BaL 4.02.17 - Rossini: The Barber of Seville

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library
Ben Walton compares audio recordings of Rossini’s hugely popular opera buffa The Barber of Seville, after Beaumarchais’s comic play written 40 years earlier. There are so many renowned recordings, spanning over 60 years, but it’s perhaps the coloratura mezzo-soprano role of Rosina which defines each one. We’ll hear from Callas, Garanca, de los Angeles, Sills, Larmore to name but a few, not to mention the legendary conductors!


Available versions:-

Coro del Gran Teatro La Fenice & The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado
The Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado (DVD)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio di Parma, Maurizio Barbacini (DVD)
Coro dell’Opera Nazionale Italiana & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bruno Bartoletti
Teatro Regio di Parma, Andrea Battistoni (DVD)
Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo, Coro del Teatro di San Carlo, Vincenzo Bellezza
English National Opera Orchestra, English National Opera Chorus, Gabriele Bellini (in English)
Riccardo Chailly (download)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Chorus, Sylvain Cambreling (DVD)
Opéra National De Paris, Bruno Campanella (DVD)
Orchestra & Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino, Bruno Campanella (download)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Alberto Erede
Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Choir of Cologne City Opera, Gabriele Ferro (DVD/Blu-ray)
Orchestra & Coro del Teatro La Fenice, Antonio Fogliani (DVD)
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Alceo Galliera
Földényi Chorus, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli (download)
Orchestra of the Teatro Real Madrid, Gianluigi Gelmetti (DVD)
Covent Garden Chorus & The Covent Garden Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra and Choir Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini
Glyndebourne Festival Chorus & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vittorio Gui
Hungarian Radio Choir; Failoni Chamber Orchestra, Budapest, Willi Humburg
Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper & Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Joseph Keilberth
Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Erich Leinsdorf
John Alldis Choir & London Symphony Orchestra, James Levine
Choeur du Grand Theatre de Geneve & Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Ambrosian Opera Chorus & Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Gennaro Papi
Orchestra & Chorus of The Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano (DVD/Blu-ray)
Orchestra e coro del Teatro Communale di Bologna, Giuseppe Patané (BaL Choice 2001)
Italiano di Fiati, Paolo Pollastri (download)
RAI Chorus, Milan, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Milan, Fernando Previtali
Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Max Rudolf
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Victor De Sabata
Orchester & Chor Opernhaus Zürich, Nello Santi (CD & DVD)
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Thomas Schippers
Milan Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Tullio Serafin
Teresa Berganza, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Manuel Ausensi, Ugo Benelli
Naples Rossini Orchestra, Silvio Varviso (download)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Ralf Weikert (DVD)
Men’s Choir of the Bayerischen Rundfunks, Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Ralf Weikert

[visualnickmos]

Could be fun, this one! Where on earth does one start..., and what criteria does one deem to be required to be a qualifier for the final furlong?

Have 'only' two in my collection (probably twice as many as I need!) Callas and the usual 'gang' (EMI) and the Naxos recording, which I actually enjoy quite a lot.

[Barbirollians]

Gui for me !

[aeolium]

I love this work and particularly like the Varviso/Naples recording which I fairly recently got to know: a great cast with Berganza and Ghiaurov outstanding, and perfectly paced by Varviso's orchestra.

[vinteuil]

.

... altho' I'm a big Rossini fan I wdn't say that the Barber was my favourite. I have the Galliera, Patané, and Levine : I have also enjoyed :

http://amzn.eu/31HzRpT

.

http://amzn.eu/a6VvHZ1

.

It would, of course, be nice to have an Historically-Informed Performance Practice version of this - and indeed of all Rossini.

[ardcarp]

Episode 3 of CotW talked about The Barber

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vd6rq

(Rather unusually, Episode 2 ended with a rendition of the Overture by The Kings Singers.)

[verismissimo]

'Hugely popular' according to the blurb ... but not on these boards, apparently.

