Gioachino RossiniRezensionen

missing from box?

A fantastic, relatively obscure Rossini. Invigorating enough on stage but mostly delectable as a listening piece. Armida is the only female role, and a fiendish coloratura one at that, but leaving much of the heavy lifting to the men, including the seven(!) tenor roles. The tenor trio(!!) in the final act is smashing, as is the ballet music. It's the high male voice writing that really gets me.

If you're one of those people who doesn't enjoy reading musical notes on a page, I'd recommend checking out the Renee Fleming/Gregory Kunde recording from the early 1990s. Early in Fleming's career, this is a live recording, but captures the musical sublimity of this piece well.

Merged review:

A fantastic, relatively obscure Rossini. Invigorating enough on stage but mostly delectable as a listening piece. Armida is the only female role, and a fiendish coloratura one at that, but leaving much of the heavy lifting to the men, including the seven(!) tenor roles. The tenor trio(!!) in the final act is smashing, as is the ballet music. It's the high male voice writing that really gets me.

If you're one of those people who doesn't enjoy reading musical notes on a page, I'd recommend checking out the Renee Fleming/Gregory Kunde recording from the early 1990s. Early in Fleming's career, this is a live recording, but captures the musical sublimity of this piece well.

missing score

Piero De Palma (Singer), Claudio Abbado (Conductor), Henry Lewis (Conductor), Thomas Schippers (Conductor)

OPERA EN VIVO El barbero de Sevilla Orquesta y Coro La Scala Milán
Director: Carlo Maria Giulini

ROSINA-Maria Callas
CONDE- Luis Alva
FÍGARO- Tito Gobbi
BASILIO-Nicola Moscona
BARTOLO-Nicolai Ghiaurov

LA GRAN MÚSICA K-27
La gran música Sonatas para Cuerdas
I Virtuosi Di Lugano
LADO A:
-Sonata en Sol (Moderato-Andantino-Allegro)
-Sonata en La (Allegro-Andante-Allegro)
LADO B:
-Sonata en Do (Allegro-Andante-Moderato)
-Sonata en Si (Vivace-Andantino-Allegretto)

LOS CLÁSICOS POPULARES 5
Los clásicos populares
Oberturas

LP
SALVAT
No.41
Oberturas: El barbero de Sevilla, La italiana en Argel, Tancredi e Il Signor Bruschino
Arias: El barbero de Sevilla, Otello y La Cenerentola.
Academy of Saint-in-the-Fields
Director: Neville Marriner
Frederica von Stade (mezzosoprano)
Orquesta Filarmónica de Rotterdam
Director: Edo de Waart

LP
CBS
1989
Disco 3
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Tarantella Napoletana
Semiramide
Guglielmo Tell
Luis Cobos
LADO B:
Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Tarantella Napoletana
Semiramide
Guglielmo Tell

Highlights.

The Libretto – 4 stars
The Translation – 3 stars

Reading the accompanying libretto after watching an opera is an excellent method to ascertain the details that are commonly missing from the translated text at the opera house. In Rossini/Ferretti’s version of Cinderella (La Cenerentola), a stepfather, not stepmother, and his two daughters tormented Cinderella. The stepfather also wasted Cinderella’s inheritance on his own family and stole her title for his daughters instead. The fairy godmother is replaced by the prince’s tutor/advisor, who guided the prince to Cinderella’s home. The prince and his footman switched roles giving the prince a chance to see everyone in their true colors. Upon the unveiling, the prince and the footman humorously mocked the stepfather and the stepsisters for all their pompousness. Lastly, the glass slippers were replaced by a pair of matching bracelets. These changes make the staging of this opera more manageable and the story more believable, having removed some of the magical elements. Overall, I liked this approach.

My dislikes:
- As unbelievable as it may seem, this Cinderella is even more helpless than the Disney version. As least Disney’s Cinderella was busy making her own dress (the pink one). This Cinderella was an endless woe-is-me (well, and kind-hearted too).
- The translators took it upon themselves to change the pair of bracelets (which were what I saw on stage) to glass slippers, which they believed to be better simply because it is more widely known. I thought it was completely irresponsible and arrogant of them to make such a significant change from the original. Who do they expect the reader of a libretto to be? It certainly would not be children. Adults want authenticity!½

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