Customer Reviews

Rossini: Semiramide

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Semiramide is one of my two favorite Rossini operas, the other being his comic take on the Cinderella story, La Cenerentola. But I didn't realize what a truly magnificent work Semiramide was until the release of this July 1992 recording on DG. It is one of two note-complete recordings of the opera now available, the other being the live 1992 Fonit-Cetra recording, with Iano Tamar and Gloria Scalchi under Alberto Zedda. The Met telecast from 1990, available on DVD and VHS, is also very nearly complete.

While I am not a purist with regard to making cuts in an opera, some operas clearly benefit more than others from being heard complete. I think Semiramide really needs to be as complete as possible for the genius of Rossini's structure to be apparent. So I am very grateful that we have three choices, even though regretting that none of them feature Joan Sutherland, who brought this opera back into the repertoire beginning with her 1962 performances at La Scala with Giulietta Simionato. Marilyn Horne, who came to prominence shortly afterwards, was of course the ideal partner for Sutherland in this music.

Nevertheless, even though we don't get Sutherland and Horne here, the cast of this recording is quite outstanding. The difficulties of their music hold no terrors for Cheryl Studer as Semiramide and Jennifer Larmore as Arsace; and in fact in the concluding section of their Act II duet, they bring a very joyful sense of "look what we can do with this music." One can quibble that Cheryl Studer doesn't have Sutherland's regal quality--nobody does--and that Jennifer Larmore doesn't sound as masculine as Marilyn Horne--ditto--but these are still outstanding performances, full of vocal excitement and elan.

The tenor Idreno doesn't contribute much to the plot other than giving the other singers a chance to rest while he sings his two arias, one per act. Even so, his music is fiendishly difficult and I can't imagine it being sung any better than Frank Lopardo does here.

Of course, Samuel Ramey, the Assur, has been the pre-eminent Rossini bass for a couple of decades, and this recording shows why. He was still at the very top of his form at the time this recording was made, and he sails through his music in a way that would be beyond the capabilities of most basses.

Ion Marin, the conductor, was a new name to me at the time this recording came out. Even so, he captures all the energy of the opera; my only complaint is that he takes the opening slow section of the overture a bit too quickly. Other than that, this is the way Semiramide should go.

I consider this recording to be the first choice for a Semiramide for any opera collection, although no serious collection would be complete without versions by Sutherland and Horne, and preferably together. Currently Horne's Arsace is available on the Met video, with June Anderson as Semiramide, and Sutherland's assumption of the queen is available in a 1968 live performance on Opera d'Oro with Monica Sinclair as a perfectly competent Arsace.

The 1965 commercial recording with both Sutherland and Horne is not currently available in the United States but can be still be found at amazon.co.uk. As much as I want to recommend it, I can't, partly because of John Serge's rather ugly-sounding though accurate Idreno (he only gets to sing one of his two arias, which is probably just as well), but mostly because of Richard Bonynge's lifeless conducting, which I find very difficult to sit through after hearing the excitement Marin brings to the score. Bonynge is leagues better than his 1965 self in the 1971 Lyric Opera of Chicago performance which of course features both Sutherland and Horne, and which is regrettably not available at the present time; it could formerly be found on the Bella Voce label through Qualiton Records, and is well worth searching for. In fact, if I were connected with Decca/London, I would immediately begin negotiations with Lyric Opera of Chicago for the rights to issue this superb performance and drop the current recording from the catalogue altogether.

But this recording is the Semiramide to own if you're having only one, for the completeness of the text, the four fine principals and the marvelous conducting. Once you've got this recording safely stowed in your collection, start hunting around for Sutherland's and Horne's interpretations of this music as an important supplement.

Note-complete and very well sung, I doubt that Rossini's Semiramide has received a better performance since the days of Grisi and Lablache. This was Rossini's last Italian opera, and his greatest, grandest opera seria. A truly grandiose performance was very much needed, and here it is!

