Likes: I've struggled to find a better beginning-to-end 'Barbiere' than this:
41ZGBGS8D6L.jpg
I've heard better voices and such, but this recording's Act 1 finale - it's just thunderous!
I've struggled to find a better beginning-to-end 'Barbiere' than this:
41ZGBGS8D6L.jpg
I've heard better voices and such, but this recording's Act 1 finale - it's just thunderous!
I'm definitely wanting to add the Otello with Von Stade and Carreras to my collection in the next year. I avoided Rossini so long because of the snippets that were known in popular culture (ie. the Lone Ranger Theme and the Figaro, Figaro, Figaro bit). I am SO glad that I gave him a go in spite of my misgivings.
I saw this. Nice to know it's out on DVD.Originally Posted by Pugg
Not to be missed:
Rossini; La Donna del Lago.
Di Donato /Florez
Pugg liked this post
As you all know Rossini (and also other composers of the period), recycled his music often.
He even wrote some complete "pasticcio" like this Ivanhoe, where you can find music from several operas like Semiramide, La Cenerentola, Armida, Maometto II, Tancredi,... But that is a very nice piece, in my view:
The Act II sextet "È palese il tradimento" is brilliant. (Rossini used the melody in Viaggio a Reims / Le Comte Ory.) Most underrated, though? Zelmira and Ricciardo & Zoraide, maybe.
As a homage to the late Alberto Zedda, this is a very nice performance of "Il viaggio a Reims", some years ago in A Coruña:
Recently recommended version on BBC radio 3
I was about to post that this is one I don't have but looking at my files, I see it is there. Three disks for some reason. Going to have to give it another listen.
Last edited by SixFootScowl; Mar-08-2017 at 06:46.
"Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." Jeremiah 8:7
They have a very strange taste .
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868)
"The Germans have always been at every time the greatest harmonists and the Italians the greatest melodists. But from the moment that the North produced a Mozart, we of the South were beaten on our own ground, because this man rises above both nations, uniting in himself all the charms of Italian melody and all the profundity of German harmony." -Rossini
< The Triumph of Music: Composers, Musicians and Their Audiences, 1700 to the Present / Tim Blanning / PT270 >
Last edited by hammeredklavier; Mar-01-2021 at 04:09.
I don't think you made it clear with your above quoted post that David A did NOT write that post. It was Rossini.
Well many of you know by now I love Sutherland. A friend gave me most of her operas on pristine vinyl. By far my favorite is Semiramide. What a bitch that one must be to cast. It is not the most exciting of plots but who cares. It is some of the most beautiful music ever recorded. I will also say that Bel Raggio is one of the most spectacular arias ever penned. The mezzo arias are showstoppers.
The Conte liked this post
It's very much one of the most underrated operas, but Rossini's serious operas are all overlooked (they are very difficult to cast well, are very long and Donizetti and Verdi soon made them look old fashioned with their fast paced music dramas). Are you familiar with Ermione? There's a superb recording on Opera Rara, it's well worth searching out.
N.
Last edited by The Conte; Mar-05-2021 at 23:32.
I don't love Rossini's Semiramide enough to get a second recording. I used to have the Sutherland version on LP but didn't get in ob CD and bought instead the Naxos version with Alex Penda, which is quite good. It's about an hour longer than the Sutherland version, as Bonynge cut quite a lot of the score out. The singing isn't as spectacular as Sutherland and Horne, and in any case I don't much like the mezzo on it, but Penda is dramatically thrilling, if a little wild at times.
"It's not enough to have a beautiful voice." Maria Callas
Is that the singer formerly known as Alexandra Pendatchanska? (Sp?) . She was very exciting.
I have the Sutherland/Horne and the Studer/Larmore, which is more than complete. I quite like it. I got hooked when I saw every performance of the Caballe/Horne is San Francisco way back when.
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