Stick to Comedy!
Donald Macleod presents five takes on the life and music of Gioachino Rossini. Today, Rossini鈥檚 serious side.
This week, Donald Macleod presents five takes on the life and music of Gioachino Rossini. Today, Rossini鈥檚 serious side.
With the exception of William Tell, from which most people know only the overture, Rossini is generally regarded first and foremost as a composer of comic operas 鈥� the most familiar of these being The Barber of Seville. With a couple of notable exceptions, his serious operas remain relatively virgin territory, yet as Rossini expert Richards Osborne points out, it鈥檚 on the sequence of nine opere serie Rossini wrote for Naples between 1815 and 1822 that his reputation as the founding father of Italian 19th-century opera principally rests. Today鈥檚 programme explores three of these operas: Elisabetta, regina d鈥橧nghilterra, with which Rossini made his dazzling Neapolitan d茅but; Zelmira, with which he said farewell Naples and hello Vienna; and Ermione, which ran for only seven performances before being indefinitely mothballed. 鈥淓rmione is my little William Tell,鈥� said Rossini, 鈥渁nd it will not see the light of day until after my death.鈥� He was right; a century-and-a-half after its disastrous opening run it was triumphantly revived, and many now regard it as his tragic masterpiece.
Il barbiere di Siviglia; Act 1 Scene 1, 鈥楲argo al factotum鈥�
Sesto Bruscantini, baritone (Figaro)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Vittorio Gui, conductor
Zelmira; Act 1 Scene 5 (extract):
鈥� 鈥楽'intessano agli allori鈥�
鈥� 鈥楾erra amica鈥�
Juan Diego Fl贸rez, tenor (Ilio)
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Elisabetta, regina d鈥橧nghilterra; Act 2 Scene 1 (extract)
鈥� 鈥楧ov'猫 Matilde?鈥�
鈥� 鈥楶ensa che sol per poco鈥�
鈥� 鈥楴on bastan quelle lagrime鈥�
鈥� 鈥楳isero me!...la sposa鈥�
鈥� 鈥楲'avverso nio destino鈥�
鈥� 鈥楢h! Fra Poco, in Faccia A Morte鈥�
Montserrat Caball茅, (Elisabetta)
Neil Jenkins, (Guglielmo)
Valerie Masterson, (Matilde)
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianfranco Masini, conductor
Ermione; Act 1 Scene 6 (finale)
Colin Lee, tenor (Oreste)
Carmen Giannattasio, soprano (Ermione)
Paul Nilon, tenor (Pirro)
Rebecca Bottone, soprano (Cleone)
Patricia Bardon, mezzo soprano (Andromaca)
Victoria Simmonds, alto (Cefisa)
B眉lent Bezd眉z, tenor (Pilade)
Lo茂c F茅lix, tenor (Attalo)
Graeme Broadbent, baritone (Fenicio)
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
David Parry, conductor
Produced by Chris Barstow for 大象传媒 Wales
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Gioachino Rossini
Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Act 1 (Largo al factotum)
Singer: Sesto Bruscantini. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vittorio Gui.- EMI 5677622.
- EMI.
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Gioachino Rossini
Zelmira: Act 1 (s'intessano agli allori)
Singer: Juan Diego Fl贸rez. Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.- Decca: 4700242.
- Decca.
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Gioachino Rossini
Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra: Act 2, Scene 1
Singer: Montserrat Caball茅. Singer: Neil Jenkins. Singer: Valerie Masterson. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gianfranco Masini.- PHILIPS 432453-2.
- PHILIPA.
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Gioachino Rossini
Ermione: Act 1 finale
Singer: Colin Lee. Singer: Carmen Giannattasio. Singer: Paul Nilon. Singer: Rebecca Bottone. Singer: Patricia Bardon. Singer: Victoria Simmonds. Choir: Geoffrey Mitchell Choir. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: David Parry.- OPERA RARA ORC42.
- OPERA RARA.
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