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Rossini on cd, DVD or Blurry.

17K views 80 replies 23 participants last post by  mparta 
#1 ·
Yes, Rossini, the seldom mentioned one, as far as I can tell. I'm scratching around, trying to dig myself out of mere knowledge of the Barber and isolated overtures and arias from other operas. So I'm getting the 1972 Guillaume Tell cd as I posted elsewhere. But are there other recordings or videos that our denizens would recommend to me and to other Rossini-deficient hopefuls?

I've found these two items, which look interesting. If Abbado & co. did Rossini proud on the recordings in this compilation, it would be a steal at the price. The Cenerentola dvd merited some fine reviews.

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Any comments, opinions, reviews, suggestions or even sterile wisecracks will be welcome. :tiphat:
 
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#2 ·
For a COMPLETE Barbiere, I recommend the Marriner on Philps
The Abbado Cenerentola is a first choice.
For L'Italiana get either the Varviso on Decca or the Cobos on Teldec which is absolutely complete.
Il Viaggio was bettered by Abbado's later Sony recording.

The DG box is a decent intro tho.
 
#3 ·
Well, that's a long task, but also a very pleasurable one. :)

In basic terms, Rossini's operas can be divided into seria and buffa, and there are around forty of them, counting pastiches. Up to some decades ago, the only ones that were usually performed were some buffa (especially Barbiere, of course, but also Italiana, Cenerentola and Turco) and Gillaume Tell. Then, Rossini Renaissance came to the rescue, the Pesaro Festival was created and today most of his operatic outcome is regularly performed all around the world, and there are recordings of just about everything.

Of course, with so many operas, perhaps some decision needs to be taken about how to start. Clearly, one approach would just to start with the first one, and end with the last, but this could be a little bit daunting. So, this would be my personal recommendation, limiting myself to just eight operas, outside from Barbiere, 5 serias and 3 buffas, and in chronological order. I will link youtube productions, and then we can discuss discography of any opera, but as a first contact, I think it could be a good (and cheap) option:

1.- Tancredi

Rossini was still a young man, scarcely 21 years old, in 1813 when he wrote this wonderful opera, of a classical, pure beauty.

Riccardo Frizza - Daniela Barcellona.

And then one can chase for the great Tancredis of Horne, Valentini Terrani or Podles.

2.- L'Italiana in Algeri

This is my preferred buffa from Rossini. Some funny stuff, with some fantastic numbers and elegant melodies.



3.- Il Turco in Italia

Not as funny as L'Italiana, but every bit as great from a musical point of view:



4.- La Cenerentola

Not my personal preference, but it's a must:



5.- Armida

Great singing was paramount here:



6.- La Donna del lago

Based in Walter Scott, and a feast of irresistible music, and great singing:



7.- Semiramide

A Rossini scholar said once: "Rossini wrote the best Baroque opera (Semiramide), the best Classical (Tancredi), the best buffa (Barbiere), the best Belcanto (Armida) and the best Romantic (Tell)". Well, this would be the Baroque one. And a great one:



8.- Guillaume Tell

Another must.

 
#18 · (Edited)
And then one can chase for the great Tancredis of Horne, Valentini Terrani or Podles
Valentini Terrani does a thoroughly original and compelling interpretation of the title character. I simply love her Perche turbar la calma. The other two stick with the macho man kind of Tancredi (and do an excellent job, of course, but VT's is so much more interesting to me).
 
#4 ·
That Tell video is terrible.
Picture and audio totally out of synch.
 
#6 ·
Be mindful that Guillaume Tell is arguably one of Rossini's weaker operas.


Try these recordings on for size...

L'Italiana in Algeri - Lopez-Cobos/Lausanne Chamber
La Cenerentola - Chailly/Bologna
Semiramide - Bonynge/London Symphony
Tancredi - Weikert/La Fenice
La donne del lago - Pollini/Prague Philharmonic
Le Comte Ory - Lopez-Cobos/Bolgna
Il Turco in Italia - Chailly/La Scala
La gazza ladra - Gelmetti/Turin Radio Symphony
Ermione - Parry/London Philharmonic
Guillaume Tell - Gardelli/Royal Philharmonic
Mose in Egitto - Scimone/Philharmonia
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra - Masini/London Symphony

(for anyone else who hasn't listened to Il barbiere di Siviglia) Galliera/Philharmonia

...should keep you going for a while.
 
#8 ·
La donne del lago - Pollini/Prague Philharmonic
Couac Addict, are you serious

La Cenerentola - Chailly/Bologna
Couac Addict, are you serious

Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra - Masini/London Symphony
Couac Addict, are you serious

La donne del lago - Pollini/Prague Philharmonic
Revenant, avoid this

La Cenerentola - Chailly/Bologna
Revenant, get some great Cenerentola first (Berganza/Alva/Abbado, for example)

Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra - Masini/London Symphony
Revenant, this is one of the last Rossini operas to listen and that's only if you want to know all of them (Rossini himself thought it's bad)

La donne del lago - Pollini/Prague Philharmonic
La Cenerentola - Chailly/Bologna
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra - Masini/London Symphony
Couac Addict, regards

La donne del lago - Pollini/Prague Philharmonic
La Cenerentola - Chailly/Bologna
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra - Masini/London Symphony
Revenant, regards
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thank you all thanks for all those suggestions and the insights. I didn't know where to begin, but now I have an idea. You've all replied very considerately to my request. I've got my miner's hat on the ready now.