No, it's not a very Italianate performance. Cheryl Studer's carefully placed voice and well-supervised Kopftöne suggest a very high-level performance in 19th Century Vienna or Dresden rather than Venice or Milan, and Larmore, whose plummy "I-have-a-hot-potato-in-my-mouth" timbre reminds me of Risë Stevens, will never make me forget the unique Marilyn Horne; but both singers have good voices and brilliant techniques, and they really reach the heights in the famous duet Giorno d' orrore, which Adelina Patti and Sofia Scalchi used to turn 19th century heads with.

Excellent as the women are, their contributions must be seen in contrast with the never-to-be-replicated Sutherland/Horne performance on DECCA. That recording's male cast, however, can't hold a candle to this one, and this is where this DGG production hits a bull's eye. Sam Ramey is simply superb as Assur, turning every Rossinian phrase with an authority and a vocal grace that have to be heard to be believed. Lopardo, though not perhaps a star, sings Idreno's unbelievably difficult, florid obstacle courses with real brilliance and, again, vocal grace: if it can't be made to sound easy, it is no use trying it. WHAT singing!

Ion Marin is a fast-and-steady modern metronome, not as "blatant" or "callow" as he has been portrayed in the English press (the fact that this recording was made in London, but does not involve any English individuals, a plus in my book, probably irritated some of their notoriously patriotic critics) but I do prefer Richard Bonynge's more sensitive, more romantic, more expressively molded phrasing on DECCA. Marin, however, is leading an absolutely note-complete performance, and sometimes one does feel a need to just get on with it! He has, at any rate, a faultless cast going at full steam.

The recorded sound is good, and the English orchestra and chorus are thoroughly competent. A MAJOR accomplishment.

Why this recording was, on release,dismissed as an also-ran says more about reverence for pedigree than about listening to what's here. First of all, it reflects the entire score (the Boynynge/Sutherland/Horne version from the 60s does not); second, the male parts are much better cast in the new recording (Sam Ramey in particular seems energized by all the Babylonian bluster, while Frank Lopardo's mellifluous tenor is welcome); and third, Cheryl Studer as Semiramide and Jennifer Larmore in the breeches role of Arsace are astonishing (the great duet, "Ah, quel giorno" is singing of glittering virtuosity). While Sutherland and Horne had a partnership that will go down in history, these two gals from Midlands, Michigan and Atlanta, Georgia richly demonstrate that the art of bel canto is alive and kicking. This is a marvellous set, showing that Rossini in his "opera seria" mode was not going to bore audiences blind with a stagey pageant like "Idomeneo;" he remained as crafty a showman as in his comic piffles.

This is en excellent performance of one of Rossini's greatest operas.

I am amazed by the comment made by at least one reviewer that Ion Marin's conducting is de-energized. In fact, he does a superb job of capturing Rossini's delightful rhythms and irresistable forward motion. In comparison, Bonynge on the "classic" version sounds like he's conducting Bellini in the limpest fashion possible.

Studer holds up perfectly well against her competion -- Sutherland -- and the rest of the cast is uniformly excellent.

I doubt I'll ever need another Semiramide, and Sutherland/Horne, for all its vocal glories, now takes a back seat in my CD library.

Although the presence of the Sutherland-Horne set outshadows this recording of the Babylonian queen, I would inarguably declare that this recording is the supreme rendition of Rossini's last opera seria. True, the two main prima donnas of the former recording have vocal facilities that are the stuff that Rossinian dreams are made of, but Studer and Larmore could hold themselves well against these two vocal giants. Studer sings the murderous queen with Rossinian brilliance and drama and excellent diction! And even if Larmore doesn't have the gutsy, manly qualities of Marilyn Horne's voice, handles the coloratura and the lines of Arsace amazingly well. And then there are the prime male singers--Frank Lopardo and Samuel Ramey. These two vocal miracles can easily outsing the tenor and the bass starring in the other recording by Joan Sutherland, and they both sing with the proper style required by Rossini's music. The conductor, Marin, conducts this performance exponentially better than Bonynge ever could--with passion and Rossinian style! Which one would I recommend? I really don't know...if you are a fan of Dame Joan, get her Semiramide recording, but admittedly, I would look to this first because it showcases Rossini's last Italian opera at its musical best (and complete too!).