I've had something of a Rossini splurge this past year, coming to a number of tentative conclusions:

1. I still much prefer him in comic mode. Can't really be doing with all those long serious works, except as stand-alone arias/duets etc.
2. He was such a thieving magpie of his own stuff, including in Il barbiere. Did he outdo Handel in this regard?
3. The necessary skills to perform Rossini even adequately nowadays are in seriously short supply. The HIPP movement has a real opportunity for singers who can really get to grips with bel canto skills.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was mightily impressed by the singing of Ian Wallace.

[Bert Coules]

Agreed about Ian Wallace: if you only know him from My Music and Flanders and Swann it's easy to miss the fact that he had a successful career on the operatic stage.

I haven't listened to the whole of today's broadcast yet. Was there any mention of the ENO English language recording?

Bert

[LeMartinPecheur]

Mrs LMP and I enjoyed this though I hadn't thought we needed another version on top of the Callas and the Bartoli. Was kinda pleased that the latter got rather dismissed for lack of decent supporting cast behind Bartoli - had wondered why it hadn't done much for me and now I know

So I might feel tempted by a cheapo copy of the winner or the Gui. But don't tell Mrs LMP!

IIRC the reviewer said nothing at all about DVD versions. A failing surely, even if it was only a one-line recommendation at the end?

[vinteuil]

So I might feel tempted by a cheapo copy of the winner or the Gui. But don't tell Mrs LMP!

... I was tempted, and have succumbed - a copy of each for a fiver apiece. And since we won £25 on the premium bonds this morning I don't think mme v will object...

[Barbirollians]

Weren't these two the winners last time around and have just switched places ?

[aeolium]

I thought this was generally an interesting BaL, even though like others I thought the reviewer could have spent more time discussing the DVD versions, notably the Abbado La Scala recording and Pappano's Royal Opera House performance. Inevitably he gave a lot of time to older recordings, as there have been relatively few recent ones that seriously challenge the best of the older ones (as reflected in Ben Watson's final choice). I was a bit surprised that he was so keen on the Gui version which has a soprano - albeit a superb one in Victoria de los Angeles - playing Rosina, a role written for a mezzo-soprano. One of the worst moments in the whole BaL for me was when he played an extract from Una voce poco fa transposed up for the soprano immediately after an extract as originally written for mezzo - like the disorientation experienced when hearing a modern orchestral extract at different pitch straight after a HIPP extract. I just don't think a soprano is right for this role and that would rule out all the soprano versions for me.

Also I don't think the reviewer paid enough attention to the quality of orchestral playing, every bit as vital in all of Rossini's operas as the quality of the singing. Far too many of the extracts played were simply too steady, lacking real elan and excitement, as well as orchestral colour and that singing quality which is so important - to be fair, BW did acknowledge some of this, contrasting it with e.g. the Leinsdorf Act 1 finale which though exciting and well-paced simply had too much detail obscured by the poor recording quality. And in my experience the Italian orchestras are unequalled here as in other Rossini operas. It's no surprise that the recording of the Orchestra e coro del Teatro Communale di Bologna with Giuseppe Patané was chosen in the BaL for 2001, and the Varviso/Naples Rossini Orchestra which was not considered is also excellent, with Berganza in her prime as Rosina.

A real curiosity was hearing Lily Pons, at the Met in 1950, singing an English version of "Ah vous dirai-je maman" as Rosina's song in the music-lesson, reprising an old performance tradition which started in Rossini's lifetime (he reportedly heard Adelina Patti in the role and she used to vary the song in different performances - almost an operatic cadenza).

[Nick Armstrong]

the reviewer could have spent more time discussing the DVD versions

... or even some time!

Lily Ponds

I was going to try a 'frog' joke but thought better of it

Listened to the reviewer's comments but found myself fast-forwarding most of the extracts, as I'm afraid I can stand this sort of opera less and less as the years go by. Ian Wallace was impressive though!

In the words of Dragons' Den, "I shan't be investing"...

[mikealdren]

... I was tempted, and have succumbed - a copy of each for a fiver apiece. And since we won £25 on the premium bonds this morning I don't think mme v will object...

Hi Vin
Where did you find the winner for £5, it seems to be quite expensive in most places?