Itullian, I'm glad that you believe that the compilation is good for starters and will help not only me but anyone else who reads this thread and is Rossini-curious like me.

Schigolch, thank you for your extended and detailed recommendations and suggestions. You're right, a long if pleasurable task, that is why I'm initially focusing on a few introductory ones, also as you suggested. I ordered the 1972 Guillaume Tell last week and it should arrive in a couple of days. I will follow your list as I range wider and delve deeper into the impressive body of Rossini's oeuvre. To think this guy quit composing operas at 37!

Couac and Aramis, thank you very much for your dueling aesthetic appreciation preferences. I was under the impression that Tell was considered a masterpiece, but apparently this too is disputed. I'll keep it in mind when the cd set arrives this week.

As I wrote in my original post, I am not completely sensorily deprived when it comes to Rossini, as over the years I have listened to some selections from operas other than IBdS, including some with Callas from L'Italiana in Algeri and Semiramide. But no complete operas yet, aside from Barbiere. And of course, I'm well-versed on the immortal Rabbit of Seville.
 
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#10 ·
Personal tastes set aside (myself, I don't like Tell that much, either), of course Guillaume Tell is a major opera, and it should be one of the main goals for any Rossinian exposure project, in my view. Three years ago, the great Rossinian expert Alberto Zedda conducted (in a concert performance) in Spain the version of the premiere in Paris (with a few cuts, but the cuts done by Rossini himself, like Jemmy's aria "Ah, que ton âme se rassure"), and it was really a wonderful experience, and with a superb Arnold sung by Gregory Kunde.
 
#15 ·
If it be heresy, so be it. Although singing a bit out of the fach for the role, I much prefer this version of Largo al factotum to Bug Bunny's. This was the early Woody, before the cartoon quality and comedy declined. The early Woody was a psychopath's psychopath and practically a Jungian archetype, although I may be reading too much into it.

 
#16 ·
I'm a big fan of OLD cartoons too.
Especially Fleischer Studios.
 
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#17 ·
Semiramide - Bonynge/London Symphony
I like the Ricciarelli/Valentini Terrani one way better.

Tancredi - Weikert/La Fenice
not bad, but damn, La Horne going as slow as possible every time she wants to make a point. And Argirio sounds younger than Tancredi.

Le Comte Ory - Lopez-Cobos/Bolgna
nah, this one.
 
#22 ·
I love Rossini but don't have a great deal of his operas to my shame.

Ones I prefer:

Il Barbiere - get the Will Humburg cd on Naxos staring a young Ramon Vargas, Sonia Ganassi and Roberto Serville.

Or

get the Chandos in English Barber of Seville with Bruce Ford, Della Jones and Alan Opie. This is my favourite version.

On DVD I prefer the older one from Glyndebourne with Cambreling conducting, Max Rene Cossoto as a wonderful Count and john Rawnsley as an unforgettable Figaro.

Apart from that have a look at 2 DVDs . First, La Pietra del Paragone with Raul Gimenez and also La Cenerentola with Gimenez and Bartoli
 
#27 · (Edited)
Guillaume Tell is wonderful, yes. I highly recommend getting the whole thing, in the original French. The recording with Montserrat Caballe is a good one.

Just do your best, if you've lived your life in the US, NOT to think of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny when you fight your way through the overture.........

or this......



Rossini for some reason has always brought out the strangeness in American pop culture. There are dubstep and techno performances of his toons..... whhyyyy.....
 
#28 ·
Because the music is great and classic and some, easily accessible.
Wagner has been used a lot too.
Also, maybe a little pride on Walter Lantz's part there, as he is Italian.(changed name from Lanza I believe)
 
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#36 ·
I acknowledge Rossini's genius, while admitting that, of the ottocento Italian opera composers, Bellini would be my favourite. I do however have a handful of Rossini operas on CD.

I plumped for the Abbado recording of L'Italiana in Algeri, mostly as a memento of Baltsa's performance as Isabella. I saw her in the role at Covent Garden. and she was superb, much better (and funnier) than Marilyn Horne, who sang it at the revival, though it has to be said that Horne was a bit past it by this time. Her voice was a lot smaller than it once was and she mugged the role rather than acted it. Baltsa was pure comedy. Horne was more vaudeville.

