jessica Pratt and Michael Spyres, and a conductor-scholar, Will Crutchfield, of immense experience and sympathy.

What the press said:
''In the title role, the booming contralto Ewa Podles gives the kind of old-style, intensely felt performance that is her trademark. As Amira, the soprano Jessica Pratt established herself in two daunting arias as a brilliant new presence on the bel canto scene.'' New York Times

Gioachino Rossini CIRO IN BABILONIA
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Ciro – Ewa Podles
Amira – Jessica Pratt
Baldassare – Michael Spyres
Zambri – Mirco Palazzi
Argene – Carmen Romeu
Arbace – Robert McPherson
Daniello – Raffaele Costantini
Ned Keene – George von Bergen


Bologna Teatro Comunale Chorus and Orchestra Will Crutchfield, conductor


Davide Livermore, stage director

Recorded live at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, August 2012

Bonus:
- Cast gallery

Picture format: 1080i High Definition Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 165 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (Blu-ray)

The great writer Stendahl wrote of Il viaggio a Reims that “this opera is a feast”. The plot is a contemporary farce tailor-made for a particular occasion – the coronation festivities of Charles X – though Rossini valued the music so highly that he preserved at least part of the score three years later in the opera Comte Ory. This sparkling work is heard complete for the first time and in accordance with the critical edition.

Review:

Wildbad’s Antonino Fogliani leads a staging that doesn’t hang fire for a moment. The piano-accompanied recitatives are vividly delivered; the performance has a vividness and theatrical ‘carry’ that confirm that Il viaggio is indeed ‘a feast’.

– Gramophone