This recording of "Semiramide" is note-complete and features a stunning cast of opera singers. Cheryl Studer is a fine Semiramide and Jennifer Larmore is a great Arsace. Samuel Ramey is a fine Assur with wonderful coloratura. Both Studer and Larmore have fine coloratura techniques and can stand beside Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne as the murderous Babylonian queen and her son. While Studer has a smaller and less luscious voice than Sutherland has, her diction is noticeably clearer than Sutherland's. Larmore's coloratura technique is clearer than Horne's and she doesn't machine-gun the coloratura like Horne does. Also, her lower register is far more pleasing than Horne's.

Get this recording while it is still available.

This is my favorite Rossini opera and one of the best recordings I have ever heard. The work demonstrates that, without changing his basic style, Rossini could abandon comedy for a serious plot in a dignified setting. The impression I get is that Italian cultural Catholicism serves as a bridge back to the theocratic world of ancient Mesopotamia. The work offers a heroic plot bottomed in a powerful sense of the authority of organized religion. The overall effect is analogous to Verdi's Aida set in ancient Egypt; and I prefer Semiramide because it is free from the taint of elegiac collapse that colored most European serious music in the wake of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde after 1865. Rossini's comic brightness turns into heroic brightness; and his "temperament of a hack" does not diminish the grandeur of the work at any point. By coincidence, perhaps, the main theme of the overture resembles our evangelical song "Take Time to Be Holy." Instead of taking its time Rossini's muse charges ahead but on the wings of a presuppositional religious consensus. As in Aida a characteristic Italian word of the libretto is "nume," a word for a god suggestive of authoritative spiritual power as in the inscription of Raphael's allegorical figure of Poetry-- "Numine afflatur," "breathed by divine command."

Yes, Sutherland's voice is built for coloratura, but I believe that Studer is more what Rossini had in mind for this role. (Moreover, I'd rather not have her husband conducting her, but that's another review.)

The DVD with Anderson/Horne/Ramey/et al is worth it because there is a dearth of recorded Semiramides (as well as staged ones). My big quarrel with Anderson is her stiffness, both physically and vocally. That said, she does get all the notes right. And the production is only opulent (even if the costuming, while stunning, flies in the face of the time-frame).

There is a "best" recording around if you're lucky enough to find someone who taped it (I'm hearing it as I write and I apologize for bringing it up, but...). Semiramide is Nelly Miricioiu, who is superb, although if you want fiery ornamention, you need to look elsewhere. Daniela Barcellona is the Arsace, her voice something dark and wonderful although not so flexible as Horne, perhaps a shade better than Larmore, although I have no quarrel with any of these Arsaces. Gregory Kunde is Idreno, Michele Pertusi, Assur -- both are accomplished. I could pick away, but this IS the best of the lot and not even commercial. It is live from Geneva, 1998, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.

I'm sure I'm going to get a slap somewhere on my body for mentioning this recording; I can handle it. Just be on the lookout for it and ask your opera friends, etc.

Nancy Eckert

Semiramide is a formidable masterpiece, an extraordinary opera. So far record companies have favoured Tosca and Gioconda over this far greater opera, but well, that's another topic. This very expensive recording turned out a very sour lemon. I have no idea who decided on hiring such a young and inexperienced conductor as Ion Marin for this very complex opera, his reading of the great overture is unbelievably bad, he seems to be sight reading the score for the first time. Cheryl Studer is pale and annonymous as Semiramide, she just doesn't seem to have any ideas on the role, what a pity Lella Cuberli was not preferred. Larmore, Ramey and Loppardo are the redeeming features, too little too late perhaps. DG please notice that if this recording didn't sell well, it was all your fault, not Rossini's.