Customer Reviews

Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)/ Patanč [higlights]

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By Rossini - the 1989 Bologna recording led by Giuseppe Patane and the 1971 London recording led by Claudio Abbado -- recently and I want to recommend both of them to potential listeners, with some comments about their relative strengths. Each one is outstanding.

Patane recording - What jumps out at me is the joy of the artists' musicmaking. The orchestra clearly has this music in its blood and they play with precision and panache, underlining what a talented orchestrator Rossini was. Another plus is a young Cecilia Bartoli as Rosina, a role which first brought her to prominence in the year before this recording. I've always admired her singing and she is exuberant and completely in control here at the young age of 23. I also found Paata Burchuladze in the comic role of Basilio to be excellent, both vocally agile and precise and able to convey the broad humor of Basilio's lecherous money-grubbing. As an example, take the rage-filled, stuttering, first act aria "A un dottore della mia sorte," which is funny. The recording is audiophile level and represents one of those really excellent recordings from the first decade of digital sound. I have highlighted certain contributions but the remainder of the singers are very good. A sparkling performance.

The Abbado recording - An excellent version with slightly different strengths. Hermann Prey is simply great as Figaro. His rendition of "Largo al factotum", the first act introductory number which is probably the single most famous aria Rossini wrote, is outstanding, is sung with zest. Prey has such a big voice that he carries the number with ease. He later collaborates with the Rosina in this set, Teresa Berganza, in a virtuosic "Dunque io son," which is memorable. I found Abbado's conducting of the two orchestral numbers, the famous Overture and the 2nd act Thunderstorm, to be outstanding - forward drive is combined with control and accuracy. Recorded sound is very good. All singing and playing is at a high level. All in all, a great recording and one to treasure.

Listening to this opera took me away from the German 19th-century music that I have been listening to recently. While I love the music of such angst-filled composers as Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, I sometimes wonder where the sense of fun so evident in the music of their immediate predecessors went. That spirit of levity lies at the heart of this music by the young Rossini, and it is a refreshing break. (This comment applies also to contemporary pop music - how many songs cover sad topics? Most of them.) This isn't to criticize music preoccupied with sad or serious matters. But listening to Rossini made me realize how a dimension of musical high-spiritedness had been lost with the ascent of Beethoven and the rise of the Romantic period, a preeminence which has continued to live on in today's music.

Anyway, enough commentary. Two wonderful recordings which I strongly recommend. They'll put a smile on your face.