For Il Turco in Italia I stick with Callas, and blow the less than authentic edition used. The whole cast, which includes Rossi-Lemeni as the Turk and the young Gedda as Fiorilla's lover) under Gavazzeni find a truer authenticity of performance than many of the more recent versions. Callas, who had previously sung the role at Rome's tiny Elisseo Theatre and was to sing it again at La Scala under Zeffirelli's direction, is pure joy, and this is one of those occasions where comedy brushed her with its wing. Vocally she is at her very best.

For Il Barbiere di Siviglia, I again turn to Callas, with Gobbi and Alva all striking sparks off each other. Though Callas's Rosina had not been a success at La Scala, here, under Walter Legge's careful eye, she produces a wonderfully spunky and minx-like Rosina, more than a match for Bartolo and Basilio, the duet with Gobbi Dunque io son a highlight of the performance. Again it is not exactly a scholarly edition of the score, though Callas does sing in the mezzo keys (with interpolated high options), but the whole performance fizzes and bounces with a brio that I'm sure Rossini (and Beaumarchais) would have loved.

A sound alternative, in a much more authentic edition would be the Marriner with Baltsa, Araiza and Thomas Allen. It doesn't have quite such a sense of fun, but is still very good.

I also have Marriner's recording of La Cenerentola, mostly because I am rather fond of Baltsa. I remember seeing her sing a spectacular rendition of the final rondo on television at a recording of a Vienna gala. By the time she came to record the role, a little too much of Carmen has seeped into her voice, but I like her none the less. On DVD, there is a lovely film with Von Stade pure delight as Cenerentola. Still my yardstick for the role.

On LP, when I was young, I owned the Sutherland Semiramide and the Pollini La Donna del Lago, though I never felt the need to replace them when I finally got rid of all my vinyl.

Which leaves me with Guillaume Tell, undoubtedly a masterpiece, and I am very happy with the Gardelli recording with Bacquier, Caballe and Gedda. That said, I haven't heard Pappano's recent recording, so can't really compare it.
 
#37 ·
Thank you Greg. Up until yesterday, the Callas/Gobbi/Alva Barbiere from 1957 is the only full Rossini opera to which I've listened and it remains one of my favorite opera recordings. I first listened to it in 1963, in the original Angel label vinyl release. Iirc, Angel was the name back then for the EMI label in the U.S. I'm listening to the Abbado Barbiere right now, which I've just received in the Rossini/Abbado bundled set. No comparison, imo. Alva's Count and Don Bartolo are standouts. Berganza is great, but she's not Rossini. Prey is elegant, but he doesn't have the Figaro sparkle, or the top notes. (Gobbi didn't manage the top notes well by 1957, but at least he tried his best, and what a comic actor!) I keep thinking back to Gobbi and Callas when listening to this new to me recording.
 
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#38 ·
Your comment reminds me of something the director Elijah Moshinsky told me a couple of years ago. He had been asked to produce Barbiere in Russia. Never one of his favourite operas, he bought a modern recording in some urtext edition, listened to it, hated it and decided he didn't want to do it. He was on the point of turning the job down, when he remembered the Callas recording, and had a listen. All of a sudden he heard all that was missing in the other recording; the high spirits, the fizz, the bounce, the joie de vivre. I listened to it myself only recently and agree with him 100%. Who cares if it's textually suspect? This is a real performance, with all the singers interacting and enjoying themselves. The whole thing fizzes like a great champagne.
 
#39 ·
At a much less exalted level than him, but that was my own experience. Many still consider that 1957 recording to be the best, and not due to old fogeyism. As you wrote, it is a performance, not just a recording.
 
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#43 · (Edited)
I have heard this Tancredi and think it's splendid. Excellent sound that the Naxos recording lacks and the singers not bad at all. Especially Vargas who I could pick as the best performer of his role (I do like Ernesto Palacio but I think he didn't really shine in Tancredi he recorded). Mei's pure and light voice is very suitable for her character and Kasarova doesn't get any complain from me for her performance of title role. I'd say it's the most balanced Tancredi with no major flaw, other recordings might only surpass it in some particular aspects while it remains the best as a whole. It scores another point for including both variants of opera's ending.
 
#45 ·
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This opera and this recording in particular is my personal obsession right now. I just can't stop listening to it. The opening tracks are just stunning while also sending a shiver up my spine. It took a little bit for me to get into Patricia Bardon's voice as Andromaca but it was well worth the listen a few times. Still a very under rated work in my book. In fact I think most of Rossini is underrated, but that's just me.
 
#46 ·
View attachment 32331

This opera and this recording in particular is my personal obsession right now. I just can't stop listening to it. The opening tracks are just stunning while also sending a shiver up my spine. It took a little bit for me to get into Patricia Bardon's voice as Andromaca but it was well worth the listen a few times. Still a very under rated work in my book. In fact I think most of Rossini is underrated, but that's just me.
 
#47 · (Edited)
That is extremely interesting and a valuable insight, starlightexp. I'm also growing into the suspicion that Rossini is either underrated or "underdiscovered". That's why I joked of having to get a miner's hat to set off on this foray.

Couac Addict: Zounds! Is that one out on dvd?
 
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